Grant Waters is the sound mixer on HGTV ‘s "House Hunters," a reality show that follows a pair of home shoppers and a real estate agent into houses for sale. He says the production relies heavily on sound from his K-Tek boom when the show is being mixed.
"They’re doing a two camera show with one camera, and a lot of times they’re putting the audio stream on the camera, so we have just two channels for all the audio," he said. "I use the boom on most of the stuff on the right channel, and that’s the sound they use most of the time. A big challenge is when is the boom going to be used and not going to be used."
Because so much of the show is shot inside actual houses, with standard height ceilings, another challenge is to keep the boom mic close enough for good sound yet out of the shot.
Waters still has the first K-Tek 20ft boom he bought on Craigslist 10 years ago. "I do a lot of reality, and if I’m running a lot. It’s light and it fits my body," he said. One of the reality shows Waters works on is the A&E series "Duck Dynasty." He has a collection of K-Tek poles now, but still relies on his original boom.
He recently had his original boom rebuilt by K-Tek. “They re-did it for me, and it’s like brand new now,” he said.
Waters other projects include the television series "The Governor’s Wife" and "Gold Diggers," and the films "Return to Zero" and "The Fix," which are in post production. He is currently working on the Sci-Fi Thriller "Lost Time."
