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Richard Newton

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About Richard Newton

  • Birthday 06/23/1978

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  • Location
    Riverside, California
  • About
    Production Sound Mixer, Boom Op, & Dialogue Editor
  1. Thanks everyone sharing here, I just pulled the trigger on RX3 Adv. will see how it goes this weekend when I get a chance to play with it.
  2. Tom, Please add me to the list of people who are looking for this feature as well. :-)
  3. Had to work in San Bernardino today, hope you all had a great time.
  4. I've got an Audix SCX-1HC, and like the sound, I use it in an invision mount but have noticed it being somewhat sensitive to handling, unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to compare it to an oktava or any other mics often referred to as comparable. I wouldn't mind providing mine as a sample for comparison. A second SCX-1HC to compare would be nice too, if someone else has one to volunteer. Robert/Rick please PM me if you want to arrange this.
  5. I started to post earlier when this thread was fresh, wish I hadn't been distracted at that moment... Anyway as a newbie I want to contribute my .02... I was asked by a staff member at the post school I was attending a few years ago if I could help out with sound on a no budget short she was producing, I showed up early that weekend and was handed a DR-100 w/manual, an mkh-60, and a boompole... a few months later while finishing up with school the writer/director of that short film called me to work on a paid 4 day shoot out of town, so I figured out where to rent gear and did the best job I could. It wasn't til after that gig that I really started asking questions, like where does one learn Production Sound, and what should a Production Sound Mixer ask for a day rate???(I realize this is backwards) I'm still asking these questions and for the most part I find new questions more than answers, trouble is as I've mentioned in other threads, and I can't be the only one with this problem, I started out asking the wrong people, I grew up in a city about an hour from L.A. and sure I may know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who works in the industry, but I never had any contacts until I made them myself, never been on set until I was there to work, and the first of the Sound Mixers(I can count on one hand) that I know today I only met because I saw he'd posted something about mixing on a facebook page and that we had common interests(we're both Christians) and I basically cold called/stalked the guy, between him and another mixer I spent about a year taking jobs that they couldn't/wouldn't take... Without you sharing your experience with me including these very important discussions about the expectations of producers regarding rates, working conditions etc. and had I not found this forum, I would still be out taking jobs where I was paying to work and unwittingly hurting myself and everyone here, after all in the neighborhood where I grew up if you're making $25/hr you're a real BA... Instead of continuing on that way, for about a year now I've been trying(slipped a couple times out of desperation) to keep my expectations high re rates/working conditions even when it has meant turning down work. I realize this is a matter of perspective, but from where I'm standing it seems like, building respectful relationships between the seasoned mixers and the greenhorns and sticking to that would go a long way towards remedying this growing problem. Had I been less mature or even just in a bad mood when I first found this forum and had I happened to see hostility toward new people here I may have just dismissed this forum and continued eroding away at the future of all sound mixers.... Yes maybe there are too many new people, I know its been suggested before but hire some of us as utility's or booms and fight for us to be brought on when negotiating with clients, if we are working for you, how could we be working against you
  6. Tom, Last week I did an unscripted gig for a horror network, there was a lot of screaming, and by the end of the day I was very confident in the blue.... I have to agree with those on the Trew thread who've said,"don't change a thing" personally I love the limiters as they are. Thanks
  7. I can't believe I missed(didn't know about) this... :-/
  8. Haven't the time at the moment to read this entire thread, but as a "newbie" 3 years give or take, I wanted to chime in here. Firstly, I'd like to ask the community to excuse me for acting like a bottom feeder, and let it be known that I'm now trying to stand with those of you who oppose that destructive behaviour. When I started out doing occasional jobs with whatever equipment was on hand and for whatever I was offered if anything at all, I entered this industry with zero contacts and a naivety to the problem we are discussing, so I took peoples word that this was what I "had to do, before I could get better jobs", that "I'd make good contacts", get "copy and credits that will help in the future" & "We will eventually call you back for the bigger project that we plan to do soon." I heard these half truths and many other lines of utterly confusing bad information from people who hired me(hesitant to call them clients cause I really wasn't running a business) but even more from the