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First Gig With My Own Boom Op AND Utility


Max Hirtenstein

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It was a great time. Actually both the boom op and utility were female, so that's probably rare. Made wiring up much less stressful as we had several actresses dressed up for a night out in pretty tight dresses. Usually I have no problems but one of the actresses liked to be a little overly dramatic when I wired her up, and thought it was funny to let everyone know I was invading her personal space. So a female sound crew is always good.

At one point though, the AD started telling my boom op how she should boom the scene. It got a little heated so I had to put on my serious face and tell him that all sound issues come directly to me. I have a lot to learn about the 3 person sound crew dynamic, especially being in charge of it. But it all worked out in the end, and I was actually able to provide a useable mono mix for once :) Thanks for all the kind words.

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Max,

This is awesome news in addition to the whole female sound crew, well, not counting you of course unless you're "Moxxie" now. I, too, support females in our industry and have been giving lots of highschool candidates the opportunity to try out both the sound reinforcement field and the film/tv world. They always get inspired and adds another smart 'hat' into your team. It's all a working process and being a mentor as well as a the person in charge of the sound crew gives much respect to the whole picture.

The point where the AD giving directions to your boom op was unnecessary and as the head of the department kept your professionalism and dealt with the situation accordingly. More brownie points. Congrats on the mono mix!

You could try getting in contact with Terri over at WAM to see if they have any upcoming interested students and candidates to join the team. Looking forward in more of your 3-man crew stories.

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It's not too common, but sometimes many different departments chime in about how to boom a scene. It's unfortunate. And I don't think it has to do with the experience of the boom operator either. Hopefully it doesn't occur on union shows.

Two three FOUR things I can't stand hearing from other departments:

"Can't you just boom from underneath?"

"Why can't you just stand over here?"

"But everyone is wired right?"

"Fuck it, ADR" (coming from someone who has nowhere near the authority to make that call)

But congrats on having a proper crew!

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