dfisk

Thanks, guys!

Hey all. I just wanted to let everyone know that in addition to being with Sound Guys Solutions I'm also working with BubbleBee Industries. We've recently re-vamped our website, which you can see here. We also have a cool video for our Invisible Lav, which you can see here. It's a great video that shows the many uses of the Invisible Lav.

It's been a while for me, but possibly the north end of the Brown Line. It's not really elevated up there, but more of on street level if I remember correctly. I was up that way all the time because my wife was going to college way up there. You could also head up into Evanston on the purple line. It gets pretty quiet up there. It also depends on the time of day. Obviously, late at night in some places will be best because there will be very few people around. You should get some sounds of the train from the interior when it goes underground. I've seen lots of sounds available of the El from an exterior perspective, but not so much from the interior. Also get some good sounds from the platforms in the subway. You'll meet some interesting people there as well.

In regards to using mix track vs. isos in post: In my time cutting dialogue for reality shows (admittedly not a ton of time, but some), I was taught to work from the iso tracks as much as possible. I ended up using a mixture of isos or the mix depending on what sounded best. The nice thing about working from iso tracks is it is MUCH easier to grab fill from those if you need to as opposed to a mix track. It's also easier (at least it was for me) on the little bit of dramatic dialogue work I did, to grab alts from iso tracks or maybe grab a single word from an alt on an iso track if it's all labeled properly and organized. Some people like to only work from iso tracks for whatever reason...and even then, a re-recording mixer may prefer only isos and the dialogue editor may not. I'm not a re-recording mixer, but the person mixing the stuff I cut never complained about how I handed dialogue tracks over, which by the time I was done cutting, wasn't isos on each track for each talent. That creates more work on the mix stage. I don't like to rely solely on the isos because a really solid mix track can make my life a LOT easier, but as the Senator says, "It Depends". Mix ahead will be nice in the reality world. I know it would have really helped me.

All field serviceable, which is nice.

The female stereo mini jack takes up the most space out of anything "plug" inside the iPhone. They can remove it, and make the screen bigger without making the physical phone bigger. Audio I/O goes through the Lightning connector. On one hand, I don't care. On the other hand, now I need to get an adapter. People got all up in arms when they went from the 30 pin connector to the lightning connector on the iPhone5. I thought it was a welcome change. I also welcome this change. I've never been a fan of the stereo mini connector for as long as I've had headphones. They break easily and the cable going into them can get messed up easily. Of course, I say this, and I've never walked around with anything plugged into the lightning port on my phone that is then tethered to my head...but I don't use my iPhone to play music. That's what my iPod shuffle is for.

Glad I'm not the only one.

That's a good one right there.

As John said, it depends on the situation. If this is traditional "Mike Rowe VO for Deadliest Catch", then I'd use whatever sounds best on the talent. If this needs to match a production track for whatever reason, then try and match whatever was used as best you can. For me, when I've recorded dialogue/VO for video games I've gone with a large diaphragm condensor, but in your situation you'll need to treat the room, or have the talent go in a closet full of clothes.

Do you have your boom pole strapped to the front of the bag? If so, can you show a picture? I'd like to see how you do that.

Customers need a big landing area in order to even get "drone" deliveries. I can't remember the exact amount of open square footage, but it wouldn't even be an option for those in apartment buildings, townhouses, or homes with small yards. That rules out a lot of the San Fernando Valley.

Yes, as long as they fit within it.

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Having done lots of field recordings, I've always preferred M/S setups. They just sound more natural to me.

Hopefully now, and if not now, then they are on their way to them, but you should check with your local dealer and make sure they have them, or at least have them on their way for stock.

itdepends.net It's not very active, but.... https://www.facebook.com/itdependsfansofthesenator/?fref=ts

We did a lot of 3D prototype printing, and it was great for that, but those parts would not hold up in the real world under normal use. Plus, as Rado said, the high end 3D printers are expansive.

Man...I WISH we had proper competition here, and I'm stunned at how these companies get away with it. I only have one option for internet, and I've been so unhappy with their service I've been tempted to look into starting my own ISP. It's been like this every single place I've lived. That's Vegas, San Diego, LA, and now Tennessee. I've always been in large metro areas, and still only get one choice besides satellite. My parents in a small town of 16,000 people have a myriad of options and change all the time. We also have very slow internet here compared to the rest of the world that has it. Even worse if you are staying in a hotel. I also am a fan of the a la carte idea for tv channels, and so many people are they are ditching it, thus the earlier conversation. The thing is, most of those channels you never watch only exist because of the current model. If we all switched to a la carte we'd be back to a handful of channels, which I wouldn't mind, but the channels and and cable providers would. I'd just love it if all content came the way Amazon does it. Choose what you want. If you have prime and it is included then great. If not then you can pay for it, but only have it online the same time it airs, like they did with Under The Dome. My kids never turn the TV on any more. I'm thinking that once my DirecTV contract is up in a year I'll either ditch it or cut back what I get. There are some shows on cable that I do watch that if I didn't have some sort of content provider, be it cable or satellite, I would not be able to watch on their websites.

3D printing is good for prototyping, but still a LONG way off when it comes to finished products. I've been down this road. The materials and durability just aren't there yet. Even then, the good 3D printers you need for solid prototypes are very expensive. We're not talking about the ones you can get in the store these days. I'm talking about temperature controlled professional units. Plus, 3D printing just takes too long. If I can do injection molding vs. 3D printing, I'll take injection molding any day. I can make many more parts injection molding than I can in the same amount of time for the same part in 3D printing.

I'm waiting on Tascam to send me a unit to test. The 701D is a teeny bit bigger than the 70D, but there should be enough room. We just need to double check that.

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Honestly, I wouldn't get bent out of shape if I lost the sports stuff. I've had Amazon Prime for a long time now, and I originally got it for the free 2 day shipping, and the video stuff is just a bonus for me. When I got Prime, none of the video content existed. But even then, I'd have to subscribe to several different things to get the content that I want, and I've done the math before...it ends up being the same as having cable or DirecTV, but I don't get to skip over the commercials unless I actually buy the episodes or seasons of whatever shows I watch, but that isn't until long after they originally aired.

So, by the time I've paid for all those services separately I'm still in almost as much as what I'm paying for DirecTV, and for the streaming stuff from the networks I can't skip over commercials.

ANYway...to get back on topic. Is there anyone who has cut the chord but managed to get content as it comes out instead of weeks or months after the fact?

+1 on the DVR. I don't watch any shows live any more, and neither do my kids. The only thing I'll watch live is football, and even then I'll pause it for a while to go do something else, come back, and then just fast forward through the commercials. My kids no longer have an interest in any tv shows unless it's one of the BBC "planet earth" style shows, and they've gravitated towards those on their own. Even with football I'm only half interested and I bet if I didn't have DirecTV I wouldn't miss it. There are a few shows that I do like to watch, and even with online streaming, there are certain networks that won't allow you to access their shows (USA being one) unless you have a cable provider. I was stunned when I went to go watch the last episode of Mr. Robot that my DVR didn't record on their site and had to log in to their site using my DirecTV account in order to view it. I really just wish that all shows would be a la carte like the Amazon shows. If you have Prime all those shows are free, but for regular network shows...just give me the first episode for free to see if I like it and then I'll pay a buck or two for each episode after that per season...and none of this going on line a week or so...or months..after the episode airs. If I'm into a show I do like to watch it within a day or so of when it originally aired. I hate seeing spoilers for Game of Thrones on Facebook.