Wandering Ear

The arm car is likely to stay fairly close to the picture car. Maybe you can trigger playback from there if necessary?  Many times i have been in follow vans where I’m promised we’llbe close and stay in range, just to find on the day we end up out of range of a Comtek bst75 mounted up high in the car, or just pulled over and parked as they free drive back and forth coming in and out of range. 
+1 to keeping the earwig tx in the car. Earwig reception is finicky enough as it is. 
 

this gives me another idea that i might build and test one of these days. I could easily build a website where you load the playback file and then have the site open on a phone in your car, and also open on your phone in the van and can control the playback from your van phone.  It would require at least some cell service, but would require much less data than streaming the audio since it would only need to send/receive transport controls and would not have audio dropouts when the service gets poor.   If this is something anyone is interested in, let me know and I’ll build a quick proof of concept. 

22 hours ago, Izen Ears said:

Ah ha!  That's incredible.  I believe I was 13 when I saw Bon Jovi at the Blaisdell Arena, no earplugs, ears rang for days.  Yes it was not worth it.

 

Oh dude that is an amazing story!  Thanks for sharing it.  I bet you have pretty good pitch too?  What a great dad!  My dad played bluegrass banjo so being quiet was never in the cards at my house.  He also played slack key so I guess that was much quieter.

 

Brian House did this and made some cool sounds!  That's how the podcast began.  Here's his site.  The sounds are wild!

 

https://brianhouse.net/works/urban_intonation/

 

When I lived in Jersey I worked on a short called Underground, and it was a narrative about the "moles" that lived in the subways.  So we spent a lot of time down there and I saw some MONSTER rats, easily bigger than little dogs.  I was into it!  I'm also a water rat (May 1972) so I guess I have rats on the soul.  The same night I saw that huge rat, we were suddenly surrounded by a squad of vice cops!  They just wanted to know what we were doing, but they came out of nowhere.  One of the other crew people was this woman whose father had worked for the NYC transit, and he used to just take her in the tunnels between stations as a regular means of travel!  How zany is that?!!  
 

I love that we both went way off topic!

That must’ve been an incredible shoot!!  How funny to all of a sudden be surrounded by Vice.   I did a feature shot  in an abandoned nuclear missle silo.  I imagine it felt pretty similar, although we had no rats. 
How was it shooting down there?  Was the train noise constant?  Are there ventilation fans?  Or was it pretty quiet?

 Thanks for sharing the podcast. I’m going to start listening to that on my drive to and from set. 

1 minute ago, TVPostSound said:

I get into heated debates with my audiologist too!!

Unfortunately, it's my daughter.

I think they brainwash them in Med School.

That’s a dinner table debate few can relate too. 🤣

12 hours ago, Izen Ears said:

HOLY SHIT dude!  23k?!!!  Insane.  How old were you?  And I guess you never listened to loud music?!!  DAMN.

 

I was just listening to a podcast that mentioned how rats auditory systems just can't hear the human voice!  And we can only hear their distress cries, and none of the other cool sounds they make like playing and parenting.

 

Thanks for the awesome discussion!  What great info about audiologists, and it makes total sense.  They are there as a medical resource to help modern humans survive, which means being able to hear voices.  Which is a real shame because they SHOULD be focused on restoring all freqs.  My heart and soul goes out to deaf people, in my opinion they got screwed by life so hard, much harder than blind folks.  It's never once been a question - I would 100% rather be blind than deaf.

I was 13 or 14 and kind of an audio nerd.  At that time it was building custom speakers and I was obsessed with seeing how much bass I could get out of everything.  Ironically I've always been very sensitive to loud noise, but also love the energy from loud music.  Excessive bass was the way I could get both and not destroy my hearing, or give myself headaches which I get when it's too loud for too long. 

My dad was a piano tuner, so he also made a living with his ears.  He taught me how to take care of them at a pretty early age, and I'm really glad he did.  Funny enough, he accidentally taught me how to critically listen too.  I couldn't sit still during one of my brothers orchestra performances, and in an effort to get me to shut up and sit still he told me to listen for only what my brother was playing on the Basoon, and not say anything until I could only hear my brother.  It took me the rest of the concert to find the basoon in an 80 piece orchestra.  Not only did it get me to sit still, it taught me the most fundamental skill of my career today.  That story really isn't relevant to this discussion, guess I'm just rambling as I wind down after wrapping the first week of a new show.

