Scott Clements, CAS

I'm glad you got it unstuck. I had my 1/4-turn type VDB lock up years ago, and had all the burly grips and electrics fight over who could unlock it first. If I recall, they all failed and I ended up getting it unstuck some how... On a related note... does anyone know if you can still get the 1/4-turn changed out for the standard locks? Scott

Phillip, I'm looking more for the continuous jam style. "Set it and forget it". (at least till lunch)... scott

OK, a year later in this thread... Has anyone experienced any problems leaving a continuous ext time code feed in to the Alexa? I would prefer to leave it plugged in to ext time code at all times. Our show runs a bit crazy, and camera will get a request to change frame rates, and at the last moment change back to sync speed. Time code sync is lost, and a few takes, or even setups may pass before anyone realizes the time code is off. If I could leave the time code plugged in, that would assure time code sync, but our DIT (who I really like, and consider a genius) is hesitant to do it that way because he has had direct conversations with Arri regarding this, and they said there may be a problem with leaving ext time code plugged in. I will try to get him to call them again, just to see if they have updated their recommendation, but for now I would love to hear some real world experience with leaving the ext time code plugged in. We still use time code slates, but it save a lot of time for the transfer house if the jam sync time code is accurate. Scott Clements

We had a pool that looked almost exactly like that one in the movie Dolphin Tale. We worked closely with the liaison at the location, and he was quite helpful in turning off the water so we didn't have to deal with the water, or the pumps. The biggest help was turning off the venting and cooling systems in there. Those were super noisy, and it got hot quick. But everyone just had to deal with it. Ended up being one of the best sound locations on the shoot. Watch the blockings, and if the actors aren't supposed to go in the pool, I wouldn't hesitate to mic them. Just let them know not to pull a crazy "jump in the water" joke without taking off your $2000 worth of gear. Hair, Makeup and wardrobe will not want them in the water unless the scene calls for it either. For the boom, we used MKH50 whenever we could get in close. The scenes we did in there sounded great! I did a straight to DVD movie called Ace Ventura, Jr., and we had a much crazier aquatic center in that one. It had big open windows for venting, that vented right out onto the interstate, and echo was RIDICULOUS!!!! We didn't have control over the pumps and equipment, and I left that day pretty roughed up. In the end, the did not adr the scenes and it sounded surprisingly good. It's amazing what those post wizards can do now a-days... Oh, and for acoustics... hopefully the grips will build some big ole 20 bys... Talk to the DP and see if he could have a couple there to suck up some of the sound. We had them on both the movies above (because they were using them anyway...), and I had them put a bunch up on a commercial we shot in a quonset hut... helped a bunch!!! and if they don't want to build the frames, they can clip up a 20 by solid on a pipe and run it up for you... Good luck with the shoot! scott

I enjoy being part of a group that is dedicated to sharing and furthering the craft and art of sound for cinema. I am proud of my CAS designation, and respect my fellow members for their dedication to the craft. I think the "benefit" is in the eye of the beholder... Scott Clements, CAS

Just a thought on the timecode "autorolling" the MovieSlate. I have my Deva set to disc out TC in order to autoroll a 702T. Sound Devices gives an option to adjust how much TC it needs to see before rolling. I think mine is set to 1/2 second or something. This helped it to not record everytime I looked back to change metadata on the Deva. It used to roll everytime I went back a couple of segments to check or change metadata. The Deva TC out bumps to the segments "frozen" first frame of TC each time you look back at segments... It was great when Sound Devices added the TC start delay to avoid false rolls due to quick TC jumps that are not from rolling. I still have to remember to turn off the autoroll feature when outputting TC to jam the slates to avoid a bogus recorded file. Just a thought as you ponder the "auto roll" or "auto log" feature... scott

Thanks for the warning Jim! I have TMobile as well, and I read some forums for Tmobile and my phone (My Touch 4G), that suggest I won't be charged. I did a little test last night, and the data usage seems extremely small. Just turn hot spot on for a couple of seconds to send the report, and then turn it off again... We'll see what happens... I bought MovieSlate last night and fiddle with it a bit. A couple of things I could use some clearification on: First, it seems the only way to create an "event" in the history, and thus the report, is to click roll and then cut. Richard, I read all of the previous posts, and I didn't catch where this was addressed. I see how easy it is to advance all the info for the next "event", but no way to commit that take to the history/report without "rolling". If there is a way to do this, please help me out... Not a big deal, just curious. Second, I deselected a bunch of items in the "Shot Log History" of settings, and report is set to "sound report". Most of the unselected items are still showing in the generated report... in particular, I don't want TC on the report because I don't intend on trying to roll and cut in sync with the takes to generate each "event" in the report, so my TC will not even be close to correct. Am I missing something, or is TC always included in the report no matter what? This program seems really great, and I intend to push the digital reports on my episodic that starts in March. Thanks for your help! scott

Ha... I'm a big dummy... Turns out my phone can act as a portable hot spot. Thanks Richard for all the info in this post! scott

