Alex Sullivan

I only had about 12 shoot days with the Scorpio and CL-12 before the shutdown but I was pretty happy with the setup. Probably the most useful trick was to map two of the user buttons to "select" and "headphone" so that you could use the single knob on the CL-12 to operate both of those functions on the Scorpio. It'll soon go into a case as a backup device once I get my hands on a CL-16. Oh, and although I did send the CL-12 the extra power via the USB power port, according to SD this is not necessary with the Scorpio. Mine setup has been stable so I'm leaving it connected.

Is there anyone out there using a Scorpio with a CL-12 who can report back on how well that is working for them?

Thank you for this in-depth review. Very useful information here and I can't believe the kit that is being squeezed into a package of this size and weight. Just want to comment on this back-pain issue as its something that a lot of us in this line of work deal with, myself included. I too suffered for over a dozen years with what was at times crippling and demoralizing back pain, unable to work or even move for days at a time. During my last episode, in screaming pain, I became suspicious of what was causing this pain. At this point a friend of mine suggested a book called "Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection" by Dr. Sarno. I won't delve into its contents here as I realize that further discussion of this topic warrants its own thread but I can't help but suggest it to anyone suffering this kind of pain as it cured me 100%. I haven't had back pain for 5 years now and haven't taken Ibuprofen for as long either. I know Its tempting to think that a book-as-medicine is snake oil but I promise you it isn't. I'll leave it at that for now, maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't, but its an easy 180 page read and the best $10 I ever spent. Hope this helps someone.

Still no luck on the search for whatever this system may have been. I'll go with a Phonak. On a separate but related issue, has anyone found a push-to-talk electret 2-wire mic that works well with a Comtek BST-75 transmitter? I'm trying to build a streamlined portable setup for the cueing side. Was hoping to avoid needing to power and include a separate mic pre-amp for this.

Thanks for the thoughts re: Bone conductive ear pieces. That does seem to be the way in which you could hear from behind the ear. Unfortunately I cannot find any system that doesn't rely on bluetooth for sending audio to them.

I'm due to start working with an actor who I'm told uses some kind of behind-the-ear cueing system. As in not something inserted into the ear canal but something that hangs off of and behind the ear. Does anyone know what this system might be?

I've got my cart and follow cart (both Filmtools carts) riding on airless tires from a company called American Airless http://www.americanairless.com/ They ride slightly harder, but easier than air tires filled to capacity but they've been fine for over a year's use now. Also they will develop small flat spots if the cart sits for a few days but they roll out after a pushing them around a bit, no big deal. Alex

Here's an interesting article that describes a method that could solve the issues surrounding availability of RF bandwidth. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17221490 (null)

Thank you all for posting on this. I suppose I should have done the math myself regarding the power requirements of the SRA before posting my question but it is always nice to hear from those who have actually used a piece of equipment to verify what the experience was actually like. Regards to all, and thanks again. Alex

Hello All, I have a question for anyone using a Lectro SRA receiver with the battery sled. How much run time are you getting from your battery and what model of battery are you using? I'd like to purchase a couple of batteries for this purpose and strike a nice balance between size and run time. I'm hoping to find a solution that could be powered for most of the day with one or two batteries. Also, any experiences from those using the 9V battery box on the same sled would be much appreciated. Thanks. Alex

The most recent modification I asked him to do for me was to re-block/re-tune my Lectro UMC16B to blocks 19-26 from its original 21-29. He's a very knowledgeable engineer and so if you've got something in mind ask him and I'm sure he'd be happy to help if he can.

Although I haven't had this specific issue I have had several SMa's go for a swim and otherwise need repair. I've had great service by Jerry at Jaycee Communications, Lectro's only other place to get warranty repair work done in the US. I've never had to wait for more than a few days for him to turn around any repair or mod I've asked him to do, vs sending to Lectro has always meant a wait of a few weeks in my experience. Give him a call: Jerry (718) 428-7818 www.lectrorepair.com Hope this helps. Alex

The Pop-N-Work tents seemed to have a better fit & finish when I was comparing the two. The center caps that pop out the sides had nice rubber covered metal parts and the material felt almost like a strong cordua-like fabric. The Pelsue by comparison seemed to have more "slop" in the mechanism and the material seemed to fit more loosely over the frame. Here's a picture of mine in a Brooklyn park earlier this year.