Crazy about the rats.  Now I want to get some rat recordings and pitch them down into the human hearing range just to see what it sounds like!!

I too would rather be blind than deaf.

I'm guessing that audiologist was referring to the highest possible "root note" of the human voice.  As has been mentioned, there are quite a lot of harmonics well above that.  Sibilance can have a lot of energy above 6.5k.

The last time I went to an audiologist I got into a debate when they told me no one can ever hear above 20K ever.  They couldn't fathom the idea that 20Hz - 20Khz is a rounded average of the human hearing spectrum and not some magical physical hard cut off.  When I was a teenager I tested my hearing with precise equipment and was able to discern frequencies just over 23K.  Doubt I can do that anymore

I would also argue that we probably can't really "hear" 20Hz, although we can experience it.  I know I can't discern a "tone" that low.

You could find an excuse in a conversation to try and find out what kind of food / drink they like?  Or hobby's?  Might help figure out a more personal gift.

On 8/22/2022 at 7:17 PM, glenn said:

Zaxcom URX100 IFB receivers interface with Motorola walkies and also listen to any Zaxcom bodypack or cart transmitter at the same time. It might be the bridge you are looking for. 
 

Glenn

While I don’t think it’s what the OP is looking for, the URX ability to tune into and audition talent mics without having to go through the cart is huge for me. It’s a unit/functionality i wanted for years before the URX came out and has changed the way me and my team work for the better. 

Very steep filters often (not always) have a small boost just above the rolloff frequency, but multiple shallow filters can combine to achieve the same reduction as a steep filter without that boost (aka a flatter frequency reaponse). Not as relevant to this discussion per se since no mic or transmitter i’ve seen has such steep filters, but in some cases it can matter. 
 

17 hours ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

Ah ok, fair enough. You are correct that I misunderstood how this works.

However, it looks like that accessory is no longer available.

 

If they still made them, I guess the bottom attachment could be removed - on my pole it looks like this:

 

It is a bummer if they’ve stopped selling those.    It’s been my favorite configuration. 
you could easily 3D print the part if thats a route you want to go. I’d be happy to send you measurements or maybe a 3d scan if you want to go that route. 

On 8/7/2022 at 3:01 PM, Johnny Karlsson said:

I wouldn’t say they are nearly identical at all.

- Olle’s solution puts the transmitter at the top of the pole.

 

- Daniel’s would involve a short XLR cable plugged in to the pole going to

the transmitter, which would leave it vulnerable to getting snagged on something. Could of course be cut to exact length, but still. It also adds 2 XLR connectors.

 

The K-Tek thing makes it possible to quickly put the pole into a Boom Box, leave it in a corner of the set - and while it’s standing in there, it’s keeping the transmitter protected while our grip friends move stuff around.

I think you misunderstand how the ambient solution works. There are no additional xlrs, just the internal cable exiting and terminated in an xlr that the plug on plugs into. I’ve used this system for about a decade, except without the extension piece on the back end of the pole.   I also upgraded to a neutrik HD waterproof connector after raining out a standard one. 
 

This looks pretty cool!

See this discussion:

I've heard from a coordinator at one of our stadiums that they end up chasing down a lot of crews using wireless outside of the stadium, but within range enough to be picked up.  While that's an avoidable situation, it highlights how one could easily not realize they are shooting in an area where someone's paying attention.

I usually put a layer of micropore on the outside of my foams to protect them from the tape.  This is an interesting idea I'm interested in trying out.  Thanks for sharing the file!

You could also cover the drop during switching with a capacitor.  The capacitor only needs enough capacity to keep the voltage up under load for the few milliseconds that a relay would take to switch sources.  If you only wanted one or the other battery and never both then you could potentially drop the diodes.

The AES on a QRX is at 32Khz.  Does the 833 AES inputs support that sample rate?  Try setting the Sony F5 AES to ON and see if it makes a difference.  I believe this will set the QRX to ouptu 96Khz instead of 32Khz

On 1/9/2022 at 9:13 PM, Pat Slater said:

Delicious drop.

But! I found the tinsel like can.........  distracting....

I know this is older, but I kind of love this can.  Now I want to taste it.

On 6/6/2022 at 10:46 AM, Fred Salles said:

I think TA3 (mini XLR) have been all male whether for inputs or outputs since the 7 series of Sound Devices as far as I remember. I always though it is both for space saving and ease of contacts cleaning, just like the male XLR for mike inputs on the early Nagras.

