Peter Deutscher

Hey guys/gals, Finally have a post game report from the Specialized gig. Overall, fun gig. Challenging, but worth it at the end. First few days started off nicely with interview work and some FX recording with a director and DP from NYC. Had a chance to meet and talk with Mike Sinyard who is the president of Specialized and Robert Egger who is their creative director. These guys are extremely humble and awesome to talk to. Mike’s in his 70’s but looks like he’s in his early 60’s. When we fly’s home from overseas, he swears the best cure for jet lag is to ride home from the airport (SFO) to his home in Morgan Hill. That’s about a 75 mile bike ride and takes between 6-7 hours. The guy is just incredible. And Robert can build just about anything. We had the pleasure to go to his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains for some interview/B-roll work. People of Robert’s stature would normally buy every piece of furnishing in his home, but Robert purchases the tools and machines needed to build every furnishing in this home. Just incredible. And he has 2 motocross tracks on his property of which the guys from the band Slayer came over to use with their families one time (Robert showed us their entry in his guest book.) Back to the report… Had some gear issues on the 2nd day with the SRa’s channel 2 pilot tone. Luckily, most of the work from that point on was either boom only or lav mix so was able to bypass the channel (was using SRa as a camera hop.) The interesting and part came during the last few days of the gig. For this series of web commercials, there were 2 agencies running the ship. There were about 7-8 people from both agencies every day on set. Nothing out of the norm I know, but when it came to the action shots days, they out numbered our skeleton crew. Their was some heli-shots which made it difficult for the heli-crew to get the shots because the agency folks were everywhere. Only needed to be maybe half of that crew there to “supervise” and make sure they’re getting what they want. The frustrating thing for me was trying to get what they wanted. After having many conversations with the “director” prior to the shoot about what he wanted to capture, I thought we had a pretty firm grasp on how to approach the action days (hence my inquiry about micing up the bikes.) Come shoot day, the agency folks wanted to have the riders mic’d up so you could hear their conversations as they’re riding. After multiple attempts (implementing the 3 strike rule) of trying to explain that this would yield poor results (considering every shot was either a follow shot in a moving vehicle or a heli shot) I did as they asked. I then approached the director and again voiced my concerns. I had come up with the plan to break off from the crew after lunch, take a rider with me and properly mic up the bike to get the “hyper-real” sounds the director was looking for. Being a post guy, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to achieve what both parties wanted but again was shot down. After that point, I recorded what I could and called it a day. The director came up to me at the end and apologized to me for not getting what I was looking for, after which I corrected him saying this was HIS commercial, not mine. I did the best I could, given the circumstances. Lastly, the mountain bike days. We hiked up some great single track trails and got some great sounds and shots. Again, we were on very narrow trails with poison oak on either side of us and all 8 agency folks decided to come along. Very difficult to get into position to get the appropriate sounds and shots without being neck high in poison oak. Oh did I mention one trail was 1.5 miles of single track trail that climbed 1,000 feet in elevation? Did the agency folks want to help carry any gear other than their water bottle? My wife, who was PA’ing on the gig (not her first rodeo and no slouch as a PA either), was moving a lot of gear up the mountain and did the agency folk ask to help out when they hiked right past the two of us, seeing she was having a tough time? No. I still had a great time but definitely earned my keep on this gig.

I think that's Senator's go-to book titled "It depends..."

I'll through my hat in as well...

+1 Had to get a PS601 because I was using my 607 as my everyday bag and couldn't pack it anymore.

Thought about this too Simon but we're going to have to hike to the spots where they'll be biking so I'm trying to keep the rig simple and light. Like the idea of having two H4n rigs with 2x lavs each and my boom. Plus I should have some time to also get wild sounds of the bike as well.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions so far! Alan, found out some of the rides will have multiple riders going down the trail so I think I'll strap two members with H4n's and have a lav underneath the visor and a lav underneath the seat like Michael was recommending. Might experiment with the other set up on the other rider, still trying to figure it out. And I'll be capturing a lot of the downhill work with a boom. There will be time to do some wild sounds so they should get plenty to choose from.

Thanks Jim for the great ideas. Not sure what our mountain bike rider will be wearing yet but your suggestions have helped out tremendously.

Duly noted Senator Micro-Cats will be my friend (assuming they want to see lavs strapped to the bike during filming.) Still working out logistics...

I'm doing a gig at the end of the month where we're doing some corporate work for Specialized. Part of it is taking their mountain bikes and road bikes out on the trail and roads. I'm still working out the logistics with production, but am wondering how planting lavs on a mountain bike coming downhill would stand against the vibrations of the bike. I know Simon and Michael do quite a bit of biking so was wondering if placing lav's on sections of the bike that are more protected by suspension would help. I like Dave's idea on mic the bike but am worried that placing a recorder in his/her backpack heading downhill might be too much vibration for the recorder as well. Thanks guys/gals.

I've used the INV 6 and 7 with the Schoeps mics and have had great success. With the CMC641, I usually put it in the INV 7 with a foam windscreen for indoor work and an INV 6 with a BBG on the end for EXT work. No handling noise whatsoever. With my CMC441 Blue Dot, it's a bit more sensitive so I have to use my PSC Universal Mount for it. Handling a Schoeps definitely takes a steady hand/s.

...and holding your boom pole...

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "bare essentials"

Just made my morning Rich, thanks

Today marks 1 year since I joined the JWsound family. In that one year, I've learned more about sound, met some great folks, worked with some awesome soundies than in the total amount of time that I've been working as a sound engineer. I can't thank you enough Jeff for putting together a place where we can all meet, help each other out, and learn a thing or two. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something new. There really isn't another field where there's such comradery so thank you all again (the donation Jeff should take care of my gratitude for one year's membership and a little extra for an end of the year thank you.) As Crew says, Cheers!

I have one and use it for my ENG gigs (302, 2x lectros, etc.) I have also put an SD 702t and 744t inside along with the 302 with no problems. Once you start throwing on 2,3,4 wireless though, it gets pretty tight on space.

+1

Here's an abbreviated quote from the great Walter Murch (excerpt of an interview from the book "Sound-On-Film: Interviews with Creators of Film Sound:") ‎"...Sound without air has no smell. When you have air around it, suddenly it hits you like a smell that you haven't smelled in fifteen years..." --Walter Murch

Don't forget Versa-Flex too.

You're a good man Robert.

+1

I usually prefer something a bit lighter. Fly rod cases do the trick pretty well. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Rod-Reel-Storage/Fishing-Rod-Tubes-Cases%7C/pc/104793480/c/104812380/sc/104541480/Cabelas-434-Diameter-Travel-Rod-Tubes/710873.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1102356%26WTz_l%3DSBC%253BBRprd710890&WTz_l=SBC%3BBRprd710890%3Bcat104541480

I've been working in the healthcare field now for about 9 years (in the surgery/PACU area) and Dave here is spot on. It's sad that the pharmaceutical companies run the industry and that they throw HUGE perks and benefits to doctors who provide their patients with new, improved drugs. If only they spent money towards educating more people to eat health, natural foods and staying active...

+1

...+1000! I rebuke this statement I made. Although I did talk to Don on the phone and was extremely helpful, he has yet to make an apperance and I just don't see this trend coming to an end.

+1