Alejandro Reyes

On 2/23/2024 at 10:48 PM, RadoStefanov said:

Yea yea I know they stole. But everybody else in business steals including the usual bag manufacturers so …

I know I am going to get a lot of hate but as you all might have found out already I don’t give a F@ck.

This is just information.

 

Proaim made a bag. Still old school heavy design and made of polyester but  a cheaper version.

Price is $167

 

 

Interesting, I know they did boom poles and I had one at the start of my career, I hope they have better luck with the audio bag. It almost looks like it's the size of the OR-30 from Orca. Are there any reviews yet?

I attended as well. It was very insightful and educational. I look forward to more of these in the future.

On 4/3/2020 at 6:57 AM, IronFilm said:

Just saying, it might be rather optimistic to think the country will be back to normal by May or even June. 

And that is even if COVID-19 was to magically disappear overnight! We'll be seeing the economic impacts from it for a long time. 

Did you see the unemployment figures released a week ago for America? Over three million filed for unemployment! Absolutely nothing ever before has even come vaguely close to that. 

Until today: over TWICE AS MANY filed for unemployment in this past week in the USA, absolutely smashing the record from last week which itself had shattered all past records. Those are staggering numbers, and it won't stop yet. 

Be sure to watch this graph play through all the way to the end:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/fto4rr/oc_as_requested_heres_an_updated_graph_of_initial/

Which is why I'd recommend against buying any new gear at the moment, unless you really really need it. 

 

Keep the pennies in your rainy day fund instead. 

Hope all our countries come out of this crisis soon, and bounce back strong even faster, but it's good to be realistic about the chances and prudent in our planning. 

But even if your heart is fully committed to buying new Wisycom, here is one final reason to perhaps hold off on buying: the rumored and sure to be coming "soon" quadchannel Wisycom receiver. 

You bring up really good point, the set I’m looking into is actually used. Hopefully it’ll still be available by the time I decide to buy it. You’re absolutely right, we do have some tough times ahead, as does the rest of the world. To end on a good note, to go on with our lives is an understatement. I do hope that once this whole thing is over, we can party like there is no tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted when I do have it!

On 4/3/2020 at 5:17 AM, henrimic said:

The MCR42 can output AES3 or analog. No worries to use it with a F8.

Thanks for that, I actually saw someone on one of Facebook groups that was using it with a Zoom F6. It actually looked like it worked okay. One thing that attracting to the Wisycom is the menu structure. It doesn't look so laborious, and it true diversity wideband which you can’t go wrong with. Like I told IronFilm, I’ll keep you posted when I do get it. I hope we can all get back on our feet very soon. 

Greetings everyone,

I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy during these difficult times, now on to my topic. I’m hoping to be working on a 10-day feature in May or June, which will help alleviate a few bills and possibly, upgrade my wireless. Though Chicago, as well as the rest of the country is mostly using Lectrosonics, I’m considering doing something different. I’m looking into possibly getting the MCR 42 S/S2 and MTP40S units from Wisycom. Though I don’t have neither a Sound Devices 6, 7, nor 8 series, I wanted to know if anyone is using these with a Zoom F8. Is the fact that the Zoom F8/F8n not having AES a factor? Keep in mind, I will be upgrading my audio recorder when the time comes, but want to start with the wireless first. I appreciate your comments and hope that we can put this pandemic behind us once this 30-day quarantine is over. Thanks again!

I used the K-Tek once at a Mixer event hosted by Second City Sound here in Chicago. I can say felt great and it a huge difference between Orca OR-40 harness. I too would love to see a comparison between the new OR-444 ORCA 3S and the K-Tek KSHRN3.

Hi Dan,

Though I am a big fan of sound devices and their Mix Pre recorders I would also consider either a used Zoom F8 or the Zoom F8n. There is really not that much difference between the 2 recorders other than the hardware, both are 10 track track recorders and have a solid build. It has 8 inputs in total can take external batteries via hirose, it takes accurate timecode via the BNC connection. If you do choose to go with a used F8 I would be sure to download the latest firmware update unless it already has it. As of now the latest firmware is version 6.0 and the F8n is 2.0. Both recorders are essentially the same, and it's a good starting point to launch your career. Here's some additional info I may have missed via the link right here. https://www.zoom-na.com/products/field-video-recording/field-recording/zoom-f8n-multitrack-field-recorder#downloads. I also recommend checking out an online store called zZounds https://www.zzounds.com/ you can find the F8n there. It's good option to consider buying the recorder there as they also take payment plans interest free for up 12 month. If you have and questoons about ways to power it or sound related please let me know. One more final thing I'll add, check out Curtis Judds course where he teaches how to operate the device he also has a course for the MixPre sound devices recorders, here's his site https://school.learnlightandsound.com/courses. Both course are about $40 US. Again, feel free to message me, if you have any questions.

