JonG

Guys, Im rolling on an interview right now. Having a tough time keeping from laughing

If you check your boom pole, I highly recommend finding some sort of very durable tube if it cannot fit inside your suitcase. I used to use the "Boom Tube" but every one of them has been destroyed, usually on their maiden voyage, by TSA or just being knocked around with everything else. Once TSA managed to not close it properly and the boom pole slid partly out and was broken in half while being shipped around. You can imagine how of the rest of that show went! <-- If you experience this on company dime, don't be afraid to have production upgrade your pole… whether they know it or not…. I started that show with an aluminum pole, came out with a graphite one!

A lot of poles have their own quick release systems. My Loons came with some, and had I known before ordering the poles, I would have requested them without, since it means that the first collar of the pole releases the tip, which confuses my boom ops on the first try even if I tell them, lol. "Third Party" QRs are convenient because many of us have multiple poles from various companies. Ive been using the SGSv2 QRs since their release and have had zero problems with them. All my poles and shock mounts have them and they have been nothing but reliable. Gene puts a lot of special care into making sure that his products meet the highest standards, and knowing his level of standards places my faith in his OK easily!

Are these avoid lists location specific? Not surprisingly, different locations have different RF conditions, so if there are frequencies to avoid, they would have to only be relevant within a certain area. Just a thought

Thanks for taking the time to publish this. I love my mkh70, and probably use it (outdoors) more often than any other mic, especially when I'm OMBing.

I think your solution is good, but yes, the cables may be difficult to manage. If your post guys are uneasy about M/S then they need a career change. You don't even need a plug-in to "decode" it. In my studio days, recording instruments in M/S was pretty standard practice, and we "decoded" it manually on analogue boards every day. Takes seconds to do

Like the other fellas said, difficult to tell since those were pretty ideal conditions with the exception of the background noise changing. Many people likely have trouble differentiating the quality of the dialogue with the background noise changing so much between clips. However, I would say that this video does confirm how I feel about some mics. The MKH-XX series has great presence all around, the 416 has more pronounced sibilance, the AT wasn't quite as pleasant to my ears, and the Tram was a little muffley and a little more lo-fi. Again, to my ears. I'd definitely like to see another one of these with the mics further away as well. Either way, cool video, thanks for posting it!

+1 for positioning the zep so that the water rolls off. As for the boom, you will likely have to dismantle it to dry after the fact, but one thing you can do is use rubber bands or bongo ties to "seal" bits of plastic bags over any connections. I recently got caught in some light rain in Tahiti, and of all things to give me trouble, it was the XLR connector going from the boom to the bag. I use a coiled cable for my boom, and have an XLR shorty cable hanging out of the bag for quick connect/disconnect. Water seeped in and made some not so pretty sounds. Learned my lesson and tied off some plastic like I described before, and didn't have to worry about it the next time it rained. I did bring a rain-man as well, but didn't end up using it. I was also using an mkh-70, and the rain-man doesn't really fit that mic well as it is. Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

don't bother, just be good at what you do, and be likeable on set

I own a set of passive krks, different models tho. They have always worked flawlessly with any amp ive put in front of them, no need for inline fuses.

I have never personally missed a day, but I did have a mixer friend pass away and not show up for a job. I had set the job up for him so when production called wondering where he was, it became my responsibility. I was however on a job. Fortunately I have a good network of mixer friends, and I know their gear and experience, and keep constant tabs on their availability. So I was able to get someone in and cover the day. I took over for the rest of the shoot. My advice: get to know other mixers and build a strong community. If that day comes, know who is available and appropriate for the job, and like others have stated, try to take care of everything ahead of time if you feel it coming on.

Bravo Tom

+1 SGS

Ive heard someone mention that they used an Earthworks mic for this sort of job. I am not sure about which model exactly, but you can see that they have some interesting options: http://www.earthworksaudio.com/studio/ Maybe someone else who remembers which thread that's in can chime in.

The 6 series machines (664 and 633) allow you to choose which card you monitor from (SD or CF). However the 788T is an amazing machine and I wouldn't replace it because of this one feature, so in your case I would verify that the CF cards you are using are reliable. I have CF cards that are approved media for my 788T, but I get missing files when I use them, however they work fine on my 633. So I keep those for the 633, and use previously approved cards that Ive had for years that have never given me a problem with my 788T. I use Transcend 133x 16BG CF cards for the 788T, again, never had a problem with them, and Ive had others tell me that they are more reliable than a lot of other recommended cards. However I am sure others here have had different experiences. My two cents

Thanks for all the great improvements SD! However the skeptic in me is going to wait and see what bugs surface before jumping the gun...

Wow this is sad news. I own and actively use a number of Grado cartridges.

After starting this thread and reading the responses, I found a deck umbrella clamp that screws onto your cart and allows you to tighten in via screws a mast of your choosing. This was about $16 on amazon. Then I went with a $30 plastic 15' boom pole from Adorama, and the k-tek shark for the boom. Works great and looks good.

Ultimately its up to whomever is working that day and what their mood is. But I often take a small sound bag in a backpack on planes without any issues other than the security checkpoint not knowing what it is.

Just call him until he answers. He'll make the poles and send them to you, then bill you. I just got two.

If you can afford a 633 you can afford a used 744T. Theres plenty of them out there. While the mic pres in the 6 and 7 series machines are different, I doubt many people can actually tell the difference. One thing to keep in mind is that the 633 has only 3 mic pres and three line-only ins, whereas the 744T has two of each. The 633 is a mixer with recording capabilities, whereas the 744T was designed to be a recorder (usually used with a mixer such as a 442 in front of it). For your purposes, if it were me, I'd probably get a 744T. You have everything a 702T has plus the option of two extra inputs to utilize down the road if you decide to get a mixer, or even if you are recording out of a console.

I purchased an approved 32GB Delkin CF for my 788T and the DIT on the shoot at the time came to me a few times saying that I was missing or had a corrupt file here and there. It works if I copy a days folder onto it, but recording directly to it gives me problems. But my older 2011 Transcend 16GB which is not approved media works great. Go figure.

Ive had the black magic monitors for about a year and a half. My first set, one of the monitors stopped working within about six months. BM replaced it for free, but it took a long time (+/- 3 months). The second set started flickering after a few months. The connectors on the back are soldered directly onto the circuit board and are fragile. I have them wired to a bnc patch bay on my cart so I never have to interface directly with them, but I still find them buggy, even with matched impedance on the cables and pass-throughs. I advise against getting these. I'll be getting a set of marshalls pretty soon.

We opened it up and there was a small board that connects to the main board inside. This board connects to one of the tape heads, but was dislodged from the main board, and the connector was cracked. This was a pretty easy fix.

Solid info. Thanks for the input fellas!