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James Louis

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Everything posted by James Louis

  1. Also, I know you were being facetious, but instead of twins, just run the test again, swapping packs (with constant patching) between your pair of talent. Then take accumulated results. Yes, every body has a specific absorption rate SAR, and it’s real. Some talent are like walking plasma storms
  2. I’m enjoying this thread, however I didn’t make it to the end to see if this was redundant. I will say that I think there could be a better workflow for your usb charger “cheat” determine by the end of the evening who truly is going passed 12h, and just swap out their batteries. When other talent wraps and and you start collecting packs. Like bringing in a relief pitcher, if you catch my drift. Better still is that you use that same opportunity to swap out the last few batteries rather than do it systematically, across the board, at lunch. but I could see using that usb to “top off” the batteries for the first hours or setup time in the morning, and then disconnect them once on talent, when your glider’s in the air. I always like to claim my channels and leave things on such that others scanning will leave them alone. Your usb chargers help at this. either way, let’s hope this takes away that lurching, dreaded feeling you received from some of our fellow responders…
  3. An update: at least Gotham is carrying this next generation of items from Deity, and they have undergone their own set of tests. So time will tell!
  4. I'd be hard pressed to counter any of @Allen Williams' findings. I guess if in my situation a) I'm already steeped in the TS ecosystem b) deneke smart slates are under that price on the secondhand market c) I'm still miffed by the lack of Deity customer service from their last line of products, along with d) some of their oversights uncovered from their last generation, I would therefore remain with the trusted contenders. and perhaps e) bluetooth isn't the essential manner in which I sync or confirm my TC over the course of the day. Sometimes it's a matter of which designer's development cycle you are on-board with. Sound show rooms such as Trew and Gotham do cover bigger companies like zoom, however for many years both zoom and tascam were vying for the same prosumer market. Tascam was the trailing edge manufacturer, but IMHO it was worth holding out for their answer to the zoom releases. (Not these days, however.) TS could easily release a smart slate or other timecode systems could be developed. I realize that's speculation, but if my consultants and experts are not carrying Deity and cannot in good conscience endorse them, then I'm going on a limb when it comes time to defending my decisions if I don't have that support structure in place.
  5. Bubblebee cable savers coil one where your “safety” piece of tape would end up
  6. My issue with stacking on the backup power source is that it’s a false sense of security. First, I’m not sure if you could configure the AA’s as the backup to the hirose if they are using the same connection. Okay, I get it, it’ll keep rolling the real issue however is that the sled itself falling out entirely is your most likely point of failure
  7. Only noise I could foresee is a ground loop if you are recording to computer with other things that may not share ground, say with some guitar pedals or bus powered synths going into the mixpre as the interface or a separate port. Then a usb splitter cable makes sense to me as for usb, the entire proposition sounds so sketchy to me. Not just in fatal powerdowns and corrupted cards, but in risks to the mixpre itself. And it sounds like it ought to be a terrific, light, option, and then I consider the stress on the port, the chances of picking the cable wrong over and over again, the lack of warnings, etc… to this day, I don’t see any consensus around cables. They will be stiff, right angles are out of the question, and let’s face it, they won’t last in a bag, you are loosing a port…just not worth the grief
  8. That pad would make more sense as a typo for line-level, but those tests don’t lie. Weird. 6041’s have long been home-base for me due to the unanticipated noice of my city surroundings. And I’m rather okay with the occasions when a professional performance can actually deliver a line under their breath. Should I really be looking at the 6040’s for such gigs? In any case, I’m okay with pairing this with a better mic, that doesn’t seem particularly hypocritical as far as I understand this user case
  9. I might add that the carrying tote could be thought out a bit more. With only a loop, you cannot wear it per se. But if it had a strap sewn in, it could be over the shoulder, much like a fanny pack that is worn in that fashion. Take the design further, and you could turn it into a mesh harness belt, competing with the Orca, which I have used for a number of years now. Both are sturdy breathable material. Something to consider, K-Tek All that speculative musing out of the way, the pouch itself is a good enough stuff sack for many of the things you might have considered putting on your back. I've used it for elective items (a book, a travel game set), and it's also a good place for catch all items that you know you are either not using for the rest of the day or can safely take home now that those options have been waved off by the production (the pelican with the wired lav, the phonak kit, the stereo mic that CAM B doesn't want, etc.) Then for those who would have left the carrying tote at home, you could bring these loose items home after your first day. So for @Simon Paine and others who would use the back real estate, what could you convince me is essential back there which allows you to be self contained on set without having to bring that second bag or to load up the mixer, and without burdening yourself with more weight? Without the access to those items while they are on your back? Maybe some dumbbells would be a good thing if it kept our alignment, right? But that's what distributing the weight into the belt is for. Would you trust yourself to unload those items in their pouches once you arrived on set? Is using these additional pouches allowing you to leave that second bag at home?