You're absolutely right.  I wrote my thought without remembering that all the ta5's on my Zaxcom recorders are the same way.  It's true there isn't really a standard there and the way I learned to think about signal flow as it relates to connectors is kind of arbitrary anyway.

I bought a pair of the mini circuit splitters from lectro and combined them into a small 2 way splitter that worked wonderfully for me for years.  I sometimes use it to split in front of my micplexer if I need to add a 5th receiver.  If I only needed 2 receivers this would be my go to.

I think the Sonosax accessory looks great.  I find the choice to use male mini xlrs a bit odd.  It's just counter to how I've always thought about audio signal flow.  It's always made sense to do power that way to prevent accidental shorts, but not sure why they decided to flip it for audio.  General availability of the connectors maybe???

Either way I'm really looking forward to working with this camera.  I know at least one owner op who has ordered this cam and since it can do 120fps at 4k they are planning on getting rid of their RED cameras which makes me happy

4 hours ago, Constantin said:

yes, I do the exact same thing, although I actually found a white material that’s normally being used for loudspeakers. I thought that probably sounds better than a filter! 
(just a joke, it’s virtually the same material). 
I use this on Cinela rigs and stereo Rycote sets, but for a regular Rycote kit, the Remote Audio Rainman works really well. 

Hahaha. 

I would love to find a roll of the fabric.  I'm sure it's readily available, but it has to be the right density.  I have found this air filter material let's almost no water through even after prolonged exposure.  When I've used the rainman in the past I found the water soaked through quite quickly and didn't provide enough water protection for me.

I also find my self shooting in all day rain, not just from water trucks, so I keep a full crate in my van with multiple filter that I can change out as needed.

I also keep a dry bag to cover the boom in between takes.

I just bought one of the SGS BT100 chargers.  It's way smaller than I expected and I like the design.  In the short time I've had it I'd say it's great, and fits nicely by the SGS 6 bay NP50 charger I use daily.

But wow!  The LED's they chose are crazy bright.  I covered mine with a piece of photo black and can still see them.  I keep meaning to reach out and see if they can mod it to dim the LED's.

I tried to find info on charging rates of this and the Motorola, but never found any reliable info so went ahead and bought what was available. 

When doing rain work I always mount my lavs with the head facing down, and if I can use some silicone tape of similar on the back edge of the mount to try and keep as much water away from the mic head as possible.

For booms, the Cinella Kelly is very effective at stopping the noise from rain hitting the zeplin. You will need a layer inside to stop the actual water.  The best fabric I've found for this is actually a green/gray cut to size air filter from home Depot.  I'll try to dig up a photo of one of my boom rigs with this.  Looks ugly, but sounds great.

For rain falling, have as much open cell foam, preferably with large openings and 1-2" thick.  Use the Kelly as a reference for this, but have a roll or two on the truck.  For shot that don't see the top of the umbrella, you can lay a layer of this directly on it, or lay it on a flag or other rain cover that's above talent to get rid of the "unnatural" sound of rain on plastic.  The same foam can be used on the ground around talent to deaden the splashing when it's out of frame.

This is a good time to remember that qualifying sound is very relative, meaning you don't have to get a pristine dialog track, you just have to get the signal to noise ratio high enough that post can smooth and mask the background noise into something pleasant.  This usually means tackling the water immediately around talent, but letting the rest of it fall.

As others have said, try and get sfx to rent / run as much hose as possible.  Those water trucks can get really loud once they start pumping!

One thing that has happened to me before is seeing the mic once the actor gets wet.  When the wardrobe is fresh it's all hidden, but when the shirt gets clingy and soaked, everything underneath starts showing through.  Work with wardrobe in prep to try and get sweaters (thick wool sweaters!!) Or something to help.  If it has to be a t-shirt, try routing the wire over the shoulder and using seams and the collar to mount the mic upside down without it becoming visible.

Lastly, most tapes won't stick after things are wet, so try your best to get a good tack when it's dry. 

Sometimes hearing yourself in the comms can eliminate the "plugged ear" effect, especially when only wearing 1 ear.

I'm considering purchasing either the Sound Guys Solutions 4 bay charger, or the Motorola 6 bay charger for BT100 batteries.  I've been calling the usual suspects, but so far haven't been able to find anyone who can say if there is any difference in charging rates between the 2. 

Is anyone here using either / both of these?  What I want to know most is if there is a difference in charging times?  Any other thoughts or opinions are welcome too.