BAB414

https://www.locationsound.com/oisphoot-boom-uperator-lightweight-boom-pole-support-system-7184

Just heard about this one. Did a 20 minute take yesterday followed by a 15 minute take, both at 15' extension, with no support. This is how this director and this actor roll, and while it is killing me physically, I want to respect the actor's process. Anyone have experience with the Uperator?

Talk to the director and DP and explain that you have to get boom on it and that wide and tight is not an option if you want useable dialogue in the closeups. The wide by itself will sound like what it looks like with the boom just out of frame, and then shoot the tighter coverage separately. That's all it is. Plant mics might also be employed, hidden behind set dressing.

If you had to wire it, if they are sitting, possibly do a B6 in the hair or in the bikini top if it allows, and then run the transmitter behind them.

Sometimes, in rare cases where the planets align, you can even get a plate of the wide (if it's truly locked off with nothing moving in the background) and then bust the frame to get the mic closer.

Not Larry but the SR's (not sure about the new DSR4) don't have the front-end tracking (or filtering) that the Venues or 411's have.

Anyone see this new reality/competition show on Netflix? 1st episode they have 100 contestants in a room, everyone is miked up. I was wondering how they could coordinate so many frequencies and which wireless they were using. I also wondered how they were mixing, routing, and tracking everything and which lavs (the necklace mics) they were using.

Then in the first competition, it's 50 people at a time, hanging from a grid. Then they each fall into a pool. The mic gets wet but again I was wondering which transmitters they were using and how they were protecting them. Anyone have any info about the sound team and how they did what they did? They also have dozens if not more of go-pro's to sync as well as studio cameras.

Did you have a rental agreement with the producers? Something in writing?

12 hours ago, Phillip C Dent said:

Thanks Philip P! I did not know the link i/o worked like that with the 552. That is a great solution. I’d rather have the CL12 but the 552 is a great work around. Maybe I can find one relatively cheap.

 

 

I used to do the same with the Solice Mini. Doesn't need to be a 552.

30 minutes ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

Could this be the clue?
I could be wrong, but didn’t Sennheiser make the 50 more RFI proof when they switched to gold connectors?

My limited understanding is that there are gold pins and silver pins, and there is a regular chassis and a more RF-robust chassis. I definitely pick up some low buzz on my silver-pin 50 near certain lights.

I hear you. Don't forget the direct outs on each input! Those can come in handy depending on your needs.

My playback cart is a Soundcart Minicart. Signal Flow is:

DAW > Behringer FCA610 Interface (8 line outputs) > Sound Devices 552. 2 out of 3 outputs that don't hit the 552 I use as direct outs to the production mixer for program and timecode. The remaining one floats as an extra which I sometimes use as a thump track.

I use a Korg Nanonkontrol 2 controller mainly just for transport controls, but the faders are good for adjusting sends when needed and you can program the buttons to do whatever you want. I power everything except the laptop off of DC. The cart is cute and tiny!

On-Stage MSA5000 Mic Stand Laptop Mount https://a.co/d/9wHHuSe

I don't recommend moving the cart too much with the laptop on it but here's how I do it. Tray on a quicklok on a vertical riser.

8 hours ago, codyman said:

Maybe you can adjust your labor slightly but I don't know about you guys but Lectrosonics / Sound Devices etc doesn't look up my zip code and pro rate what it costs to buy gear so not sure why you'd want to sell yourself short with how much our gear costs.

In my union world, for some reason, it's understood that tier 1s will give you a lower kit rental than a major show. Because they have less money? Doesn't make any sense to me. A rental car place charges a rich man and a poor man the same rate. But that's how it works.

Whatever two consenting entities agree to is up to the parties involved. Charge what you can, and what you're willing to work for. Don't work for less than that.

Thank you

I thought they were all "D"'s. What's the difference?

I get walkie hits on one of my booms sometimes also in A1, using lectro sharkfins and a Venue2. Your friend at Gotham is right.

7 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 

You're just renting in two more SRc to supplement the two SRc you already have, just for the day for this one scene?

 

Yeah, don't bother with an RF Distro, especially as all the talent will be close by to you it sounds like. (just do sensible scanning and frequency coordination beforehand)

 

Only if you were buying the extra two SRc then would I suggest you should be considering more seriously getting an RF Distro, as you'll be having an using your four SRc many times more during the future years to come. But if it is just a one off event for the day? Keep it simple. 

 

What block are your receivers on vs your camera hop TX? Keep those blocks as far apart as possible, and keep the TX physically as far away as possible too. 

I have a small stingray bag that makes keeping the Tx far away a pain. But I got the 1/4 wave antenna which I feed up through my harness and that does the trick.

17 hours ago, Wandering Ear said:

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. 

This is a rad idea!

Thank you both for the suggestions. Worldizing with a speaker is a great idea and a backup plan in case the earwig doesn't cut it.

They plan to also cover the scene with a process trailer on a different day, where I will have more flexibility. The hardest part of all of this has been getting their attention, followed by getting answers to my questions.

I also thought about a phone system as a transmitter/receiver but we will be in the middle of nowhere so I can't know for sure if there will be any service out there.

Hey all,

I have a scene coming up involving a character singing to the radio in a small convertible car, shot with the Russian Arm/Ultimate Arm. I will drop the bag in the backseat and am planning to ask the non-driving character to hit play on a small phone feeding an earwig. In case playback NEEDS to be triggered by someone not in the car, what can I do to ensure the cleanest signal for the earwig?

I have not had good experiences with talent Tx in one car and my Rx in another car. I sometimes get decent range on the 216MHz comteks going to a follow van. However, I think it's important to have the earwig Tx in the picture car. So should I hop the signal over with an SMQV at 250mW in the chase car to a 411 that feeds the BST? I'm planning on worst case scenario where we see the entire car. Any other tips or tricks?

Thanks!

Hey Ben,

I'm sure there is a device that can measure it but I've never heard of it. You can do the math yourself though.

I recommend anyone who works with wireless audio to check out the full video here from Lectro. Here's where they begin to talk about RF gain structure: 

When you hit your receivers, you want to be at -6 to -2 to prevent overload. -6 is an acceptable amount of loss to work with.

Thanks Jeff, didn't realize. I'm still all Lectro digital hybrid for now.

Don't all the new high end digital wireless mics operate in the 2.4 GHz range?

3 minutes ago, abuck050 said:

 

The reason being is that the antennas create an EM wave from the from the current that is passing through the antennas that can interfere with neighboring antennas.

 

https://www.rfvenue.com/blog/antenna-farms

Wow in all my time doing sound I never came across this. Thank you very much.

Can someone please explain why an antenna farm is a bad idea? How does adding another pair of whips affect the performance of anything else?

I moved from whips to 2 dipoles and a PSC RF Multi SMA because you really do see and hear a difference in range.

7 hours ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

This kind of comment just makes people wanna say things like “do your own homework “ or “read the fabulous manual.”

I always wondered what the F stood for in RTFM! Thanks.

There are just a couple quirks with the Venue 2 that I've learned to look out for. One of them goes like this:

I have my Channel 5 Tx setting set to B Band because sometimes I use a block 21 Tx, sometimes I use a block 22 Tx. My channel 6 Tx is set to block 21 only (narrow band) in the Venue. When I switch to ratio diversity mode and then switch back, I have to manually reset the channel 6 block settings because it has taken on the channel 5 block settings. Switching to diversity mode altered the channel settings even after you go back to switch mode.