Jump to content

Blas Kisic

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    467

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Blas Kisic

  1. Blas Kisic
    Copy, thanks. Unfortunately, my laptop is on a swinging arm which, while I'm recording, doesn't move, but does move the FW cable here and there - so maybe I should switch from a laptop to a Mac Mini… BK
  2. Blas Kisic
    Hey, Philip, that was it! Thanks so much for replying - it's a great relief to know it wasn't anything more serious. I came back to set this morning armed with a dozen cables, and was able to troubleshoot the problem within minutes. Cheers, BK
  3. Blas Kisic
    Thanks, Philip. I grabbed a bunch of FW cables and will test them tomorrow. I hope you're right!
  4. Blas Kisic
    I have been using Boom Recorder successfully with my MacBook Pro and a Mackie Onyx 1620i mixer, with the Firewire option. I recently upgraded to 8.5.0 and the MacBook Pro is running Yosemite. I have worked with this setup without a problem, until today. We did several setups without incident until, around 10am, I lost timecode and the software aborted the take. Luckily I was able to switch to my backup recorder, but I lost a couple of takes and, more importantly, production had to wait for us. I restarted and did all the pertinent troubleshooting things and it eventually came back, but it's not reliable, and it cuts off eventually. Timecode comes from a Denecke SB3, feeding track 16. During my troubleshooting I noticed that BR sometimes doesn't recognize the Mackie. I wonder whether I'm missing something that would cause this intermittent problem. I'm on set right now, and will be working on this project (national TV commercial) the rest of the day and tomorrow, and am quite baffled. I would love to resolve this and keep working with BR. Any tips you may have, please feel free to text me at eight-one-eight-640-6268 or email me at blaskisic-at-mac-dot-com. Thanks in advance! BK
  5. Blas Kisic
    This group is awesome… One of these days I'll look up whoever put it together and stamp a big kiss on his cheek! (or donate some money…) BK
  6. Blas Kisic
    Not sure whether this is the right place to post this, but I'm looking for something that can be easily installed in a rack to keep the drawer of my mixer from sliding out during travel or while rolling on location. Airliner flightcarts have a very elegant solution (and, I bet, pricy) to keep them from rolling away from their nooks. Also, if I'm not mistaken, Chindha had somethig similar, but I just haven't been able to find any online, and don't even know what they're called… I would be extremely grateful for any suggestions or pointers you may have, even if it's not strictly that kind of latch. I'm open to any suggestion that will resolve this particular issue. TIA! BK
  7. Blas Kisic
    Thanks, Peter. I'm very pleased with the articulating arm. I'm sure it can be better, but given my skills and resources it's better than I expected. Every joint in the arm (except for the ball joint on the platform) can be pulled out in a second with a flick of your thumb. For travel, I would take off the whole thing, leaving only the socket that's permanently connected to the cart. As far as the boom holder, to be honest, it's so tight that I never use the velcro strap. I have k-tek CF booms; I don't know if other brands are thinner, but for mine it's quite sturdy. Tchuß, BK
  8. Blas Kisic
    OK, here's some more pics of the laptop stand. I must say, I'm very pleased with how it turned out…
  9. Blas Kisic
    Thanks, brother (and thanks to Phil, as well!) I've done a couple of tests, but am now waiting for additional Venue modules to give it a good, long session with all the channels going, to see if I spot any problems - hopefully it'll pass with flying colors… Cheers, BK
  10. Blas Kisic
    I do use tapatalk when I'm on location without my laptop, and I've found it to be enigmatic at best. The only site I have on there is JW, and navigation is truly baffling - I often just close it in disgust. I can only imagine what the interface is like if you follow several forums… BK
  11. Blas Kisic
    Jeff, you can't see it in that picture, but that bolt is recessed. It's nowhere near the pole. Thanks for your concern, BK
  12. Blas Kisic
    Peter, The antenna mast works great. I have the same setup on my Magliner Jr cart, and it's always been rock-solid. As far as the boom holder, I have a setup that Backstage Equipment sells. Here's a couple of pics. I made that bracket from an alumimum rail that I bought at Home Depot. I'm sure it can be made to look tidier and maybe painted black, but right now it's basically one step beyond "proof of concept"… I've already resigned myself to the fact that this project will never be "done" - I just hope I'll have the energy to keep tweaking it to suit my needs. I got the articulating arm last night, and am planning on installing it today. After searching for three weeks, I finally pulled the trigger on a monitor arm (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQ3679Q) not knowing for sure whether it was going to work. From what I've seen, I got lucky: it's well built, you can adjust the friction in the joints and, most importantly, the mounting surface can be set up hrizontally. I'll be happy to report once it's in place.
  13. Blas Kisic
