DBurnette

Jurisdiction around Washington DC is a really messy thing. I used to live near DC in Virginia...Someone I know was given speeding tickets on the George Washington parkway (over several years of youthful recklessness) by Fairfax County Police, the Park Police, the Military Police and a Virginia state trooper.

I ended up with a pile of those off some old video equipment...I popped the riveted chain off, and they have been really nice to have as semi-permanent caps...I don't need to deal with timecode as often as I would like. In the same vein, for the XLR inputs you might need occasionally: http://www.markertek.com/Cables-Connectors-Adapters/Connector-Boots/Neutrik-USA-Inc/SCF.xhtml And unlubed condoms. A National Geographic producer I know would expense them as 'translucent latex dust protectors: 12 pack' to avoid crap from the accountants. Good luck!

I've not played with an h4n enough to know, but I would be concerned about headroom and limiters. Doing documentary work, I find myself occasionally very thankful that SD does decent limiters. In terms of basic audio quality, given the right circumstances, I suspect the h4n would sound just fine. The question then becomes simple: Are you always going to encounter the right circumstances? The other factor for me is reliability: I've used SD products in dense misty fog, in 100+ degree humid days all over the US south...Others have done far, far more. I've used a 302 half bashed apart and still functioning (apologies to Mr. Tatooles--It wasn't my doing). Stuff worked though...

IIRC, NBC has the services contract through at least 2012. Basically, if I remember, NBC does all the onsite production work, but the footage is syndicated/pooled to the broadcaster who owns rights for each country. NBC/Uni airs it in the US, BBC in the UK, CCTV in China, etc. But NBC actually shoots it all. Getting in is probably via NBC. Also, if I remember, there was a jwsound forum member who was up in BC for the games working. He might be worth tracking down.

I was on the phone with my father today, so I asked him a couple questions, since he used to be a deck officer on oil tankers. On deck, all the people carry motorola-esque radios, so electronics aren't entirely verboten. As David Waelder says, they are inherently safe, and plastic/resin bodied, so they don't spark. The other thing to be aware of is frequency coordination, because any interference will get you shut down immediately. Beyond that, the smaller the kit, the better, and I would suggest gaff taping all exposed metal edges, metal D-rings, etc. Loose batteries should be taped. Anyway, my father said most of the people are pragmatists, so the more you show due diligence, the less of a risk you appear to the deck officers. And in the same vein, shoes with capped toes are usually mandatory on deck, particularly on rigs. Hard hats are too, but they will probably give you a color-coded one reflecting your visitor status. My dad said that the person to talk to is the chief mate. If this can be done before you start shooting, all the better. The mate (chief above deck, engineering below) will have final say, beyond whatever the person in the office says. "The person on shore said xyz" is the fastest way to piss off a mate. The basics of tanker safety are mostly common sense. If you are on a crude tanker, just common sense, as crude is hard to burn. A product tanker is a bigger problem, since it doesn't take much to spark off propane or petrol. They will probably control your access when moving product around, especially if they are at a tricky connection like the LOOP. Good luck with it all! If you have any very specific questions, I can pass them on to my dad.

Wax.

iLife (iMovie, etc.) might not have been included on the upgrade DVD. If you wiped the computer and installed anew from the upgrade DVD, the iLife suite might not have been installed. IIRC, apple sells it for something like $30. Sucks, but the way around it is prob. to install from your computer discs (includes ilife), then upgrade, instead of wiping and re-installing.

Woo hoo! I will imagine myself winning a wonderful prize!

Since you keep hinting, I will guess at Nissan? The NV something? http://www.nissancommercialvehicles.com/features/ Maybe Nissan might be willing to put one of their UD diesels in the thing...Since they already sell them in the US market.

Marc and Oleg, thanks for the info. I'm hoping I might be in the market for a decent TC recorder early next year...

Marc, what's the new list price for the Nagra? Trew still has it listed for $8,200, and I haven't found any pricing news elsewhere...

