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Double booming, but not what you think.


jason porter

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2 camera shoot no sound person?  One running to each for redundancy/rudimentary edit-ability between cameras?  I don't see a purpose personally, seems unnecessary, if he's moving so much you think he'll go far off axis you should operate manually.  Depends on length of interview obviously, but I did that a few weeks ago with Grand Master Flash.  That dude would rock all over the place during the interview and even my MKH50 couldn't keep him on axis on a stand so I just held it.  Not terrible over a 30 minute interview, I just got a chair with arm rests.

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How you guys get away in general with boom on stand? I find that I have to position the mic too far away for my taste to get a good compromise for off axis handling. If I know the interview will last less than an hour I will boom it by hand. Most interviews break anyway if they are longer.

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There are lots of sound people on the IMDB page, even a few from this group I believe.

The picture is deceiving, it's "behind the scenes", the actual interview was standard and the guy didn't appear to be moving off axis. I assume the mixer was just experimenting or maybe anticipating a lot of movement.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, Olle Sjostrom said:

Double off axis in case the first off axis was too on?

+1!

Vincent - I find the CMC641 locked off on a stand handles sitdowns well when the interviewer is in a fixed spot and you can anticipate the direction they will be facing.  I have also had similar experiences with an Audix SCX1HC which I'll sometimes throw up as a second boom for 2 person on screen setups.  If they move around and answer off axis too much I'll sometimes tweak positioning or handhold, but for 30+ minute sitdowns in a boom and lav setup I generally put the boom on a stand.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Had a look at the credits, one of the two sound recordists local to DC who's listed for a while would put up a pair of mics to offer choices. Not sure if he still does this. Living through the brief BBC M-S stereo origination era took the desire to fly a pair of mics for a single subject sit-down right out of me.

A mic on a stand when placed correctly can be adjusted quietly to account for the subject moving and generally if the mic is weaving around at the edge of the subject's field of view as it would be if the pole is handheld it can distract the subject. In a quiet room a properly placed Schoeps cardioid (CMC44, 54 or 64 or a CCM4) will prevent problems being off-axis as a subject moves a little other than variations in level. I try to sit out of the eyeline next to my stand and behind any fill or fill reducing gripage if any's used so I can adjust the mic position if required.

Best regards,

Jim

 

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I think I know who that was based on the pic;  no comment on the placement as it could be perspective in the pic. 

I fly a double boom (on one pole) often for single subject direct to cam work.  Either a Sanken CS-3e/Schoeps CMC41 pair, CMC41/OctavaMC012, or CMC41/MK8.  I started that 10 years or more ago because I was tired of client insisting on a boom and a lav to use their accustomed 2 tracks to cam.  It morphed into a pair of mono mics (for redundancy for their piece of mind) to two mics that sound so close but just different enough for an editor to choose from.  

Personally, most times I like how they sound when listening to them in stereo as split left / right.  Gives it just a bit of width that I find pleasing.  One thing I do however, is mono sum the tracks in my headphones at the beginning and phase reverse (if necessary) one mic just in case someone sums the tracks to mono.  To each their own,  I hate lavs unless absolutely unavoidable.

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