Film crew hire/New York/Sound mixer
Hire a sound mixer in New York. Clean dialogue, every word, whatever the avenue outside is doing.
Sound mixers for interviews, panels, branded documentaries and brand films across New York, from conference rooms in Midtown towers to lofts in Brooklyn and Long Island City. They mic everyone who speaks, boom the room, and deal with the HVAC, the sirens and the subway under the street, so the edit gets dialogue it doesn’t have to rescue. From $850 a day, paid to the mixer in full.
- 54 five-star Google reviews
- 2 hrs for our team to read your brief, in working hours
- 10 hrs a New York crew day, plus a meal break
- 500+ productions, filmed in sixteen countries
Photos: Jonah De Oliveira, Keagan Henman, Here Now Films, Hassan OUAJBIR and Adil Mukhi
The role
What a sound mixer does on your shoot
A sound mixer (on a UK call sheet, the sound recordist) records everything you hear in the film: the interviews, the dialogue, the room. They put wireless lavs on the people speaking, boom from above, mix and record it all, and listen to every take on headphones, so a rustle or a siren gets caught on the day and not in the edit.
Picture problems can often be fixed in the grade. Bad sound usually means shooting it again or living with it. In New York, where something is always going past the window, a mixer is the first person we add to a camera operator.
Most New York mixers own their package: a recorder, wireless, a boom, timecode boxes for the cameras, and a spare pair of headphones for the client at video village. It goes on the quote at a day rate, on its own line, so you can see what the kit costs and what the person costs.
- Every voice clean. Wireless lavs hidden in clothing, and a boom for the natural sound of the room.
- Noise dealt with. HVAC off where the building allows it, fridges unplugged, takes held for sirens and garbage trucks.
- Backed up twice. Recorded to two cards, with timecode jammed to every camera.
- Mics fitted with care. Explained before they’re fitted, and fitted by someone the contributor is comfortable with.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- A 10-hour day, plus a meal break
- Wireless lavs on everyone speaking
- A boom for the room and for movement
- Mixing, recording and monitoring every take
- Timecode jammed to the cameras
- Sound files and the sound report at wrap
On top, each on its own line
- Our 10% booking fee, on the whole quote
- Payroll and insurance for the job, at cost
- Their sound package, at a day rate on its own line
- A boom operator, for scripted scenes or a big cast
- Travel outside the five boroughs, and any cars or vans, at cost
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in New York.
Two ways to book
Crew hire or full production: who’s the producer of record?
One question sets the price: who’s the producer of record? Book a mixer for your own shoot, or have us take the whole production on.
Crew hire
You run the shoot.
10% booking fee, on everything we book for you: crew, kit and travel. Payroll and insurance at cost, on their own line.
We do
- Find, book and brief the New York crew
- Every crew member employed for the job: payroll, workers’ compensation and COIs
- Book kit, vans and travel too, if you want them
- Send the full price, in dollars, before anything is booked
- One person to call all day
You do
- Run the shoot, or your producer does
- The plan, the schedule and the call sheet
- The location, its COI and any Mayor’s Office permit
- Responsibility for the production: you’re the producer of record
Payroll and insurance are their own line on the quote, at cost: payroll for each crew member, the insurance they need for the job, New York workers’ compensation included, and the certificates of insurance your location asks for.
Full production
We’re the producer of record.
From $20,000 for a New York production; most land between that and $75,000. One quote, in dollars, every line shown.
We do
- Our producer plans it with you and runs the job
- Locations, permits, kit, studio and travel, booked in the production’s name
- The production’s insurance, the COIs and the Mayor’s Office permit
- One quote and one contract with us, wherever you’re based
You do
- The creative calls
- Signing off the plan and the budget
The production’s insurance, the crew’s payroll and any permits are lines in the quote, so you see each one before you sign.
Not sure which you need? If your own producer or director will run the day, it’s crew hire. If you want us to take the production on, it’s a full production quote.
On the day
A day with a sound mixer, call to wrap
Interviews with three people in a conference room high in a Midtown office tower, then B-roll on the floor and on the sidewalk outside. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 08:00 Through security Crew names and the kit list went to the building ahead of time, with a COI naming it. Badges at the lobby desk, carts up the freight elevator.
