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old school

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Everything posted by old school

  1. Hey all.... I must say that I really enjoy this thread, as we split the finest of hairs, trying to define good sound as it pertains to TV and Films and how that relates to getting hired. I think the 2 basic POV's are both right and wrong. I know that in its raw form, Production tracks in dailies, you could hear the difference between radios and booms mixed and boom only with one camera coverage. As to how the tracks sound in the final mix, I doubt that any of us could hear the difference between the two due to the fx, music, etc... Â I've seen Jeff and Rich's movies on TV and they sound fine. I'm sure CSI would sound fine as well on the big screen, hell ive even heard some comercials I've worked on on the big screen and it sounded OK as well. They all have things in common, well recorded dialog trks combined(mixed) with snd fx, and music that work hand in hand with the picture. This is the job, and how you do it depends on a boatload of factors, two cams, bad locations, etc.... but it is the end result that counts. Old School
  2. Hey all, I forgot to say hi to Jeff n Don live on the www from the City of Lights or whatever they call Paris. Hope all is well and they don't work you to hard and you come back with more great stories. Old School
  3. Hey Curleysound, greetings... Is it 4-1 and your pulling a prank on us? Your friend, he got more than one job? If this is true, and you want to help him out, bring him to the set with you and teach him the right way. If not he will be out of work sooner than later. Old School
  4. Hey Mick, thats quite a dialog scene you wrote, you should try writting a script. Oh yea, everybody has written a script in H-wood. I would like to believe someone with your resume could get a film, tv show, or a comercial in L.A., but there is a perception problem in town that looks down on TV and really looks down on comercials, and shows zero respect for eng work. I feel, like many others in town, that I can do all of the above. I don't do eng, (to old), I do comercials( good time 2 $ ratio), No TV 4 me,(way to hard), and as for films, (which I know how to do well), it is much like the scene Mick scripted so well. Keep writing Mick, you may recieve residuals someday, and who knows, they may even hire you to mix the film you write. Naw, no film credits. Old School
  5. I think Tims suggestion, to use DJing software,(I use SoundByte) is supper simple and would envolve only a lap top to feed the board, which I the same person would run. My 2 cents Old School
  6. Hey all, Happy to report that Jim Webb is alive and well, living the retired dream in the great northwest. He sounds great, same old guy I knew back when. He is working hard on a book that I know will be of interest to us all. He seemed happy that anyone even remembers his name, and said that he would check out Jeffs site when he got a chance. A good guy and a college of knowledge, I hope he posts here when he finds time. I also spoke with Bill MacPherson, one of Jim's cable guys who is now a top mixer about to start "Curb your Enthusiasm" , and I turned him on to this site and hope he will add to the dialog as well. It was a blast from the past and made my day yesterday talking to them. Max. Respect, Old School
  7. Hey Phil, one question. I assume someone will be mixing the elements night after night?, or do you want it to be automated and start with 1 button at the start of the performance. I have never done theater work, but like others I have done some complex playback that interacts with the on camera performers, and there are a number of ways to do this, but of course this needs a person to operate the system. Regards, Old School
  8. I' m sorry to hear Mr Nykvist passed away, I never had the pleasure of working with him, but always heard he was a wonderful man, and as we all can see, he was a true artist. Long may he live in the memorey of those he worked with, and great work he crafted. Old School
  9. Hey Scott, thanks for Peter Grays cheat sheet, should come in handy with my memorey such as it is these days. I hear people call these jam boxs lockit and clockit, I always thought it was lockit, but the DIT yesterday said it was clockit, guess it really doesn't matter, just curious? Have a great day all, I will cause I'm working with that old school stuff in the camera, ah, whats it called?... Oh Yea, film. Old School
  10. Hey Bartek, I'm shooting with the f900 today, and I did a movie this summer that shot 2 cams, (900's), and we used the clockit boxs on the camera's in free run T.O.D. and I took a tc feed from the clockit box to my Deva 4 as well. We hit tc slate on every take and I fed the f900's a mono mix split to 2 trks on the camera's. We never had any issues, but then post signed off on this method before we shot. You are correct that it is impossible to get a straight answer from any and all in the video world and the post world that agree on the same technique. This system worked for me on the movie, and the DIT on todays shoot said this is what he would do, but you should include post in the desicion and see what there system needs are. My t.c. stamp is 29.97 ndf for standard def editing system that post was using. Hey my head hurts just writing like this, hope it made sence and was of some help.... Old School
  11. Hey Vin, Do you know Soundwiz? He is also from India. It is a internet world. Have a great day... Old School
  12. Hey Jeff, I guess I'm in the minority as well as to cable Vs wireless. Might be us older timers remember all to well the radio mics we came up with, not a pretty picture or sound track as I recall. The new products are changing the dynamics of this choice these days and I realize the value of wireless boom oping. We use this technique for steady cam shots alot, or for shooting in the alleys of L.A. or the other nasty locations we encounter in our set life. Maybe the new Zaxcom units will change my mind about cable, but to my ears we give up something when we record wireless boom. This is probably an old arguement, but it's my 2 cents Max Respect, Old School
  13. Hey Vin, greetings from So Cal.... What part of the world do you hail from(come from)? I'm always curious where people are living and working, if it none of my biz, I understand as well... If Tim sends you, or you get a copy of the book "S.O.M.", Read it outloud and record it and make a audio book, or podcast for the rest of us lazy soundtypepeople. Just my Idea of the day, careful, because it is free advise. Max. Respect, Old School