    Hi, Jeff. 1) I used an existing steel rack. If I were buying a new one, I think I would have gone with aluminum. 2) The top and bottom surfaces are steel plates, screwed into place, and they do add structural integrity. The only addition to the bottom, which Oscar insisted in adding –seeing the massive weight of the gel battery– is a steel bar underneath the plate, just to make the area under the battery more rigid. The side panels, though, are made of chip board, basically a highly compressed cardboard-like material. So, AFAIK, they don't add much to the structural integrity - i.e.: they're mostly for tidiness. Indeed, I like the closed-wall concept, and I like the fact that I can remove them for maintenance and/or reach a certain piece of equipment. The rear is still wide open, though, and I've asked my wife to make a curtain of sorts from some Duvatyne we have. The idea is to have Velcro patches on the rear and on the Duvatyne and, once all the gear is patched and ready to go, it can be stuck into place. Maybe it would be smart to do the same for the sides, as well… But now you got me thinking that maybe those panels do contribute to the structural rigidity, because I don't remember that rack ever getting tweaked, and neither in the last couple of days, when I've rolled it around and pushed it up the ramps into the van. I think I'll call StarCase in the morning. Incidentally, I need something to stop the mixer drawer from sliding out. Does any of you know what they call those knobs/levers they use in airplanes to stop food carts from wheeling out of theyr recesses? I need something like that, but don't know what they're called… TIA, BK
  14. Blas Kisic
    Since JW asked me to post these pics here, I will oblige… It's my first upright cart (having used a Magliner Junior until now) so I decided to go very deliberately and avoid, if possible, any mistakes. Didn't win on that front, but am happy with my efforts so far. The cart is based on a StarCase rack unit, which had previously been housed in my studio (R.I.P.) to which I added 20" wheels donated from a wheelchair I bought for $60, and a pair of 6" casters I got at Home Despot. Oscar Crispin (known to Agamemnon Andrianos, Chris Howland and Travis Cote and others) fabricated the base for the wheels and the rear handle - and I'm quite pleased with his work. The rest was mostly trial and error (though I was convinced I knew where everything would go…) and now it's pretty much ready to go - I'm just waiting for an articulating arm to arrive for my laptop, which will be running Boom Recorder. So here are the pics - feel free to comment the good, the bad and the fugly (the latter of which there's plenty, I assure you) and, if you care to suggest any improvements, by all means. Cheers, BK
  15. Blas Kisic
    The track "Hummmmmm" is creepy - not sure it would help me relax and fall asleep… Great campaign, though BK
  16. Blas Kisic
    Scott, FWIW, Boom Recorder is up to 8.5, in case you don't have the latest version. HTH, BK
  17. Blas Kisic
    As far as I know it is, Jack. Why? BK
  18. Blas Kisic
    For an upcoming job I've been asked to feed my mix to an iRig PRO (connected to an iPad) for reference. The iPad will be recording video and sound for reference and archival purposes. From what I've seen on the IK Multimedia website, it'll take a line-level signal. I'm planning on sending the feed via Comtek taped to the device (which will be housed in some sort of cradle.) Seems pretty straightforward, but I'll be grateful for any known pitfalls or insight you could share with me. TIA!
  19. Blas Kisic
    I'm a bit baffled at all the comments. Regardless of my opinion about the film's content and/or visual filmmaking merits, I found the following (this was a "regular" screening room with, I think, digital projection): -the soundtrack was loud, but the mix was well weighted -low-frequency rumbles were used extensively, appropriate to the story and the relevant scene(s) -I was able to understand every simple piece of dialogue, except for the end of the scene in which Michael Caine's character's dies I'm not a fanboy of Mr Nolan's, and I'm 50 years old - not particularly a fan of loud movies. I find it hard to believe that my experience is so different from what I've read here - sometimes I wonder whether the screening I saw belonged to a different mix, or who knows what. The venue was room 10 of AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills, FWIW. Cheers, BK
  20. Blas Kisic
    Well, if anybody's curious, here's the final result of that fateful shoot…
  21. Blas Kisic
    Ryan, I just watched the presentation video on the Sweetwater web page and they show how you can make all 16 faders act as input faders. I'm starting to seriously consider this mixer as a Boom Recorder interface… BK
  22. Blas Kisic
    I sincerely commend you for finding a way to work around this - we've all been in situations where we've had to figure out alternative ways to do our work efficiently and effectively. However, I think having a director who "doesn't do slates" is a production problem, and working around him/her sets a bad precedent. No need to be an asshole, but I try to talk to production and explain why slates are a good idea, etc. In my experience, any director who understands the process (as well he/she should!) will be open to helping the crew members achieve a good acquisition of sound and picture. My two cents… BK
  23. Blas Kisic
    Sorry, I missed this earlier. Mike, what I meant was that maybe the sound quality of Comteks wouldn't be able to reproduce the TC beeps above a certain speed, in which case I wondered whether a Lectro would be a better choice to send 120fps TC codes. BK
  24. Blas Kisic
    Thanks, Al. BK
  25. Blas Kisic
    Thanks, Marc. Honestly, the only reason I didn't bring another one along was because it wasn't needed and I didn't have any more space in the car. Live and learn - two is one and one is none… BK
×
×
  • Create New...