- 08:30 Listen to the room The HVAC, the elevator bank, a printer down the hall, the avenue 30 floors below: what building engineering can turn off for the day, and what has to be waited out.
- 09:30 First interview A lav under a collar, the boom just out of frame, and a sound check while the producer talks the contributor through what happens next.
- 10:15 A hold A fire truck on the avenue. Two answers asked again.
- 13:00 Lunch Batteries swapped, files backed up, the second card checked.
- 14:00 B-roll and room tone A minute of each room for the edit, then wild sound on the floor and the sidewalk.
- 18:30 Wrap Lavs collected from everyone, files and the sound report handed to the DIT, carts back down the freight elevator.
Which sound set-up
Which sound set-up do you need?
The package and the crew change with the number of voices, how much they move, and the building you’re in.
Interview package Two or three lavs and a boom From $850 a day
A recorder, two or three wireless lavs, a boom and a feed to the camera. Enough for most interviews and corporate films.
Best for interviews, testimonials and leadership films.
Panels and fireside chats Six channels or more From $850 a day
More wireless, a feed from the venue’s board if there is one, and a backup of everything. In a Midtown tower the kit list goes to building security before any of it comes up.
Best for panels, fireside chats, podcasts and conferences.
Run-and-gun A bag rig, on the move From $850 a day
A mixer with a bag, lavs and a boom, following the conversation down the street. Hand-held on a City sidewalk isn’t a permit activity; parking privileges for a production vehicle, or taking over the sidewalk, are.
Best for branded documentaries, vox pops and observational work.
Mixer and boom operator Commercials and scripted work Quoted on the brief
A mixer at the cart and a boom operator on the floor, with a utility sound technician on a bigger day. On a union job, Local 52 scale, quoted on request.
Best for commercials, drama and anything with a script.
What it’s for
What people book a sound mixer for in New York
Interviews in Midtown offices
Conference rooms high in glass towers, with HVAC that never quite switches off and a freight elevator for the cart.
Panels and fireside chats
A host and guests on lavs in a daylight loft in Chelsea or a studio in Tribeca, with the room recorded as well.
Overseas productions
Agencies that fly in a director and a DP and book the rest of the crew here, the mixer among them.
Branded documentaries
Restaurants in service, trading floors, workshops in Brooklyn: real places with real noise.
Vox pops and street interviews
Hand-held on the sidewalk, in a City park or on a bridge walkway, with no permit as long as no vehicle needs parking privileges and nobody takes over the space.
Recent work
Sound on our jobs, in New York
Our work · Upper East Side, New York · September 2026
Nevis × Focus, an announcement film
One afternoon in a panelled library on the Upper East Side, for Nevis and Focus Financial Partners: three half-hour interviews with Mark Swan, Adam Birenbaum and Justin Ferri, then the room reset for a three-way conversation on five cameras. The library came empty, so everything on screen was brought in. A New York crew shot it twelve days after the first email, and our own team cut it, five cuts in eight days, then graded and mixed it.
Crew hire · New York · October 2025
The crew around a visiting director and DP
An agency’s one-day shoot in New York, in October 2025. The client flew in its own director and DP, and we booked the rest of the crew in New York: a producer, an assistant producer, a camera operator, a sound mixer, a gaffer, hair and make-up and a stills photographer. Like everyone on the crew, the mixer was employed and insured for the day.
How we crew it · New York
Quiet rooms in a loud city
In New York the noise is usually in the building: air handling in a Midtown tower, radiators that knock in a pre-war loft, a freight elevator beside the conference room, a subway line under the street. We ask building management what can be switched off before the day, scout the room for sound as well as light, and schedule the interviews around what can’t.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 10 hours, plus a meal break.
- Any overtime is agreed with you before it happens.
- Tell us what’s nearby when you book: an avenue, a subway line, construction, a restaurant kitchen below.
Kit
- Their own sound package, at a day rate on its own line: recorder, wireless, boom, timecode and headphones.
- Extra channels or specialist wireless hired from a New York sound rental house, at cost.
- In Midtown the radio spectrum is crowded, so the mixer scans for clean frequencies before call.
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the mixer.
- 50% when you book, 50% on receipt of the final rushes.
- Every line on the quote: day rate, booking fee, payroll and insurance, kit, travel.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
Employment and insurance
- Every sound mixer we book is employed for the job, on payroll, with New York workers’ compensation.
