JonG

I think that the title Chef Ingénieur du Son is the most correct title in French. That’s what I was taught when I studied sound in France.

One thing that many people new to audio don’t understand is that you have to have a strong understanding of audio before getting into location sound. Kind of like understanding engineering before building a house. What we do is a specific niche industry, under the umbrella of a larger science. Very specialized. You really should get your audio engineering basics down before getting into a specialized field. Like it’s been stated before, doing your homework is key. This is not just about learning the gear, there’s a lot more to it than that. I went to audio school and got a degree, then spent years reading this forum, and other resources before I ever dared becoming a voice here. But some people think that they can just take a shortcut and ask for all the answers in one go, not understanding that there is so much more to it than what they think. They generally get upset when told that there is no shortcut, that putting in the work is the only way to truly learn. That’s why we are able to make a living at this, because you don’t just learn it over night or with a couple of questions answered. If it were that easy it wouldn’t be considered a skilled position.

I think it is important to get this right. I had a friend miss out on an Emmy because production credited him as a Sound Recordist instead of a Production Sound Mixer. I’ve also heard that even some production insurance companies are sticklers for official titles. I know that if your equipment is paid to you via a box/kit rental from payroll, as opposed to a “sound equipment package rental” invoice, they won’t insure the equipment and deny a claim, because a sound equipment package rental is not a box rental or a “kit”. I’ve even spoken to payroll companies about this, and they say the same thing, that sound equipment is not a box rental, and to not list it as such, but to invoice the production company directly. Sorry to get a little off topic, but for the sake of the conversation I figured I’d add to the discussion.

Just whips

I’ve been using my 822 primarily in all digital mode, but just this past week had a commercial and used it in hybrid mode with an HMa plug. I was very pleased with the performance and didn’t experience any dropouts, even with only using the whips.

Using just whips they get about the same range I’d say. The only issue I’m finding is that the all digital environment for Lectrosonics seems to be that when you get an rf hit, the result is a dropout in audio. Maybe it’s a bug that will get fixed in a firmware update, but I’m not particularly excited about that. I don’t see the DCR822 as the next gen UCR411a that the claim is. The Wisycom stuff is really fantastic though. I’m very happy with them and am tempted to get another set.

Inspired by other sound mixers, as well as the soundbag dashboards, I commissioned this little dashboard from Drew Martin of Audio Cables & Accessories (ACE). It’s 3D printed, but has a clever way of securing the receivers/distro in place by tightening the front end screws with an allen wrench. This bag is super light and tight, especially due to the modified Condor bag which weighs virtually nothing. Not pictured is the Comtek transmitter in the left pocket, and Camera Hop transmitter in the right pocket, as well as the eSmart battery in the front pouch. Drew also made me custom low profile cables for everything. Top view Front view

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373601821505

episode of Castle using front address studio condensers as top address mics

What’s the power on the various 9Vs you’ve been using and how long do they power an r1a?

I just hope that they don’t continue to make location sound more of a consumer hobby like we saw with music recording in the early 2000s. A good way to destroy an industry for corporate profits.

I worked on the Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace film, syncing a number of cameras worth of silent footage to a single mono nagra rolling in the room with just a 415t getting the nat sound. Cameras were totally trigger happy, we would be lucky to have a full 20 sec of footage at a time. The nagra reels would run out and there would be a gap in the audio. It took forever, but with different camera angles overlapping, even a close up of someone in the audience for 3 seconds were eventually identified and synced up correctly. There’s no way this work could have been done pre NLE software, which is why it remained shelved for nearly fifty years (and then released nine years after we synced the footage!).

And I’ve been dragging my feet on converting some mics...

In your situation I wouldn’t be taking notes. But sometimes I make a take at the end of the day called “notesT01” and verbally mention whatever needs to be said. That keeps you out of trouble if they suddenly expect a detailed report after the fact, and when it wasn’t possible to do so in the first place. Otherwise, my sound report is usually just so people can see the track names, and have my contact info in case they have any questions. Nobody has ever complained about that system.

