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It’s better to eq and process your audio in post. On location you won’t be in a suitable situation to critically listen and do fine eq work.

In my experience, a laptop based setup is too cumbersome and too fragile for field recording. I’d definitely choose the stability and ease of setup of a dedicated field recorder like the Zoom F8N over a laptop based setup. -Mike

@andrewsbaik I agree with Jon, Logic is more suited for music production than it is for audio editing. I would definitely take a look at Reaper instead of Pro Tools for your DAW, I would only go with ProTools if you are sending mixes back and forth with others that are already using Pro Tools or if you plan on doing mixes for clients. Reaper is $60 and provides all of the DAW functionality that ProTools does.

A counter perspective I'd give is that your intermediate purchases do serve as absolutely fantastic back up gear for when you "upgrade", and in the long run it is a key aspect that all professionals should have is back up gear available that they also know inside and out. So I wouldn't regard the money spent on intermediate gear along the way as being completely wasted.

I have a wonderful book "A Matter of Records" on the life of Fred Gaisberg a master of location recording. But unlike the stunning equipment that we use he recorded acoustically onto waxed zinc discs. Apart from classical recordings there was a great love of novelties recorded in foreign countries. He traveled to America Russia India and Europe by train and boat with very heavy equipment including the metal discs, acid and baths to etch his results in. The whole story is quite amazing and he lived to see electric recording and modern techniques and he died in 1952 in his late seventies! mike

I personally don’t require a boom op to bring anything but their own headphones. I supply the rest. That said, everyone has a different way of doing things, and I will never stand in the way of someone using their own techniques and supplies if that’s what they are comfortable using. I provide a variety of expendables and lav mounts, lav bullet, boom poles, tapes and stickies and etc. But there are all kinds of things available these days, so I’d say that if you were looking to put together a little kit, get yourself some moleskin, molefoam, some kind of furry overcover set, transpore, topstick, maybe some Joe’s sticky stuff, preferred lav mounts, a headlamp, lav bullet, and probably a boom box or chair with the ability to mount the boom to. K-Tek makes a little fanny pack that looks like a decent pouch to keep things in. I ordered some stuff from a Sound Hard and they sent me a complimentary fanny pack that is sort of the same thing, so i keep that stocked for my boom ops. But if you think you’ll need gloves, a bandana or sweat rag, multi tool, or any other such thing, it’s better to be prepared and not need it than to be empty handed when you do need something. I recently worked in a dusty warehouse where there was years of pigeon poo all over the place, so I bought anti bacterial medical masks for the whole crew. Now I have those in my kit too.

Leasing would make things easier, but many suppliers don’t offer leasing options. That said, it is never a good idea to put gear on credit. That’s an easy way to get into trouble. I’ve always bought my equipment with money that I made doing sound, so as to keep myself honest and out of debt. So I highly recommend setting your sights on what you need and saving for it, buying one thing at a one in order of necessity. Also keep in mind that making baby step purchases will ultimately cost you more and you’ll likely be unable to sell your baby-step items later on without taking a loss on them. But we all have our own road to go down so what’s right for one may not be right for another.

Seems like total overkill to have a Zoom H6 running alongside as a back up recorder for podcasts. (You do know the F8n records to dual SD cards at once? And can seamlessly switching from external to internal powering as well, should it die)

Are you planning on using a Neumann KMR 82i as an on camera mic?

It ended up being all Lav, because I suck as a boom op. I had the boom too far away. 😁 I am doing these shorts to hone my skills in sound mixing, directing, cinematography and picture editing, in preparation for a feature I'm going to be making next year. This is the first short I directed last year.

The Rode NT-SF1 is the best budget ambisonics mic at the moment. Is only US$999, and you'd probably have to spend over triple that if you wanted something better. And if you're serious about ambisonics then clearly a Zoom F8n would be the best pick for you. An F8n would be a massive and I mean MASSIVE leap forward from your current H6