- Certificates of insurance (COIs) for your location or permit, naming whoever needs naming, on request.
- On a crew hire the location, its COI, the permit and your own general liability stay with you. When we’re the producer of record, the production carries them.
- In New York, Here Now Films books its crews through established New York production companies, so every crew member is employed, on payroll and fully insured for the job.
$850 a day
No published union scale for this role in New York: Local 52 scale, quoted on request.
| Day rate, 10 hours | $850 |
| Booking fee, 10% | $85 |
| One day, before payroll, kit and travel | $935 |
Every sound mixer we book in New York is employed and insured for the job. Payroll and insurance are their own line on the quote. What that covers
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the mixer.
- Every crew member employed and insured for the job
- 50% at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
Or call us on +44 7412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a sound mixer in New York.
Tell us how many people are speaking, where, and what’s on the other side of the wall. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on +44 7412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in New York, booked the same way
One brief, one quote in dollars, every role on its own line. Our day rates in New York, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director From $1,500
- Producer From $750
- Production manager $650
- 2nd AD $600
- Production assistant $250
- Runner $250
Camera 07
- DP From $1,200
- Camera operator $750
- 1st AC $700
- 2nd AC $550
- Steadicam operator From $1,500
- Gimbal operator $750
- Drone operator From $1,000
Data and playback 02
- DIT $750
- Video playback $650
Sound 01
- Sound mixer This page $850
Hair, make-up and costume 02
- Hair and make-up $650
- Costume $700
Art department 02
- Art director $750
- Set builders $550
Post-production 01
- Editor From $600
How our rates work: crew rates in New York. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in New York.
Questions
Hiring a sound mixer in New York: questions
How much does a sound mixer cost in New York?
Our sound mixers in New York start at $850 for a 10-hour day, and the mixer is paid all of it. Union sound in New York is Local 52, whose rates aren’t published, so scale is quoted on request. On top go our 10% booking fee, so one day comes to $935, before payroll and insurance (at cost, on the quote), the sound package and travel.
Who employs the crew, and are they insured?
Every crew member we book in New York is employed for the job and fully insured: payroll, New York workers’ compensation, and certificates of insurance for your location or permit. Payroll and insurance show as their own line on the quote, at cost. On a crew hire, the location, its COI and the permit stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production.
Do New York sound mixers bring their own kit?
Almost always: most New York mixers own their package and rent it to the job at a day rate, on its own line. For an interview that means a recorder, three or four wireless lavs, a boom and timecode boxes for the cameras. For a panel or a fireside chat, it’s one lav for each person speaking at once, plus a spare. Extra channels come from a New York sound rental house, at cost.
Can you deal with a noisy New York location?
Mostly, if we know about it before the day. We ask building management to turn off what it can, from the HVAC to a noisy elevator, choose the quietest room on the floor, and hold takes for sirens, trucks and the subway. Pre-war buildings bring radiators that knock when the heat comes on, so we ask when it cycles. Tell us what’s next door, upstairs and under the street when you book, and the mixer plans for it.
Are your New York crews union or non-union?
Non-union by default, on corporate, branded and documentary work. If your production is signatory to a union agreement, or you need union crew for a commercial, we quote at scale: the IATSE/AICP commercial agreement for camera and make-up, Local 52 for grip, electric and sound, USA 829 for the art department, and the DGA for directors and ADs. Scale is wages only: fringes and payroll go on top.
Can we record vox pops on a New York sidewalk without a permit?
Usually, yes. A hand-held camera and a boom on a City sidewalk, a bridge walkway or in a City park isn’t a permit activity, as long as you don’t take exclusive use of the space, park production vehicles or bring more than hand-held kit and a tripod (checked October 2026). Some parks, Central Park and Bryant Park among them, run their own conservancy process, so ask first. Lights on stands, a sound cart on the sidewalk or parking privileges for a van need a permit from the Mayor’s Office: see filming permits in New York.
How far ahead should I book a sound mixer in New York?
A week is usually enough, and earlier is better in a busy month. Our latest New York shoot, Nevis × Focus, was filmed twelve days after the first email. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours, and we come back with a mixer and a price. If the shoot needs a permit, the Film Office processes most 48 to 72 business hours before the shoot day; Times Square needs seven business days, and a park adds at least five business days for the park manager.