Alan H. Chang

You're kidding right, Mark? Besides the SFF, snap recalls, motorfaders, and accessibility, IMO the Veronas and Siennas still hold their own ground. A Heritage would still be considered the top in analogue world. We have a 40-input Verona and that we're thinking of replacing with one of the X32 awhile back, but decided it was still a good investment to keep it chugging until it all fell apart. Then, came the add'l A&H iLive in our other facility. The Roland M200i is definitely a straight-forward dummyproof mixer and design. Very simple and easy to use without much menu/layer jumpin'. Up to this point of what is currently offered out in the market, one of the more popular and smaller variants from Yamaha, Soundcraft, and Presonus would still do a lot of heavy work on set. One thing I never understood was why Avid/pre-Digi never took off with the whole production sound for entertainment. They've literally gotten the entire industry into PT for post, almost, have a good share in the live world with their Venues and 48 consoles, and what other better way for them to gain market share would be to introduce smaller, refined digital consoles that have PT embedded within to record, stamp, and playback on set? The ease of migration from prod to post would simplify a lot of workflows, even suggesting to the point of them going into the market of SoundDevices, Zaxcom, Fostex, Tascam, and etc. for field recorders. I know, it's risky, especially when they're not known as well in this line of work.

There's a white label on top back portion of each and every Venue that specifically lists it's block coverage as well as serial #, it's over the antenna ports On the front faceplate panels, and this doesn't apply to all Venues, it will say WBL/WBH, 944, etc. Third way is to look at the readout on the LCD screen when powering up. It will specifically tell you which revision and block coverage the Venue is on. Wideband High start its coverage from Blk25, not Blk26. A typo.

Wideband Normal/Mid: 537-768, Blk 21-29 Wideband Low: 470-691, Blk 470, 19-26 Wideband high: 665-862, Blk 26-33 25-33 There are also Narrowbands which only cover 2 adjacent blocks, as well as 944. In your case you might have a Narrowband of Blk 27-28, which excludes Blk26. You would need to check with your Venue to make sure if it's covered.

You bet it's crazy, even more absurd. VERY last minute indeed. Interested?

Small crew to Kumbh Mela, India over the next 4 weeks. Must be able to leave this weekend. All expenses with some pay. I can't leave the US until March, passing the info along. PM me for info. alan

A CPA that understands the language of our industry is a gem. The reason I suggest you dive head in at a slow pace to grasp the language is for you to fully know the ins and outs of what goes on with your business, both financially and for personal reasons. Everybody who have already contributed and given advise are absolutely spot on about the tax world, good and bad.

Found this some other day. Read at your own caution, haha.

Indeed it is.

Black 40%, beige 55%, the rest 5% which includes cocoa, tan, white. When we need to match color for wardrobe or skin tones, we often use the appropriate color mic first before we resort to the arts'n craft coloring department. This goes for both the film and television world as well as the theatre world. Sometimes neck down doesn't work for a particular scene, thus, needing to mount above the neckline on the head. This gives a more natural sound and the mic will follow every head turn. Used to use Prismacolor markers, but now Letraset for more reliability and longer durations before wearing off. One tip I learned from a veteran mixer was to always use a darker colored mic rather than a lighter one because light colored mics show up easily and resembles a scar. Love working with beige, which now leads to the second question: Which sensitivity or band? Too many options!

As the year is ending, I finally have the chance to do some cleanup and mag catchups as usual like everyone else, or maybe not. Opened up Sound & Communications and a few pages into noticed this:

You're always welcome! The night you attended was by far our most lively show of the entire run, glad you were there to enjoy it all.

Snapped this before our department striked on Sunday. Colorful board like a Christmas tree.

Max, This is awesome news in addition to the whole female sound crew, well, not counting you of course unless you're "Moxxie" now. I, too, support females in our industry and have been giving lots of highschool candidates the opportunity to try out both the sound reinforcement field and the film/tv world. They always get inspired and adds another smart 'hat' into your team. It's all a working process and being a mentor as well as a the person in charge of the sound crew gives much respect to the whole picture. The point where the AD giving directions to your boom op was unnecessary and as the head of the department kept your professionalism and dealt with the situation accordingly. More brownie points. Congrats on the mono mix! You could try getting in contact with Terri over at WAM to see if they have any upcoming interested students and candidates to join the team. Looking forward in more of your 3-man crew stories.

Definitely a great mixing opportunity for all involved! I'm In.

On some days, I need a broom to tame their feline personalitites. Other days, I've mistaken my cat as one of her sisters. Hope it was helpful.