On 7/16/2019 at 12:45 PM, Dan Wake said:

 

Hello,

 

I need to buy a new audio recorder can you suggest something with those features please?

 

1) It’s important I can custom names the files before starting recording, for example the name of the ciak scene, I mean all the info useful for people which will make the post production

2) I need to record 5 tracks with phantom power

3) I need full support for ambisonic audio

4) All the tracks must have a safety backup track recorded to tot. -db to prevent clipping

5) Very good low noise levels, way much better than another model I already own called Zoom H6 but is not enough. The new one must be so good that I can record room tones (I really need to record good quality room tones for work also).

6) Full timecode support

7) I need to send an audio monitor wireless to the script clerk

Low battery consume or offering good solutions for it

 

I prefere a recent model if possible

 

Thx!!!

Just so everyone is aware, I am fairly new to sound editing and design. I'm also contemplating getting Adobe Audition and learning on Curtis Judds course on his website. The one thing I don't necessarily agree with is the monthly charge; and for that matter, I checked into Protools and since I last checked they are now starting to charge a monthly subscription. Honestly. I would feel much more comfortable just buying the software upfront, without having to a monthly or yearly fee, just like I've been buying things gear and so forth. Now I come to the part where I ask, are there any of you using Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, Audacity, or Ardour? What are the pros and cons and how do they differentiate from each other. The last question I have is are there any online courses I can take for Ardour besides having to go to youtube in the same way Curtis Judd is doing for Adobe Audition. Thanks for everyones help!

On 5/20/2019 at 7:44 AM, Johnny Karlsson said:

Maybe give this one a shot:

 

https://www.haltertechnical.com/scene-monitor.html

 

Hi Johnny,

Also thanks to everyone that shared their knowledge and responded to me. I did manage to get a pair of Halter Technical Scene Monitor Headphones, I also got help from Doc Justice himself and my local shop, Second City Sound here in Chicago. We also made the the proper adjustments as scene in the photos down below. Though the wires are very small, you can pretty much get a general idea of what I was doing. Basically it was pretty much what David had suggested. Also this was done moments before I found out that 3.5 mm stereo to mono connectors existed. Still though this was a great experiment and learning experience, plus as some of you said these headphones are considered expendables, but for the meantime I'll be using both these headphones and my COMTEK until I can upgrade to the 216's. Once again, thanks everyone!

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy to say I now have some COMTEK 72 series IFB units. I recently purchased some headphones off of Amazon. The ones I got were the Hamiliton SchoolMate Personal Mono/Stereo Headphones. Unfortunately I was only able to hear off my left ear bud, thinking it was just one receiver I checked all three and I got the same thing. I decided to check with B&H to see what my options are as far as headphones go. For the time being I can't afford the recommended COMTEK LS-3 headphones, so I'm looking at the Williams Sound HED 027 Heavy-Duty Folding Mono Headphones as a viable option. So besides asking you all about these options in headphones here are my following questions for you all:

1. Is there anyone here that has used the Williams Sound HED 027 Heavy-Duty Folding Mono Headphones, if so, what did you think of them?

2. How many Crystals are there to the 72 PR-b receivers and where can I buy them after the current ones die out?

3. Also when I was checking for the Audio Root headphones as an option they only came out as one bud rather than 2, not sure if I researched the wrong ones or if they only available that way?

Finally I appreciate everyones help and guidance. As some of you are probably wondering, I'm not to familiar with the 72 series COMTEK, I've only ever used the 216's. After playing around with them earlier today I noticed they aren't much different as far as sound quality goes.

On 3/11/2019 at 10:47 AM, raidopedak said:

Thank you! My confidence in the MKE2 is growing.
My question in short:

112P + DPA 4060   or   512P + MKE-2 ?

I actually have both the 112P and the 51P series. From my point of view, I've always found ME-2 much more difficult to hide because of it's bulky head. That's why I'm getting rid of them. In it's place, I bought the Countryman B3 which you should also consider, it is an affordable mic, plus water resistant and it just sounds great. As for MKE-2, as I mentioned before, it is much easier to hide and sounds much better than the mid grade ME-2.

