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RPSharman

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Everything posted by RPSharman

  1. Yep. People move. So do mics. When I mix, for example, for a few takes I may use a bit of lav and boom in the mix and all is well. Suddenly there will be a small change. The actor might duck their chin or miss a mark, or the boom op will be a few inches higher or lower for one reason or another, and suddenly that mix of lav and boom at the levels that worked before don't work any more. It's unlikely you'll be able to solve your issue clip by clip. You might just need to align and mix line by line to the edited footage, if your intent is to mix the boom and the lav together.
  2. I would be surprised if there's not another recording of the audio somewhere. Call around for sure. Unfortunately I'd guess the only recording of the headset mic is the one you have. The podium mics will have her going on and off mic a lot, which might be better sounding in terms of quality, but very distracting and also not very professional. If I were the client, I wouldn't pay either. And although the camera person should have been listening, it likely wasn't their decision to not have someone responsible for the sound. If that's not the case (this isn't my area of expertise), I wouldn't hire that person again either. It's a serious mistake. Fixing this will only make it sound differently bad, unfortunately. As others have said
  3. Here's the thing. The OP might have a corner on the market in Idaho, and expectations might be low, but that doesn't mean professionalism shouldn't be the goal. My biggest pet peeve is listening to mixers gripe about how rates have gone down and they can't find good rental and people no longer treat the sound mixer with respect, yet people show up looking scruffy with a bunch of shit hanging out of their bag, borrow a folding chair, whatever. If, as a community, we want to increase wages and return to being seen as professionals, it's time we started to do that. Look the part! Buy a nice used UM400a for $500 and a couple of used IFBs for $350 each. It'll work great in the bag or on your cart. If you do buy an old Comtek system, buy new zipper pouches for them (including the transmitter). A nice shiny new black pouch with crisp COMTEK on the outside will make a good impression, regardless if there's a 20 year old receiver in there. Regarding any non-industry standard brands... they may work fine, but when they don't, the client will look at them and wonder what crap they're paying you rental for. If something is going wrong, and the gear is something they recognise, like Lectrosonics or Comtek, they'll consider it an anomaly and at least won't question your professionalism regarding gear. Just my opinion.
  4. I'd push back... gently. Not common at all in Los Angeles. And any workflow that editor and post sound and dailies house aren't used to will cause problems at first. Post supervisor is not always knowledgeable and sometimes just a promoted post coordinator. Although in your case they may be. Look them up. They simply might be confused, or might have come from docs or reality where this work flow is more common. I would ask that they confirm with the editor and the planned post sound house that this is also what they prefer to work with. The post supervisor doesn't actually do any of the technical or creative post work. In the end, if it's what they want, then you just have to do it, as the others have described. This method always requires a remix, but I suppose if they're summing the L/R to achieve your mono mix anyway, then I suppose it's whatever they're used to. The problem I would have with it in Los Angeles anyway, is that they'd default to making dailies with track 1 on left and right side, and it would sound bad to the rare few who actually listen to dailies. If you could be assured that the sum would play as a mono mix on both sides for dailies, then no big deal. It would be even more weird if tracks 1 & 2 were played L & R. For me, however, working with a 788T, I'd not want to give up an ISO for this unnecessary and old-fashioned work flow.
  5. Seems like a lot of trouble. Why not just record an emergency mix if you want to run a back-up? I know this has been discussed a lot, but with carts needing to get smaller and smaller with more and more practical locations and less and less preparation, seems logical to just ditch the back-up. I haven't run one in 6 or 7 years, without regret.
  6. That is correct. You can use two different kinds of antennas, but you need two different antennas for sure. Two antennas, two splitters, into two receiver antenna inputs.
  7. Unless it isn't clear. Two antennas. Two splitters. Two antenna inputs on each receiver.
  8. With great success, I use the 3-way passive splitter with 3 x 411a receivers on a process trailer - using 25ft of high loss 50 ohm BNC cable. The factor which gives me success is putting the antennas on the back of the truck, only 15ft or so from the car with the actors in it. But I have also used this rig with free driving, or on a mini cart. In all cases, the fact that the antennas were clear of as many obstacles as possible was enough to compensate for the loss in the system. There's a lot of science to all of this, and the biggest misconception is increasing transmitter power will improve range. I can't tell you the number of mixers who struggle with reception, and are convinced they're doing everything they can by using powered antennas and running their transmitters at 250mW. There are other mixers who have no issues at all running SSMs at 50mW. My experience has been to only add cable if it will significantly improve line of sight, enough to compensate for line loss. I have never used powered antennas, and almost always run at 100mW. The few times I've gone to 250mW seems to have made virtually no difference.
