Fred Salles

I also cleaned connectors with deoxit, with great hope... no change

Hello, I have a problem with one of a set of 2 Lectrosonics SMDB transmitters: the antenna seems to have a sensitivity problem. As soon as something touches it (finger, cable, bag...) it releases a wave like kind of noise in the signal otherwise clean. The other one smdb does not have this problem. if the transmitter is put still on a table the signal is clean, even when approaching the hand. Receiver is a dual, SRA5P. What I did so far: -scanned and changed freqs -swaped freq between the 2 smdb -swaped antennas -tried different mike capsules (don't know their wiring though but all worked) -changed batteries none of the above changed the situation. Holding the base of the antenna near the connector and touching the end of the antenna still does the same noise but less (maybe a faulty connection inside the base plate connector ?) Any other idea? Thanks Fred

Thanks everyone, I am glad you confirmed my intuition. I was kind of worry that the situation, already not so great for sound department worldwide, got out of hand in US... It must definitely be a very low budget film: Ironfilm: the director is the camera person and dop... so if I understood correctly camera crew is director+1st assistant, and there must be a DIT person, plus one gaffer hopefully. When I mentionned having a third person in sound crew as a trainee, the production manager told me it would be difficult for him to convinced them to have a sound crew bigger than the camera crew :-)) Chris: it is still not cool but it might be financially cheaper for them as the main location is out of town so they have to accommodate the whole crew anyway. So rates + accomodation+catering for me and boom op might sum up to more than bringing one person. Maybe. I also guess the person will bring strict minimum gear to lower luggage overweight or extra charge, and will probably charge less than what I was asking for gear, or maybe wont charge at all if they are friends. Anyway, the script is good quality so who knows? I wish them all the best.

Hello everyone, I just lost a job on an independent american feature film to be shot here in France because american producers figured out it will be cheaper to bring over a sound recordist from LA that agrees to work alone, rather than have a french team of sound recordist and boom operator. According to french production manager, they said it is common practice nowadays in the States on indies. French prod&prod manager would not compromise on this and refused to hire a single one team sound person, thanks god (they would not find any anyway appart from someone just out of school, maybe). Now, I do a lot of documentaries so I am used to do sound alone, and I even once did it on a fiction feature of friends self produced prod some times ago, and I promised myself never again 🙂 For me it means compromising way too much on quality of the work, and the work of post production. I read the script and schedule: loads of dialogues, and 20 days shoot where they certainly dont plan on waiting for sound naming files, writing sound report nor recording wilds... So the question is what is the situation over there? is it really becoming or going to become common practice in the States to reduce the sound crew down to a single person?

Don't know if I should create a new post for this but I am having my first issue with Wingman and the 688. Renaming 688 files from the take list on wingman, on the iPad, would only rename the files on the SD card!! The files of the CF card would not change. Had a few minutes of fear on day one when not finding a file I was sure to have recorded and renamed. it was on the Sd but on the CF the old name remained. It is a big issue for me as I wanted to handle one of the card and keep one for my own backup. But since at the end of the day they don't have the same files name, although same content, it is not cool.for peace of mind. so I am back to renaming via the 688 menu... besides I do not understand since one can't choose which card is affected by the renaming on wingman why would not it be on both. Mirroring should be the rule in that case imho. Am I doing something wrong? Anyone experiencing that? Shoot is pretty hectic I don.t have time to search around with it ;-) Thanks a lot Fred

I really wonder where did we get the nickname "mastic américain" for it then !! ;-) if Bostick does not leave oily traces then it seems similar.

Nope Nao. It is not butyl or "joe's sticky stuff" (I use it too). It does not stick strongly like a thick tape like this. It is rather like a kind of plasticine, just a bit stickier and with no residue at all. It does not do great on clothes as it can enter the fibers and it can be tricky to remove, unlike "joe's stuff", but it is safe to use on fragile wall or wood where "joe's stuff" is pretty sure to tear some bits off. Also you mould it like a plasticine so you can easily maintain a planted schoeps head on its active cable in perfect direction. That's why we use it so much in sets like cars where boom is excluded.

Hello in France you will often see in the sound man's handy bag a roll of that paste we call "pâte américaine", actually a sealing synthetic rubber. the pic is the bulk version of it. We use it mainly to stick a planted mike in a corner (very often in cars), because it is very easy to shape and unstick, and does not leave any residue. Now I wonder if you guys are actually using this kind of stuff, since we don't have a clue how to call it in english on set!! Thanks Fred (American sound recordists I did the boom for in the past did not use it. Here it started about 15 to 20 years ago I think...)

That's exactly what I usually do. Except this time it is very far from home (Kenya) and I might not have space in my luggage for both ipad and laptop... and thought it'd be good to discuss about solutions to use the damn Ipad for personal backups ;-) Ipad does a great job as 688 remote and ease my life for sound reports, so I need it for that shoot. I just wish it was not so... "occluded" !

Thanks guys, so far no success really. The only thing I found could be interesting is what Bash mentioned HD with SD card reader included and wifi: this one has great reviews: https://www.wdc.com/en-um/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html But the big issue for me with Ipad is that it does not give you any information on the files, whatever app you're using. So you won't know how many octets has a file and won't be able to compare the copy folder from the original (some of the things I always do with my PC). Mind you that there will be proper backups made by production every night. It is just for my own copy that I need a light solution. I haven't find any app that would read polyphonic files neither yet. I wish Wave Agent was available for iOS ;-)

Hello, does anyone using the Ipad for backing up daily files? I will be using an Ipad as remote for the sound devices 688 on a feature, and I am looking for a solution to use the ipad to make my own files back up (from CF or SD card to HDD), to avoid bringing along my laptop computer. I am new to Apple world and just got my IPad. So far I figured it is not possible but decided to post the question just in case ;-) Thanks Fred

Hello everybody, could you recommend me one or more experienced boom operators based in Nairobi, Kenya ? This is not a job offer, I just need to get names, and opinion in pm if possible, from professional sound mixers who work or have worked there. Thanks in advance. Fred