as a fellow lurker commenting on a fellow lurkers perspective {
I'd call myself a generalist kind of sound guy (reality, corporate, doc, narrative-indie/union blah mixer/boom/utility etc.)
I'd like to think of myself more as a boom op than mixer, but this(post #6) was definitely my experience having recently Boomed my first contiguous season of a union show. Anyway, it was a big shift getting used to the <"tv mentality"> of trying to work out logistics of fitting two cameras in the same room ALL the time (well not literally all the time) and necessarily having to compromise everything for the "perception" that this method will make things faster, versus people that come in f(knowing) what they want, while logistically understanding how to "get it." Logistically, everything has necessarily moved to wireless (focus assist, iris assist, video, then <our stuff>, plus ambient <whatever>), so its just going to become a perpetually increasing problem.
To the original post, maybe if there was "open firmware" or something, such that these increasingly digital/computer trending solutions don't become complete "black boxes" that magically do arbitrary function. I think part of the whole fun aspect of the location mixing side is intuitively understanding the various backup plans you can "create" given <your set of gear>.
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