afewmoreyears

I think they have done a great job on this unit.... It is light years of an improvement over most other options in my opinion... I tried the auto trim and it worked as explained... I saw no problem in it what-so-ever... On a cart, or, in a bag... I really don't know just how much you can pack into a chassis of this size and offer so much. Will this recorder/mixer make everyone happy doing so many types of field sound work? Who knows... and probably not... I for one will buy one as soon as it comes out, learn all I can about it's operation, bend and flex along with it's capabilities, keep an ear open for updates and mods and move forward happily for 4 to 6 grand... A fair price in my book... Glenn is trying to get this unit out and soon... I am happy to take what he has given us at this stage and work with it... Will it shine my shoes? probably not, does it have a turbo? no, but as it sits it is very capable now indeed. Ideas are good, but remember, there will always be those that have reservations for one reason or another. Can't please them all, you just can't... Future updates will probably spin our heads some more, I would say, be patient... Oh, and.... You'll probably end up cranking up the Lav and ruining a track anyhow, without the feature.... That's just life as a mixer....

"Understands where he was coming from" Are you kidding....? really? Throw him under the bus and put it in reverse and drive over him 10 times.... What an idiot. Just what did he "understand" about anything that went down... Sorry, I don't understand.... I never will, nor do I understand anyone who beats down the path of turning the Holocaust into something we can understand. If you can understand it, you probably have problems... Not historically, but why.... Hitlers skewed background? Millions of people have "skewed backgrounds" all over the world, seldom do they mass murder millions of people, and NOT just Jews. As for my dad, yes, he did fight against them in WWII, he hunted down and brought Nazis in for trial, He saw the camps, and later, so did I...and I can tell you, nobody in my family was wearing helmets or Nazi clothes... Nor was that an accepted form of behavior. Ask any vetran of that era... It was an insult, and still is... As long as my dad was alive, he never bought German made products.. I still cringe when I see bikers with that helmet... WTF? I have nothing against the modern German people, but those artifacts carry a special meaning, and one that should not be taken lightly IMHO. F--k that guy.... what an idiot. If he really feels like thinking those thoughts, good for him, but to be dumb enough to air them at a venue like that is unimaginable... or, mentally unstable... pick one.

My personal favorite.... God, Like there's some guy up in space, floating around, watching everything we do...... and he always wants money....

Well, either you are around AC or not... If your not, simply get a Honda 1000 or 2000 portable generator. The 1000 will power Sound AND Video depts... Money well spent... I have gone this route for years, never a problem... if things get too out of hand I simply go to a smaller rig... All on Batts.... PS, I am a 01V96 user as well...

Pledge, or a light silicone lubricant... There is actually some wipes specially for this purpose, but Pledge or Silicone has worked for me for years.... Especially the silicone spray available everywhere... Remember, keep it light and dry and clean after the application. You DO NOT want to attract dust and dirt, only dry lube the surfaces and clean them...

Perform your own test...take 2 people on two cell phones in the same room... call one from the other, you will see that the latency, or delay is pretty bad....

He's been in the box for what, a year Tom? Enough is enough... really now... Even Jeff's alter ego has more class than that, you should apologize to his alter ego... that was low

If it's a union gig, we are not supposed to. That's someone else's job, but like Jeff says, I too have done it many times... for regular clients for only a few or one shot. If it is an all day thing, I tell them they need another person... In practice it is rather easy, but between notes, and operating all the gear, it can get busy... I simply tell the AD "hey, I'm getting this done for you guys, but realize it and cut me just a few extra seconds to complete my sequence of events"...

