Izen Ears

This thread is cool; I love reading people's opinions here. Here's mine: As an "incentive state" mixer I don't mind at all when I lose a job to a more qualified, more experienced mixer. (Hacks are another story of which there are several in my area.) I understand I have to pay my dues and I am glad to! For the record I do completely support myself by recording sound and have for over 7 years, but then again I don't have a nice house and nice furniture to brag about. I love that RVD works for cheap and has a good attitude about it (we've had this discussion before here), and I am also someone who supports GOOD people who want to tell a story in film. What I mean is I will gladly work for free or cheap on a good project if I can afford it, and if the producer makes it through MY interview of them and how they are going to shoot their project. (I often demand a full explanation of locations and schedule and judge for myself if the show is worth it and I've gotten pretty good at spotting the "morons" and avoiding shitshows.) I wish I weren't so busy these days and could help some of my pals here for free. Right now my main boom op Betsy is taking a full week off the "real" movie I'm mixing to work on a micro budget feature that she's mixing if you can believe that! She believes in it and to be honest I do too and if I weren't working I woulda done it for free. Someday I may need favors too! Dan Izen

Wow thanks! This tuner looks like The One. I was in a time pinch and I ended up just getting a $79 3.5" Radio Shack monitor that runs off 4x AAs with its own tuner. Super small and light I velcro it to the rack in place of the Marshalls. Doesn't have an EXT antenna in tho- Found the ones Robert's talking about on ebay for $9.99 and I might "take the plunge." Thank you AlphaFlyingMonkey this looks like just what I was looking for and at a fraction of the price I was thinking it would be! That huge 1041 does looks cool but it's a bit large to fit into my space-deprived rack... Dan Izen

Yes but alas I have no electronics background and no idea how to assemble the cable you speak of - is it easy? Is there some layman's electronics website that has instructions that don't look like alien language? I can soldier good enough, and I even did a resistor in a couple TA5s that are still working! I do have a little standalone 3.5" monitor that has an antenna so I can use that whilst I figure out this tuner business. Dan Izen

Apologies if this has been recently discussed, but I'm looking for a tuner to receive standard def modulus video. I've got an external antenna that receives UHF, so I just need a small 12-volt tuner. In my searches I came across the beastly Sony TU-1041U (way too big), and the cheap and small Boss BV TS4 (has mixed reviews). The Boss is cheap enough to try out, but takes 7.5 volts so I'd always have to be plugged into power in order to use the wall wart. (Or I could spend $200 and get a juicer from Remote Audio I know!) Just checking to see if there was a model out there that everyone uses. I don't care so much about resolution or HD or digital or any of that, 480 res is fine. I know if I got different monitors I could get some with tuners, but I prefer my little 2RU 3-banger Marshall (even if it doesn't look so crispy). Thanks! Dan Izen

At the risk of being inflammatory - where the fuck is a Sennheiser rep on this group?!! Dan Izen

I love this, another unanswerable (but not at all stupid!) question with no real answer. The episodic tv series "Memphis Beat" I just did, 10 episodes, used 99.9% production sound, EXCEPT for a bunch of "added dialog" lines. (These would be lines of dialog that had to be inserted to explain stuff the editors weren't able to explain otherwise, to be used mostly off-screen or when the head was turned away from camera) The .01% was a single line of true ADR that was necessary due to background noise. Yay! Incredible. But then again there's tons of sappy bknd music to cover little things like background noises and fabric noise. And I must admit when I saw the final product I heard some less-than-perfect sound; not unusable but not great, like a buried tie mic or a muddy lav that I had no other choice. (This reminds me that I have to call them up and have a chat about it all!) One thing they didn't do which I was so bummed about, was for the music performances I had PB coming out of speakers and over the boom mic that shit sounded really cool and live even though it was tape, but then for the final scenes they just dropped in the PB track and it sounds like a totally canned recording. It woulda been GREAT and live sounding if they'd used my production track, or even just added some echo chamber stuff. It's tv so I think their schedule didn't allow them to really properly post the dialog. I think they easily could have made it all perfect if they had a few weeks of intense dialog editing (taking single words or syllables from other takes, EQ-ing lavs to match booms 'n shit). But whatever, I'm outta debt and back in featureland... Dan Izen

This is a very delicate discussion to have publicly but I applaud your boldness! These companies should be held accountable and it should be public when they screw over a loyal customer. Way I see it you've tested the matched pair before the warranty expired and found a defective matched pair. Whoever sold them to you (hopefully a "usual suspect") should take them back as damaged and replace them with the same exact models. If this is impossible and you're forced to deal with the company directly, well you may be screwed. Keep asking to speak to a supervisor, then their supervisor, and explain your case. Include the same info you put in your first post, and you might also want to mention projects you're working on. People do listen - I recently had a triumph where the company went from 3 - 5 weeks and $460 charge, to a free loaner for 6 weeks and a $60 charge. He'd seen a commercial for the stupid show I was working on and got friendly after that; you know, maybe you're working with some actor that this supervisor loves or something. Squeaky wheel gets the grease! Dan Izen

