Welcome
to the page of Henri Michiels, location sound mixer, sound editor and re-recording mixer based in the french speaking part of Switzerland.
”In Sync” means obviously having sound and picture perfectly synchronous, that’s the least I can do in my job.
But on a more philosophical way, it also means to be in tune, in harmony with the projects I'm involved in and with the people I work with.
Presentation
Graduated from IAD (Belgium) in 1990, I could never choose between location sound and sound post-production, so I do both.
I am convinced that these two aspects of my job are complementary. From my shooting practice, I bring back atmospheres and effects that enrich my sound library.
And because I perfectly know what can be achieved with the tools available in post-production, I know on which problems to concentrate on the set.
But don't think that I like working alone, on the contrary, it's a team work and I appreciate to edit and mix the sounds of my colleagues or to hear what a mixer has done on the basis of the tracks I provide. T
he exchanges are what makes this job so rich.
Production Sound
Documentary, TV, advertising or narrative work, I practice all these styles of shooting with happiness.
I am particularly fond of documentaries because you have to master the tools and the technique perfectly in order to be able to forget about them and concentrate on the action, the boom, the frame.
You have to be ready at all times, on the lookout for the slightest breath, the most tenuous emotion, all the while being as close as possible to the characters, the DOP and the director. But don’t get me wrong, I’m also comfortable working with larger crews.
By the end of the day, the most important things are the stories we tell.
Post-production
With the multiplication of microphones on the characters, a large part the work on dialogs is pursued in post-production.
Realigning the phases, cleaning up the clothes rustles, adjusting the sound perspective according to the camera angles, all this is the continuity of the work on the set.
With the increasingly powerful of DAW and restoration tools, post-production has become a formidable laboratory where we can more than ever make a reality, what seemed impossible yesterday.
But even if the engine is a computer, I still mix with my fingers and a pair of ears !
Henri Michiels
In Sync Audio sàrl
Switzerland
hello(at)insync-audio.ch