  9. 14 years is an eternity for most electronics. That said, I still have 200 series, and they still work. That's what makes Lectro so great! I have 411s of similar vintage, and first run SMs that are getting long in the tooth. Given the abuse these things take, it's nothing short of a miracle they work as long as they do. My "very old" comment was simply to say that at some point, everything fails. Based on the latest description, I'd say perhaps there's dirt build up on/around the white plastic part of the switch cover that is perhaps misaligning the connection. With the cover off, a little deoxit gold applied with a q-tip to clean the sleeve and button might help, as it also contains a lubricant.
  10. If it's going in anyway, there's no harm in opening the top and trying to clean it out, in case there is dirt in the switches. If you send it in, have them replace the on/off switch too while they are in there. And the other buttons too. Same service charge.
  11. The 211 is a very old receiver. The button has likely failed. Sorry, but there really isn't any other explanation.
  12. I saw the Aaton Wisy demo at Trew Audio the other day. It was seriously impressive. THey're not quite there yet in terms of how to display multiple receivers and menus to allow seeing 2 or 10 receivers, and how to select the one you want to adjust, etc. But they're very close! Wisy has some seriously amazing tech, but if anything rather big and heavy transmitters. The receivers will be across all blocks, and ought to be able to tune in other manufacturers, and their new antennas can not only supply varying amounts of gain, but can also apply an RF filter to block out everything on either side of where you're transmitting.
  13. Someone has just requested to buy B25 SRB on JWSound - I'd sell it to them and buy another SRC
  14. This is why I don’t really expect to see something new and high-end from SD. It was just some wishful thinking. There’s probably very little profit in a machine like that unless you charge $12k+, and that’s never been SD’s style. They’ve locked in the upper/middle market with 6-series, they’ve brought in the less expensive market with the great MixPres, and they’ll surely bring Audio Limited some new business. Makes sense to let Zaxcom and Aaton chase the “elite”.
  15. Still lacks outputs for feature and TV cart mixers. Lots of great products out there for everyone else. If you want a panel, they already have that with the very successful CL12, which works with 664,633,688 and is superior. What I am hoping for is a higher end recorder with a higher end mix panel to compete with Cantar and Zaxcom.
  16. I am so disappointed. I can only hope they have something amazing, and it wasn't quite ready to show.
  17. 12 inputs with limiters and easily accessible gain on all inputs would be ok for now. But seems unlikely I’d buy anything with fewer than 16 inputs. Buying a high end wireless company indicates a business decision and has nothing to do with recorders.
  18. “Camera reloads” ”We don’t have time to reload. We’ve got to shoot!!!”
  19. I’m not criticizing either, but I can no longer get away with 8 inputs and want to stay with SD. 970 isn’t an option with my setup, and frankly the 6-series isn’t enough for me either. I’ll hobble along as long as I can, but soon I’ll need something new. I don’t see how buying a wireless company has anything to do with making new recorders. They’re just making themselves a stronger and more diversified company. I’m hopeful they’ll come out with something, but I don’t believe there’s much profit in it, and I fear they’ll stick to a sensible business plan. As they should.
  20. EXACTLY Unfortunately, unless SD comes out at NAB with some great machine to compete with D24 or X3, they might as well not do it at all. I was thinking about it yesterday. There are only a few types of mixers that would want or use this type of item. One - A few remaining relics like me who want to hold onto my analog board, and need something to plug the outputs into. Two - Mixers who are on high track counts and bigger cart setups who are on Midas or Yamaha or the like, with Dante, that already have the 970 as a great option. Three - Mixers who are perfectly happy with the 688/CL12 combo, and who likely won't want to spend the extra money if they're happy with the current situation. There seems to be no profit in developing and manufacturing a whole new box. I hope I am wrong.
  21. We know Zaxcom will tell you about a machine. Sound Devices will just appear with one. It's doubtful it'll be a new 6-series. Those machines are doing well as is. If they're planning anything at all, I really hope they're going high end, to compete with the Deva 24 and Cantar X3.
  22. These contracts can be deemed invalid by any good lawyer as they can be seen as signed under duress as a condition of employment, without ample notice or representation. You also can’t sign away your legal rights. Flat rates are illegal. For a one day job, I’d sign and move on. For a long job, it’d be worth a conversation. The language in the beginning talks about the program not the production. So they’re saying if you are sued for recording someone, you won’t hold them responsible. Seems like a pretty unlikely scenario. But if that’s a possibility in the job you’re doing, then something to consider.
  23. They are all machines of exceptionally high quality. It just depends on what you want it to do, and what you can afford to spend. I love my 664, but I have used 633 before too, and it's also great. I also have my 788T, which I like for many reasons and use as my primary machine, for now, but I prefer the analog front end of the 664. I still think nothing compares to the 442/744T combo. It's really just splitting hairs.
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