Joe Foglia is a sound engineer of a different sort. He got his start recording music at the renowned Criteria Studios in Miami, where he engineered or assisted on recordings by Black Sabbath, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and many other famous artists. His films and TV include the 80s defining series Miami Vice, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Best Sound.
Joe and his own mobile production company, Southeast Audio ADR, have traveled the country working on hits such as Marley and Me, Scrubs and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. A lifelong Lectrosonics user, Foglia recently adopted the all-digital D Squared line, which includes five DSQD four-channel receivers, two compact DCR822 compact dual-channel receivers, M2T transmitters for IFB, and a full arsenal of all-digital and digital hybrid packages-the latter of which can be received by the D Squared systems.
Foglia talked to us about his career, his equipment, and his approach to his craft. ‘I had used Sony over Miami Vice because it was all the rage at the time. I had four channels and that was it. When Peter and I moved on to other shows, we switched to Lectrosonics 185s, the VHF units with the very long antennas. We had several of those and the quad packs. Later, we went to L.A. to do Scrubs. Glen Trew (of Nashville studio and equipment dealer Trew Audio) got me to switch to the original Venue system. We took over a real hospital building for Scrubs, and the Venue worked flawlessly in that environment throughout the series. After we were done, I upgraded to the Venue2. Sooner or later, I had almost everything that Lectrosonics makes.
I think that led me to my current work in a different way than a lot of the younger generation getting into sound production, because there is lot of work out there right now. Sony eventually bought out the company, but Peter and I decided we wanted to put together a remote recording truck. The next day, the production manager called me and told me I had the job. When I was still working at Criteria, they built another truck and we did some live remotes for CBS, which put live music on their New Year’s shows.
He introduced me to UHF radio broadcasting, which I then used for remote broadcasts of sporting events, the Daytona 500 race and much more. About Miami Vice, Foglia said he got the job in Season 3 because they wanted someone local, not someone from L. ‘I knew Don Johnson because he used to hang out at Criteria when the Allman Brothers were recording there. Vice was a great springboard for my career. When asked about the highest number of frequencies he had to coordinate’, he replied, ‘I just finished the second season of Rutherford Falls, a comedy starring Ed Helms.’
In Miami Vice, Don Johnson wore his cable only for the duration of a wide shot and then took it off. Lectro is constantly improving its range and resistance to interference. The receiver does all the work to find clean frequencies and hold them.» Regarding the wireless transmitters, he said, ‘I actually rely on them every day. I think the Wireless Designer makes them pretty redundant. It also tends not to spread out the frequencies in the available spectrum from 470 to 608 MHz. I think Lectrosonics put a lot of work into the Wireless Designer to make it work perfectly. I have my device in Dante because it allows me to easily separate the wireless part of my system from the rest of my car.
My receiver rack is set up so I can unplug it from my main unit and send it upstairs. Then an Ethernet cable is thrown to me to power my Cantar mini-recorder and the laptop running Wireless Designer’. Floglia emphasized that ‘Lectro is serious about what they do, but also one of the more accessible companies out there. You have to take care of the people who take care of you, and Lectrosonics does that’.
Christian Cabezas de Lectrosonics con SBT en SET EXPO 2022.