picture oriented job placement department at the Post school I attended, given all of that I really can say in my defense, that I didn't know any better. It wasn't til about this time last year while reading here, that I realized how insane it was to continue trying to "get in" like that, and that by doing so I was contributing to decline in the profession I'm aspiring to. Although I'm still uncertain about my rates, and have gone through several revisions of how I approach billing, and despite the fact that I find myself out of work sometimes for months at a time, I turn away work when the client insists I take a rate that's "too low", and for the last year I have had the "IATSE Commercial Production Agreement" taped to the wall of my home office as a reminder. I for one would be happy to join a Guild/Alliance/? that would include "newbies" like me, offer an avenue for mentorship/training, and strive to dignify and elevate our work through solidarity, sharing of information, setting standards for compensation, etc.? I'd also jump at an opportunity to work as a utility or boom op... Hard to get away from it, and I recognize that continuing independent discovery is part of the beauty of this career, but strictly speaking "Self taught" is NOT what I want to be. Mentorship/Training under an experienced Mixer, not only regarding "how to do the work" but "how to do the business responsibly" would go a long way toward building in "newbies" respect for guidelines that hopefully they would have an interest in helping to establish, not to mention that having some work even at lower rates would be a huge help to resist the temptation to take those crappy jobs because they want to pay the rent for the month or feed thier kids(only reason in the last year that I have given in to this temptation). Lastly, I'm always grateful when I learn something from this community, and I don't use it to undermine the years of experience, or hard work that gained you that knowledge that you share, I actually try to do just the opposite. By putting into practice what I learn here I try to raise the standards of my work, the way I do business, and the way I represent our profession, being new as I am and having less to share with the community, it's the best way I know to contribute. Rich
  9. Mike, Been learning to solder this year, so far I've soldered about a dozen XLR connectors for my bag(just like Mike Clark's Post#16 ), and I even soldered TA5s on several of my MKE 2/Plats, at this point it takes me a really long time to solder and though it all seems to work with no problems it isn't pretty especially the small stuff, but with practice I hope to get quick and confident enough to repair any cable in the field. Unless there is some ultra secret Santa's workshop where cables are made by elves(in Florida maybe? Eric are you hiding pointy ears under those cans? ), from what I've gathered it is way more affordable to DIY, plus it's a nice skill to have, and better than having to drop off mics and wait X number of days/weeks to drive down and pick it up from the service dept. on your day off, especially when you live out here. Tip from a Noob: Put the boot and all bits of assembly & shrink wrap on in the correct direction BEFORE soldering, and plan on taking some Aleve and a nap after your first go at a ta5, better yet take the nap and Aleve before hand . Jim, Thanks for this. Rich "Hirose scares the piss out of me" Newton
  10. I was just gonna let this topic fade into the forum abyss, but since fiftyfoot brought it back up I suppose I will update everyone on how the trip went, we went to San Antonio, Houston & quite a few places around the Austin area, would have been to Dallas also but ran out of time. Kreuz, Blacks & Smitty's was a great suggestion, thank you, we tried a little sausage and brisket from each, my personal choices were Smitty's brisket and Kreuz sausage, honestly I thought Black's was a little overpriced (upto $40 for a beef rib!?) and not as good as the other two, but thier bbq sauce was very good, we also tried "The Green Mesquite" downtown Austin, the smoked wings and hush puppies were among the best I've ever eaten. So I wandered onto the Austin Studios lot and talked to some of the people at Austin Film Society, nice people hoping something may come of that? I also connected with a really cool husband and wife team that does production and post, they offered me some Summer boom work on a couple features but I had to turn it down because of budget and family obligations. We missed the bats twice, I think both times we left a few minutes before they came out, was a little tough to wait on the bridge with 7 kids, maybe next time. Our tentative plans to visit again this Summer have been delayed for economic reasons, not much else to tell at this point, thank you all again for your advice and suggestions. EDIT: Oh yeah, since this is the Work Available/Available for work part of the forum... With enough notice I am still interested in flying out to fill in as an assistant for a couple weeks out there when the need arrises, if you are willing to take on someone with no experience(been running almost completely solo so far)...
  11. Tom, Just spied this on eBay, and thought you might want it for your project. http://www.ebay.com/itm/400294900689?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Rich
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