Hey Paul, Welcome! Another SF Soundie, and from SF State! You'll feel easily at home here since some have already heard of you and your work. Didn't know you did The Dance for Jacintha earlier this year. I had a full plate during that time of the year and Pete and Keenan were having fun on Mavs, but wonderful to hear they found you to do both production and post. Looks like your 2013 will be a rockin' busy year. We could definitely go grab a beer and do the best to get the other guys who frequent this forum and others who aren't on yet to have a SF get-together. To be fair, there are lots of others who don't live on the peninsula side and towards inner Walnut/Lafayette/Fremont/SanJose/Sonoma. The last time I suggested a place, it was a funny, yet disastrous turnout. I'll be on the sidelines for now. While you're at it, quick search and give a shout to Keenan on this board, and a few others if you can Waldo them. PM if needed, but it'll cost you 10 cup'o joes per try. A.

First experience with all, got a chance to play with PIANO. K-tek's Zepp is truly the heaviest, and the system isn't as practical as compared to Rycote's simpler line-ups. At a decent amount, it's a complete Zepp system and is very effective against tough winds (25-30mph). On/Off or getting a hold of the microphone is cumbersome and by far my #1 frustration with the system. Rycote's S-Series is like the little engine that could. Easy slide on/off, easy access to mics that are within the shell. It's the little brother of the full Zepp from Rycote. Takes mild gusts easily (15-20mph). When indoors the pods are easily stowed away and a small softie would take its place without sacrificing sound quality, except that the weight is still there with the entire system. When in doubt I need to go light and mobile, it's the #1 pick. With unpredictable EXT location conditions, bringing a full windjammer to go along with the S-Series system makes it a win-win combo. Stops wind extremely well (30-35mph) Rycote's full Zepp system is the top for most folks. Brutal on winds (30-40mph). It's easier getting to the insides than K-Tek's Zepp system and allows for minute length/counterweight changes depending on the microphone and boom operator. Once you set it, you really don't feel like changing a thing ever again. If you have multiple mics that are within the same length category, then this is a big bonus in hotswapping. The zeppelin itself is fragile and any hard crush or bent that gets pressured onto will indeed leave a shaped mark. Has the options for you to add EXT units to accompany longer microphones, but again you'll need to readjust the fit. Cinela's PIANO is a marvel of engineering. Effective, yet light and transparent in sound coloration. The only day I had it I drove up to one of the windiest spots near the marina and the winds were kicking at 30-40mph, a substantial amount, ate it for breakfast while at the same time my LF activities were far attenuated than any of my other zepps I had or used. The windscreen did take a while to put on/off, and the size isn't distinctively larger than what we already have out in the market. You could even fit one of your larger M/S rycote windjammers over this to give it more effectiveness. First thing I did, sold the K-Zepp to a friend who wanted one when he was finishing up his MFA, everything else still have. Need 2x 1620 cases for the whole zepp family, including the BBG kits and M/S full kits. All the kinds of zepps have their own good/bad hair days.

Eh, many variables. The easiest one is when the whole set is ready to roll and both sound and camera have already speed, suddenly we need to stop but no 'cuts' have been called. Camera cuts because it costs a lot (if shooting on film), while we yell 'sound is still speeding.' Every minute interval a shout reminder of 'sound is still speeding' gets everyone's attention to quickly move on. This gives a sense of urgency and a possible note to the scripty that post would hear this and dread listening to however many minutes is passing by before the action takes place. As noted, there's no take 2 in live theatre nor television, must have your game on at all times. When the A1 is dealing with 70 wireless lavaliers, and the 2nd is dealing with a whole 150pc orchestra, communication is the most important and second behind trust between your whole team including all the A2 and A3. When egos get in the way, those don't usually last long. D Powell, I hope the two-way comms between you and SM aren't specifically directed to mixing cues, because there have been many instances where I get asked about mixing cues from SM and there is absolutely NO WAY a designer nor mixing engineer is going to read a mix cue by cue. Each night of performance is different and drastically responds to the way the audience, cast, music section, and all other backstage crews react. Also, how do you feel about wearing comms while mixing FOH for the show? Not impossible, but you give it a try. I always request to NOT wear a comm and have it on standby in case someone blink calls me.

Position was filled. Best night of the production thus far.

Position filled. Thank you everyone for coming through one of the busiest times of the year.

Though, the interests are small, one caveat in having the options of Remote On/Off is the accidental absence of turning them back on from sleep mode (a no no in live settings), but under controlled environments could provide add'l benefits to the entire cast of mics between the time of sound check and performance (let's say 60 Lectros), which could well give us 2 performances out of a set of batteries rather than 1. As stated by Larry, if and when their future products are released, Remote On/Off is without a doubt a significant feature let alone remote access to transmitters. Only time and supply/demand will tell.

Simply stated, we would love to have Remote On for live performances. On the current live show I'm doing, we're using HMs specifically for an Elvis-like dynamic hot mic and the Remote On/Off function would greatly help us preserve power throughout the first Act of the show till intermission. The set mic, or working prop mic, only gets used after intermission, and having the necessary tones to sleep the thing would be beneficial for my team backstage in case one of the members in the sound department isn't present to turn them back on, leading to another crew member to dweedle them up. This gives us confidence that the HM is working, yet not transmitting any RF till we need it.

Position being discussed.

Pending...

Got the PM Matt! Thanks