15 hours ago, IronFilm said:

I never seem to share anything I've worked on which I did the sound for, so for a change, here is something I just got notified about. A doco about Speedway Racing:
 

 

Great job David! I really enjoyed this video, I'll be sure to show this to my sisters! 

30 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

I've been using the new Zoom F8n for a few weeks now, and I'm nothing but very happy with it!

 

Feel like it was possibly a better choice for  me than a 633 or 664, and a 688 would have been unaffordable for me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David I'm glad I saw your video. I was getting ready to throw away my Orca waist belt as I wasn't sure what to use it for, since I have the Orca harness already. I gonna keep it and use it for my boom op on my next future shoot. I do have a question though... how different is the MM-1 from the MP-1 can either or be used for a camera and boom op for monitoring sound?

On 8/12/2018 at 2:42 AM, IronFilm said:

Well they went out of stock quickly! But no surprise at that price.

"Top of their game" is reference to their customer service is I assume what he meant .

That's exactly what I meant.

These are nice!! I want some did you get them custom made did yo buy them?

4 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Yeah but every recorder in the world ever made could have an issue. No one is immune to it (and that is why you bring along spares if the shoot is mission critical). So a bit of context is useful. 

I hang out a lot on the F8 forums (because I'm a F4/F8n user), and I browse these forums too, and given the huge numbers (Zoom's best selling product!) of F8 sold then it is only a very slim number of people who reported issues with it (which Zoom has quickly dealt with, even people who were outside their warranty period). But no one with the more recently made F8 models has issues. And the newer F4 and F8n also don't have any screen issues. 

So I feel no one buying now a new F8/F8n/F4 has to worry at all about a white screen, and it is a bit of a red herring to raise it.

 

 

I remember when I first bought my F8 and posting a video on my Instagram page. I only spoke about the features but didn't turn it on until after I finished recording on my phone. As soon I turned it on, I freaked out thinking I broke it. Little did I know anything about the white screen of death, or knowing about certain serial numbers that came out faulty, and had to be replaced.  But rest assured, even if something like that were to happen now, Zoom will fix it because they're on top their game. As more features are being introduced from the competition Zoom will match them and make their audio recorders better.   

I was actually looking for a review on these mics. Except for one video, yours was the first written reviews that came up. I actually might consider buying these mics to go with my current Sennheiser G4 kits. So we'll see how this goes, thanks again Bartek Baranowski for posting the question. 

4 hours ago, IronFilm said:

You should check out the Zoom F4, you'll save some money over getting the MixPre6, & for me personally at least I'd prefer the F4. 

 

Or a secondhand Zoom F8, they're dirt cheap and with the new v5.0 update it almost turns the F8 into a F8n!

 

 

I'm with IronFilm on this one, the Zoom F4 is a great recorder mixer. I would have bought that one had I not invested money on my Zoom F8, which I don't regret at all. The new firm is awesome, and a huge step up! Whatever you decide we're here to help and support each other let us know if you help with anything. Good Luck!

Thanks for comments everyone, they're very helpful. As for some of the videos I've seen, I have to say i was very impressed. Personally as of now I'm still building up my gear and I'm not looking into get one yet. In my opinion, I would rather it be kept our own personal secret, if you know what I mean. I could see Constantine's point of calling it a dangerous tool to have on a film set. I do however see the point of using it for say a WWE wrestling match, boxing, or why not a sporting event like that past World Cup. But even in that regard, I'm still on the fence. I think that as a fan or spectator, we're loosing out on the experience of the emotional thrill we get from a live event by simply watching it from the comfort of our own home. So until then, I'll wait for a production that really requires one.

I recently discovered the CEDAR DNS2 which has been around since 2016. Like many of you I have encountered a lot of noisy environments, often caused by construction sites, public transportation trains, and of course our dearly beloved generators. One time I had to work at a house that had a very noisy air vent that neither the owner or I could ever figure how to shut down. My one solution was to use a pillow to block the noise, since I did not have sound blankets. Needless to say the pillow was thick enough to make it into a low hum. Though I have not had the chance to work with the CEDAR DNS2, nor do I know of anyone that has one besides my local rental house, brings me to ask a few questions for those of that do or do not have one:

1. Have seen some major improvements in your workflow?

2. Do clients ever ask for one, or is it our own kept secret?

3. Is there still post sound design work that needs to be done, despite the fact that your able to cancel out a good amount of noise

4. If you're connecting a shotgun mic, on to this devise can you use a HPF, like you can with some audio recorders

5. Whether you're a Zoom, Sound Devices or Zaxcom user it doesn't matter to me. I would just love to see what your rig looks like and how to set it up on your audio recorder mixer.

