Brett Sorensen

I've never had an issue using a comtek, and as mentioned before - it's comforting knowing it will stay a scratch track. Just make sure you talk to the camera crew before hand on whether their pig tails are male or female (I've seen both), if you don't travel with the appropriate turn-arounds.

For starting out assisting/booming, your mixer should have you covered on gear (as stated, bring your own cans). During these times, I feel the best you can do is make sure your mind and body can work effectively for 12-16 hours (proper clothes, shoes, hydration, etc.). A multi-tool of some fashion couldn't hurt. Brett

I am local to Grand Rapids, should this fall through again.

May be a good idea to see if you can locate the damaged files. I used to lug around a PD-6 (not to say they are comparable) with a headphone jack that went crazy in the humidity. I was on my way to a meltdown, when I realized it was not making it to any of the recordings. Obviously still an issue, but potentially a cheaper solution.

I just got off a shoot with two ex3's. They seemed to have a plethora of issues even beyond timecode. Granted they traveled in a plane from LA to Michigan. For whatever reason, we couldn't get either ex3's to receive timecode from the 788t. We ended up using the camera as the master to jam the 788t. This seemed pretty reliable. Even as I re-jammed throughout the day, the camera's were still in sync before I did. Can anyone speak what using the camera as a master means for post?

No intelligent reason. Nerves the days before a shoot tend to cloud my judgement.

Thanks Philip, they are using the Sony ex3's - a quick google image search shows me this is fairly common for this camera. I was initially unsure how setting two 411s to the same frequency would behave. But I guess ultimately that's what you're doing with IFB, I just don't have much experience with hops. I appreciate the clarification. Do you suspect the TX's gain will more than likely be hot if it doesn't come pre set?

That was my concern. They are coming with their own kit, on the equipment list for hops the have two 400's and four 411s, along with four lectro mounts. So I'm just trying to piece together what whoever assembled the kit had in mind, as production doesn't seem to know anything about it other than they have a kit.

Ah yes, I should have know better as I am familiar with the 400/411. I've just never used them as hops, generally my shoots are just scratch from comtek. Is it common to mount two 411's on a camera?

Hey all, I'm mixing a show this weekend with the 788t/CL8. Two camera shoot, four wires and a boom, 2 hops, and IFB. The hops are 400/411 (2), and the IFB is a 400 to two R1a. My question being - If any, which should get the digital outs? Assuming the 400's can take a digital signal? My original thought was to use the digital outs to send LR to cam, and the analog to send summed to IFB. But maybe I have it backwards? Any thoughts are appreciated. Brett

Executive Producer: shows up twice during production, demands comtek (never puts on his/her cans), then leaves set with comtek.

"Did YOU hear that..?" Far too often, Me: "Hold for plane/train/traffic/dog" Prod: "We gotta go now" Me: "speed" Prod: "Sound, did you hear that?" Me: .....

Yeah, I got busy with live/FOH gigs for the summer and lost touch for a bit. The 200/10 150 a day rental is probably more the ballpark where I'm going to have the work. Thanks. It's always hard for me to tell someone how much you're worth, despite doing it for a while.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the lengthy responses. It truly is pretty refreshing to get all the advice, despite most of you not agreeing with my logic. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way (This has gotten off topic fast). All of you have that young boom or utility you trust that you throw the gigs you won't take (even though you still kill him on rental). I'm that guy. Now picture telling that guy that you withdrew from the union, and sold your gear. What does that guy do? I suspect that many of you, if not most. Came up in exact fashion that you are trying to discourage me from. All that being said, I'm more unsure than ever on what I should be doing.

Tom - as always, very helpful. I am going about this more professionally than I am apparently leading on. The debt, should I decide to take it - will be by way of business plan/bank loan. These are all numbers I am aware of. I assure you I charge those rates when applicable, and only work for the 'right' small budgets. Its just a lot of what you said about it just not existing. I did see that post. Thanks. Unfortunately I'm in the beginning stages of planning still. And now, second guessing a lot of things.

Once again, I understand. And the commercial/corporate/5D gigs is kind of what I was thinking, as they have the budget - in my experience. If I was able to just work for a mixer or two as a boom or utility. I would absolutely be doing that. My previous connections have since uprooted/switched to broadcast/etc. This wasn't supposed to be a 'whoa is me' by any means. But I also wasn't trying to offend anyone by putting together a kit. More so, it's a situation where I have to do something. Or pick a different line of work (which I'm not willing to do). As long as people can go out and buy DSLR for reasonable price, there will always be those low budget shoots. They aren't going to stop being made because they fall under the 'professional' radar. And they shouldn't. It's where people get their chops. You wouldn't want to pay a full rate to someone with no experience, but you also don't want to see that person work 14 hours for free. I'm very careful about picking up these low budget projects, as many of them tend to be 'producers' who took time off work to make a movie with their friends. Which I agree, is absolutely ridiculous. You're right, these types of gigs won't cover that 10k. And my experience far out ways that of these productions. But owning the gear would give me something to market, and better grounds to negotiate with bigger productions. Or at least that was a thought.

Don't get me wrong. I totally agree. But what would you suggest someone in my position do? Just not work?

I understand your frustrations. Though in the market I find myself in, they aren't looking for boom or utility. They are looking for the one man show (Or giving you some poor PA to boom). And if they do have a 'budget', they aren't willing to pay for sufficient gear. These kind of gigs aren't the ones I suspect you would take in the first place. And I would never turn down work at as boom or utility because I decided to put together a small ENG kit?

Not sure how that was necessary, considering. This is a section of the forum to inquire about gear, correct..?

Yeah, you bring up some good points. I guess features is what I'm most interested it. But it's mostly just staying busy in location sound. The live game is more so a hobby for me(although, it has its ways of sucking you in). I freelance for a few companies, and admittedly enjoy cashing in on festival season. So generally I am dealing with big digital desks. Though, I do recall seeing a few A&H boards laying around the shop. A kit like the one above is looking better and better. All this being said, are the lectro 400/411 the way to go? Or are the earlier models sufficient?

Once again, thank you for the very insightful response. I would have to go into debt to buy gear.. but I'm also not working because I don't have gear. Strictly for that reason. I have gotten the chance to mix a few low budget features who rented gear for sound. But more often than not, that's not the case. Are you suggesting that I shouldn't do it at all? Also, I hope I wasn't giving off the impression that I was dabbling it location sound. It is how I make my living (I'm also a live guy). It's just few and far between finding productions willing to outsource gear.

No argument on that front, the amount of work I have to turn down is discouraging. Though, the problem is generally me trying to get $200 a day, and still have them pay for rental. Now, that doesn't seem odd - unless you're from Michigan.

Wow, thank you for the very thorough response Tom! I guess my thought with the iso, was that with 4-6 tracks, I could rent additional wires to handle small features. Mixing down isn't a problem for me, I'd just rather give them the choice. But at alas I see you're point as far as budget goes. I like the 302's. It just seems that I would be limiting myself more than I have too. I do already own an H4n, I guess I would just feel silly showing up with that to set. Maybe I'm thinking to much about it.

Oh sorry, I didn't realize that was an actual page on the site. Thanks again.

Thanks for the advice, I've been combing the forums frantically the last couple days researching this. But I'll keep at it. As for the use, as a young mixer, most of the productions I would be involved in will be, "you get what you get" kind of deals. That being said, it's just as easy to spend that much money on a small, not upgrade friendly kit. Which is not what I'm looking to do. I have a pretty good idea on most of it. Other than the wireless like I said. It's just a lot of money to throw around without getting some sort of validation first