tourtelot

And from the peanut gallery, my vote is to use the political boards to discuss the election. JWSound is about location sound recording? Political squabbling, no matter how civil (and often not) is why I won't open LinkedIn ever again. No one would miss me in either forum but it just seems like a bad idea. My $.02. That and $4.98 will buy you a Starbucks and enrich the life of a union busting oligarch. D.

Ouch. Well out of my budget at such a price point. Can imagine a 100 euro tag. Sorry. D.

Very, very, cool. D.

Let us know! D.

Watch TV today for many examples of "sterile". And I don't use that word with any love. D.

Glad you got paid but still, really uncool behavior by the company. Did you achieve payment through legal means or did a check just show up in your mailbox one day? Any excuses or apologies? D.

I use the K-Tek cradle as my only boom holder. On a heavy Mathews Medium Overhead Rolling Stand, and the K-Tek cradle, I have no worries about a fully extended 18' boom with a pair of mics (albeit Schoeps colette heads) at the end. I use this rig all the time and never had any sense it was unstable or unsafe. The K-Tek is, IMO, the best choice. And yes, 30 pounds of sand on the stand base and a 15 on the butt end of the pole as a counterweight. D.

Moe, your boom buddy costs more than $20. Is production willing to pay the price. Seems like less and less these days. :(:(:( D.

Is this the only one in existence? Never ever seen such a thing. Very cool. D.

Am I still bitter? :):) D.

Of course not. If the entire scene is adequately covered by overheads, in terms of what the sound department considers good, why would I even be listening to isos? But, if the posties decide that they don't like the "mix" of overheads (maybe more than one), and go to listen to the RFs and there are problems, clothing noise, hits or the like, and they can't do what they want with what is given to them, they might be miffed. "In the old days" I would not give them a choice. If I needed RF mics, I'd be listening to them in the mix. If the whole scene was taken overhead, I wouldn't even present an RF mic to post. The call to have RF mics all the time started changing as I left the industry. Being an old fart, I hate the sound of most current day TV sound. It all seems like it all comes from 6" away from the actors' mouths even if they are standing across the room 20' feet away, not to mention that the scenes are overwhelmed by M&E. D.

The problem for me is that if I am spending the whole shot iso-ing RF mics for quality, I can't concentrate on the mix. If I am concentrating on the mix, I have no idea about any problems happening on the RFs. Then the post guys go and try to use the RFs and they sound like crap. No wonder he was mad. If the post mixer had been a bit more a team player, he would have brought his gripe to me and we together, along with production's artistic wishes could have solved it. Also, and it is germane, post audio was non-union and being paid on a per-show basis. Not a lot of incentive to do a creative job. D.

Here's the thing that I found out after the fact on a TV show I mixed for a couple of seasons. The (super good) boom op and I danced through every set up. "You get him as he walks through the door. I'll get her at the couch. When he sits down, you get them both." You know, we mixed the dialog. Mostly one camera. If an actor didn't need a wire for the set up, he didn't get one. If an actor was wearing a wire, and at some point, didn't need it, I wouldn't pay any attention to it. I would just mix the scene. We did this every day for 22 episodes (!) a season. The directors (and everyone else) sat through dailies in awe of how they sounded like a mixed program. Everyone loved the sound department. Then, in the second season, maybe half way through, we started to hear from the UPM that the producers weren't happy with the sound. My boom op and I would just shake our heads in wonder. We loved the sound, the directors loved the sound, the DP would come to the cart and compliment us on the dailies sound, the actors were thrilled with the tiny amount of ADR they were being ask to deliver. WTF? Come to find out that the Reree was talking behind our backs to production about how they really didn't like the mix and "didn't have the tools to fix it." They wanted wires on everyone all the time (sound familiar?) He never called me to talk about his problems. The sound department was close to being fired and we had no idea why. Once I put together the whole dynamic, the season was wrapped. We were not coming back for season #3. I called a meeting; I was incensed over how shoddy the communications had been and how the little rat of the Post Mixer had gone behind my back to prop up the shitty job he was doing. Producers, UPM, post mixer and me. I heard what everyone said. I said my piece. Producers went "hmm. Maybe the location sound department was not to blame." "We'd love to have you back for season #3. Let's talk among all of us to see how we can make it better for everyone." "We'd love to come back. Our rates will need to double for next season." Crickets. Haha. The moral of the story is, have everyone playing on the team play for the same team. D.

'Cause bad dailies will get you fired? D.

Here is a page for the McMaster Carr for a tube that specifically fits the DPA 40xx mics. It will give you a starting point for other tubes. https://www.mcmaster.com/2108T22/ I use these for my DPAs and Neumann SDC. I use the Schoeps tubes for Schoeps heads. Schoeps boxes for mic pairs. Be aware, I use no foam in these tubes since the mics fit in rattle-free. I have been reading lately about some foams off-gassing and ruining mic diaphragms. D.