As a (hopefully) future union person, this sounds like a net plus idea for me. It's late, and I will ramble a bit... I would be looking at eventual membership in Local 488, which is OR/WA/ID, and covers virtually all the IATSE production crafts. I would probably be more successful in an expanded 695 with a greater geographic flexibility, and more specialized representation...However, if I have to scrounge out a living in two crafts (say, production audio and some lighter grip work, or the sewing I do) then the more general Local would work better, especially when getting hours for pension/benefits. I worry about 3 things: Will the locals let this happen, even if it is their best interest to shed a hard-to-represent group? With NY in particular, I see this being tricky. Will a greatly expanded 695 represent its membership well? I don't know about IATSE, but seeing the SEIU/NNOC mess, it's easy to see how stuff can go wrong. Will joining become harder? 600 seems to have an obfuscated process, depending on work and geography, and if that model were applied to an expanded 695, I do wonder what would happen. Right now, I can join Local 488 with 18 months residency and 30 days of work in specialty. Initiation is only 600+fees. For a more specialized 'local', I would expect some form competency beyond simple work, but I would hope that competency, call sheets and initiation fees are it... This is an interesting theoretical. I'm interested in what more experienced hands think.

I've used Digital Performer for a long time, and like it. DP is a full-fledged DAW and was originally designed to be the MIDI companion to ProTools. It will run on both LE and HD hardware via the DAE. It's not dirt cheap though, and might be overkill for your needs. It will allow you to edit virtually all MIDI parameters though. I guess it depends on what you want to edit. Music? Drum beats? MMC? MIDI show control? There are programs with interfaces ideal for each need.

Cool about the driver! My battered Pro-94 served the same purpose when I lived under the flight path to DCA. I could listen for the clearance acknowledgment and head to the airport. It's neat if the ICOM unit works with some police bands. LAPD doesn't use trunked frequencies? I guess the R6 would still work then...Never lived where the police (and often fire/EMS) don't use a trunked systems.

So this is what the paparazzi are using to tap sets? I dug around for a link, just to see what it does: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/icomr6unblock2.php It seems you can clone settings from unit to unit, which would make configuration fast. No trunking, which limits its use for some other purposes.

"niney [sIC] percent of the brilliant women"

Hehe. People touching equipment is probably the thing I have absolutely no tolerance for...I was on a small doc shooting in Vegas in March...The drunk public makes for an interesting experience: A couple times people felt the need to grab at my softie. A stern look would usually warn them off. One guy was persistent and grabbed it a few times when we were moving to a new shot. I gave his hand a big smack, then flipped the collapsed pole and put the butt-end under his chin. He got the point.

Apple did decide to get into the netbook market...In a half-assed locked-down proprietary way. Unfortunately, an iPad is functionally worthless for a lot of what we need...

Mixer economics: The producer owns a cow and a bull. You avoid the horns, tape lavs to them, and go back to doing the crossword. Bill accordingly.

I run a Mac... Digital Performer+MachFive (I dabble in composing) Final Cut Studio WaveAgent NeoOffice (Because it's more compatible with MS Office than MS Office is) Filemaker (People pay me to do things with it, for some odd reason) Audacity Handbrake VLC Celtx KisMac (For purely legitimate purposes...) CyberDuck (FTP) DiskWarrior Something like a half gig of every single manual (recorders, cameras, etc.) I could get my hands on...So I can try and not look the fool...

Awesome! Thanks.

McMaster-Carr is amazing. And they don't care if you order a single $0.15 part. I ended up with a couple-years-old catalog, and I'm dorky enough that I thumb through it thinking up project ideas. The combi-cam looks like the perfect thing!

Could a capacitor be used on the negative pin of circuits that serve AC devices to serve as a noise filter? My electronics class is somewhat forgotten... It kind of makes me wonder what (if any?) filtering PSC, Remote Audio and the rest use in their power supplies, and how expensive it might be to add.

A long while (for me) ago, I re-strung some large condenser shock mounts, and those cheap Audio Technica shockmounts everyone seems to have in studios: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/68138-REG/Audio_Technica_AT8410A_AT8410A_Shock_Mount.html Not hugely fun...but that's what an apprenticeship is supposed to be. I never messed with a 414 mount...I remember them using a single piece or two of elastic for the whole thing? Ew. The Rycote system looks neat. I would assume the lyre parts are replaceable, but I couldn't tell from the website. If so, I'm sold.

IIRC, Re-An was a brand that Neutrik acquired to enter into the lower-priced market without compromising the Neutrik brand. I would be interested to hear how the quality is, if you order some.