A sound department for drama, on location across Asia-Pacific.

Case study

Lord of the Flies: four months in Langkawi

BBC / Netflix limited series, directed by Marc Munden. Production sound mixer and sound department head on a four-month rainforest shoot in Langkawi, Malaysia, filmed almost entirely on location: monsoon storms, running boys and dense jungle ambience, with a full surround wild track library recorded on location for post.

Nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards. Boom: Adyt Santoso. Utilities: Reza Feryanto.

“Ande was brilliantly diligent on our adaptation of Lord of the Flies. He was meticulous with radio miking and provided a multitude of rainforest wild tracks recorded on location.”Marc Munden, Director

How the waterfall scene was recorded →

The department

Sound is not a solo job on anything larger than a documentary. I work as head of department with boom operators and sound utilities I have built long relationships with, particularly across Indonesia and Malaysia, and a great deal of what ends up on the track is theirs.

In Malaysia and Indonesia I source crew locally by preference: Malaysian boom and utility on Malaysian rates, which also helps a local crew quota. As a New Zealand citizen I work as a local hire in New Zealand and Australia: I pay my own travel and accommodation, and the kit travels with me as a full drama package.

For directors

With actors

It is not my job to tell a director how to shoot a scene. The narrative, the performance and the visuals all matter more than my track does. But directors usually have several ways a scene could go, so I speak up quickly, between setups, and offer rather than demand.

• Miking up in the right sequence alongside costume and makeup, and rebuilding the rigs as often as the costume changes.
• Watching the blocking, and being in the director’s or the DOP’s ear when it is needed and nowhere near it when it is not.
• When a line can be saved in the field, we run with it, and never at the expense of the director’s vision or the performance.
• Young casts are familiar ground: Lord of the Flies, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Mr Midnight. A chaperone is present, I explain before touching, and the kids thread the lav under their clothing where they can.