JamesT

Senator, I agree. This was one of several lessons the producers learned about cutting corners and getting a genny for cheap. (From a construction supplier rather than a proper genny from any number of production houses in the region) I say "time and money well spent" because the coin had already been dropped on that ugly thing. G&E did the best they could with it and moved on to the next problem. Instead of having to deal with genny in the tracks, a crewmember came up with another corner-cutting solution that albeit poor, allowed us to get the job done. As for the safety of the romex and plug, it was not my problem to solve. I put up my reflectors, snapped a couple reference photos, and prayed for no rain. Proper genny and wiring, would indeed have been, time and money better spent. Grant, looking back, I am surprised as well. That idea had not occurred to me until a shoot or two later, when all I had was the grip truck and a couple of crewmembers' cars to add to my foam boards. SOP on more recent shoots, has been to use vehicles as barriers for the extra reflection/absorption . Anyway, the reflectors, the woods (mostly mature oak and thick brush), and the distance from the shooting location lead to good results for the setup in the pictures. Vasileios, although it was sunny out in the open, it was significantly darker under the canopy of dense wood about 200ft away from where the geny was located. In addition to lighting, the genny was used to power video village and charge batteries for camera.

Always get it as far away as possible. Always reflect as much of that sound away as you can. Always put as many reflective and absorptive barriers between you and the genny. Always get wild tracks of the genny for every setup you do as the sound of the genny will sometimes change with the number of lights it is powering. Doing these things while staying mindful of your mic position, are just about the best we can do once we are already at the location with no budget. Location scouts are invaluable. Addressing the obligatory generator issue BEFORE getting there is invaluable. A good relationship with the gaffer is invaluable. Even though we obviously had enough stingers in these photos they were not allowing us to run the genny far enough away without voltage drops Additionally this particular genny was louder than most i have worked with. We spent a little money on 100 yds of Romex and one of those garden hose reels (for yard use) to wrangle the very stiff romex. A buddy on G&E had a couple of plugs around and wired it all up in about an hour. (i am sure this broke some safety codes...) Time and money well spent.

I use ProTools 10 daily.(and previously, the 3 preceding versions) I only ever had two or three issues with 10 that were not easily solved with the simple renaming of a file and/or a program restart. You will be happy with PT or nuendo. Yes both can translate OMF's to their own session formats.

There so much awesome knowledge/wisdom here. I still feel like this is my secret go-to community for lessons and stuff. I wish this topic had come around sooner There some great points here that would have helped me along during the negotiations for a gig from a few months back. The gig in question was on a Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas. (Jamaica and a couple of locations in the Bahamas) I asked for $300/day including gear (H4n/302/NTG3 and production pays for wireless rental) Production came back with an offer for $200/day including my gear and a they still cover the wireless rental. (no insurance) I took it without hesitation. Thinking that it would be a nice "vaca-gig" ....Gather whatever production needed each day then kick back, soak up some sun, do some gambling, sound effects gathering, etc. WRONG It was the hardest job I have ever taken. On account of the footage my team was hired to capture(parties, concerts, other events, etc.), we had to start each day around 9am and end it around 4am almost every day. The rationalization was that there would be large gaps in between these events for sleep or the aforementioned sound effects gathering, some gambling, mingling, etc. My mistake: part of it was taking a lower pay for the "experience" Part of it was getting into something without EVERYONE'S expectations being 100% clear. Another part was my simple "green-ness" Don't get me wrong, if I could go back I would still make sure that I was on that ship. I recorded better than adequate tracks. I made many connections in and outside of the industry. I got to see a couple of new places. I made some new friends. I was paid in full and on time. I stayed in a beautiful cabin on a luxury cruise ship (the few hours in which I could get some sleep, that is!) I had a little bit of fun too. BUT I would have spent more time ironing out details in the beginning AND I would have pushed harder for a higher rate. I returned home to a day-job in retail, burnt out and feeling in need of a vacation : ( If you want the great experience, go for it. Make sure you know as much about what your getting into as possible and prepare for the worst. and as RP said, the weather prep should be VERY high on the list of considerations when negotiating. Even higher than gear arrangemgens, IMO

If I find myself in the market for another 2 track, I will certainly check out the tascam. Next purchase for me will be either a 442 or a 744.

Pics I used the cable and connector from a junk pair of headphones. I had to refer to another posting on soldering with the annoying litz conductors. I made a small jumper between pins 1 and 3. It is not as long as originally planned but it works well for what I need. However, when I do not have anything plugged into the XLR connectors I hear buzzing. As soon as I plug in a source, they sound great. My gear: Zoom H4n (no H4n negativity please, I will upgrade when I can) Sound Devices 302 Along with borrowed/rented Sennheiser EW-100s with Tram TR-50s Rode NTG-3 My goal: Bypass onboard microphones of Zoom H4n to use the ext. stereo microphone input for 2 more channels. After making and using this cable, a few downsides have arisen. A) The 2 tracks I opened up on the H4n cannot be affected individually as they are designed for 1 stereo source. (So unless they can be manipulated before they enter the recorder, their level (relative to each other) is what must be printed) Monitoring in confidence is limited to listening to all 4 tracks at once. Note: I confidence monitor from the mixer. mini TRS cable from Zoom HP out to 302 return (I then, of course, use the return position on the rotary HP selector on 302) The Zoom does not have the functionality to listen to individual tracks on the fly. It does have a virtual mixer that requires the use of multiple buttons, key presses, and an unobstructed view of the unit. The fact that the sources that utilize my new cable cannot first go through the 302 means that they would have to stay at the level that I set them at. In conclusion, the Zoom is a fantastic 2 track recorder. Pressing it into a 4 track recorder will lead to worse tracks for me. This, on account of a lack of flexible monitoring options AND a lack of any mixing capability on the extra sources. 744t here I come!(after some months of penny-pinching and couch-diving, that is) Is the aforementioned buzzing something that I did wrong in soldering?

Hey Guys! This was just what I needed. I will post my notes and my results A.S.A.P.

Hi all, I am new here. The only thing I have soldered in the past are straight XLR and TRS cables. I need some assistance in making a new cable. I already have the tools, the connectors, and some spare starquad. I would like to make a cable that is as follows: 3.5mm TRS to (2) XLRf I do not want the cable to act as a splitter. I want each XLRf connector to have a different channel. My intention is to feed a device with ONE stereo input (3.5mmTRS) signals from two different audio sources with XLR outputs This cable will only be 2-3ft. long. My thoughts: The tip of the TRS connector will get pin2HOT from the first XLRf The ring of the TRS connector will get pin2HOT from the second XLRf I do not know what to do with the pin3COLDS from either connector (if anything) Further, do I solder grounds from both XLRf's to the sleeve of the TRS connector? Help me please.