  14. Wow... Chris McLaughlin... Another great practitioner of the boom craft. He would be a great POV for your site. As far as I know from Jim and others, Chris only used a 815, int or ext for the million pictures they did together. This blows whats left of my mind as a boom op who became a mixer. It would also be great to hear from other journeyman boom ops like Randy Johnson, Mychal Smith, Carl Fisher, etc..... The boom op is the key job link in the film sound chain.... Hey Mr Tourtelot, if you cabled for Jim, you were a cable man supreme... Jims 3rd men ran miles and miles of cable. I know, I saw them crying,,, But they all turned out to be good mixers and had a lot of Jim Webb stories to boot. Work weeks over and I see a beer in my very near future. Max. Respect, Old School
  15. Hey Vin, greetings.... As I spend another sat. on stage, reading the NY Times, crewzin web sites, and stiring things up, etc, I find myself pondering your post, unable to come up with an opinion. Very odd for an opinionated A hole like me. I liked the Book "Visions of Light" , but I've always been a student of the cinema, so thats not surprising. I would like to read about the war stories of mixers who recorded classic films, the equipment they used, etc.... but I would guess that it is a small market of you and me and maybe a 1000 of our bros and sisters in the craft who would respond to a project like this. I would hate to discourage any one from a labor of love, but a book as well constructed as "Vision" would be a lotta work. That said, I would buy a copy, maybe two.... Max. Respect, Old School
  16. I did 5 movies that I can recall with Jim Webb, and I can only say that he would be a outstanding voice for this forum. The last job I worked with Jim was my last film, and then I migrated to the comercial world so that I could stay at home and raise my kids with my wife. Back then, when we worked together there was no internet as we know it. The newest Apple wasn't even a Mac, and analog was forever and then some. I learned alot about sound recording for film from Jim, and we did some good work together. Jims resume is much like Jeffs in that they did great work with the best directors of their day. I will make some calls and see if I can dig up the old mixer and see if he is even into the whole internet thing. I never saw this post before today, but it reminds me that alot of very knowledgable soundmen are out there and would also be of great value to this forum. Call a friend. Max. Respect, Crew C P.S. I wish this site had spell check, or if it does I knew where it was. OUT.
  17. Hey Redge, hows it going? The advice I gave was from my own experience's with prosumer cams, they record well enough if the dynamic range of your shoot isn't to great, but the recordings go south pretty fast when things get wild and loud. As to back up, I always concider my recording the master and the cameras audio a scratch track, I'm sure I could of explained my thoughts better, but since I hate to type and all I get lazy with my comments. I think producers and directors just want to load the video and audio in one pass into FCP or whatever and start putting their masterpiece together, which is ok, but with sound, like sex, protection is not a bad thing. It is hard to monitor the camera's audio(crappy headphone monitor) and one can make better judgements with a pro mix panel and or record deck. These are the reasons I suggested to Ferdi to back up the Dvx camera. Max. Respect, Old School
  18. Hey all, if we are making lists, lets not forget Yvette, who works with Dan Kent, Tamera Blair, who booms for Janet Urban(sp?), Tova Blue, and my favorite ex commie girl Alenka Pavlin. I have had the pleasure of working with all of them at least a day and often longer. Besides being pros, each was fun to work with, which in my book is very important. I'm sure I'm forgetting others, but the memory is a memory these days. Max Respect, Old School
  19. Your package sounds complete enough for a doc, I certainly had less on a few of my early shoots, but for sure back up your tracks to some recorder if you have one. The A2D and mic pre's on the dvx cams are better than most, but to be safe and not sorry later, back up your tracks to at least a dat. My 2 cents. Good luck and let us know how it works out. Max. Respect, Old School
  20. Yea I agree, more toy or DJ tool than pro app. For playback, I use Pro Tools LE. Also, I never concidered one stop shopping, but I will give it a try on my next day off. Max. Respect, Ols School
  21. Hey all, I've been using a cool software program called Sound Byte by blackcatsystems. The program is set up like a radio station cart machine, and will play any format audio clip you drag into the rack. The version I use has 5 racks, each rack has 75 carts. They sell a larger and smaller version of Sound Byte. The carts can be color coded, renamed, vol. adjusted, etc... I have used the program for non timecode playback and it works well, I can see a lot of uses for the software. I mostly use it to entertain myself and coworkers. There is a boatload of sound fx and audio clips for free on the web,( see there is more than porn on the web). As I recall you can download a version for free to demo. The software is Mac only, but I'm sure a windows equivilent is out there as well. Max. Respect, Old School
  22. I can truly say this is not a good picture because it has Stu McKee and me in it.This is day 5 of this week, the last two 15 plus hours long. Marydixie has a way of missing the Good One's. The mic is of course a schoeps with a swivel. It is in a autograph model Randy Johnson shock mount. I've had this mic since 83 and it still sounds great. In 1986 when I was booming "The Milagro Beanfield War" with Jim Webb and Bill MacPherson, I borrowed a fishhead Prop and modified the mount with the head and a foam bumper on top and it remains this way today. Many fine boom ops and friends have used this mic and mount, and as I think about it, it is my favorite piece of equipment. Max. Respect, Old School
  23. Hey Doug, good work going the extra mile getting more onfo. Sounds like your concerns were correct. I look foreward to reading more from Mr. Whitlock. Thanks 4 the research. Max. Respect, Old School
  24. Hey Redge I met a woman named Sara at Don Coufals class and I know she has posted here, but said she was more of a lurker, nice person, but I guess she doesn't like to post, it is a bit odd to communicate this way.Including Marydixie, I know 5 women boom ops in the comercial sound game. Two mixers as well. They probably have a life unlike us, but I too would wecome more POV's...... Max Respect, Old School
  25. Hey Scott, thanks for your feedback. I am all but sure this is my new direction. I must check with my boss, the long suffering Mrs Chamberlain, but my old g4 duel 1 gig is not long for this world though it has served me well. Max Respect, Old School
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