Capturing Charles Barkley with RF

Atlanta, GA (July 29, 2025)—As a longtime sports analyst, Charles Barkley knows his way around wireless mics, but taping a recent TV ad for FanDuel proved to be a challenge for him and the shoot’s production sound mixer Mike Sal, who got the call to work only two days earlier.

Conceptually ambitious, the FanDuel commercial centers around Barkley interacting with an AI version of himself, “Chuck GPT.” To shoot it, however, required a complex interplay of audio feeds, as Barkley needed to hear the Chuck GPT voice in real-time, and the voice actor—in a separate voiceover room—needed to hear Barkley’s responses.

Uping the audio ante, various clients, producers, and crew members around the set—a sprawling four-story mansion—needed to monitor the audio, with little pre-defined technical direction or time for planning. “I got the official ‘you’re on’ 48 hours before the shoot,” Sal recounts, highlighting the tight preparation window for such an involved setup.

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Sal’s Land of ADM production company assembled a specialized kit, drawing equipment from various audio disciplines. The production used Lectrosonics SMQV and SMDWB miniature wideband transmitters, a UM400a UHF beltpack transmitter, and DSR4 and R1A receivers for Barkley along with various talent, crew and producer monitoring.

One of the primary challenges encountered during the shoot was managing Barkley’s movement and his tendency to sit on the wireless pack, which can significantly absorb RF signals. Sal explained, “He’s a big guy, he just absorbs RF. He’d put the pack in his back pocket every chance he got, so I was fighting for range.” Sal used an SMQV transmitter specifically for its higher RF output to compensate, providing an extra range boost.

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The voiceover room, where the Chuck GPT character’s voice originated, was set up as a makeshift vocal booth with a studio microphone. This microphone feed was then transmitted wirelessly to a discrete earwig, a Phonak Invisity, in Charles Barkley’s ear, allowing seamless, real-time communication. For Barkley himself, Sal’s setup included a wireless boom, utilizing a stereo matched pair of microphones.

A crucial moment arose when Sal noticed the audio sounded “crunchy” from a newly acquired SMQV. Through quick consultation with a Lectrosonics expert, Sal identified and corrected a compatibility mode setting from NU Hybrid to NA Hybrid, resolving the issue.