FaxBook

Sorry if I offended anyone. Thought it was clear I was just lightly joking with a goofy/fun thread. Obviously a human life is valued higher than a 416 shotgun microphone. A CMIT5U on the other hand...

I direct you all to view this hilarious video of a reporter falling off a boat. Classic. Hilarious. Possibly all fake. Point is is the second this accident happens this sound guy comes in, wearing no headphones, and INSTANTLY throws his boom towards the woman as if for her to grab on for dear life. Though sorta seemed to try to be nottttttt quiettttttt clossssse enough as if he was second guessing his decision. What do you think? Is this a real sound guy? Is this a real video? What would you do? What type of mic would you save a drowning woman for and which mic would you pretend you're jusssssst notttttt quietttttt close enough?

I was doing a job today, a documentary, with a NOMAD 10. I've had it for about 6 months and haven't had an ounce of problems with it, love the thing. Today, after about an hour into an interview, during a 22 minute long take, audio cut out, and the NOMAD just froze like a crappy PC from the 90s or something. Wouldn't respond, wouldn't cut, had to shut it down. On restarting, luckily the file recovery program recovered the file successfully where it had cut out. Thank god for that system btw. Listened to the file and it seemed ok. Rolled again, thinking I was ok, then 30 seconds later, nomad makes high pitched tone and freezes again. Restart again, and again, recovers file. I quickly change the primary folder to a new primary folder and turn mirroring off because I had a weird feeling it had something to do with it. The rest of the interview went ok. Then, after the interview, remirrored the entire card just to be safe. While mirroring the problem sequence, the mirroring froze on 82 percent, yet the mixer didn't freeze. Crossed my fingers and tried remirroring one more time and luckily it was fine. And all the audio is there and there was no problem. Short of the takes cutting out when they did. What do you think happened? I've never run into anything like this before. Do you think it had something to do with my mirroring? I had it on, not on continuous. It was pretty hot out and we were doing long takes but i've never known the NOMAD to be temperamental to that sort of thing. It was hot but it wasn't like the desert. Do you think my nomad is messed up? Should I maybe factory reset just to be sure? Has anyone had this happen?

Thanks, thats essentially what I was figuring. Interesting about the Lexar cards though. Never heard that.

When you buy a SanDisk Extreme, or even Ultra Extreme compact flash for a Nomad, what exactly are you paying for? Are you paying for transfer speed? And does it actually effect the recording to the compact flash on the Nomad. Or is it just how long you want to wait at the end of the day for the DIT to download. And lastly is it worth it to not just buy the Ultra?

Well I just want to thank everyone for their advice, this was very useful to know what people think makes sense.

I understand what you're saying, the caliber of shoots I work on with most mixers, mainly features, I dont really imagine I would be doing for a good while. And I feel like the city is big enough that I wouldn't be stepping on any toes I'm loyal to. In fact, I've actually had the opposite problem, where I'll get a call from someone recommended by someone I boom for and the job involves needing gear. So if anything, I feel like I'm having to turn down jobs that people I know are sending my way and to have a small kit would only help the passing along of jobs from one to another. And trust me, I definitely know where my loyalties lie.

I mean this is actually the thing I wanted to bring up to debate when I named the thread Buy Once Cry Once. Is it better, from everyone's experience to start out really small, like with an edirol with no timecode or like isos and just get by doing the smaller stuff and work your way up and earn your gear when you can save enough or is it better to just skip the whole first step and just jump to the next level at first. I also want to add that I'm not just someone who wants to buy an Alexa to then consider himself a DP, I understand theres more to being a good mixer than having good gear. So hearing what Crussel has to say to his younger self is actually really helpful. In terms of debt, I think what JP said is pretty true, really it all comes down to what you're able to pay in a realistic mindset. For someone like me, who's pretty much only booming, I'm not getting as many jobs without owning gear, and by buying gear, doesn't prevent me from getting the jobs I already would be getting. So by investing in gear, personally, I would say I'm only increasing the amount I get hired, and also, the amount I get paid. And by my calculations, getting one or two extra days a month would pretty much pay off everything in a couple of years, which seems pretty doable. To buy any gear would cause me to go into some type of hole and I guess what I'm really debating is how deep do you guys think that hole should be at this point. Do you guys regret having to sorta slowly upgrade or do you wish you could have just bought everything that is the level of professionalism you grew to obtain after working to upgrade things. Is it better to take baby steps or just make a bigger, riskier, initial leap for more eventual gain?

