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"It's a relief," notes production sound mixer Billy Sarokin, from the set at Chelsea Pier 62's Stage F, where he is wrapping a six-week stint on `Big Night,' an indy feature from Timpano Productions that is dialogue- and music-intensive. (The film is codirected and costars actors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott; Isabella Rosellini and Ian Holm are also in the cast.) "There are no guns, no car chases, no violence -- and we're shooting three pages a day," Sarokin says.

In part, relief comes for Sarokin and his sound team -- boom man George Leong and recordist/second boom man Rich Murphy -- as respite from the "breathtaking" pace of working 22 episodes of the Universal Television series `New York Undercover,' also lensed locally.

A true-blue proponent of digital recording for New York film work (Sarokin was one of the "early adapters" of the Swiss-made Stelladat DAT recorder), Sarokin is taking sound with the Stelladat, for dailies and as a mono-mix backup for multitrack segments; and an eight-track Fostex ADAT RD-8, to enable a more flexible final mix in a production where dialogue flies fast and furious. The critical party scene, where guests pull up their chairs to an Italian feast, features 20 voices: all the leads as well as "local color" cameos, like Jonathan Demme's real-life cousin and rising film star, activist Episcopalian minister Robert Castle.

Also rack-mounted on Sarokin's sound cart, and built into boxes, for safely cushioned deployment in about 10 minutes, are Sarokin's prized Audio Ltd. UHF diversity mic system and his bulletproof power source: a marine battery and inverter, which moves 12 volts into 110 volts AC and back to 12 volts. Both were developed to accommodate the 10-page/six-location-per-day schedule of `New York Undercover.' An additional DAT (Fostex PD-2) recorder provided music playback; Sarokin mixed on his own eight-channel LM-1 Soundcraft board, modified by Soundcraft to provide pre-fadeouts for the ADAT.

Location sound shot in Keyport, New Jersey, which lacked only period vehicles to play as 1950s Italy -- was first hampered by the dreaded "vintage muffler sound" emitted by period cars; using a trick also deployed on `New York Undercover,' Sarokin planted a Crown PCC (Phase Coherent Cardioid) 90-degree directional PZM mic on the dash, which he discovered doing six nights of moving-car dialogue for `Hangin' with the Homeboys'. It cured the typical echoey/fishbowl effect that results from sound bouncing off the front and side windows. "Rumble" was removed with a low-cut filter.

Work on the soundstage presented its own challenges: the daily dinner cruise departure of the Malcolm Forbes yacht, Highlander, complete with tannoy and a blast on the ship's horn; helicopter flybys; and emergency vehicles running up and down the West Side Highway. Some things could only be waited out. "That's why they call it a soundstage," quips a production exec, "you can hear sound from outside on the stage." -- Beth Jacques

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