Wandering Ear

I own 2 Nomad 12 bags. One with 6-8 channels of radios and an FP8 which stays on the cart most of the time, and one with 4 channels of radios that is used when I need to go mobile. They are perfect backups for each other. I also have a MixPre6 that I use for Ambisonics and sometimes documentaries, but in a pinch could work for small jobs. Good to have options.

Not that I've heard. It's a feature I like very much.

I think (having never had to make a claim) it would be a lot more complicated than this. Just proximity to bad weather does not make the weather a cause of damage, or exclude legitimate "covered cause of loss". You are responsible for justifying the claim, and explaining exactly how the damage / loss occurred, as well as proving it is a "covered cause of loss". Falsifying that explanation would amount to insurance fraud and is a criminal offense. They can also require that a third party assess the damage or assess the value of the asset if a disagreement arises between you and them.

Not entirely sure. I did notice a sentence somewhere about collapse from weight of snow, but that wasn't related to the above/below water protections. I had a minute before my show this morning, so I looked up the clause they quoted, on page 58 of my policy, that excludes more than just freezing temps. Freezing temps was just how I discovered it since I was preparing a journey to Antarctica, and needed to add the above water protections for my equipment. It seems even more vague than I remember. I'm guessing the last sentence would mean they will cover damage from snow if the above/below water protection is added. Thanks David. This is helpful as a comparison. I may reach out to them and see if they have an extreme weather exemption. It was a hard thing to find in my policy, and I missed it looking through several times while looking for it. If they don't have that (my policies exemption quoted in my previous post) then that may get me to switch since I enjoy venturing to the extremes of our planet. Most of the things you mention are the same with my insurance. Question about international coverage. You mention a $25K cap in Mexico and abroad. Does that apply to all countries not your home country? My insurance has a $25K cap in Mexico only, and does not covered US sanctioned countries from this list: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx Other than that my coverage is equal world wide, which is important to me as I travel internationally frequently. The other coverages you mention seem the same to me, additional charge for unlocked vehicle coverage, rental replacements, etc.

I looked into and have added the water additional insurance, but that doesn't cover the freezing exemption I was talking about. One thing I like about Athos is they answer the phone and are very helpful when talking to. The word I got from them is extreme cold is not an option you can buy, it's just excluded. I wasn't sure if that was the same across all insurers.

I've been happy with Athos too, without any claims. I was a bit surprised to find out when I traveled to Antarctica they do not cover equipment damage that happened below freezing temperatures. Can't remember the exact wording of the exemption. I am curious if anyone else has come across this with other insurers, as I am often working in below freezing temps.

+1

Looks like a great addition to the DPA line. I am excited to add a few to my kit.

I have serious doubts about the quality of this unit, but I'm pretty sure I will see it a lot on VR jobs. It's a cheap way to get into Ambisonics when quality isn't that important. While I wish that wasn't the case, more often than not I find that producers don't care much about the quality of the Ambisonic track, they just need something. This unit gets them that. I have no plans to sell my Soundfield or Ambeo, but I will probably add one of these to my kit for jobs where they don't want to pay for the nicer mics, or where the camera is in a position that it may get damaged (working with animals, bad weather, sports, etc). My biggest question is will I be able to buy a couple and make my money back in rentals, or are they so cheap that every company / VR camera owner will just have them as part of their kit. One good thing I think is that they focused on putting a more accurate clock in. Quite often VR takes are long, and drift can be a real problem. I don't like that phone connectivity requires an external module and is iOS only, and have never liked the zoom interfaces.

Neither. It's a standard bwav file, but the level will likely be lower than normal so post will have to add gain. The extra metadata just tells post how much attenuation was applied in the field, which gives post a starting point of how much gain to add if they want it.

+1

I have been told the "In LA mixers go for $XXX" many times. While I know it's not true the way the producer says it, LA is a big pond, and it's much easier to find people who need both experience and money so are will to compromise on rate. In smaller markets I believe we have an advantage because there is less competition, we can work together and keep our rates in line. However, I find it not worth putting any effort into people who can't negotiate at least close to my rate. I don't get mad, I don't try to change who they are, I simply state what I charge and spend my time focusing on the clients I prefer to work with.

http://wanderingear.net/products/bwav-to-tc-mp3/

90lb pack??? What are you referring to? While many of us, myself included think this is a poor way to record a movie, there are many people out there everyday mixing radios in a bag and booming at the same time. Documentaries, reality TV, etc. Modern technology has made this even easier with everything getting smaller and lighter. If location sound isn't that high on the producers priority list, no amount of head banging is going to change their mind about how to do it, and there will always be someone looking for experience willing to do it. Whether it's good or not is almost a side note. Smaller, lighter, faster is a trend I see across much of the industry.

I'd be happy if the rest of my transmitter lasted 10,000 days of work (assuming you take the antennas off once a day).