I just got one of these and it's cool for indoors but I'm looking for something for higher wind. Considering the basket with the double pop filter, the B20S. Anyone use that outdoors in gusty conditions? Or what about in a car with open windows? The baby ball gag is way too big for the rigging I want to do in cars... Or also the W20 or W20R1, but those look as large as the baby ball gag. That case is awesome! Gonna get one... Dan Izen P.S. you can check out these windscreens here: http://www.schoeps.de/en/products/categories/bascet_screen

YES! I would love to see this, and I agree that the area standards is a joke but the alternative is no contract at all. Apparently there are political reasons why this hasn't happened, I don't really get it. Only one more day of this episodic yay, I made it! Sorry I've been out of the JW loop, I miss y'all and I'll be back soon! Dan Izen

I totally agree with John, I'd much rather have 10 hour days than OT. I wish we could somehow enforce that. I heard that in New York if you're asked to work over 16 hours with a refusal to do so grounds for being fired, the employer is breaking the law and can get arrested. Is this true? Thanks to everyone's comments and Mick I am stunned at your analysis but I guess you'd know with your body of work. I hope to come to the same conclusion at the end of this! Next week starts the time-of-no tech-scouts, I'm going to take the advice and buckle down and keep chuggin. Dan Izen

Wow Kevin those are great pictures thank you! A very cool setup I'll have to try that. One thing no one's mentioned here is trying a Countryman B6 instead of a Sanken. Today I had a terrible tie/shirt/jacket combo. We tried everything and it was awful. Then my utility decided to switch to a B6 and lo and behold it worked very well. It was unbelievable! Dan Izen

I love this and I have a bunch of makeup sponges. Would you know offhand what the differences would be with a hush lav foam piece? My utility had some excellent luck with tearing a hush lav in half and shoving it in the tie knot, similar to how you describe. But sometimes that doesn't work. And what about wind? How would you fix wind noise? I guess you could shove an overcover in there? Just today I had a COS-11 kind of get shoved back into the hush lav so the head wasn't really peeking out, and it sounded great with no wind! But it was a very friendly tie and shirt and jacket. Maybe we should convince the world that silk looks cheap and then no actor would want to be seen wearing it. Yeah that's the only thing that would REALLY work. Re: that Coban stuff - sometimes my utility will do a thin layer of butyl around the COS-11, would that do the same thing as the coban or do I have to order this coban stuff to compare? I'm glad this thread is still active! Dan Izen

Whew just got back online. This is great, wonderful! Thank you all for chiming in! Definitely going to somewhat rely on the best boy electric. I've done 4 other movies with him so I think he'll be my lifeline. I'm also going to attempt to read each script as soon as it's ready. But the way I figure, I'll only have Saturday afternoon through Sunday night to do ANYTHING other than work. I doubt I'll want to read a freakin script. Here are some direct replies, and thanks again y'all I really appreciate it. Dan Izen Josh: day 168!? wow, mine's only 63 for 9 episodes and only 7 days/ep. Can't even imagine that many days. Mike: You got it, your first sentence says it. I might get out of debt with this one! Never having read a script is wild, you must have been very prepared and extensively gear-ed out! Ken: What you attest is often true, however I have found on a scout I can ask the questions and figure stuff out so that on the day, idiotic things that could have easily been worked out ahead of time don't end up in my product. But I know you're right; I'll go in and take a listen, ask the questions, then email post and producers what that sound is and why it's there! RVD: Your post made me mentally relax. As long as I can keep that sort of mindset I should be fine, and when the sound can't be perfect just move on. I can recognize the wisdom now, I hope I can in the heat of the moment! Scott: your post made me laugh. And you're right, it's not as if I've never worked at locations that I didn't tech scout. It's just the whole thing feels funny. Mr. Allen: your problem is one I had up until recently, I empathize!

Two things, first off that's really hilarious that your Zax rep didn't know that auto setting! Second, I too have some REALLY weird stuff happen with the camera return audio level. Almost too weird to believe, and I forgot all about it until you mentioned this. Twilight Zone shit. It was on a doc gig I did last year where I was off-cart and used the Deva 5.8 as a mixer just like you. This is going to sound crazy but I swear this is how it went down: I got a regular healthy un-clipped signal from the camera's headphones out, set it to -20dB. Then I powered down and back up again, and suddenly the camera return was WAY hot, distorted, clipped, all wrong. I was puzzled, but I reset the trim and lowered the camera's monitor volume and it was once again set properly and sounded fine. The meters on the camera never changed throughout. Then I powered down again while we waited several hours for another interviewee, and when I powered back up it was SUPER soft, way way soft. So I turned up the camera monitor and trimmed it back up to -20 and it was fine. Then after another power cycle it was again super hot. But this time when I went to adjust the trim, as soon as I hit the touchscreen button to lower it, THE LEVEL WENT BACK TO NORMAL. It changed about 30dB with one button touch. I swear to god. I tried it multiple times upon powering up and down and unplugging, and I determined it to be a software thing that didn't affect the sound being recorded and just kept trying my 'fix.' I'm pretty sure this was the fix: to go to the big trim adjust screen that shows all analog inputs, select the camera return, and start to bring it down a little and BANGO! it went back to normal. Then I had to turn it up a few dB to get back to -20. Then I went back to cart work and forgot all about that issue. Basically I just kept fiddling with the trim and stumbled upon that little fix. Once the return was normal, as long as I didn't power down it stayed that way... Dan Izen

