Alan Barker

Has anyone determined which wireless frequencies are most/least likely to suffer from occupancy sensor interference? The Leviton sensors operate at 5.8 GHz but I have run into what sounds like intermodulation problems in UHF.

The Rode WirelessGo has a latency of 6ms, not bad. The Deity Pocket Wireless has 41ms by my test. The AVX is 19ms to my understanding. The WirelessGo II has recording capability at the TX but a cumbersome downloading procedure I'm told. At least the recording is on the talent and unlikely to be stolen. The Tentacle Track E also has that advantage. An LA shooter friend was recently robbed in Oakland. The robbers smashed a car window and took all the gear the crew wasn't packing. The crew was in sight when this happened.

Anyone have experience with the PDR? I'm thinking of outfitting a fairly inexperienced crew with them. They will be in a nasty RF environment. I wonder if there are post complaints about the multiple files and odd take lengths. Thanks, Alan Barker

I went out on the Nimitz some years back to research this issue for the series Carrier. The radar on the flight deck is very intrusive. We had Portabrace make barneys for the cameras out of 8 layers of Ni/AG-Coated Ripstop Nylon, NS58R which looks like ripstop nylon but is impregnated with nickel and maybe something else, it's made to shield RF. The cameras worked OK so long as they weren't pointing at the radar antennas. If they did, the radar came down the lens and made for a glitch, we were shooting HD tape then. The sound gear worked pretty well with two layers lining the bags but there were always some hits. Few problems downstairs except for the usual multipath given all the metal. Take all the mics you've got, no telling what will work best. There are about 14 levels to a carrier, be ready for ladders and small passageways when underway. I hope you'll have a cabin and not be in a top bunk like I was. Don't plan on sleeping if you're under the catapult. Ask about the "boom boom room" if you want a chuckle or something else...

Hi, I had a similar problem with 633 serial #LL0213338004. I was getting hits, shorter than yours, that were somewhat random but often happened at the onset of program level audio after a moment of lower level audio. I was getting this at ordinary speech levels using a Sanken CS3e. I did hours of testing, different mics, cables, levels, etc and was unable to duplicate the problem. I retired that CS3e. Then, in the field, the problem would randomly crop up again with another CS3e and wireless mics. Then one day while recording a gospel choir I had a hard clip, below limiter level which was at 18 dBu, really ugly, unusable. The choir was loud but not that loud. My practice is to set gain by putting the fader at 12 o'clock then bringing up the trim so the level is healthy. From there I mix with the fader. The trim pot was not exceptionally low, not enough to indicate a preamp issue. I did more hours of testing at high dB levels and could not duplicate that problem even with the trim pot quite far down. I dealt with Jayson Moyer at SD who was very helpful but also unable to duplicate the problem. As the problem was intermittent I told SD that a repair would not do. They graciously exchanged the 633. The "new" one they gave me was a return but I was able to contact the previous owner as his name was in the metadata. It had not been returned for a problem. This unit has never shown either of the above problems.

The fact that mixers mix differently should be reason enough not to trash Justin for his question. I work in exclusively documentaries and have what is probably an atypical approach. I record the iso's Post Fade. I do this for ethical reasons and to build trust. I tell anyone I wire that they will not be recorded if they are not part of the scene being shot. Too often I have seen trust evaporate when someone remembers they are wearing a wire during a private conversation. I also do not rely on post to look after people's privacy. I do a mono mix to L&R which I send by hop to camera channel 1, Comteks and record in MP3 on the SD card. I put a Sennheiser K6/ME64 with a custom windscreen on the camera - not a pretty mic but one that's very good at making speech intelligible. The isos go to the CF card as a .WAV Poly file. I turn in the isos as "Double-System Audio" not "Backup Audio." The MP3 goes to transcription if needed. The transcriber I have been working with lately wants audio in both ears, no time code. They use InqScribe software which does not read code but allows entering the start code of each take which is found in the information window of MP3 files made by the 633. When possible I boom everything as though the wireless's weren't there and encourage the production to use that as primary audio. The boom goes to iso 1 and so on. Regards to the community: Alan Barker

Are you shooting in the US? I don't know the situation in Canada but the legality of stealth recording varies from state to state in the US. It gets really sticky if you tape law enforcement. A good reference: http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-recording-guide

Great publication but: Does the Business Representative's page attribute the phrase, "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" to Roosevelt? That phrase was used by the Republican party in the 1928 election of Herbert Hoover - who brought us the Great Depression.

This problem is rampant. http://www.sennheiserusa.com/serviceandsupport_counterfeitalert

Sorry, that was in reference to the G3 wireless mic. ab

Sorry of this is a repeat post. I've had very good luck with the G3's as hops and as IFBs. Sometimes with a hop I use an extra receiver as a director's IFB. However, the G3's have new wiring, G2 cables will not work well at least with a line level feed as I use them. Sennheiser has not explained this well, I found it only in the literature that comes with the SK100 transmitter when bought separately. I learned about it the hard way when Location Sound used the old wiring on some TA3F to locking mini cables they made for me. The G2 wiring was tip = mic, ring = line, sleeve = ground. The G3 wiring for line level is tip = ground, ring = line, sleeve = ground. It's counterintuitive to ground the tip but if you don't the level will be very low and the noise high. Maybe you all know this by now. Best, Alan Barker G3 SK100 wiring:

Hello, Does anyone know of Mac software that converts .WAV files to MP3 with time code? I'm looking to end up with MP3 files that have code like the ones you can record directly on a Sound Devices recorder.

I dealt with this problem once by covering the roof with an astro turf type material we found in a Home Depot. It worked pretty well but it was a real roof, not the tin you describe. Alan Barker

Can we talk frankly here? I have been a LSC/Audio Services customer for over 25 years. As for their repair department, no thanks. ab

I have used the Olympus DS2 for similar applications. The sound quality is great, battery life is terrible. It effectively needs a new set of AAA's every time you use it. I hope your friend can tap into the com line directly, it will be worth the custom cable. Alan Barker