Alexander Burstein

Olle is correct in saying that you should plug in and listen before making a choice, but generally shotguns are mainly used for exteriors. Cardioid and hyper-cardioid generally for interiors. You can experiment and choose what you think sounds good, but this is a good rule of thumb. I love the MKH 50 for interiors. It has great a rich tone, gives me good range, and gives me some room flexibility booming (it has a fairly forgiving pickup pattern). I would highly recommend finding a local rental house in... London I believe you said? Rent the microphone for $25 or 12-15 pounds and see for yourself what different microphones are available!

Is this not standard practice?

The "Who I Am" thread is as large as some books I've read! Good stuff.

A harness will be necessary. If you're booming this yourself you won't be able to sit down and prop up the bag for a rest too often. As Jeff said you should insist on a boom operator. It'll save time, stress, and probably quality as well. Good luck!

That explains why I haven't been able to put my topstick to much use.

The topstick I buy is pretty thin so I've had my concerns as to if it would stick well to the skin. I've always used the Rycote stickies with the RM's but I'll give topstick a try.

Found these in a thread. Sound Man Richard Patton Location Sound ltd 2010 ISBN 978 0 9866077 0 7 Location Sound Bible Ric Viers Michael Wiese Productions 2012 ISBN 978 1 61593 120 -Sounddguy Producing Great Sound for Digital Video by Jay Rose published by CMP Books [iSBN 1578202086] Audio Postproduction for Digital Video by Jay Rose published by CMP Books [iSBN 1578201160] Sound for Film and Television by Tomlinson Holman published by Focal Press [iSBN 0240804538] Sound for Digital Video by Tomlinson Holman published by Focal Press [iSBN 0240807200] Sound for Picture by Tom Kenny published by Artistpro [iSBN 0872887243] The Foley Grail: The Art of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation by Vanessa Theme Ament published by Focal Press [iSBN 0240811259] Sound-On-Film: Interviews with Creators of Film Sound by Vincent LoBrutto published by Praeger [iSBN 0275944433] Roll Sound: A Practical Guide for Location Audio by John Fielden published by CreateSpace [iSBN 1450549837] Location Audio Simplified by Dean Miles http://www.locationa...simplified.com/ The Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound by David L. Yewdall published by Focal Press [iSBN 0240802888] Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisible Art by John Purcell published by Focal Press [iSBN 0240809181] Each of these has tons of information on the subject, specific techniques, solutions for problems, the history of the technological developments, and the theory behind good practices. For a student leaning towards location sound, I would read the latter four books first. Be warned that, like all books on technology, these tend to go out of date very quickly. Be sure to get the latest editions, if newer ones are available. There's also a good bibliography at this link: http://www.filmsound...hy/littlist.htm Bear in mind that nothing is better than practical experience, especially working alongside someone who's done this for years and knows what he or she is doing. --Marc W. (If you want to incorporate books)

I use LSC's rental department as the standard. Since they offer a 25% off discount at times, I adjust from gig to gig. http://www.locationsound.com/pdf/LSC_Rental_Brochure.pdf

I went out to Marina Del Rey for kayaking yesterday. Had so much fun I think I'm going to buy one.

This should be a good one if this hasn't been covered before! I started training as a utility/boom op by Jim Dehr and Andy Rovins at a prop house next to LAX. They provided a few contacts of mixers like Glenn Berkovitz and Fred Shultz. After booming and utility'ing for a few months I took time off. A year later I got a call from a producer that I only worked with once for free as a mixer (my first time ever on a set in any format). I wasn't interested and he was paying 150/day for a mixer and 100/day for a boom op with my gear included. I owned a SD 552 and an AudioTechnica 4073 at the time. In reality I didn't think I could do the project well, but the producer kept pushing me to do it anyway for some reason. I'm glad he did. I met one of my two boom op's that I still work with today, and the production was one of my favorites. That was the turning point for me getting into production as a mixer. There were 3-4 producers on that project and I got calls later on from their recommendations. I still get calls from them sometimes, and my client base started growing. Granted, I set a low pay scale to begin with but I didn't even want to work on that production originally. I've been slowly able to raise my rates in about 6-8 months or so, reaching a minimum of $200/day and up to $500/day. After being mentored a lot here on the forum I've changed my rate structure and am still changing the structure in which I do business. Learning every day. But if I could get back into working as a utility/boom op for other mixers I'd take it up in a heartbeat.

