Bartek

Christian, The only time I've seen this was on Czech and Polish productions. And only TV. I believe that they are under intense pressure to mass produce the episodes. I've also heard that the Japanese employ similar methods. By the way I work in the US.

We're not the only ones it seams..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6378925.stm

hello, I just wanted to share with you an interesting approach to european production sound techniques. I have worked on several TV productions from central europe, and was supprised by the unique system of audio recording employed by those productions. The following is the setup that was used. First of all this relates to HD. The crew comprises of the mixer, boom op, and an additional mixer. Everytime the equipment package involved 2 portadats, and sennheiser mics (60's and 30's). The mixer controls dat 1 and is responsible for dialog recording. The additional mixer works dat 2, and records the ambiant sound (in sync) with a MS stero pair (senn 60 + 30) The mixer sends audio (dialog) to the camera, "pulls" TC and word clock from the camera to 1 dat, sincs dat 2 to dat 1 via the TC out of dat 1, This system is used in order to minimise the post process. It must be also said that the camera dept works slightly different. A video technician controlls the "paint box" at all times and has a dedicated video assist monitor at all times. He also doubles up as a 2nd AC. I found this way of doing audio very interesting, but cumbersome. Multiple camera setup was a real nightmare. Now to that add a location such ....lets say Burban St in New Orleans on a saturday night! Does anyone else have similar stories? I'd love to hear them. Bartek

Does anybody know if it is still possible to buy new the XL "old style" VDB"s in the US?? Bartek

Thats a god one! My boom and I have always reffered to our cart as " The Beast" or the "Widdowmaker" weighing inn at 200lb's I guess its kind of self explenatory. Cheers!

hello, I was wondering If I could get some advice from you guys. I was prepping to do my taxes and as it turns out It looks at the moment like I will have to pay about $6000. Ouch! I am incorporated as a "S" corp. Another thing is that it has become apparent that last year my previous accountant wrote off all my equipment costs in 2005 rather than depriceating the cost, and that is hurting me this year. What to do? Shall I try to "fix" the depreciation issue or will that come back hurting me more? Any comments or ideas are welcome. Bartek

Hello, Today an incident occured while filming that inspired this post. The scene is; a woman helps an injured police officer into his car (passanger seat), runs around to the drivers side and peals out. Simple right? Sure! The kind of scene that both my Boom Op and I agree that a "flag pole" solution is the thing to do (play it safe with reflections) So the only problem is that as soon as she hits the gas, she also turns on the siren ripping our heads off. Ouch! I ripp of my headphones, franticly pull the fader to 0 turn around still in severe shock and find the peanut gallery at video village laughing their tails off. "how was that for sound, ha ha" Now lets imagine that someone fell on set or the DP got poked in the eye, etc. Would anyone react this way? Propably not! Well this got me thinking. When you feel that you or your crew are exposed to dangerous conditions (this was an isolated incident on this show) how do you go about getting out of the contract. I guess what im asking is, what is the propper procedure of walking from a job when your safety is seriously japordised? Bartek

Hello, As my post indicates my 70 bit the dust. It adds low level Rf noise to the signal output making it quite unusable. Besides the US branch of Sennheiser are there any tried and trustworthy places that you have dealt with that you would recomend? Or should I just forget about it, and call back Sennheiser. Bartek

Hey! I'm in Mnesota and working on a show that required me to pull TC from a varicam. I own a 744 with th eversion 2.03 software. I am experiancing a sort of a prblem. The 744 frezzes when I atempt to change the scene name 50% of the time. SD staff and David Cerra in particular have been really great at helping me with this problem. The varicam is running at 23.98 and the 744 is set to 29.97nd ext TC rec run. has anyone have problems pulling TC from th Varicam and using other recorders. Love to hear from you. Bartek

Sounds interesting. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Michael, I think that we all are in on the same page on this one. I always have my eye on the trim. I find that with dramatic scenes my right hand handles the faders and the left works the trim knobs. And I always keep my iso levels relative to the mono mix. Bartek

Hello, I wanted to find out how you guys are dealing with the issue of one's well being. I recently did almost 2 months of night shoots straight and a few weeks after, my body still has not propperly adjusted, and this is starting to effect my health. I know that this is an extreme case, but switching from night to day and back again is a common occurance, sometimes multiple times within a week. That alone cant be god for your body! I also noticed that i get the common colds at a more frequent rate. On a film set how many times have you had one person infect half the crew? This too puts quite a strain on your body, especially if this happens to you a few times a year (spring/fall). Not to mention the acctual phisical strain you are put under working in film, sleep deprivation, stress, and so on. I am curious how other are effected by this, and we all are. How have the true veterans dealt with this over their many years, and what are some of the things to look out for? Dont get me wrong here, I trully love what I do, love the struggle, and the satisfaction at the end of the day when you turn to your Boom Op and say "Boy we nailed that scene"! But the lifestyle we all chose comes at a high price, when does it become too high? love to hear your opinions on the matter, Bartek

*INDIA*

Vin. Sounds great. I send you my info. I'll be actually in India at that time. Regardless, would be nice to perhaps meet you there and get some pointers. I have an obssesion with movie soundtracks and old Bollywood stuff in particular. Its amaizing! I cant wait to get there and find the real old stuff. Favorite tune is from "Howrah Bridge" Geeta Dutt's "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" Cheers

