George Flores

Here's an oldie I dug up! My granddad, Colin Campbell's granddad, and Alexis Schulman's great aunt. This was taken either at the old Ince Studios or Triangle. The mic seems to be a Western Electric 47/47A, so it puts the photo at 1928 or after.

Michael, The wood is a nice touch and it'll be sturdy. Enough for your Recorder(s), etc. to be on top.

Peggy, Try Keith Birchfiel 805-712-3107. I reccomended him to do on-srceen Fisher work on "Frost/Nixon" a few years ago. Don't know if he's SAG though.

J1mbo, here is a more detailed version of the rig. The first layer of moleskin is "pinched" around the lav (in this case a Sanken) and then put on the second layer. This allows for air/room around the mic head to keep it from rubbing on anything. This can be placed on the sternum area of the chest (even actors with hairy chests) or on clothing. It's worked a lot of times for people in t-shirts, golf shirts, dress shirts with no ties. Is it the perfect lav rig? No. As Glen stated before, there's no perfect technique. The more tricks you have at your disposal, the easier it may be for you to solve certain wiring problems. And MT Groove/Sammy, you're probably not seeing many examples of rigs because many soundies gaurd them as trade secrets. I shared Kraig's rig here because I've witnessed many versions of it and it's very universal in its' description. You have a ton of info. on supplies here, but it's up to the individual to try them out and see what works.

One of my mainstays, called "The Kishi" (named after boom op Kraig Kishi). Every audio environment is different, every voice is different and every costume is different. If there is air around the mic you have a better chance for no clothing noise. You have to experiment!

I just wrapped a tv show called "Ringer" and we used MKH 50's for all interiors and stage work. I had a chance to A/B the MKH 8050 and the 50 one day in a hospital set where we did two full rehearsals before shooting. My conclusion was the 50 performed better. I used no high pass filters on the mics, nor cut any low end above 50Hz on the board. The 50 seemed to have more punch than the 8050. The 800 and 8000 series were designed primarily with less coloration for music recording, which could be a reason for less punch. The MKH 20-50's parameters are pretty nuetral, and I think with the human voice in normal or soft conversation, the hyper cardiod 50 does a great job with pick-up and rejection. I would still like to own and use the 8050 at some point. The combination of the 8050 in the small Cinela mount would be great for a lot of tight, low ceiling apps, but for day to day use I prefer the 50.

Call Cyrena Vladish-Addison at Engine Room 323-860-5100. They operate out of Hollywood Center Studios right off of Santa Monica Blvd. They're good folk

Good sound is hardly ever noticed, but bad sound usually always is. You wouldn't have a PA do a root canal for you? One gets what one pays for.

Please file these items and tasks in the back of your mind; you will need them when you shoot. Turn off noise-makers(refridgerators, computer fans, etc.) in the house. If the floors have no carpeting, do what you can to bring carpet mats or something for footsteps/sound suppression. Keep lighting ballasts or any gear that makes noise as far away as possible. Comedy means Overlapping Dialogue and Ad Libs, so try to get more money for your boom operator because he will be working hard to get what is being said while you are busy assigning radio mics to actors for your isos. Remember the phrases, "Yes, the mic needs to be there, we need to hear the actors." and "Wait, I need time please--you got your time I need mine." Once you get your equipment up and smoothly running, you'll want to address some of these issues. Just because your project is Low Budget, it doesn't mean your sound should be.

You may want to consider going inexpensive on recording machine-mixer options for now, and spending money on additional wireless, wires and communications. Your clients many times remember how awesome you were to have all those comteks and the small mic packs for the entire cast. Having a reliable used 5.8 or 6 channel cooper will not dissapoint the producer(s) of your projects, yet, the minute you don't have a flesh tone wire for the main actress or another headset for the director's mom, the reality of not getting a Call Back seems possible. And a Boom Operator has needs too, like a clean PL IFB. If you are a serious gear head and serious about doing good work, you will eventually get all the tools you feel necessary. Sometimes it's not right(or smart) to get all the toys you want at once. Food for thought.

