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AlanSound

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    NYC
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    Hey everyone! I'm a non-union production sound mixer who has been operating in NYC since 2009. I do mostly narrative feature during the summer and doc/commercial/corporate during the other three seasons. I'm always interesting in learning from other sound guys (and gals) so please, I'm all ears (pun intended)
  1. Hey everyone, I was hoping to give an update after the recording was done just report back on how it went, but I was just notified that the client has canceled the SFX portion of the shoot. Thanks for all of the help though, as this has been a wealth of knowledge that I'm sure will come in handy down the road. Thanks again, Alan K
  2. And thanks for the heads up Crew. Despite being told that I can have visible mics, I wouldn't be surprised if their coordinator was simply misinformed.
  3. Hey Rene, The breakdown of how you recorded your bike was very helpful (and pictures are always great!). I see what you mean by the importance of drafting. I'll try your towel/t-shirt approach. As for the akg mics, I'm not a huge fan of them. They were my original hyper cardioids for getting dialogue indoors, but they are not terribly sensitive mics and have a noticeable noise floor. If you get a quiet talker, you are kinda out of luck. They rarely get used ever since I got my 8050s. For non-subtle sfx though, they are great since the reduced sensitivity cuts out a lot of the room noise and reflections but still has a lot more detail than a dynamic. I come from a narrative background, so my knowledge of ms-stereo is pretty limited, but every so often I'll work with a boom op that has a music background and they love using the figure 8 capsule (ck94 I believe) and my cs3e to record atmosphere. Over all, I'd say the akg mics are "good enough" but there are certainly better out there.
  4. Wow! Thank you all for such thorough responses! It seems that micing vehicles is quite an art all on its own. I don't know the exact car yet, but based off of the manufacturer, it will most likely some sort of luxury sports sedan in the 300-350 horse power range. Nothing exotic. I just got done listening to the Tonebenders podcast. Thank you so much for linking that as it was indeed a wealth of information! Since I'm pretty sure this car recording was an afterthought to the rest of the job (I was originally asked just to do sound for interviews and some b-roll of the cars), I doubt they will be willing to shell out too much for extra rentals. This is my plan based off of the mics that I currently have: Under the hood on air intake: Sanken cub 01 (and an sm58 if I can fit it) Under the hood on the firewall: Sanken cub-01 or a Cos11 Under the car focusing on the transmission: Akg ck93 On the rear bumper for the exhaust: Crown pzm placed sorta close to the exhaust and a ck93 placed further away For the mics on the bumper, I would love to add wind protection, but what is the best way to cover the crown pzm? I've only ever used conventional methods like softies and zeppelins. I do have a few sennheiser 8050s I could use instead of the lower quality ck93s, but since the 8050s are incredibly delicate and very susceptible to handling noise, they don't seem like the ideal choice. The podcast recommend cutting up a fire blanket and using the pieces to cover the mics under the hood. Would you guys recommend covering the mic completely or leaving a but exposed for fidelity? I also plan to cover the thin cub-01 wires since I doubt they can take much heat. I'll also be picking up some neoprene and foam for mechanical isolation and a bunch zip ties and bungies for securing. Everything gets run via xlr through the passenger window into a 788t. Did I miss anything or does this seem like a viable plan? And thanks again everyone!
  5. Hey everyone! I'll soon be working on a promo for a major car manufacturer and have been asked to record the sound of an engine as the car goes 0-60mph. I've only ever done this on a narrative shoot where the camera perspective was inside the car, but this time we need the perspective of a follow car (without getting too much of the follow car's engine of course) I'm allowed to be in either the picture car or the follow car and we can also see the microphones if necessary, but the clients would also like an option where the mics are hidden. Another mixer mentioned taping a lav under the hood, but all of the heat makes me wonder how well any adhesives would work. I had a couple ideas of my own, but instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I just ask around here since I'm sure someone has done this before. Anyone willing to share their technique? Thanks in advance! -Alan
  6. After all that, I forgot to mention the drawers! I ended up getting the steel shallow depth drawers since they were the only ones available short notice. They do weigh a ton (probably the heaviest part of whole cart) but if I release the wratchet strap, the whole SKB case slides off and can be carried separately.
