Alexander Burstein

Looked like a solid job to me. His cues were on point, and he looked aware of reflections when going to the car. The pole wasn't bowing too much, i'd say.

​Sounds like a good response to me.

Right Mark, but Taut is saying he got a clean boom track (in so many words). If he were in a bad location or had noises causing sound problems, don't you think he would also put radios on the actors? This is the whole point of the OP. Mixers are not track layers. PSM's use their discretion to get the best sound possible in the most appropriate way possible given the circumstances.

Seconded.

It sounds like you're working for a mixer you do not normally work with. There is communication lacking and that is why he's asking you to push the microphone in closer, more than likely. Like most people here said, it's a balance. If the camera operator is known to tilt a lot for his handheld work, you play as close as you can with the boom while giving him just enough space. But if you're not communicating what's happening on set with your mixer, you'll find yourself being spoken to after each take. I've worked with plenty of operators that ask me for more space. But then I proceed to ask, at which point do you need more space? Oh you're tilting for this? Great, i'll give you more space here at this moment in the scene, then move myself back in. Talk to your operator, and communicate what you're doing to your mixer. The more you do this, the more your mixer will trust that you know what you're doing. It's a dance. And such a beautiful one. I treasure these moments because when you nail a difficult shot or scene, there is no better feeling as a boom operator.

When I think of clipped sound that works, I think of Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You". Man does that song do it for me! You hear him distort the microphone with that boomin voice.

I agree with Mike, in that PSM's are not on set to lay down as many tracks as possible. We use our discretion to record the best tracks we can given the circumstances. I understand that in television it's quite common to put lavaliers on actors for safety, but I haven't always found that to be the case, even for network television shows. Without naming shows, I've boomed (mostly 2nd unit) where principle actors on stage were covered with tight shots and in the blocking the team's decision was that lavaliers were not needed. Whole days would pass without using a lavalier, and we could've easily put radios on them. Would this have made the job easier in post? A sincere question. Does more options mean an easier job mixing in post production? I can understand this could change when on location and dealing with noisy environments, but on stage with a solid microphone pointed nicely at ones mouth, why bother the actors and the production by putting lavaliers on for safety? It's up to the PSM and his crew to make that call, I'd say, unless a show specifically requests that all actors be lav'd at all times, which i've found common. If the show lets the mixer decide, I say don't question his choices unless the result was bad sound.

Only you would know whether purchases are necessary or not, but if I may ask, why the upgrades if the work hasn't demanded it? There's a huge amount of equipment I could buy, but I wouldn't be able to pay for it. Seems risky to me.

I think plenty of other restaurants would be happy to have us. My vote is to choose a different location...

The audio technica 4073 was my first microphone, used both outside and inside. It's great for its price. Similar qualities to a 416 i've been told.

She was thankful for certain practices when it comes to placing radio mics on actors. Like making sure to have wardrobe present while mic'ing and de-mic'ing. Finding out what the actor is wearing ahead of time so we know what kind of rig to build and how to tackle placement. And she mentioned not being nervous around talent is key. Being appreciated is a great reminder to keep up these habits and tendencies. We also started talking about the best sound mixers she's worked with. She mentioned both Richard Van Dyke and Mark Ulhano by name. I thought that was so cool. What a fun business we're in!

I had a great time at the last gathering. Looking forward to this.

We like your posts Atheisticmystic

Yesterday on stage we had just started a scene in a new room. We are shooting on an Epic, so the fan didn't allow us to listen for problematic noises (and there were none while blocking). We roll on the 1st take, and the mixer asks me if I could hear a low rumble. I could not. In my headphones plugged into the lectro IFB I wasn't able to hear what became a problem for us. After investigating I found 2 ballists placed right outside the set and we had to have electric move them. I own an MM1, but find that a lot of mixers prefer I hear the mix and not just my boom. What I did discover while investigating with Chris Howland was that PR-216's differ in monitoring capability from receiver to receiver. I found an especially good comtek that gave me a great amount of low end that helps me hear the subtleties I want to hear as a boom op.

I think Burrito is a fitting name. Right now on set we have a "Jeetah" and "Animal". Both electrics. I forget the grip's nicknames.