Blas Kisic

Hello, Jan. I am very happy with the syncboxes. I just wish the Lithium charge display gave me some warning when it's about to die. Have you had a chance to look into that issue? Thanks in advance, BK

Yeah, the nerve - who wants to pay the rent? Everybody knows that the best sound mixers live in a van down by the river… SMH…

Same here. It shows full charge and, when you least expect it, it just dies. BK

Excellent, that's what I thought. Thanks so much! BK

I'm a big fan of the BETSO SBOX-1N, and I have two of them (they've replaced two Mozegear boxes I had previously.) I'm currently working on a doc with a partner, who owns the same box, and we're a bit puzzled because his box blinks very rapidly, while mine blinks once per second. Both keep time without a problem, and they stay synced through the whole day, but we can't understand why his box doesn't blink once a second after it's been jammed, like mine. We've looked at the settings, and they're both exactly the same. We're at a loss… Any comments or suggestions you may have would be quite welcome. Cheers, BK

I recently bought a brand new Delkin 32GB CF card for my 788t, and found this disturbing behavior: if the recorder is turned on while the card is already inserted, neither the internal HD or the CF card appear on the screen. It took us more than an hour of troubleshooting to figure out that the culprit was the card. After I tested the issue with all my other cards to confirm this, I went back to the vendor and asked for an exchange. We tried another card and, wouldn't you know it, we had the same issue. We looked for a card from a different batch - problem gone. In order to avoid this issue, look at the back of the packaging. At the bottom, next to the bar code, you'll see two sets of numbers: the problem card read thusly: "092415 1808737VQ". The card that eventually worked reads: "060115 1804778VU". Please talk to your vendors and make sure they look through their stock, and return the offending cards. Thanks, BK PS: This problem seems to be exclusive to the 788t, as these cards are approved both for the 7-series and the 6-series machines, but I didn't test it on my 664…

Thanks so much for that (AFAIK unpublished) pointer, Constantin! So glad I dug through this thread, and found this nugget of information - I'm demo-ing a SuperCMIT for an upcoming job, and was baffled because I cranked up both the trim and the fader on my 664 just to hear anything on the track. I simply thought something was wrong with this particular mic… Cheers, BK

Wow… Sorry to hear. If it helps, I'll be happy to order one for you here, if you can make an arrangement to have it flown to the UK. BK

+1 to what Tom said. As far as the race, I always check the "other" box, or don't answer it at all - because I'm opposed to breaking down humanity in racial groups. In any case, it's not meant for them to discriminate against anybody; it's just a statistical tool. Cheers, BK

I purchased it via Amazon, for about $80. It's called "Mount-it!": http://www.amazon.com/Mount-It-Single-Joint-Articulating-Monitor/dp/B00DQ3679Q Its best feature, IMO, is the fact that you can take the arm apart for storage and transportation. I built a bracket out of aluminum, to bolt it to the cart, and a sheet of plywood as a base for the laptop. Cheers, BK

Thanks! I should post some more recent pictures. It's already seen duty on quite a few sets. There are a few improvements I'd like to make, all in due time, but for right now it's serving me well. The main complaint is that it's quite heavy, and having hard caster wheels doesn't work - so in the next couple of months I'll be installing pneumatic wheels. Cheers, BK

I think he's a self-centered nutjob. I pity anybody who has to interact with him regularly.

I have done a number of these VR shoots. Some production companies use a tetrahedral microphone, which is four hypercardioid mics arranged like a pyramid. The sounds that are recorded by these mics are, basically, four tracks with no manipulation. The process of encoding those four tracks is done in post. The rest of the sounds (dialogue, Foley, etc.) is all recorded in mono, and sound designed after the fact. HTH, BK

Chris, we had to lav athletes as they trained for their bouts. They sweated copiously. The only place to hang the tx was around their waists, which got hot and humid quite quickly. We wrapped the txs in a condom. BK

Well, I'm back from the gig. We ended up hanging two MKH50s from the rafters, and COS11s on two corner posts. No coaches, no ref, no lavs, no PZMs. Unbeknownst to us –surprise, surprise– a decision was made to shoot some POVs, some "bag training" and a "walk-through" of the gym, for which we could have used more lavs and plants but, since we only packed for what we were told we needed (the gig was in Oakland) we were missing some essentials. We had a PA run to get condoms and Moleskin, which obviously saved the day, but it would have been preferable to know what to expect and deliver. Oh, well… Anyway, we were stretched thin because we had to pre-rig _two_ rings. All in all I'm happy with the result, because we had some time to record ambient sounds and some wilds with the principals, which will be mixed in for the final piece. Thanks again to everyone who contributed here! BK

Thanks, RJBerto. Your approach seems to be the most sensible, without being overkill… Unfortunately, I won't be able to visit the room until the prep day, so we'lre trying to cover our bases here. And thanks for the stereo mic for perspective - we actually have a tetrahedral mic, which will provide the spacial perspective. Cheers, BK

Hi, Laurence. Fischer is out of the question, as the location is a cramped gym in San Francisco. However, we will be hanging mics (probably MKH50s) from the rafters, along with a couple of MKH416s or 60s, in strategic spots. Thanks, BK

Thanks for your comments, guys - keep them coming. Please, remember: no "cameras" - there's only a single camera with a wide angle. Nowhere to hide. I like the idea of wiring the trainers, though - thanks! BK

No dialogue. It's an actual fight, and they want to capture all the sounds as best as possible. Of course, I'm planning on hanging a shotgun over each corner, so that I can cover any discussion between the fighter and the corner men, but that's it as far as "dialogue." Thanks, BK

After a fruitless search through old threads, I resort to ask here myself: We will be filming in a boxing gym for two days, with several real bouts scheduled. I need to cover the sound from all angles, but there can be no booming whatsoever - there will be a single camera angle –very wide – but the producer wants the best possible sound. We did a similar shoot a few weeks ago, which was broadcast live on TV. They had a remote truck and a number of mics, and I was able to tap into the tracks they were using for the broadcast. They had three mics (B6s, according to what I was told) on the mat and four hanging mics roughly in the middle of the mat, approximately 8' above the ground. That sounded very good, and I figured I could start with a similar plan: I'm thinking of placing four PZMs on the corners (or maybe they should be at the edges between the corners?) and hang one to four MKH50s from the rafters. But I wonder if we should also hang shotguns from different parts of the area? What makes more sense for the mats, PZMs or omnis? They obviously should be inconspicuous, but I want them to sound good as well. The B6s they had at the afforementioned match sounded great - I'm leaning in that direction, maybe with COS11s… I'll be extremely grateful for any comments or suggestions you may send my way. Thanks in advance, BK

Thanks for the review, Withney. This van is definitely on my radar. I want to replace my 1996 Ford 350, whose tailgate is too high for my upright cart, and is generally too big a behemoth to drive around town. If you have any updates in terms of maintenance, quirks or whathaveyou, please post them here. Thanks again, BK

Just saw this, Richard. Thanks - I'm glad I clicked on it. BK

Hi there. Are you looking for locals, Spanish speakers, or…?

Thanks, Mark. Will check that out and report back. In the meantime, I bought a new FW cable and will install it as suggested by Philip, which can't hurt… Cheers, BK

Excellent tips, thanks again. BK