6. Besides price and maybe not working on live, reality TV or sporting events, what would be a good reason to not purchase one? 

Thanks in advance for all your comments!

21 hours ago, Fred Salles said:

Hello everyone,

I just lost a job on an independent american feature film to be shot here in France because american producers figured out it will be cheaper to bring over a sound recordist from LA that agrees to work alone, rather than have a french team of sound recordist and boom operator. According to french production manager, they said it is common practice nowadays in the States on indies. French prod&prod manager would not compromise on this and refused to hire a single one team sound person, thanks god (they would not find any anyway appart from someone just out of school, maybe).

Now, I do a lot of documentaries so I am used to do sound alone, and I even once did it on a fiction feature of friends self produced prod some times ago, and I promised myself never again 🙂

For me it means compromising way too much on quality of the work, and the work of post production. I read the script and schedule: loads of dialogues, and 20 days shoot where they certainly dont plan on waiting for sound naming files, writing sound report nor recording  wilds...

So the question is what is the situation over there? is it really becoming or going to become common practice in the States to reduce the sound crew down to a single person?

Hi Fred,

I often work alone because certain production can't afford a 2 person sound crew. Yet I'm always fighting for a boom op, but as I mentioned before not all productions can afford 2 people and I am almost always doing everything alone. However, the standard is always to have a sound mixer, boom op, and utility that'll serve as a second sound mixer and or second boom op. When productions travel, the standard is to hire someone local, at least when it comes to sound. It's a shame they didn't go with you, when they could saved money flying the sound guy in, and on top of having to pay for room and board, plus rental equipment. The best thing to do in this case, is to move on to the next project. I hope everything works out for you, and congratulation on France winning The World Cup!  

On 6/30/2018 at 9:55 AM, Rick Reineke said:

The MKE-2 is a separate purchase from the 100 series system. If the B&H, Sweetwater and other high volume retailers do not carry it with the 100 series plug, contact one of usual suspect film-sound shops, Gotham, Trew, LSC, PSC, ect.

I knew I was right about this. You see, I have the G4 512P from Sennheiser. I bought one from Sweetwater and the other one from B&H. While the 112P series of the G4 did not include the MKE-2, the 512P did. Now that I have this information I'm going to look into this because I want two of the G4 112P's added to my current gear.

On 6/26/2018 at 10:10 AM, Rick Reineke said:

The MKE-2 has been around since the 90s as I recall and I would not call it a 'predecessor' to the lower priced ME-2, which ain't very good IMO, ok if there's nothing else though.

The MKE-2 is available for the 100 series, (locking 3.5mm TRS plug) it's just not bungled with that system.

Hi Rick,

Good to know, forgive my ignorance, I had no idea the MKE-2 gold tip has been around since the 90's, it's a great mic. When I checked through B&H, Sweetwater, and Zzounds the 100 series had the ME-2 included in their set only. Unless I'm missing a supplier please let me know, I want to end the year by getting 2 100 series, because I only have two of the 500 series at the moment. 

Hey David,

I'm glad you found this video, I currently have two Sennheiser G4 500 series in my gear. This one comes with the MKE-2 lavalier mic, keep in mind though that it's only available for the 500 series. The pros I have are the distance you can go on this one, as seen in the video. The mic is very tiny and easier to conceal, than its predecessor ME-2. The cons I have are: they should have made the MKE-2 available for its 100 series as well, the design is not much different from the G3's, another thing I would have liked Sennheiser to do was made duel receivers as opposed to a single, finally the transmitters could have been made much smaller to compete with Lectrosonics or Zaxcom's. Still though, I don't regret buying them as they work for my current work flow.

On 6/20/2018 at 5:57 PM, IronFilm said:

This is the mid range G4 (not the cheapest G4 model) vs the Sony UWP-D11 (so the Sony is nearly half the price of this Sennheiser G4):

 

 

On 6/12/2018 at 10:57 PM, IronFilm said:

ronmac, that is the original F8, and I've already seen it go on special for as low as US$650. This isn't at all unusual to see for stock to be cleared before a new product arrives. (They're not going to be selling both the F8n and F8 together, production on the F8 will stop)

I just hope that for those of us still building our arsenal while working out of a bag can get some last minute updates. I don't know about everybody else, but I just want to get some additional mics, IFB's, and timecode sync boxes before upgrading to F8n.