Can You Hear Her Now? And Just Like That Sound Mixer Charles Hunt on Ep 5's Heels

The series sound mixer got a moment in the aural spotlight, but his work extends far beyond what you actively notice.

And Just Like That [HBO Max]

 To paraphrase Joan Didion: “What makes the women of And Just Like That wear those clothes?” some people ask. Series sound mixer Charles Hunt never asks.

“I've stopped going, ‘Why are they wearing that?’” he says. He may be the only one, and it’s out of self-preservation. Hunt is responsible for working around the wardrobe to capture pristine sound, whether that’s Nicole Ari Parker wearing wicker balls as a necklace or Sarah Jessica Parker wearing that hat.

Audiences often miss Hunt’s work, but Episode 5 gave him a moment in the spotlight as Carrie clip-clops through her enormous Gramercy Park home in a variety of heels. (We must assume she wears only heels at home after her unfortunate, sock-clad slip ‘n’ fall in Episode 1.)

“ There's sound and there's noise, and the sound is what you want and the noise is what you don't want,” Hunt says. “And ordinarily [the shoes] would be noise, whereas in this episode, I can kinda play these shoes. It’s just fun. I mean, that almost never happens.”

And Just Like That [HBO Max]

Typically, Carrie’s outrageous shoes have caps on them to minimize sound, but for this sequence, Parker and Hunt went balls to the wall. Or in this case, stilettos to the hardwood.  “That was all live,” Hunt says of capturing the sounds. “And it was great because usually we have some caps on them, but it was kind of like, ‘Take them off, let him go. Just let him be free.’”

If the shoes are an easy fix, the rest of the costumes regularly test Hunt’s problem-solving capabilities.  “The show gets a lot of love for the wardrobe, and they do a fantastic job,” he says. “And I have to work around a bunch of landmines. I mean, there'll be some wild stuff, and you're looking at it going, ‘OK, that's what they're wearing, and I've gotta find a way to work around it.’  It was so funny when the first episode aired, there was this whole thing about the hat, and I had completely forgotten that she had that thing when we were in Washington Square Park. I was like, ‘What hat? Oh, that hat.’ It didn't mean anything to me anymore.”

Hunt doesn’t have to work around just the costumes. Like Sex and the City, And Just Like That is heavy on outdoor locations, restaurant scenes (all those extras and their tableware!), and Michael Patrick King’s love of cues.

“ I'm not a musician, but with the microphones, I can basically play the room,” Hunt says. “If someone's doing something deep in the background, I can put a microphone there and still pick it up.”

That especially comes in handy during scenes at restaurants, like the one in Episode 5, where a waiter obliges Carrie with a perfectly timed tray drop.  “I used to do Law & Order. I used to do SVU. And [with those series], here's the frame, and that's all we need. You know what I mean?” Hunt says. “That's it. Wth Michael, he likes lots of background, and it's very specific as to what they're doing. It's all choreography. And it's cool because it adds to the story, and nothing is wasted. Whatever you hear, you're supposed to hear it.”

Three seasons into the series, Hunt has it down to an art. He approaches every scene as a challenge to be solved, not an obstacle, and thus never locks himself into a method that won’t work. A crossbody purse might interfere with a mic? He confers with Parker, who subtly holds the bag away from her body. A character has to run across a lacrosse field while delivering dialogue? Hunt finds a piece of hair to affix a mic to. And the cast notices his hard work.

“ I know that I'm getting it right when the cast is telling me that they're not doing any looping,” Hunt says. “That's a win.”

Charles Hunt is an Emmy-nominated sound mixer. His credits include Law & Order: SVU, When the Levees Broke, The Punisher, and Swimfan. His go-to at craft services? “ I eat a lot of stuff at craft services. Probably blueberry yogurt. Yeah. Healthy protein.”