PhforAndAfter

Very cool, I learned something today!

I just finished the series last night - it was outstanding - and did some research. They didn't find the recorded bathroom confession until 2 years (!) after it was recorded. They had hired a freelance editor to look through the files again for anything they may have missed, and he found it. For that interview, I believe they didn't hire a sound mixer, but probably rolled a mic into a recorder of some sort. For some reason, they left it running after the interview concluded and he made his bathroom run - a real mixer would've likely had the mic off him by that point, so in this rare case, I'm sure they're very happy they didn't hire one of us!

Got my hands on these the other day - sadly not my ears. Can't comment on the sound quality, but the build quality is absolutely top notch.

In the best way possible!

I worked with him just a couple years back. Lovely person. Funny, witty, a bit of a smartass. The world is less awesome without him.

Nice Tom, hell of a post.

Awesome.

Hah! Excellent. My favorite books ever.

This is the kind of advice I need! Thanks!

I'm glad you're finding it enjoyable! I'm very appreciative of the advice. I have a fair amount of couches, and we're giving ourselves about half a month to find an apartment - skimming Craigslist has shown that there are a lot of last-minute apartment openings in the city, at pretty reasonable prices. Hopefully in an area we are interested in, of course - we are looking at North Hollywood and Silver Lake/Echo Park area at the moment. It's looking like we'll be road-tripping, so staggering the trip isn't really an option. She could fly ahead, I suppose, but I'd go crazy driving cross country by myself. We can always stay in a motel if need be!

Thanks Phil, that's pretty much my thinking. If my girlfriend gets a job quickly, we should be OK - her experience level should equal a pretty comfortable salary. I'm more concerned about being the leech boyfriend than anything else, I'm used to making at least as much as her and splitting our expenses. That's a big IF, but she's already looking at options out there. Finding my first 'real' gigs is going to be the hard part, for sure. I really don't want to have to start scouring Craigslist *shudder,* but I will if I have to. The biggest thing is getting out the door and meeting people in the business, and I don't want to just hang around outside Trew to do it.

I'd like to grow as a sound man. I don't really see a way to do that doing the same, simple gig day in and day out. I've got nothing against corporate work in general, every once in a while it's just what the doctor ordered. But it's not satisfying my desire to work on something meaningful. Maybe in 20 years I'll be more content to just make a paycheck and spend time with my family, but right now I'm looking to expand my horizons.

I just got a snarky PM from him RE: my LA thread, so he's not completely absent

I'm reminded of a certain Simpsons quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73cxLiqc2U I understand the dangers, of course, and I know I'll be a small fish in a big pond. But I'll never be happy knowing I could've given it a shot and didn't.

I am not (I know, I know), although we considered it for a while. I decided it wasn't worth the extra expense, since we want to move ASAP. We plan to couch surf for a few weeks while we find an apartment. Luckily, I know a fair amount of people in LA, just not too many in the industry. I'm trying to reconnect with my few industry friends who are working out there, but not a lot of them are in sound.

Good advice. I was planning on checking all of my sound gear, but unfortunately, I'll have to stick my home theater stuff in my van. Hope it makes it there in one piece.

We are primarily moving because Boston doesn't offer the kind of opportunities that I'm looking for. I can't work on corporate gigs every day for the rest of my life - that's not why I wanted to get into this business. I've only worked on scant few shoots in New England with another soundie - every gig is a one-man sound crew. I want to learn, and I want to work on bigger shoots, and Boston ain't the place for it. That being said, my girlfriend is working very hard at finding employment out there before we make the jump. The plan is that she'll have it figured out by then, but obviously nothing's set in stone. I've been saving my pennies for this for a while (working two jobs and freelancing) as has she, so we should be able to make it work. She's an architect, and pretty confident she can find work out there. I'm in my 20's and can deal with being broke occasionally. But it will be hard to drop the monthly paycheck! I don't think it will be easy - starting over never is - but I hope it will work out. Thank you, I appreciate the optimism

Thanks for the quick response! I'll miss the seasons, for sure (not so much winter though, aside from the first snow). I live in Cambridge, so I think living expenses will be about the same. I have a car that I'll be shipping all of my stuff in (at least that's the plan), but I'll be buying a new one as soon as possible. Here in Boston, we have a small company called Central Booking, which is basically just one guy who keeps a rolodex of freelancers who pay him a small fee every month, and he gives out our information to producers looking for crew. Is there anything like that? Finding clients, as you said, is almost certainly the biggest challenge. Like I said, I'd like to get work as an A2, but don't really know how to go about that, since I don't know the local mixers. In some sense it'll be like starting over again, which will probably be a bit scary - hopefully my girlfriend will be able to find some work to tide us over since I assume I'll be in survival mode for a few months at least.

So, fine folks, most of you don't know me, but I'm a lurker and occasional poster here. I'm currently the full-time sound mixer at a small Boston production company, and I'm looking to make some career moves. I'm pretty much entirely self-taught, aside from some tips and tricks picked up from reading various production sound books, scouring this forum, and rarely, working with other soundies. I've been doing location sound seriously for around 4 years, and slowly building a kit. Most of my experience is with corporate, small indies, reality, and broadcast. The long-and-short of it is that I'm looking into moving to LA in 4-5 months. My girlfriend is sick of the weather, and I want to work on bigger productions and move up in the world. I'm currently reading Jay Rose's Producing Great Sound for Film & Video, which is an invaluable guide, but I was wondering if you L.A. folks had any advice - both general (where is a good place to live if you're in the industry? Where are good sources to find work?) and specific (how hard is it to get on productions as an A2 or third if you're looking to learn? Where are the best sound rental/purchase houses that I should get to know). I'm also in communication with 695, as I should have enough experience to get on the roster. Basically, and words of wisdom would be appreciated!

"I think you saved the picture." So good! Never seen this, but it's going on the list.

I work almost exclusively in ENG/Corporate these days. Lots of C300's, F3's, but most newsy stiff is still shot on older broadcast cameras, HPX 300s and the like. So I don't think size is much of an issue. But maybe you're right. Decent cameras are so much cheaper now, maybe those days are gone.

Too expensive for ENG? Guess you should tell that to everyone who bought Panasonic and Ikagami ENG cameras 15 years ago for 50 grand!

So expensive and unfeasible. Cool though!

Recently bought up the last few rubber rycote mounts I could find at my local dealer. They must have just stopped manufacturing them, because they're suddenly impossible to find.

I wish i could always boom that close!