A couple of years ago I purchased a 6x6 Pop-N-Work tent. Its very similar to the Pelsue but higher quality, and also cost a little bit more, but if you don't mind paying for quality I'd highly recommend them. They also pop up in seconds and when collapsed roll onto themselves with clips like a tortilla so no bag necessary to store them in either. Another nice feature is that they have a close-able vent hole for heating vents if you need to have the heater outside of the tent. You can custom order them with different door configurations and screened windows if you want with velcro covers. I've had many a day in the pouring rain & blizzards with no leaks. They also sell electric heaters too. The company that makes them make all kinds of other outdoor stuff for utility companies. Here's the link: http://www.popnwork.com/ Hope this helps. Alex

After trying every model I could get my hands on I've been very happy with two of the poles I've got. An 18ft coil cabled Loon and an uncabled 16ft Panamic Maxi. The Panamics cannot be cabled due to the design of the knuckles. I work a lot with a boom op who prefers the uncabled, still not sure why, but everyone else I seem to work with prefers the cabled, which would be my choice if booming. Alex

I gotta agree 100% with you Jan on being remote! My whole setup is built around the same principle. It helps one keep sane and freedom of speech is a lot easier to maintain when they're not right on top of you ;-) FYI, I recently visited a mixer on set who had a small convex mirror on his cart so he could see if anyone had walked up behind him! I'm getting one today. Alex

Hi Jeff, Glad to hear you think the show sounds good, thats quite a compliment coming from you. Actually the scene I was talking about was a jury room scene, the courtroom scenes definitely do involve some/a lot of wires and two booms, I'm often up to 10 tracks on those days. However I am fairly persistent in making sure we get everything covered on a boom at some point. Those scenes too always have 3 cameras and so the wires do definitely play a part, but I also make good use of the Sennheiser 8040s, I've got 4 of them in use and on-camera, they cover each lawyer's table, the Judge, and the witness. They are a real life saver too when it comes to the Judge, big polyester robes that come up to the neck are a pain to try to wire. I had production invest in the nice stands that are made for the 8000 series about half way through the first season and they look good too. Sorry about straying way off subject on this post. Alex

Hi Philip, The steps I used to get OSX on it can be found here: http://gizmodo.com/5389166/how-to-hackintosh-a-dell-mini-10v-into-the-ultimate-snow-leopard-netbook Be sure you purchase a Dell Mini 10v (aka 1011), other models don't necessarily work. Also, once you've got OSX up and running, DO NOT update beyond OS 10.6.2, otherwise your netbook will turn into a paperweight. The hackers will likely have a fix for that sometime soon. All other software updates are ok. I hear you regarding the non-critical playback, but so far Audacity runs fine on it and thats about as involved in playback as I tend to get on my current show. I don't have any pictures yet as I'm re-tooling my cart now because we go back into 9-months of 70-hour weeks beginning this Thursday. Alex

Is anyone out there using a netbook hackintosh for simple file management or non-critical playback? I recently got OSX running on a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v and so far it appears to work pretty well. A 10" laptop with 6-hour battery that fits on a cart nicely and can be found used for less than the price of a lavalier mic. Is this all too good to be true?

Here's a marathon day my poor boom ops had to contend with on an episode of The Good Wife season 1. We shot a jury room scene that was over 8 pages in length, 12 actors and three cameras shooting from one side, then the other. The takes were over 10 minutes long, they were each 16ft out on the poles and we did this all day, for two days. No wires, two booms. I parked a good distance from set and via private line I fed the boom ops the actors' cues while mixing, they nailed it! Day one was boomed by James Baker & Gioia Birkett-Foa and day two was Lukasz Janik & Gioia Birkett-Foa. My hats off to some great work by them! They had a group adr session planned before we shot, and they cancelled it. Director said to me in passing after it was done that we had an easy day, I stopped him and politely set him straight. Alex sides mounted on cheap clipboard attached to rack rail via door hinge.

Hi Jan, I have a setup that works well for me with a 15" mac laptop. If you visit the filmtools website and look at the pictures of their vertical junior cart you can see a picture of my cart in the previous configuration I had on Conchords (thanks again Jan) and see the laptop arm there. I basically used a magic arm and a manfrotto plate made for 8" Sony CRT monitors and it was a perfect fit for the mac. I used a rapid adaptor to connect the plate to the arm, and a super clamp (aka maffer clamp) to attach to the cart. Hope this helps. Alex