gkim

Late to this thread but I'm in the same boat as you Goldberger - wife works, I freelance and live in NYC and had our daughter 2 years ago. It was really rough - but what everyone here has already said is very true: • time flies by. It feels like being on a runaway train that stops for nothing. I obsessed about work in the beginning because I was worried about money and now she's two. I wish I could freeze time so she can be this age a bit longer. • I don't do feature or long doc work much now but it's ok - I love being with my family. • we chose daycare and it's worked out well for us. It's expensive as hell (as I'm sure you've found) but once the kid hits 2 years, it gets more affordable and there are more options. We're really happy with her daycare and she blows our minds with what she learns there. • we wish that the US would follow other countries in helping with childcare costs. Childcare in Japan is $400/month (!) Right now, we pay $1700/month but started at $2k when she was an infant. • most importantly, what Brian said: the sound of your kid's laughter is the best. No schoeps, dpa, sound devices, zaxcom, etc. comes close. I started recording her and editing what she says into little ringtones (though recording her through those things make her sound better). There really is nothing better than listening to your kids be happy.

Thanks Blas, appreciate the constructive help. Shoot went well until the last day - Nypd shut down playback. I offered to get earwigs, production nixed that idea and let me go on the last day. They were shooting in Times Sq, so guess it was iphones. Or whatever.

thank blas, if production wants a funky FPS (eg - 35) is there a straightforward way to shrink the audio and LTC file?

Hi guys, Working playback for music video. Production is very slow with details but have told me they will be doing a slow motion shot. I've read through the forums and found this: Wanted to make sure I prep the files correctly: -singer is from Colombia (probably shooting 23.978) -I have 10 min of LTC and the music track panned L and R respectively -will make a new music track that is shortened by 50% (assuming they will shoot at 48fps) -will also make a new LTC track that is shortened by 50% It was mentioned that I should keep the pitch correct for both files, but unsure how or why to do this. Any help would be super appreciated.

Such good info here, many thanks. speaking with a dp now about how she composes shots and lenses. cbsixty: i may be working with the same dp rachel: thanks for sharing an approach

Thank you Robert for the great advice, truly helpful. Looking into books and materials now.

understood - our work is collaborative and maybe there's more I could do to have a better working relationship with camera. Sometimes they're such pricks though - makes it tough to be diplomatic. I love John's description of a DP yelling "boom in frame", so true it made me laugh out loud on the subway. Thanks again for sharing insight guys, muh appreciated.

As a newish boom op, i'm wondering who and how to get a frameline. Most of the time, I can get a glimpse from video village or the small monitor off of camera, but there are times when there's a pan move that wasn't discussed that catches me off guard. Some 1st ac's are helpful, and say when they are getting focus marks is a good time, but when there isn't rehersal when is the appropriate time to ask? Is there a protocol for getting this info? It often feels like camera dept could care less about communicating with sound regarding frameline and pans.

Great advice to prep deep phillip, thank you. Hadn't thought to rehearse wrapping, which can get rushed and hairy at the end of long day. Will definitely add to the prep list.

Really helpful replies, thank you everyone @mike, i'll definitely try grabbing fx during lunch @robert - this is indeed low budget. great idea with a 2nd boom on a stand I don't like feeling second to camera, but the reality is much of the crew (camera, art, director and dp) work regularly on other shows, so i feel a bit on the outside. They're all polite enough, but if you've ever worked on a low budget shoot, sound has a tough time competing with camera for parity. Would any of you mind sharing how you try to stay ahead of the game?

Hello everyone, Wrapping up my first (true) feature in a week. I now understand what a different beast a feature is from shorts, commercial work, even broadcast. In an effort to get better at the craft, I was hoping to get thoughts and insights from you all. I'm trying to find the equivalent of "getting ahead" in the sound department. As always, I get that it depends: the mood at the moment, is the shoot behind, etc. Here's what I observed: 1. talking with the dp to see when she/he prefers to have the boom op come in. Some prefer to have the boom op in rehearsals, some want them only when 1st team is called. But once the boom op has annoyed the dp or 1st ac, I found it's a tough road back to getting cooperation from camera dept. 2. finding the balance with the 1st ad. Some prefer to be gently reminded for wild, room tone, etc. while others seem irritable to hear from sound dept at all 3. is it problematic when directors give verbal direction during a scene? Or is it only mentioned if post or the asst editor mentions it? 4. I'd love to use the downtime to prep lav mics for the next scene, as this often takes a bit of time rigging and testing, but can only do so much ahead of time before wardrobe. 5. would love to get wild, fx but again, without lock ups, probably wouldn't be helpful to post 6. tightening up the cart: organizing, cleaning, wrapping cables, cutting moleskin/topstick, inventory, etc. 7. the boom ops were kind of green, so talking with them about positioning, making friends with the 1st ac, being prepped 8. getting in sync with scripty for sound reports How do you guys spend downtime and get ahead so the day is smooth and as stress free as possible? Lastly, there are more days than not that I feel grateful to be able to work at something I love. Every so often though, I feel annoyed at how the sound department is treated on set. We're often not included in discussions regarding the scene, left till last minute to fix lav problems, put on the spot, caught between requests from post and uncooperative AD's, and generally disrespected. Camera can take as long as needed to work out technical problems, new thoughts on lighting and positions, but god forbid if sound needs a moment to reposition a lav. Apologies, small rant. Any insight, shared experience or thoughts (and criticisms) would be much appreciated.

Eeee gads...it was the trim on channels 4-6. Occam's razor. Well, thanks to you guys, i can teoubleshoot cos-11 wiring and check by sending tone to rx. This community is awesome

Crap- right. Forgot how to adjust trim on those.

Thx for the reply! Clipping happens at tx. Actor was yelling across street in scene, turned down tx to 8, and i could still hear it. It was ok on the 633 meters (bouncing around 0). Concerns: 1. Dropping rx level below +5 isn't line anymore and degrades signal 2. Improper gain staging. Has this happened to you before?

Hi guys, I'm on a feature and have run across a strange problem. I'm using lectro smqv tx and dual srb receivers into a 633. -All receivers are set to +5 -All 633 channels receiving lavs are set to line -All receivers are using ta3 to ta3 connectors -All receivers are using the same cos-11 lavs -All tx have audio levels set to 23 (for testing purposes) The problem is that 2 tx, set at audio levels of 23 with normal dialog sound normal, and show up on the 633 meters around 0. Fine. The other 2 tx, also set to audio levels of 23, with normal dialog are super hot. They're clipping. I had to turn them down to 8. I've tried the following troubleshooting: -ensuring all cables are wired for line level -switching mics (they are all the same) -rebooting 633 It seems like a tx issue. They are all the same smqv, same lav mics but 2 are fine at 23, and the other 2 are hot as hell. Can't figure out what I'm missing. Any help would be mucho appreciated.