  10. That's really cool how you put stuff on the back of the harness. I've taken a more paired back approach. I decided on and Entity Utility Pouch Large on my left shoulder and a Medium Rollypoly dump bag on the right shoulder. https://www.maxpedition.com/collections/entity-series/products/entity-utility-pouch-large?variant=446540414993 https://www.maxpedition.com/collections/pouches/products/mini-rollypoly-folding-dump-pouch?variant=27910305617 May they both remain empty under most circumstances. The utility pouch can second as a phone holder. This is real business if you are using it via bluetooth as a transport or notation app, syncing tentacles etc. I ordered the Long version at first, but that's really thin. Would expand to an iPhone 12 mini or first version SE. The large is better than buying a pouch specific to a samsung or a plus. I may even use it as my backup with a DPA MMA-A and a stereo microdot cable. And I guess you could transfer your battery to this location. The Dump Pouch is as you described a great way to collect mics and comteks and that trace of tape backing and trail mix. You could go for the larger size for this purpose, but I thought coupled with my makeshift phone pouch on the other side, this dumping pouch is also the exact size for a 32oz nalgene water bottle, which I am known to carry on set. Again, more versatile than buying the dedicated 32oz water bottle holder. Let's all try to turn down the poland spring sample bottles, please. It's a moral imperative! I know we work in the most important business in the world, but the world might have additional priorities. Finally, I bought two Viviana hooks for over shoulder and under shoulder to one side. Save yourself a buck from replacing the full set. That way, I have a quick escape from the bag, without hoisting, and I have a quick fastening to put it on, without missing. They hook on to the current carabineer. It makes all the difference, particularly when you don't have a bar-top surface to keep things lined up. https://www.gothamsound.com/product/viviana-hook
  11. @DanieldHYes, let’s show some love for android; my shorthand for “mobile app” did not serve… My conclusions were based on the observable results that I conducted. I’ll definitely have to confirm or leverage the distinguishing capabilities that you mentioned. Cool beans
  12. Not sure if this was ever clarified, it’s a long thread, so I believe there’s some benefit in updating a few points: *the Track E does not transmit timecode. Neither hardwired NOR via Bluetooth. You can receive timecode from other systems or cameras or anything you like, via the mic jack, if not via Bluetooth…If I’m not mistaken, this is not just a time stamp or a jam, this is an updated periodic connection when the units are in range of the master TC. But there’s no signal coming OUT of the output jack aside from mic monitoring, much less an LTC signal, and if you think about it, that’s self evident… * there was a blog update specifying that phone monitoring would be available for these units with an update to the iOS app this last quarter of 2021. We know it’s in the making. Don’t expect 0 latency. Don’t expect continual range. I imagine this is a confidence check that your mic dressing was successful or that it’s still in place and not bobbing around by their belly. * 32-bit is indeed a goody. I’m still confused as to why there is an input gain adjustment in 32-bit mode, but TS assures me it is still best practices to manage your input gain as you formally would. Some NLE’s don’t handle 32-bit, and will bring those files in at 24-bit, so that initial decision is crucial. and even if they did natively handle 32-bit, you would want still want to offer your editors a guide value for playback, which can indeed clip on an output bus. That said, if you have a number of units, I propose to choose a lowest common denominator for input gain, offsetting for the insulation of any hidden techniques, such that the ambient noise levels match across any mics that are open. Said differently, take the input level to the channel that you are being the most conservative with input gain, the one most attenuated for the source, and apply that value with the remainder of your deployed units, adjusting in your case if some