Fortunately or Un-fortunately I have done Hundreds and hundreds of them over the years and it has gone from more complicated to less complicated, more complicated, and now, back to less complicated... Jeff is right... Any of the simple and easy to obtain audio programs will work... pick one... or if skipping around various tracks, even Snapper can be easy to use.... any track you click instantly opens in a waveform ready to use in a second or so... As for sound systems... it can go various directions and Jeff is again correct in his offering of advice.... You can go from a porta column, to a concert sound system and anything in-between.... In the old days we used to tap into the concert monitor system for the band both before and after the actual concert... That was always fun, but we lost out on the rental... We used to carry HUGE sound systems and could use them in various sizes depending on the gig and where we were filming. We had a warehouse for it's storage we used them so much... Figure out where you will be, what the room size is, or if outdoors, you will always need a little more poop.... If it is a band you will need at least 4 floor monitors, or a different configuration of 2 large double 15" side fills and a couple or at least one floor (drum) monitor... very important. If possible and there is a drummer, ask production to get the dumb cymbals... They are silent for the most part... drum pads for the drums as well... this helps a great deal.... As for timecode, that can go either way.... Either there is no lip sync, and you don't really need it unless of special situations, or with timecode if asked ..... The editors have been all over the map for years on this, probably still are.... If you do need timecode, request the track have timecode on one track of a stereo mix and the mono track of music on the other... Timecode gets output to a comtek or like transmitter and a receiver is on the back of the slate with a receiver that gets it into the slate... Your mix (mono) goes to your amp rack or powered speaker... The newer Yamaha 400w powered speakers are useful if you get a couple and should provide most situations with enough volume to be effective. And, no huge speakers and amp racks to move around and load... But again, tailor the sound system to the talent, budget and room or venue size. You almost always want it loud enough to make the performer "open up" and actually sing over the track... not enough poop and they tend to get shy, you can see it in the performance.... I don't do them anymore, but still have the gear.... The budgets got so strange I just stopped doing them all together. We did make a lot of money for our company back then and had some incredible memories ... Make sure they add beep tones at the head of the track so the performer knows the track is starting... And, get THEM to provide it.... Without you needing to sit on set editing their track. Tell them to have all that sorted out BEFORE your day begins... If using Larger sidefills or monitors, make sure they are on wheels, you WILL be moving for the most part much of the day.... Consider the music in your plan as well, Heavy metal has different needs than a country ballad by one singer... The heavy metal or hard rock bands will ALWAYS WANT IT LOUDER NO MATTER WHAT YOU BRING!!! LOL Good luck...

Agree with Phillip, I never send audio to a cheesy cam...Ummm I mean 5D or 7D.... We simply open the camera mics and I recommend a TC slate anyhow, if only for scene and take info, and let it rip... Pluraleyes works by analyzing and matching waveforms to sync, so as mentioned, TC doesn't matter too much... At least it is on the image and on my recorder just in case... At around $150 US... Every post facility should be on board... Let me add if and when for whatever reason the camera mic can't get proper scratch, the slate would and could come in handy... especially the clap....

The Senator Mike is not even remotely close.... I never received evil and vial emails concerning my wife of all things from the Senator... his comments are absolutely tongue and cheek... I have never been offended by them... The other gentleman was incredibly abusive, vial and through the internet of all things, threatening... I am in total agreement with Jeff on this one. NOBODY gave more chances, for a longer period of time, and tried for what, a year or more to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. Jeeze, what more could he of done... Not that it matters to anyone here, but I left because of him and will do so again if I ever see him again on this site... Just his name made me ill when I saw it... His abuse to others and myself is well documented. To be fair, yes I got into it with him on more than a few occasions, and yes stooped to his level. But, that being said it was in defense of others and myself. It is a shame, because he is a very knowledgeable person with much to offer, but his ability to communicate with others in a civil manner were absolutely non existent.. I never saw or dealt with anyone like that in my life... he had no conscience... at all. I just could not understand his anger directed at others or the ability to just be polite to people and places of business. Thank you Jeff...

Take a deep breath.. and attack... You'll be fine.. Don't forget to smile.

