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Freeheel

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Everything posted by Freeheel

  1. B&H let me try them before buying. I was kind of shocked. I was looking at them and made some humourous comment about trying them out to the kid behind the counter. He pulled out a sealed set, gave me an ipod and let me use them for half an hour. I don't know what he would have done with them if I hadn't bought them.... cheers, Brent Calkin
  2. I hate to disagree with you Crew and Robert, but I've been using Etymotics for 4 years and absolutely love them. Cheap earbuds don't even come close for isolation and sound quality. You know when you're hearing a truck go by and you can't tell whether you're hearing it in your mix or it's shooting through the sides of your headphones? Now you can tell. And the isolation lets you keep your listening volume quite low to save your hearing, so spikes (especially in conjunction with the nice limiting on modern mixers) don't blast you. Other benefits - no bald spot from headphones and, you can wear whatever headgear (top hats, helmets) you want. I've run to the top of mountains with them, dripping sweat and they kept working fine. The Negatives. You have to keep your ears religiously clean. If you have a lot of wax in your ear you will clog the earbuds, which usually manifests itself as a noticeable loss of gain on one of the sides. The buds come with a cleaning kit, but when you're using them every day, you don't want to be messing with them. I find it easier to keep my ears clean, and then I clean the earbuds when necessary - usually once a month. You can't hear the director any more if your mic isn't pointed at him/her. The isolation is that good. Mechanical noise propagating from movement of your body against the wire (and also some jaw movements) can be distracting. I've learned to recognize the distinctive sounds of these movements, but I still get tricked now and then and think - what the heck is that noise? Oh yeah, goretex and zippers rubbing on headphone cabling when I turn my head. So they are a little different to use than regular headphones, but I'm never going back! All my old headphones are hanging on nails in the basement- they don't even come on jobs any more... cheers, Brent Calkin Ps I mainly do documentary, so my requirements are a little different from a feature boomer, but I would use the etymotics for booming or mixing anything, feature, or run and gun...
  3. Hi Simon, I had a show a few years ago where we were doing week long adventures with a host and 4 cast members. Always in the backcountry of BC- up mountains, down rivers, the works! We were carrying camping gear as well as our clothes and whatever safety gear we needed. (crampons, helmets, rope, etc) If we weren't shooting, we had to be ready to at a moments notice - when we weren't running to get ahead of the cast. Over the course of 13 episodes I settled on something similar to what Jason suggested. An 80 liter Arcteryx Naos waterproof backpack -( a real backpack by one of the top manufacturers that is very light and truly waterproof - you can use it as a small raft if you have to as well:) I put rings on it that are fixed to one of the strong points where the shoulder straps anchor. I have a KATA bag with carabiners holding the body harness on. When I had to hike I'd pull the bag up high on my chest and biner it into position (clip, clip you're done) I DID keep the Kata harness on as well which was a little bunchy, but the KATA harness is much flatter than the Versa flex so it was fairly comfortable - And it was very nice, if we were stopping for a few minutes, to drop the 70 lb pack and still be wearing my gear harness (which was heavy enough with SD 442 , 4X lectro 411s, comtek, and 416 in full zeppelin in a metal holster). The Naos has a pocket outside the drybag part for a hydration bag. And when it rains sideways and everyone gives up on filming, you can throw your gear inside and know that its going to be completely dry. So that might be an option for you. The main question I have after a show like that is - would Sound Devices be kind enough to make a 442 with a waterproof face? (I know sonosax makes a cool 4 channel sort of waterproof mixer with magnetic switches and sliders, but I like the metering on the 442 better- not to mention all the awesome i/o options) The carting of stuff around with backpacks paled next to the ordeal of keeping everything dry..... HTH Cheers, Brent C
  4. Good question! I use 99% alcohol, but you have to scrub a bit. My main issue is keeping the white Sanken rubber mounts clean. They get filthy within a couple of days using 3M micropore tape. I've tried Xylene, but it leaves a smell like magic markers that some people might like, but most don't... I've also used white gas and lighter fluid - not much better. I'm afraid to try Acetone because I'm worried it will damage the rubber. Anyone else have any magic bullets? cheers, Brent C
  5. I work in the rain a fair bit, and usually manage to keep everything dry, but if everything DOES gets wet, it gets pulled apart and cleaned with de-oxit. This happens about once a month. I'm always amazed at the amount of oxidization that will build up in that length of time. Stuff gets cleaned also when I start hearing crackles when cables move. I also go nowhere without a soldering iron and spares of every single cable that I use regularly. Cheers, Brent C
  6. You could also get an old mac laptop. I have a very long in the tooth 550 Tibook that is a complete software clone of my newer machine. If I lose or break either machine, the other one is standing by... cheers, Brent C
  7. I've had the same issue with my 442 - and though I love it, in the rain sometimes I wish I had that 4 channel sonosax with the magnetic switches... Anyway - I spend a lot of time in the rain, and a $20 Sealine map cover from an outdoors store usually does the trick unless I'm shooting on a whitewater raft... cheers, Brent C
  8. My lectros are block 24 , and they worked fine in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. There was sparse interference here and there, but it was easy to get around it after a scan. cheers Brent C
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