To continue my last question: Just talked with my friend who is very Mac tech savy, and he said that a bluetooth transfer to my phone is unlikely (mac protocalls)... how about creating a personal network via a wifi hotspot. It wouldn't be connected to the internet, but could it be used as a network to allow file sharing between ipad and other phones? ...or any other thoughts on how to get it to my phone when there's no wifi? I don't want to drag the ipad away from the set when there is no wifi to upload at home... if I am counting on it for my day to day operation. Our typical production setup has a wifi access point at the honey waggon, but that is usually not close to the set, and I don't want to add a trip there to my end of day duties... Thanks, scott

Two quick questions... Someone asked earlier if you could advance to the next event (or take number) without pushing the roll and cut. If I was going to use this program with no regard for timecode, could I easily create each "event" without having to pretend I am rolling and cutting? Not a big deal, but sometimes I forget about my sound report for 3 or 4 takes, and then go back to fix it. (usually if some sound problem needs attention). I guess it's easy enough to hit start and stop, and then hide the inaccurate TC so it doesn't appear in your report... Second... Is it easy enough to bump the file over to my android phone when the day is over (not using email). I have a concern that there will be no internet available, and I would like to bump it over to my phone using bluetooth or something, and then email from my phone... Thanks, scott

Update on the buzz... I did have 2 silver pin MKH 50s, I've been using the gold pin one lately, and sent one of the others in for updates. I got the RF shielded Neutrik connectors and wired them on all boom poles, pig tails, etc... Double checked to make sure all cables were wired properly, and shields were proper. The buzz seemed to be kept at bay... maybe a tiny bit trying to creep in. Yesterday we were on one of the sets that was giving me a problem and the buzz was back. It was particularly bad if the boom op or his cable touched the antenna of his transmitter. I broke out the Sound Devices MM1 that I bought on suggestion from this thread, and replaced the 48V supply with the MM1. It totally got rid of the buzz. Also, I'm pretty sure that's the best my wireless boom has ever sounded. My boom op doesn't like it because it's bigger and heavier, but man, it's nice! Thanks W.Ince for that one. I think I might get another for second boom. I still don't know exactly what was going on there, but the MM1 was definitely the answer. Thank you for all the suggestions. Scott Clements

Thanks guys, I'm not sure how old the 50s are. Probably younger than seven years old... I was planing on rotating them through service at Sennheiser anyway, I'll take a look at the pins... I will get the mm1 and see what happens with that as well. It will solve some some other problems for me (or more accurately, my boom op) as well. Scott Clements

Hey all, I'm having a bit of an issue with an induced buzz in my wireless boom rig and wanted to see what suggestions you guys may have. I admit, I haven't gone through every scenerio to get rid of the buzz, but I thought I'd post just to see: I use a wireless boom on an episodic TV show (it's our 5th season). The basic rig is MKH 50, to coil cabled boom pole, to deneke 48V power supply, to TA5 jumper, to Lectro 450 transmitter. We used to have a problem around a certain practical light in one of our sets. When the boom mic got near the light, we picked up an induced buzz in the signal. We could usually reposition the boom op or mic a bit and get the buzz to go away, or at least lessen. We have discovered that the buzz is worse if you touch the antenna on the transmitter, and sometimes even if you touch the transmitter. But the problem still persists even if you isolate the transmitter, and all connectors. This season, we have a new DP. And on two of our standing sets he uses way more tungsten lights and all of them are on dimmers and dimmed to some percentage. The induced buzz is happening all over the set now. We have swapped out the mics, the boom poles, the TA5, the power supply, and have even tried one of my SMQV transmitters with the same results. I can't remember if we've tried a hard wire, but that may be a next step. We are also going to try a nice fat piece of Canary star quad cable wrapped around the boom pole instead of the internal coil and see if that helps. Our boom poles are wired with pin 1 bridged to the shell on the female xlr, and not bridged on the male end. It's sometimes hard to trouble shoot because the problem comes and goes as the mic and boom op moves around... so sometimes you think you have it solved, but the boom op just moved a bit. Then the buzz comes back at exactly the wrong moment. Next time we are on the set and having the problems, I am going to try the hardwire, and canare cable, but was just curious if you guys had any other suggestions I could try if those don't work. thanks, Scott Clements

Sorry Richard, I am glad it was just my thin skin... sorry to have though otherwise... scott

Hey Richard, It is difficult to read your post without inferring that you feel that since I am not from L.A., that I do not know what I am doing and that I don't understand the film industry. I will assume that I have misunderstood your post, look past it, and answer the statement... First, yes... I do charge for the ADR equipment. I charge $300 per episode which has fully paid off the additional equipment many times over. Second... We are not fortunate enough to be under the 695 contract, so the difference between the utility union scale, and mixer union scale is about $4/ hour. In the IATSE contract that we work under, mixer is treated as a first, boom as a second, and utility as a third. So the mixer is paid the same as a key grip, gaffer, prop master, or craft service. I am lucky enough on our show to have producers that see the benefit of paying me and my guys a good bit above scale. In fact, Jacob's rate is above the union minimum for a mixer. So the company does not have an obligation to upgrade his rate any further when he performs the task of a first or second. That being said... On season one, we were able to get Jacob an upgrade above his existing rate each day that ADR was performed. On season 2, I felt that this is not a cost that should be absorbed by production, but instead by post production. So we started having Jacob bill post production $300 per episode for the ADR. Everyone involved seems happy with this arrangement. I hope this eases your concerns a bit... scott