Okay so I'm a feature / doc guy and I'm starting my first (besides the pilot) episodic series. For the first episode we tech scouted and had a nice production meeting - but what about all the other episodes?! I know there will be location issues as well as script stuff (lotsa music n playback) - when in Sam Hill am I supposed to get to that?! What's the norm? I can't afford to send any of my team whereas grips & electrics have plenty of folks to send to those scouts... When I asked the UPM about it he said the tech scouting will be done on off-days and I won't be there, I know won't have any time to read a script during the long-houred days, and I ain't working on a weekend! So how do you do it?! Dan Izen

I agree stubble is an issue it rubs against a collar or tie (even superquiet fabric). Sometimes freshly shaved is worse! I do always have something between the tie and the mic, whether it's moleskin, a hush lav foam (or small piece of one), or butyl. And the mic element is always in the air not touching anything. Sometimes even if the tie *and* shirt are quiet, a houndstooth or tweed jacket will spoil the whole damn thing! I had wardrobe tell me silk is one of the best looking fabrics for film... Too bad cotton can't catch the light like silk!!! We ALL would have an easier time getting that pristine product. Dan Izen

You could try the outside pocket of the jacket if he's wearing a jacket. Depending on the jacket that could work, but I've also had ridiculous and inexplicable noise from a front-pocket rig. I've never been able to deal with a loud silk tie, I've tried the Sanken in the knot pointing down with a "hush lav" foam around it, doublesticking the tie down to the shirt and also to itself. Still sounds like sandpaper. I'm very interested in this thread because my only luck has been as far from the tie as possible. The collar reduces tie noise but sounds like ass! Dan Izen

Senator I don't want you to stop. I think just because we talk about stuff here doesn't mean the manufacturer shouldn't also hear these questions directly. If they have different people calling them with the same questions they usually respond. Okay so Justan you weren't lazy like you said - I have a 5.8 and there was definitely one of the timecode settings (I forget which) that put the deck automatically into record. Found it by experimenting and I know I could find it again. One thing I would be afraid of is if there's ever any RFI on your script link receiver would it make your deck stop cold? (If so I guess you'd have your prerec time to manually start it again without missing a frame, but then you'd have two files.) Dan Izen

I agree with Senator. I think Justan you would be better off experimenting with your new deck (try all settings and push all buttons), then calling Zax, THEN posting these questions. That way when you do post, you would be bringing up something obscure that everyone *should* know about instead of highlighting yourself as lazy. Dan Izen

Just curious - do those wheel brakes work? I find myself always using a shot bag as a wheel lock (I'm using 10" wheels). But my cart's a big 3-shelf Yaeger, too big but sure gets around and over bad streets well. Don't trust the brakes tho Dan Izen Dan

What about the fact the the Deva can record over 8 tracks? I've found many occasions to use over 8 tracks. If the Cantar could go up to 16 tracks and had more than 5 mic inputs I think the competition between the two decks would rise. Dan Izen

This is awesome!! Thanks for the cool video. Thanks Imagist whatever your name is. I too wonder what the hell kind of mic or device can hear that low? Dan Izen

I've had amazing real life results with a CUB01 with a furry wrapped around it somewhere near the tailpipe. My utility always rigs it but I can tell you it isolates the engine sound SO well I generally was not able to hear any of the dialog = clean engine sound that perfectly matches the take! We've used the CUBs on really really loud tailpipes, also and it was really good. I've found the CUBs have a reduced low end compared to lavs or of course regular condensers, which makes it good for recording tailpipes because it seems to reduce the droney freqs. And I also use condensers for gunshots and other loud-ass sounds. The dynamic mics I rarely use, though I keep them with me! Recently I used a dynamic mic (RE50) for an announcer who also had his voice over the house PA (director's call) and it sounded good because the announcer spoke right into it. I would say with a condenser it would have looked wrong, sounded all weird and wind-noisy, and also would've given wicked feedback I predict. Dan Izen

Ha ha, I did know in advance but I was also told "flat rate" which to me means no overtime no undertime. I ended up getting 66%, considering it was a very good rate for a doc I was fine. Thanks for the input, I think 75% should be the standard! Dan Izen

S' funny I just recorded a 7-track panel discussion that went on for about 3 hours. The Deva stayed in record mode, but did seamlessly create another file as soon as the files size hit 2GB. So for a 2-track recording I would do the same thing, and let the recorder keep making new files every few hours. Since the Deva's folder structure is open (not size limited) you could record all 131 hours at once and just put the files together easily on a timeline. And I believe if you have a charged NP inside the Deva, you can hot-swap EXT batts and keep the thing going the whole 133 hours. I love long recordings, especially atmospheric shit. In fact I'd love a website that had 24-hours long or longer field recordings. I'd love to listen to say, a popular street in Bali for a week. Dan Izen