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john Quinn

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About john Quinn

  • Birthday 02/11/1965

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  • Location
    London
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    Everything
  • About
    Let me first start by apologizing for not having added to my profile before now, as I have been lurking around here since 2006 I really have no excuse and for that I am very sorry. I am originally from a small town in the south west of Scotland called Dumfries which although lovely is not exactly a centre for Film and Television production. But it does have some claims to fame The Wicker man was filmed there, Robert Burns lived and died there and the last Witch burning in Britain happened in Dumfries but we don’t like to talk about that. Unlike Burns we’ve got a Burns statue a Burns St a Burns Café a Burns Centre etc you get my drift. The last two where well before my time I hasten to add
    After leaving school I did an apprenticeship in Electronic Engineering and at the ripe old age of twenty one I moved to London to train as a Sound Recordist with a film hire company called Crystal Films, which was named after the crystal that was used to keep film cameras and nagras running at a constant speed ”Crystal sync” I am sure it was a really cool name in the late sixties but by the go get eighties it did sound a little quaint. The company was owned by a pugnacious camera man called Les Young who would stand for no messing and expected his young charges to learn fast work hard and any cock ups could end up with you getting a real rollicking if you where lucky. I saw several young AC and Trainee Sound Recordists do the walk of shame never to be seen again. It really was a baptism of fire you had to earn your keep and quickly. But all said he was a great mentor and gave many very good cameramen and sound recordist they’re break in the business. On my very first day at Crystal Films I was sent of to assist a sound man called Ian Hughes who was recording a ballet for CH 4 here in the UK.This was not The Nutcracker Suite the director was an American called Charles Atlas and L’enfant terrible of the ballet world Michael Clark was the star of the show. Leigh Bowery a crazy but amazing performance artist from Australia was also there, who out of his usual gear looked like a shy Benny Hill and all these beautiful naked ballet dancers .For a lad from a wee Scottish town wow what a day. I got back to my flat that night and phoned my parents all I could say was Mum I love this job.
    Our bread and butter at Crystal Films was documentaries but we did what ever came our way drama comedy light entertainment, I even did my first feature film there a musical called Julie and the Cadillacs which starred the lovely Victor Spinetti and Billy Boyd who would grow up to be a Hobbit. During this time I traveled to many parts of the world and had many adventures with a great bunch of people, I left after eleven years to pursue the roller coaster that is the life of a freelance Sound Mixer and thirteen years later I am still on that ride. On a personal note I live still in London with my partner of many years Abbie and we have a beautiful daughter Safia who got her first school report just last week
  1. I have filmed there many times and both worked fine.Take both if you have them. Best John
  2. I think once you reach a certain level, it becomes a "Lexus vs. Mercedes vs. BMW" But if your using Audio Ltd 2040s your driving an oldRolls Royce .LOL It is a bit of a shame that in real life I drive VW Passat Diesel ,oh well maybe in my next life. Best John
  3. They feel sightly sturdier which is good .Sound wise very good but that is in the eye of the beholder (ear of the listener ) .All in all they feel good but only time will tell if they are worth the money. Best John
  4. http://en-de.sennheiser.com/closed-headset-passive-noise-reduction-studio-tv-radio-broadcast-hme-26-6004 I have been using these ones they are from the same family of headphones but with a boom mic for about a year now when I am working at my cart.They sound great but would love to have a curly cable, that is my only gripe. Best John
  5. No it should not happen .Check they are set up properly ie there is a reasonable amount of separation between the TX frequencies . Best John
  6. I have just arrived home at 18.30 after a 14 hr day. A normal day these days seems to be twelve hours door to door but I have had jobs where it is 12 hrs on camera plus travel which even in London can be a 15 hour day. Best John
  7. I interviewed Keith a few weeks ago at the Electric Lady Studio in New York he was very pleasant to everyone and told some great stories .He was not in the slightest starry but he did have a rider "1 pack of Marlboro Red and a lighter".I think the lighter was optional still cool at seventy. Best John
  8. Why not get a job in a hire company that way you get to learn about the equipment and you will also make some money while you are learning. Best John
  9. Jon you have to look on the bright side at least they will have the best sounding radio doc made last year.LOL Best John
  10. I worked on a film last year with two handheld aaton penelopes all shot very close and with a VERY quietly spoken leading man.I radio miked and boomed every scene but sometimes it sounded like the cameras where running on diesel .I do think that the lav's helped greatly due to the fact that the actors played almost all scenes so quietly.Quite often during the rehearsals I would stand on set with the Director and he would turn to me and say "did you hear that "and I would say truthfully "not a word"and these where not large sets and getting more level from the cast was definitely not on the cards.But I saw the film a few weeks ago and even though it felt like swimming through treacle to get those tracks it all sounded fine and there was almost no ADR.I suppose it showed me what good post can do . Best John
  11. OK if you are booming on a TV drama or a feature film resting the boom on your head does not really cut the mustard and the chances are that the scene/take will only last a few minutes at most ,so really two hands all the way. But if you are running around with a bag strapped to your back stuffed full of radio mics while holding a boom in the air for many hours of the day then resting the pole on your head shoulder or passing heffalump are all legitimate ways of recording good sound.Working smart is as important as working hard. Best John Can you tell from the above that I come from Scottish Presbyterian Stock
  12. Head, shoulder, fence, lighting stand what ever works we are not machines and sometimes you need to adjusted your mixer. I used to just use the force but my Jedi days are over young Cloud Wang and now I let my brain take the strain Best John
  13. Daisy chaining does work no doubt I used to do it myself many years ago,But all those extra long bnc cables lying around the floor is an accident waiting to happen .Loosing a picture on a monitor is an easy thing to spot but once you start filming TC drift is not so easy.And as has been said many times before the sound department get the blame when there are TC problems not the camera department. Best John
  14. Daisy chaining is just a big pain in the neck for everyone, it is cheaper time wise to use lockits and more reliable because you have less chance of getting a broken BNC .As one broken BNC at the beginning of the chain will affect all timecodes further down the chain ie all cameras will revert to their internal generators and quickly drift apart . Best John
  15. 3 camera shoot today 2 PDW700's and a C300 all with Timecode Buddies rolling record run. No Timecode issues. Use sync boxes no matter what the shooter bitches about. Hi Rob Why are you using Rec Run and not TOD/Free Run timecode just wondering. Best John
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