The demands of the IA are perfectly reasonable and still leave a lot on the table imho. I stand with 695 and support whatever they ask of us. Hopefully we can get a safe, healthy, and humane work environment.

Why would you power up a peripheral after the initial machine? Do you turn your external devices that are connected to your computer on after the boot up so that the OS doesn’t see them and initiate them upon boot up?

I’m going to echo some folks here in saying that anything that requires an app to run it in the field is a no go. And anyone here that’s been in the business for more than a few years will tell you that when you’re in the field, things need to operate on their own. Apps are great and can make things easier, but are entirely unreliable. Cl-wifi was a great addition to the 788T, but at some point it was nearly impossibly to keep connected because of all the 2.4ghz stuff that other departments were bringing on set, and even though I kept a dedicated iPad for it set to not auto update anything, the damn thing somehow updated itself anyways and then the app was no longer supported. So that feature became entirely useless, and SDs complete refusal to continue to support CL-WiFi’s app or hardware was the writing on the wall that they were basically going to use their hand to push people along to newer products years before discontinuing the 788T. So the lesson here is that with that piece of equipment, it is still a very good machine that operates at 100% without an app, making it still completely useful after its being discontinued, and there are still many people who continue to use it as their primary machine, despite the app no longer being supported. When your devices have literally no way to manually interface with them, how reliable are they going to be today while they are supported, or tomorrow when a new product comes out. Frankly, at the price point we’re looking at, it seems like a bit of a gamble to me. That, along with non removable memory (finite read/write times), the choice of AAA batteries, and proprietary remote control from in house recorders (consider those who use other machines), makes this a hot no from my standpoint. Personal choice of course, but I feel like I should express my concerns here for people who have not yet had the experience of equipment longevity being cut down by controlled obsolescence. Not to mention the fact that people somehow manage to get to set in the morning with their phones needing a charge already and without a charger, I can imagine how many times productions are going to SOL because their sound department isn’t responsible enough to show up with a fully charged phone lol.

Yup. He’s done a few for me too, and about five or six years on, everything is still working flawlessly.

I would research what’s available and see if your needs are met by those options, and if the price point justifies the expense.

I have had many people over the years tell me that their turn tables were broken and asked if I wanted them before they threw them out. In every instance, it was because the belt had slipped. So that, and the somewhat unstable speeds you can get from belts, has lead me to go with direct drive. I had to give up my beloved turntable from my childhood when I decided to move abroad in my early 20s, but years later, living without a stereo of any kind except my computer, I decided to go back to how I loved to listen to music. I decided on the classic Technics SL-1200, mostly known as a professional turn table. It is solid, and sounds great. Paired with a high end stylus, a Grado Silver, it’s an unbeatable combination. The one thing that I did not consider when purchasing this turntable is that it has no automatic features, so when the record ends, you have to manually return the arm to its rest position, or it will just keep playing the end loop forever. If I could go back, I would have chosen a similar turntable but with those features.

Audiosonics in LA. 323-467-6505

So par for the course. Wait six months after each update, like we’ve been doing since the beginning. Glad they’re improving that timeline

I don’t know if I’m the only one to have thought of this, but I use a strain-relieved shorty XLR hanging out of my bag (and MM1s for my boom ops) that my boom’s coily cable can quickly connect and disconnect from. Cheap, simple, nearly bulletproof option. (I keep a separate coily cable attached to all of my booms, strain-relieved, again for quick connect purposes). I have an HMa that I really don’t like so much, I don’t think it sounds nearly as good as hard wire or (again in the case of my boom ops, with an MM1 and transmitter). I got it as a means of convenience after Covid hit, so that I could get in and out of an interview set with one less cable to run. Otherwise, I’ve always felt that a single purpose transmitter was for the most part, a waste of money.

Very nice! I always wished that SD would have done this themselves. The fewer wireless items on set the better. Keeping connection has been such a pain that I haven’t used cl-WiFi in years! I wish I had one of these as I still use the 788 as well!

Spend some time on Google before going out and buying equipment. Asking people here (or anywhere) what equipment to buy for something you don’t know anything about is going to give you a bunch of different opinions and potentially lead you down a path that you would have otherwise not gone had you been better informed.