mics are more buried than others (or have a different make/model.) I would maintain sound perspective, in other words, I would not factor in back-towards-traffic vs facing-traffic. One is supposed to sound noisier than the other. Base it on how much you attenuated for that individual’s performance. Their perspective. Camera perspective. Not perspective of traffic. (Unless camera is rolling by in traffic. Then, yes, you base the conversation on continual traffic.) Blocking and camera movement are all dynamic decisions and why you really need a mixer and boom op the fellow I bought them from keeps them at maximum input gain, but he knows he’s the one editing, and he also knows he can use TS conversion utility. I suspect he does this because it’s easy to slide a dial all the way up and know that you have the same setting for all your units. I also think monitoring levels often get confused with these decisions, and he was trying to anticipate a noise floor which he could already hear. Well intended, that’s not really what goes behind a good listening environment, auditing a location or choosing an SPL. if you read this far, I have a further installment on gun violence on the tele, and there is no way I’m wearing my cans on a tactical firing range. My 24-bit recordings sound absolutely awesome. Now I have a 32-bit option that can track an interview with a live firearm, side coaching, direct signal and reflections, all on-mic. I haven’t been able to get my hands on a mixpre 3ii, so I was happy to make an intermediate decision and welcome the Track E into my Tentacle family.
  13. @borjamyet another reason why I think the mma-a got squeezed out. You pay about as much as a mixpre3, and if you get the 3ii there’s 32-bit, noise assist, recording, backup, routing etc… i will say this, it’s very tiny. About the size of 3-4 poker chips in a stack. It can drive their little mics, and you could handle everything on a pole. That and genuinely good AD converters.
  14. Anyhow, I’m guilty of hijacking this thread, so I’ll look out for you in the city… I’m off the Bedford-Nostrand G in Brooklyn…
  15. These are all very worthwhile contingencies @Ian Berman I enjoy being of service to smaller projects. Say a sketch team wants to try their luck with a youtube channel, or a community producer on the public access channel has a really good pitch on a local hero. It could be pro bono for a non-profit or an upcoming director who can't afford me, but in my case was already invited to enter Sundance next year. It only means that among anyone who breaks out of our collective talent, they'll know that I was there on the ground floor with them. Thanks for mentioning that they are 32-bit. That's a big plus. I've never clipped on a job, kanuhura. Always thought that was a coloring-book-for-adults kind of selling point. But I just came out of a firing range on Saturday, and I believe there will be further coverage requiring the location. Wouldn't it be neat if any of my plant mics were neither set up for dialog or gun shots, but rather both? It's so cool to see a waveform seemingly clipped and as tall as a footstool get brought down with every peak intact. That's certainly a confidence in these unmonitored situations. Do you think for the price of 2, I'd be better off getting a mixpre 3ii? I may be able to pickup a pair today for $600, still in the box and registration card. They are difficult to come by, but still. Plus I'm still waiting to try Noise Assist. Problem is, I don't see how mixpre's can route input signal to 2 different input channels. I couldn't even do something as rudimentary as bracketing my gain on the boom when I had that firing range shoot this weekend (earplugs--not buds--AND earmuffs and no monitoring, thank you very much) They can link channels, but that means something different in this circumstance. You're either applying the plugin to a particular mic or you're not. You'd have to put the single instance of the plugin on a Bus L or R track if you wanted to give a client the bypassed version.
  16. That sounds like faulty power. But it could also be that the Track E needed a firmware update and was introducing a corrupted file. These are mini-sd, right? Anything goes. Could have been that reader introduced the artifact.