Ferdi, renting a PD 4 is the right thing to do and yes the X5 is an acceptable mixer. The boom op question is something that you will realize very quickly; A boom operator is worth his or her weight in gold! Finding one is hard work and you should not expect to do it right away. Its going to take time and a lot of trial and error before you find the right sound team for you. untill then i recomend craigslist or mandy.com. You can always ask a production coordinator to help you with that. BEWARE! PA's make horrible boom ops. get someone with some experiance.

hello, Whille 'wireless to camera' is becoming a new standard for ENG and most sound proffessionals have a more diminishing no the matter there are a few ways we can protect ourselfs a bit. First af all talk to production and post people and fully discuss the pros and cons, get a settings memo signed. Once the go ahead is given for that system concentrate on your wirelles. Find out what area you will be shooting in look up the best frequency range for that specific area get the right wireless system for the job.........and pray Bartek

Ferdi, The PD 4 is a fairly simple machine. It will not take you more than a few hrs to get used to its lay out. The top and the front pannels are the ones that you will work with most memorise them. Wilh the PD 4 Only use the Maxell DATs no longer than 90min, breathe the tape when you put it in innitially. (FF $ RW) Learn your  menus. There are several settings that require the manual to be handy. Look out for the alarm setting; any time you plug in or out a cable or anytime you peak, or if your battery or tape is low an annoying beep will be audiable in the cans (not to tape) Its very uncomfortable to sit through a day of it. All you will need for cables si a L R from the mixer into the recorder although the latter has 3 XLR inputs and you feel like being creative. As far a s slates go  I doubt that on a low bdgt film thay would pay for multiple smart slates, there is nothing wrong with asking camera dept to mark the take with a common marker (many cameras filming one slate). The most important thing here is getting you confident with the PD 4. Its a piece of cake. You'll do fine. If youre in trouble with anything follow your signal flow and gain structure. Good luck

Cheers, the story of our lives. Lockdown is one thing, but how many times have you shoot intimate scenes by a train track / airport / water fountain / sky diving range / construction site? There is unprofessional behaviour and shear stupidity. Ahhh the lives we chose. B.

I think Philip brought up a very important point here. The other soide of the equasion (post) is something that often gets overlooked, other than getting your settings memo approved by them. I do a lot of indie features and have to say that at the point of principal photography the director/producer types very rarely have a concept of post sound never mind having a plan. I always do a mono mix as a matter of principle and have been guilty in the past of limiting post as far as options are concerned (mostly due to a lack of trust in the post person/PA in charge of audio). See the point? Regardless, Iso tracks cant hurt on the contrary. Anyway there is nothing more gratifing for a young buck like myself than to write my name / phone no on a media label Bartek

Hey, I have heard of a simular shoot up in Minesota where the sound guy (post converted to production) would set up an omni mic on a c stand and sit by his DA88 untill they would flip the room. Perhaps the best thing you can do here as a friend is invite this guy on set an let him observe. If he is too proud to learn the way things have been done on set for the last couple decades than maybe he should persue his own acting career B

Is there a way to DC power the Mini without the use of an inverter?

Hello, Im prepping for a show that will use multiple F900. I am running a 744 and a Boom Recorder (maiden voyage). Now ive been doing some reading on ramps and www.cinematography.net on how to approach this and i have to say that my head hurts. It seams that no 2 people can agree on the basics. Sound engineers and Video engineers seem to have a completly different opinion on the matter. Do the F900's handle external TC with dignity or is it not worth my trouble and would it be simpler to treat this a a fiml shoot? I thought of using lockit boxes, but it seams that video engineers seem to think that a lockit box suppling free run tc to camera is just about the worst thing you can do. Another option i have is to simply run my TC (744 as master) into an audio channel 2 on the F900's with channel one being the mono mix and forget about it! I do understand that the best thing to do here is propably to do a combination and make the darn whole thing idiot proof. 744 as master clock feed TC via hard line to the 2 cameras as external TC (or record it on channel 2) use a smart slate I would greatly appreaciate any comments from y'all. regards Bartek.

I am a SD 744 user and I designed my own in Excel. I ussually print a copy and hand it over with the media. I ask production to make a photocopy for their records. I also put a PDF log file on the disk with the audio.

Hello, Sadly in Chicago and Austin where i work the most women are not well represented in the production sound field. There is a great music recording engineer in Chicago named Mary Marurek who taught me all i know about stereo recording techniques, but as far as i know that is it. I hope that this trend will change. I've tried in the past to get female sound crew members on board be it in an intern capasity. I've not had much luck. But will continue to try. Bartek

Doug, I know how you feel. I have plenty of friends who are very passionate about their work but simply do not have the fungs to pay their crews propperly, although i know that if they had the funds they would. This is a kind of situation where the pay is directly proportional to the kind of experiance their sound person would bring with them. These kind of gigs are perfect for people who need to get some experiance in th efield. I would strongly encourage those out there who are starting in this industry to consider these kind of gigs. There not fun, but this is how u leard the basics, and learn to appreciate what a privildge having sound crew is. Bartek