You know, it's a mixed bag.... I have never while moving had any luck booming for the type of sound I am trying to arrive at... It has been mentioned that shadows which will many times move all over the place, as well as booming too much of the racket associated with the rig itself... not to mention the lighting gear making sometimes a great deal of noise. All this and you can't rule out actual wind noise into the boom mic (and pole) even with it properly rigged. I have always used Sanken in metal balls then inside the large furry wind balls placed under the visors favoring the center of the vehicle. (slid more to the center of the car on the visors themselves... rather than in the middle of the visor for driver and passenger.) Better for conversations from driver to passenger. Problem is, on a convertible, depending on which one, might work out or not... Some are MUCH better at being quiet around the visor area than others... and much closer to a talents mouth than others... Male, female, that matters too... soft talkers or not also plays... Can the talent pick up the volume a bit because of being in a convertible? can't hurt to ask!!!! I will also if and when possible use a Schoeps on a flexi or other means as an option... As has been mentioned.. but this can be hit or miss depending on how many cameras, these days a regular cluster you know what... Sometimes there is a spot that will work.... and work well... Wiring talent is also hit or miss, seat belts, movement, and wardrobe can all be big hassles in this or any situation... As usual, we can not really plan a course of attack until we are standing there, on set, staring at all the variables in the face right before placing mics for the shot.. Can't solve the puzzle until we see it. I will often take the best few options, mic for all three, multi-track the mics and see what is working well and going backwards to drop what is not working once the rig gets going. Settling on only one option can cause embarrassment when you realize that for some reason your go to option did not work out... We seldome get a driving test run to check out options... we are usually deep into a run before we can re-mike... This plan of attack has worked well for us for years. Convertibles are no different, even if you choose to use the boom as one option... see if they stick to 25mph, if it stays there or lower speed wise, and you are at night and lucky not to have shadow issues, maybe you can keep the option, but, have another, that's for sure... Process trailers are never fun for me, but, in the end I have almost always been surprised at how nice it can be made to sound.... Prepare, and go backwards... that's my advice...

When I started in this business a long time ago (by my standards, there are persons here with a longer track record) It was a struggle... It still is from time to time, although I always have made a living at it. And a very good one... I have a saying now when people ask how I got into the business. I tell them "I ate Top Ramen and eggs for two years" I was not kidding.... Contacting Producers is a double edged sword. It can seem as though you are desperate for work. That might not be a good impression. A phone call telling them how much you enjoyed the gig couldn't hurt... The fact is, they too are sometimes skipping from job to job... The periods of time in between do not mean they forgot about you or your fine services. But may only mean they too are at the moment between gigs.. The suggestion of social media is a good one to stay in the eyes and mind of contacts... that does help. But, really, the best thing you can do to stay in their graces is to simply stay polite, fun to work with, be helpful, be timely, never call in sick... EVER, keep cool while working and try not to be a point of attention, be fair to yourself and them during billing, and do the best job that you can at any level. If you do this, your clientele will both remember you and rehire you again and again... If they don't actually remember you by name, they will reference the call sheets from prior shows and call you back. You will probably never in this business get so comfortable you will be sure the gravy train just "continues"... After 29 years, I still sometimes wonder why the phone hasn't rung in a few days... Only the years I have done this continue to comfort me.... really... A strange and discomforting situation really, never knowing when or if you next paycheck will "arrive". This is NOT a feeling that everyone can live with. Single, no large nut to crack every month and it might be for you.... But, kids... Large nut to crack with a load of bills and a hefty mortgage and car payments and it can and does get stressful.. It is your job here and now at this point you say you are at, to really decide if you want to dive in and________ you fill in the blank..... I wish you the best of luck.... I think you CAN do it....

Thank you both Mike and Jeff... Nice to be back.... Bob Dreebin CAS

"On the scout I was told, by the DP, "if I was worthy of my job, I would get good sound from that location", Exactly, just show up, and do the best job you can do in any situation you are placed in. If you have a concern, voice it politely, and get to work... If you do get the chance to go on the scout, voice your opinions, fill out your sheets and whatever else.... but when it comes down to it, you always must simply do what you can on set. The nice location you scouted and said it would probably be OK will most likely have the building next door being roofed when it is time to shoot anyhow.... At least in my world... I actually enjoy sometimes pulling quality mixes out of dreadful situations.... It IS kind of our job in a nutshell...