Yeah I know the QRX excepts two stereo channels I'm just wondering about peoples experiences using it in the bag, is the interface still easy to read and adjust for two channels, are there any sorta disadvantages to using the QRX rather than two independent RX receivers?

I worked with a mixer recently who was using a QRX100 as a double receiver for 2 TRX900s instead of, say, two RX900S. Does this make sense? He said it worked great but because it seems like its usually used as a camera feed I was wondering how people felt about using it in a bag as just a duel receiver. I realize this could probably be its own separate thread.

This is actually something I have less than a great handle on. What type of power system do you think would be best. I knew a mixer who used his 788 with no power supply, just the camera battery in the back and laughed at him having to change it 4 times a day, let alone not having a backup. Also, travis, was actually wondering to myself whether the cs-3e would be to hyper to start. I feel like it only sounds good when really directed well, and when doing something like docs or bag work, maybe something a little versatile would be better so I wil consider that.

Yeah I realize shock mounts and windgear are lumped into the sorta "other" category but also nothing to be ignored, and expensive enough to just "poo poo." So really I think I should leave a good $1000 for things like this and batteries and also plan on buying a FatMax to store everything. I have come from a narrative background mostly, doing features as a boom op/short film, but also have had short lived reality gigs. But, besides working with a lot of different mixers and seeing how each one works differently and what is smart and what isn't, I'm pretty ready for the jump to what I imagine will be mostly in the bag work. Would love to do some doc work frankly. But imagine, to answer your question, mostly be in the bag, and if allowed a boom op, would probably use the FatMax to just rest the bag for now.

Hey everyone. I've been a boom op professionally in NYC for about 4 years now, but lately have decided to start buying some gear. I have taken out a loan of $15,000 and would love to buy a really smart, modest kit. I just really feel like its better to make a jump for the quality of gear I know I can get good sound with than to scrounge with crap. This would, in my mind be a small, but really solid start, probably not meant for features, but rather short films/docs/interviews, stuff like that. SO, NOW, IF EVERYONE HAD $15,000 TO BLOW ON THEIR DREAM START UP KIT, HOW WOULD THEY DO IT?! This is what I'm thinking: Recorder: Think a Nomad 10 would be a good fit for me with its upgradable aspects and the zaxnet seems pretty perfect for the smaller 5d type shoots I imagine I'll be working on. So I'm willing to shell out the clams for it. Also, I think Prosound has a deal right now where you get a free ERX2 which I could use as a poor mans sync and scratch track - $5000 Wireless: Ok this is a really big thing I need advice on because I'm really torn here. My first desire is to just go all Zaxcom here. I've never really worked with all zaxcom before, usually just Lectros, and don't know how trusting I am in going with an all zaxcom wireless system, but am intrigued. Very intrigued. I also imagine I'll probably buy two sets of G3's just as a sorta shitty cheap 3rd and 4th channel (how well does that integrate?) So which option seems better: 1.) 2 zaxcom RX900S with 2 TRX900 2.) a QRX100 with two TRX900s 3.) Just go with 2 sets of Lectro UCR411A with some SM's or 4.) Cut my losses and realize I'm spending too much on wireless right off the back and just start out with like 4 sets of G3s $7200/$6800/$6200/$2400 Lavs: Would love to do COS11s, two of them, but might settle for trams. $900/$500 Boom: Like Loon a lot but will probably go Ktec for a little cheaper, would like around 12-15 feet. $700 Shotgun: Feel like to get quality sound with this kit this shouldn't be skimped on. Like the CMIT of course but also like the sanken cs3e so will probably go with that. $1500 Slate: I guess I can't be greedy and can't go with a timecode slate just let. So just a dummy. Comteks: Would love to have a set of these, though fear with my budgeting I might not be able to. Certainly don't need a collection of ERX's but just a crappy set of comteks used would be great, like 3 or 4. So with all the little pieces/cables/portabrace bag/etc I'm already pretty much at my limit if not probably over. Let me know what you guys would do and what advice you have on the stuff I've mentioned. Also, if anyone has a some old gear on the shelf thats just collecting dust and would like to sell any of it, let me know. THANKS