Prayers go out to Albert's family. He was a frontline boom operator and a true gentleman. He always had a great story to tell and great ideas on how to get a shot or plant a mic. He liked his wine and was a very good tenor! There were times I could tell his feet or knees were bugging him, but he never complained and always kept his best forward. He could read actors and directors well and he called 'em as he saw them. His honesty and humor kept him a real person in our "Make Believe" industry, but his pride kept his illness at a distance. He will be missed very much.

Excellent thread! About 10 years ago, recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder got a chance to remaster a large portion of his Blue Note catalog for his RGV Editions series. While some jazz fans knocked the series as a marketing ploy, the documentary that came with one of my CDs shows Van Gelder's true passion for recording and technical integrity. Some sessions he could not remember, because on the day, the main objective was to problem solve, get the recording down, and please the client(s)--Sound familiar?!

Yeah, your editor should first read your sound reports, and then should F-off. A boom headset such as R.A. or Senn HD 25-1 is a great way to go, however, it's an investment of $250 to $450.00. There is also a impedence difference with these types of headsets. Purchase a second hand Lav or an SM57/58 and build a boom arm for your height or sitting posiion. You should be the one who decides what is the best for you; not editing.

I'm with Robert. We got a king size mattress earlier this year. Wife loves it, I love it, cat & dogs unfortunately love it. I think the new Pelsue Tent will win out, considering the old one began to leak last time it rained.

With the multicoupler on-board, you get better range and that is a saving grace many times. If you do more bag work you might think about access to the connectors on the back(and right angled connectors). What you trade in weight and cumbersomeness, you get in piece of mind with range and the ability to swap power easier. A wideband option is great as well, because if you own different transmitter blocks, all you need are the VRT/VRM modules and you are ready.

Very elegant Jeff! The lip around the borders are also impressive (for those small screws and items that are always trying to get away) Would it be difficult to add/erect a top shelf in the future if needed?

Increase your sound budget to include a standard 3 person sound crew; pay them what they ask for, let them do their magic and you'll be happy. Good sound is rarely noticed, but bad audio makes for an inferior product.

Yoga is great for your core, posture alignment, and neck and shoulders. Combine that with another work out regiment like getting a dog, and you'll be ready for anything! Didn't realize how much great exercise I would get dog walking. And animals keep you centered.

Jan, Don't you love the Combi-Cam latches?! They work wonderfully, so do what you can to put them on all your follow cart drawers if possible. Nice set-up! George

Billy, Check out the Avenger aluminum light stands. About 7 lbs(without leg base). The diameter may not fit the speedrail fitting, but you can always purchase a couple of 'Doughty Clamps' for it. Beautiful work! George

Robert, I've had great luck with the Sennheiser ew 135-p, G3 handheld(SKM 100)-Receiver(EK 100). The small receiver can be Velcroed or Bongo Tied to any speaker and has great range. It worked well at Mystery Mesa which was sometimes needed around 100 yards and performed flawlessly on stage with loud compressors and ritter fans. The unit will set you back a cool $630.00.

Thanks RVD, I will look into the limiter settings.

Scott, The SMQv and Venue is running the latest firmware. The TX setting was around 20 and the RX around 18-22 I think. I don't remember what channel. Richard, Yes, due to the pace of our show, we run wireless on both booms.

Scott, the mic set up was/is an MKH 50, K-Tek cabled to a Denecke P48-Lectro SMQV 1/4 Watt config. Phillip, you may have a point. The Boom Op started off by driving to the studio, but decided to worm-hole home?!

The other day on set we had two actors trying to carry a large box of pennies across a small room. The penny box spills, hilarity ensues. What I did not realize was that the spillage of the coins caused the wireless boom to drop out. Quickly I checked both actors ISO's, and the sound was there. By Take 3 the drop out was happening at the exact same moment, I had had enough, went hard-line boom, and all was good. 1. My wireless boom was on Block 19, the actors were on Block 20 and 21 2. The drop outs happened at pretty much the same time; as the pennies were spilling onto the carpeted floor(I would say about a 1 - 1.5 second disappearance of the signal) 3. I had no time to change frequencies, a transmitter, or explain what I was doing, so I moved away from the frequency I was using(Block 19) and switched to a hard-line boom and the drop outs stopped Has anyone ever experienced this anomaly? I'm sure it has to do with what kind of frequencies/harmonics are within a waterfall of pennies?