I've seen many books being offered to people here and there on the forums. Could books and additional resources be added to this list as well?

Well said by Matt. If something like that is written well and by someone respected and with credentials I can see it having an impact. A good way to go beyond just craigslist though would be sharing the "ad" with producers that call any of us asking us to take lower rates. Better yet, having a producer co write it with a mixer! One person earlier mentioned that producers do not WANT to be educated and know what they're getting themselves into. These would not be the target audience of course, but I do believe many producers do not know any better.

"Society values a properly flushing toilet more highly than good production audio" -OmahaAudio

I'll take care of the comteks and slate as a mixer. If cables need to be run and microphones placed or planted, my boom op takes care of that. Prepping a lot of the gear is split between both of us, and I usually make my boom op prep the wireless. If I'm in no hurry I'll do the wiring, but have received help from my boom op if I don't have much time. I think it's important to keep a consistency with who is doing the wiring. The actors/actresses are more comfortable with one person in their personal space as opposed to two or more. Battery swaps are something that I usually do without considering asking my boom op to do. Just a habit I suppose.

Do you place the lav in the RM11 and place the topstick on the skin and RM11? Or do you even go further and loop the topstick around the RM11 and use one side of the topstick to hold the shirt to the front of the RM11? I could see both working...I haven't tried this, and perhaps the shirt stuck to the RM11 creates visibility. If I owned any wireless I'd post asking with a picture.

That kid is way too young to drive. I think my first ever production where I worked for free I bought that one. They kept their promise!

It may not sound awful at all. That might be the problem.

What if the union added an additional way of getting in? Following a mentorship program for a certain number of days under a working union mixer. Sort of like a trainee, I know these exist but don't think it's taken advantage of often. Maybe those that are trying to get in would need to take a course BEFORE attempting to get their days? That way the new blood can be taught the business side, which is what Cujo has thought of doing. Educating the producers is important but if I was sat down and taught how to do business properly, and earlier, I'd be better off in negotiations as a mixer. I think it's touchy with a lot of people. Hopefully there is a solution!

I don't claim to have the solution. Just an idea. I think more of you should pitch some of these. It's depressing searching through threads and getting halfway through before the subject is turned to the lack of work and stories of producers asking mixers to take such low rates. So how can this be fixed! Convincing the producers to properly budget for the sound department has been tried countless times. That won't stop the mixers who are doing the undercutting either. You could find out who all of these mixers are and kidnap them. This would leave more demand and work for everyone on the JW group. But where would you store all of these mixers? You'd have to pay for their dungeon expenses, food, expendables (no reimbursement). It'll cost too much out of pocket. Well I just thought of this 5 minutes ago, so poke holes all you like. If you could get many of those mixers to join the union as a utility or boom operator, they'd be making those lower rates that they're offered for mixing. I'm under the impression that to get into 695, one needs 100 non-union days with call sheets, pay stubs, and sometimes letters from producers or sound mixers. And I know if a show flips that's a way as well, or 30 union days. (I'm not knowledgeable on this so if someone could point out where I've missed things I'd appreciate it) The reason that the market is so flooded with mixers could be because there are rarely ever any sound utilities, so the people aiming to get their days are the ones mixing projects. If the union were somehow behind the idea of changing the way a utility or boom op enters the union perhaps many of the more novice mixers would change the way...I have to go get food. I'll be back in an hour. Apologies!

There were no promises of future work. It's sort of like...if the budget actually is that low, then let their production do what they will, and when they realize that they need to budget more to get quality then it's possible to get called. They won't rehire the same crew, they'll get all new people. That is, if they fix their mistakes. This 10 page a day production is going to be rough for them.

I've been known to go off with my boom op on the same terrain and record his (my boom op's) footsteps at different speeds. If it's a small production and I know little post work will be done, they appreciate it and I don't mind doing it.

Thanks for the help!

Four grand.

Perhaps combining Work of interest and the Images of Interest?

I figure it's not the last time something like this will happen. This producer in particular really doesn't know anything and is one of those types that is nowhere to be found on set when needed, and stresses out over very absurd things. I was happy to work with the crew and made some contacts in doing so. If I rejected every impolite producer I wouldn't be working too much! I think you just have to know how to handle the situation and the person.