JonG

I interned at studios and granted, I was rarely given the opportunity to observe, let alone get my hands on any real gear, I understand the paying the dues aspect of it all. If anything, it's more of a test to see if I can follow direction, and if I am pleasant to work with. For us on set, I suppose it is more babysitting than anything. I would have loved to have that opportunity when I was starting out, and now that people ask me if they can come and observe or help out, I often find that it would simply not be appropriate to have a guest on set.

I had a similar job offer years ago, but the scam was for a soap opera. What they do is send you a cheque from a company that either does not exist, or that does but is unaffiliated with the production, and wait to see if it clears. You do the dirty work, because if it doesn't, you're the one that gets caught. They give you no accurate info as to how to locate their business, so they're in the clear. All they are trying to do is see if they can get someone to verify that a fraudulent account will work before they start really committing some fraud. When I received my cheque, I noticed that the issuing company was not a production company, but rather some sort of industrial company out of Alameda (near San Francisco). I looked up the company, and they were certainly not a production company. Then I went to their bank (Citi Bank), and asked to speak with a manager, informing him of the situation. He said that it was a form of fraud, thanked me for coming in and informing him, and kept the cheque. He also said that if I had tried to cash or deposite it, there may have been problems for me, lol. Best of luck!

In professional recording studios one never leaves phantom power engaged while power cycling or plugging/unplugging mics. Why one would do it in the field makes little sense to me, coming from that background and philosophy. I even power down my wireless when plugging or unplugging lavs.

@Patrick Tresch I see this style of filming becoming more and more the norm. Scripted cinema and televidion being shot more like reality TV. The phrase "get extra coverage just in case, for more options" becoming ever present.

@Marc Wielage maybe people will start rehearsing more and shooting what they need instead of endless amount of coverage because of the volume of files, like before when it was because film was expensive. I have to think that at some point people will wake up and come to the conclusion that doing things the right way is the better way, not just getting endless amounts of coverage because they don't have a plan to begin with.

I have had unbelievable results using k-tek lav socks (?) on cos-11s. Just insert mic, put in moleskin sandwich, and apply as notmal. I've had perfectly clear dialogue in Santa Ana winds with zero wind noise.

A lot of us use these for camera hops and/or ifb. I only use mine for camera, so mine are all modded with a bnc in place of the volume knob for tc. The switch mod would also prove to be valuable in this instance because camera ppl with often unknowingly bump the switch off, or worse, try to be helpful and turn them off at lunch and inevitably forget to turn them back on (I see this very often and they always, without fail, forget to turn them back on). A push button that you have to wait a couple seconds would eliminate some of these problems. If v4 happens to incorporate these I'd certainly pick some up. As usual, thanks for sharing @RadoStefanov

My initial thought is to simply put a 2 pop at the begining of your session and align each take to that. It would be a simple way of syncing each overdub. I am not familiar with modern incarnations of Cubase, so don't know what it's video editing capabilities are, but if you were to use the audio track of your gopro as a guide, the pop at the beginning of each session should in theory serve as an easy reference point.

I have often expressed concern for miking players on various sports shows that I have worked on. Mainly because the option of rigging everything into the helmet was never an option for me because the players would remove their helmets for the interview segments. Not being given the time to secure the tx in the padding or armor, I was always left with the typical 30 sec or so to wrap a strap around the player and get the mic secured somewhere and hope for the best.

Saying yes to this sort of thing puts more power in the hands of the client by not being liable for things like L&D, and it also puts power in the hands of middle-men, starting with finders fees, then who knows what subscriptions you'll also have to sign up for with them to "rank" or "qualify" or who knows what else they'll try charging you for. Just say no.

I purchased the dbx unit because it was common to use them alongside tape machines in the past, so I wanted to give it a go and get to know it, and I found this for a very reasonable price. Truth be told, it does kind of take the life out of the sound of the tape, and the self noise of the device only replaces the tape noise. So I took it out of the chain, and keep it around for experimenting mostly. I have thoughts of putting together a patch bay that connect the Teac meter bridge (thank you @Philip Perkins for selling me this fun piece!) and the dbx unit off of splits so I can listen to the direct tape sound, or switch to the dbx without having to always have it in the signal chain. But then again, that's getting very elaborate. However, I do have plans of implementing a DSD recorder/player to properly digitize the tape collection. Think that's going a bit far? lol

@Dinesh Yuvi, forgive my ignorance to the geography of your country, but one of the reasons why I recommend a 416 is also because environmental issues like humidity do not affect that mic like they do with modular mics, and the 80xx series being modular, is susceptible to those kinds of issues. If the area you live in has high humidity, this may be an area of convern for you. FWIW, used Sound Devices and Lectros can be obtained within your price range. I'm sure that if you keep your eyes open in our classifieds section, or other places such as ebay, or facebook groups, you will find everything that you are looking for at the right price to fit into your budget. Best of luck!