  7. I'm sorry that I never got around to posting a picture of my cart. I'm sure your decision was made long ago, but to anyone still considering, here have been my experiences with it: I've used this cart for almost a year now and for the most part I'm happy with it. It is small, lighter than most carts, and does what I need it to do. That said, I do have my qualms. For starters, I found the handle bar that you are supposed to use to wheel it around to be useless if you add shelves as I did l. I fixed this by mounting handtruck style handles the that jut out of the back and also serve as a support when I have to lay the cart on its back for transport. Since this is my main mixing cart, I did cable runs and modifications that make collapsing the cart highly impractical. This doesn't bother me so much, but all of the handscrews that hold the thing together do come loose from time to time. Soon to all be replaced with bolts. Next on the list though is to figure out a way to enclose the top for transport. Currently I just wrap it in a sound blanket. -AlanK
  8. SUCCESS! The partial reformat worked great and gave me all of the sound from after the mysterious reformat. Thanks Howy! I then used the Zaxfile_505 recovery software to reconstruct the whole card and got the sound from before the mysterious-reformat. All metadata has been stripped from these files, but at least we now have the full production day in some form. So thank you everyone for the help, and lesson learned: swap out the media at the first sign of trouble, MARF is great, and don't let that Lexar card anywhere near the Maxx. -Alan
  9. Thanks for all of the replies. Max, I enabled hidden files and still nothing shows up. Very strange, but I'll try again on a PC tomorrow. Jack, I'll definitely be contacting Zaxcom. Since there is data on the card I'm sure it can be salvaged. After I cloned the card as a fall back, I put it back in the Maxx. It reads normally and everything post-mysterious-reformat is still there and readable. Now I just have to figure out how to get the sound off the card. At least I can now do an real-time dub into my 788 if all else fails.
  10. Hey everyone, Today, my Maxx v1.3 started acting very strange. While recording, it spontaneously shut off. I figured it was a kickout from my bds but everything seemed fine and Maxx booted right back up. OK no problem. Well we keep shooting and then break for lunch. When we come back and I turn the Maxx back on, and it appears as though the CF card has been reformatted. No media, no Meta data, nothing. I do a test recording and a power cycle and everything seems fine with the card, but the original media is still missing. I roll a bit more on the card since I was in a time pinch and things seem normal. When I pop out the card and mount it on a Mac, the card is named Deva_Fat32 instead of the usual Maxx. When I open it up, there are no files or folders. However, if I get info on the card it says that 17 of the 32gigs are used. The card I'm using is a Lexar 32 gig and I've been using it for months without issue. So the media is there, just hidden or something. I haven't put it back in the Maxx since I'm afriad it will corrupt the card further. Has anyone else experienced this? -Alan
  11. Absolutely! I'll have it almost completed by the end of the weekend so I'll post some pictures then. Always helps to be able to see a cart with all the gear on it.
  12. Thanks for the lead, but I'm really hoping to avoid custom work. If I can't buy off the shelf then I'll just bite the bullet and get the heavy version.
  13. Hi Everyone! I'm well into building my new PSC Euro Cart, but I'm having trouble finding lightweight drawers. I'm currently trying to fit two 2ru drawers into an SKB shallow 4ru case. Since the Euro Cart is so small and lightweight, getting a standard size rack case will cut too much into my legroom, so I'm stuck trying to find shallow depth components. I've already called a number of manufacturers to see if there exists a shallow depth drawer made of Aluminum or polymer, but no luck so far. The only shallow 2ru drawers I've found so far iare linked below and as you can see, they weigh 18lbs each. I'm trying to avoid having a 50lb rack case by the time it's done. Any ideas? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/650572-REG/Gator_Cases_GE_DRAWER_2US_GE_DRAWER_2US_2U_10_Deep.html -AlanK PS: Besides this hiccup, the rest of the cart is turning out great!
  14. I have been using the Tenergy 250mAh for about 6 months now, almost exclusively for Comteks. We usually make it a whole day if they get turned off when not in use, but if left on continuous, I would estimate about 7 hours of run time. When I put them in my 411s however, you gt about 45 minutes of use before the 411 starts acting strange. The sound will either distort or the 411 will turn off. No low battery warning, and this only happens when I use these batteries specifically. I ordered a couple of these and have been using the same batch for 6 months: http://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Charger-pieces-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B0040V2T3Q/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1376761273&sr=8-26&keywords=tenergy+9v
  15. The 411a/UMCWB is a constant work in progress for me. I'm only running four 411's off two shark fins but I am considering expanding soon. A possible route may be to add a Lectro SR (for a total of 6 channels) and then just run up 2 dipoles. The other option is for a second UMCWB and then I would go the route of a splitter. The main consideration for me though is that I want to be able to quickly move the 411's go back and forth between the UMCWB and a bag. I've sorta accomplished this by removing the cable cover from the UMCWB and only using the metal bar to hold the 411's in place. I also replaced the tiny screws with wing nuts to that I can remove the 411's without tools. So far it's been working. Has anyone else made modifications to make the 411's easily removable?
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