Philip Perkins

And meanwhile, somewhat down the budget ladder, the Tascam DRs are working really well in this context.

Doco shoot, happening in 2 adjacent rooms at the same time. Me solo on sound. I work with the A cam doing interviews, verite etc in one room, B unit is a solo shooter with a...Red Epic in the other. Ok--so in addition to recording the wirelesses from that set on my rig and a 2nd rig, we need a mic on the camera as well. Lots of emails re: ref-track hop+TC box+mic mounting on the camera. On the day: oops! The brand new RED firmware has eliminated P48 mic powering! So....Mozegear PAPI to the rescue again--plugged into the back of the mic and powered off of DTap. Be warned, folks: it's now not just the Alexa Mini that needs phantom+preamp love when the client asks for an onboard mic!

My votes: Report: yes. Drift comp: I don't see how you can calc this, since the drift is partly caused by environmental factors in recorders without TXCOs. Recorder ID: yes. I would consider using the app for downloading instead of "finder copy/drag+drop". Metadata editing: yes, for sure. TC starts, scene+take+notes entry. thanks!

Speaking for myself, I liked my Lightwave zeps but they seemed to need a lot more maintenance and fixing than my Rycote stuff. The rubber in the mic mounts for sure, the fabric that was the basis of the furry covers and the fabric that acts as a liner inside the screen all tended to fail over and over. I replaced the furries a few times and finally gave up on them, adapting a Rycote "rat" to the Lightwave zep. For the mounts I just kept re-gluing them, to the point that I should now do what you did and just make all-new mounts. The liner has to be re-glued to the mesh. But the size was very handy (esp for a large mic such as a Neumann stereo shotgun) vs the competition for when I was working alone and having to do a lot of hiking with my rig. I definitely got my money's worth out of mine, and continue to tinker with what's left of them. I haven't heard of Lightwave or seen their gear stocked by "the usual suspects" in many years....

I was going to say that that looked like an old Lightwave pivot/mount. Re-purposeing old windscreen parts into new rigs is a very cost-effective way of getting exactly what you need for the mic you want to use in the manner you need to use it. Those (metal?) mounts look like they will last forever! I have a pile of Rycote, Lightwave and Rode zep parts that I assemble "special use" rigs from--very handy to have around. Well done!

The concept of an adjustable height cart is pretty cool. The closest I've seen to a practical version are 2-piece carts like Chindha's or custom jobs made from rack cases. As always, weight is a somewhat intractable factor for anything used on location. For a lot of us, so is flexibility, since every job can be a somewhat different config. Hence the evergreen-ness of simple designs like a Magliner in 4-wheel mode with a shelf that can sit at a couple of different heights or be removed entirely if needed, as well as be folded up into a much smaller volume (and travelled that way). That all said, I thought I recalled a cart custom made for a UK mixer that could change heights, motorized? I'll have to comb through the "gallery", it was quite some time ago.

I recall those silver rings being on the antennas I had for my 195s.....

Heya Dave! Any chance you can send your wireless stuff home from your gig directly, like with another crew person or via shipping? I figure in China anymore they might decide to open and inspect, might be a can of worms....

Does LSC sell these?

Non-broadcast, for web etc mostly here. Double system+TC (if the cam will take it)+ mono ref feed, nearly always wireless. Many shoots are now maybe 1 "real" camera (Arri etc) with all of the above, and one or a few more of the Sony A7s type with ref track only. A TC slate often, but not always. No one wants to bother to try to set the A7s code to something close to master TC. Multitrack pre-fade iso audio expected, esp if more than 2 channels are in play. The only time "hero audio from camera tracks" enters the discussion is when time from shoot to presentation is very short, and even then most DITs are so fast with TC autosync that they go that way anyhow (esp if I have a lot of wild tracks, or I'm rolling through while camera stops or reloads etc.). This seems to be the pref for complex jobs with lots of crews, since the DIT is setting up their footage database. Having them gather, check, note and account for all assets as we go seems like a good idea.

FB has taken over a lot of the old forums, esp those of mfrs. Terrible--every question starts at zero, since it's almost impossible to search old relies. So very yay JWS!

Words for the ages. ....and thanks again, Maestro Jeff!

There are lots of ways to skin this cat, but record-run makes a lot of extra hassle for you and the cam dept while shooting. If this is a fairly normal sort of shoot with current cameras and recorders you may find that that function doesn't work so well, since no one asks the manufacturers for it any more. In other words, since this is now a non-standard methodology, a serious workflow test is in order if they are determined to go this way.

I liked your forum. It was a great repository of info, and as you say, searchable. FB is a waste of time.

As was said, the simplest way to do double system rec-run code is via a wireless TX. We did this for years in the early tape-HD video days, (Sony 900 etc). There are a number of issues with it, especially if you are using the incoming TC to also roll the sound recorder--particularly re: playback of the video as well as recorder-operational issues and metadata entry. We used this method successfully as we entered the double-system-audio-with-video age, and fortunately it passed into history as free-run TC became the norm. In this case I would want to know more about why the producers would want to use this antiquated and inefficient TC method? When confronted with requests like this I often find that they have been promoted by a post dept that is either lazy, has underbid the work and now realize their predicament or are ill-informed about current TC autosync methodologies (or all of the above). Before you buy, make or rent anything I'd recommend getting an explanation of their rationale for what they are asking for.