Given the remote location of the OP, I'd say it would be wise to go with things known for their reliability. Like Myk said, Sound Devices would be a better choice than Zoom not only for quality, but also because they're proven to work in a variety of situations and conditions, whereas Zoom is only known for being inexpensive. A used 744T/442 combo would be a great sounding, robust kit to start with that won't let you down. Regarding mics, I'd be inclined to get a 416 and mkh50 for outdoor/indoor use only because those mics will never let you down and they sound great, and are a versatile combination. A used 416 with a blimp and softy could probably be found fairly easily for under $1k. If that eats up your budget then it is a good start. Don't bother spending money on lavs until you can afford a really good set. At least a um200c/ucr211 series Lectro set. As for a boom pole, the Rode pole is pretty bare bones, and not worth the money imho. Try for a used k-tek, psc, vdb, etc. Anyways, if I was buying my first kit, this is what I would go for if I wanted to stay in your budget. Of course it is all about personal preferences. I know that you can't preview any of these items youself, but a healthy number of us here on the forum used this very kit for many years, and many still do. Everyone will agree that it is rock solid, reliable, and sounds great. Please fill us in on what you decide upon!

Reading the manuals for these items will also answer your question.

I use a 1978 Yamaha CR-1020 receiver with a Technics SL-1200mk5 turn table, Tascam CC-222mkII cassette/CD player-recorder, Akai GX-646 and Technics 1506 reel to reel machines, coming through Infinity kappa 8.1 four-way speakers and KRK passive monitors. No television.

Thats a lot of topics...

A car manual does not include instructions on how to drive, so why would an operators manual on a piece of pro or semi pro equipment include instructions on how to be an audio engineer? Google is a good place to seek answers...

I have several NPL7S's, some as old as 2009 I guess, some as new as 2013. All in regular rotation, and I get the same results out of all of them, which is basically that they work as new, no loss of charge. My friend has a couple nicad NPs that he bought new back in 2013 and they are essentially bricks at this point.

The base stations and IFB100 are fairly close to each other on the cart, though the base stations do have external antennae (Mini Mite and Phase Right) that are remoted away, the cabling does come a little close within the cart. In the bag, I have them on opposite sides of the bag, but it is still close enough to occasionally get Zax-bleed into the comteks.

I have a bst75 and bst75-216 that I use alongside an IFB100 on my cart. Whine does get into the comteks, you just have to move the Zaxcom antenna around till it stops. Same issue out of the bag when used alongside the 216 bag transmitter.

I'll take one of those service manuals if people are passing them around. I have a nagra III that could use a little love too

Cool!

I would love a solid lead on repairs for this sort of mic. I actively ise my 815T, and a friend of mine recently scored one as well. I'd love to be able to service it when the day comes, instead of having to replace it with another 40 year old mic that will likely give out sooner than later.

There was a discussion on this in another thread. Essentially Lectro cannot make a 250mw wideband SM because of the physical contraints of specific parts. But, in that thread, many people voiced that they would be ok with wideband SMs that could only go up to 100mw. I would too, and my thought is this: if 250mw is that important, keep your current tx, and pull them out when necessary. I use all SMQVs, but 90% of the time I leave them at 100mw. Only in rare instances will I bump them up to 250mw. Instead I am working on better ways to remote my antennae, because having them closer to the tx will give you better results than having a more powerful tx. In some instances, having a more powerful tx is not only necessary, but it is also the only option. I know this from experience, having had done a number of jobs that requited me to make the impossible happen. But this is why I would likely keep my current tx and buy new wideband ones to work along side them, so that I have as many options as possible. If enough people show interest in wideband SM tx with a 100mw cap on them, then they will likely consider making them. Write a letter fellas

I think what would help sell this product are support products. Most of us buy an item, and all its accessories in one sweep. Finding at the very least a rubber bumper case and self-installable lip (maybe a drawer handle from Home Depot?) to package with these would help sell them, since those seem to be the primary concerns that people have. I'd love adding this to my kit, but those are the things I'd want in a package deal, so I wouldn't have to go out and source them myself. Just a thought.