Christian Spaeth

Pretty sure Eurovision are on Axient now, as pretty much everything is on high level events.

that was me you quoted 😉 My review is three years old, but I absolutely can recommend the MCR54/SK5212 (I or II doesn't matter soundwise) combo for a not so high budget but great sounding pro wireless kit. I've been told that Wisycom sort of emulated the sound of the Sennheiser HiDyn compander for their own, so in this case it really sounds great to use this combo. They also emulated the 5212 in terms of layout, by the way, except that the 5212 is quite a bit smaller than the 41. Battery life has been mentioned here - Wisycom is unbeatable in that respect, except – 5212 are even better. Crazy how long it goes with one battery. at least 6 hours with a Ladda I'd say. Only real downside IMO is manually having to set frequencies on the 5212. But you can custom make banks on the MCR54 so you're quicker. I'll have to try how the 5212 sounds on a boom (with additional phantom supply) as I don't like the wisy's sound (at least in quieter environments) in that respect vs. Lectro hybrids.

Thanks for the tests! Would you personally consider the 4097's noisefloor too high for dialogue in a parked car?

Just ran into this same issue and found your solution. Thanks!

I am using this every day at the moment, not having this issue at all. Yours must have not been working properly. Soundwise this combo is on par with my Lectros or Wisys.

Kalimera from Greece! Shooting during lockdown makes some things really easier for us: Almost no cars, people or planes that corrupt our recordings.

Not what you asked but my recommendation for great low budget wireless especially if you're in Germany is to get a used Sennheiser SK50 and EK3041 with a MKE-2 or better MKE-1 second hand. Much better sound, build quality and range than all the ones you mentioned, go for quite cheap used and are almost indestructible, and compatible with many other Tx/Rx.

Same experience with me, using ERX1TCD or 1st gen Tentacles. Problems on day 1, all fine from day two with no different settings. I usually try all the ARRI tc voodoo tricks I know: Regen/Jam, check project rate, plug/unplug, different output voltage on ERX... in the end it always worked but I am puzzled as to how I got it to work eventually.

I had this happen in a MM1. You can fix it. Put some contact spray onto a long cotton swab and get to work in the battery tube. Once the contacts are clean it will work again. Good luck!

Hey. If you're can boom well you should be able to get well paid work quickly in Berlin. At the moment Netflix and others are ramping up EU productions and from what I hear in the process wages have gone up in Berlin, which is a place with lots of competition of course. But good boom ops are scarce and even if you write to some mixers you might get a job in high season like that. If you're looking for mixing jobs it will be much trickier in any of the places you mention. For that you need a good network of contacts with other mixers and producers who will book you.

Wow, glad it worked out for you! A scenario like this with the fiddly lightning connector and adapters as crucial interface would give me major headaches! But one thing is still unclear to me - did you call Björn in the end??

If it's a real fire there are different kinds of wood that crackle much less than others. I don't remember now which ones are best but a "fire operator" guy on set once told me. I think he said apple wood doesn't crackle. I'm sure it can be researched easily.

Absolutely agree to all of the above. I for one, guilty of having visited this site less and less over the past years, will come back here more now and hope many others will, too. Thanks Jeff!

If portability is important I think you should have a look at the Ambient Emesser and make a double MS rig with it. It's very light and sounds good (on a standard M/S combo anyways - both with Schoeps and Sennheiser hyper/shotguns in my case). You probably know the limitations of double MS (same as Ambisonics) - nice stereo imaging but not very exact localization. Personally, I could live with that considering that it's very portable and works well outdoors. Only reason I would go MKH30 over the Ambient would be if you are going to record very quiet ambiences where signal to noise is of high importance, and if the additional weight of the 30 isn't an issue. I wouldn't go Ambisonics over this combo (since both are coincidental arrays and the Sennheiser capsules are surely of higher quality than the Rode's). To get beyond that quality-wise I think non-coincidental setups are a must. The only more or less portable one I would consider is double ORTF like Schoeps offers, but that is quite expensive for the kind of work you mention. I have been playing with the idea of building an affordable double ORTF setup for the occasional surround recording with two Superlux ORTF sets stuck back to back but that might be hard to fit into a regular windshield.

Any production anywhere would be wise to cancel any shoot in the next two months because if they don't they are quite likely to be shut down anyway by the governments who will have to ramp up whatever measures they can think of in order to limit social interaction. Basically it comes down to lockdowns all over. Until the vaccination is here (some voices are now saying that could be as soon as this fall) things won't fully go back to normal. Travel restrictions might stay in place for many more months.