  17. Good of you to point out, @Jim Feeley, right up top that this is 3.5mm connectors. I, like many of us, am not investing my lavs with this connection. This is typically addressed with an adaptor. Connecting an adaptor into a discrete recorder which is unable to be monitored and is flexing and bumping and moving with a person is introducing an additional point of failure. Every adaptor I've ever made, including tension safety cables, microdot, locking, and what have you, they all crackle. They all snap. Someone sits on it. Or the casing exposes the solder points. Or the screw on slips and never screws on. Or they were just made with a flaw. Then your "Plan B" if using the Track E? Using the included mic or an equivalent, such as the one that comes with a G3. Then while you are eliminating a single point of failure, you are recording into the track e with a consumer-grade lav. Finally, what both scenarios don't account for is clothing noise. As soon as you hide these, the risk of not knowing there's a problem, including a mic that's fallen down someone's shirt or chest scratches or anything, increases. Maybe these would be good as a plant mic. Or with the DPA 4097 in a car sequence, where you might already be pressing record and walking away. Or with a broadcast loop and a proper windscreen outside clothing. Or when you are just making a polite nod to a participant-micing situation that is entirely handled with the boom. Say a talking head interview where the producer has asked you to mic someone, but the camera op and director are accustomed to only using boom, and give you the go-ahead to not bother. Or suppose you don't have permission to handle that person or they've presented you with no time or an utterly complicated wardrobe choice and an unforgiving camera frame. Or maybe someone in another studio just stepped on your frequency choice. Or you cannot chase down a crappy cable. Maybe in those instances you could use these, as lip service, or a formality. You addressed an immediate circumstance. Kind of like an audible confirmation that they are more risky to begin with than your boom.
  18. Would that RX work to an iOS device? For a podcast, I might consider pulling out the DPA mma-a in my possession. With even the latest iPad (although I can also go to computer), the 3.5mm connection can be used for TC. But if I understand what you mean by remote vs in-person, I get a sense that your setup allows the talent to be wherever they want with the GoPro. Cool!
  19. I think the mics sound very good for a lav. Honestly, there's no compromise from a TRAM or something to that effect. The latest version introduces an eq, so perhaps you could give it a concealer bump in the upper register... I think the quality is on par with any deliverable lav, it's just that I don't have a critical listening comparison to offer you. It's a MEMS and its maybe a 2db bump at around 4k and 6k, and a 2db shelf above 10k. It's electro-mechanical on the scale of a microphone "chip", but as far as how that addresses your question, the diameter is that much smaller, resulting in a more perfect spherical omni, even in the upper registers...It's not a carved out sound like a rodes. It's a clear and direct sound, but we'd want to do a real side by side to find to which lavs its analogous. Monitoring is non-existent. It functions as a recorder, it functions as a mic for your bluetooth "hands free" applications, it offers live monitoring if you were to record to your smart device. I would not try this for most any reason, so I cannot vouch for the latency or dropouts. One time I pressed the monitor button, and indeed the unit switched to a microphone function. How was I supposed to know that monitor meant "no longer recording"? Could you imagine if a background auto-updated iOS app forced you to update your Sound Devices mixer in order for it to work? Also, consider how you would know if an app updated, resulting in an incapability unless your phone notified you or if you were ready to use the app on the set, unless you rehearse all your contingencies before each gig? Then have that resulting firmware introduce a condition in which the unit doesn't record? That's a reshoot on my hands. You get a meter on the app when the recorder is rolling and you get a waveform populating the screen. I hid 7 of them on the aforementioned shoot, and I didn't get any clothing noise, from multiple materials, from multiple mic treatments, from tape to clips. They are around the size of a travel dental floss dispenser, so "hiding" requires some skills. But it can be done. Back to the lack of monitoring, you would need to know something about what handling and clothing noise look like on a meter if you needed any form of confidence. But you can see them rolling. These are designed to be the Go Pro for audio. Effectively like a camera trap or any such application. You deploy them, and then you happily retrieve any results. This is not for critical jobs. If I was covering a wedding (a gig I've never had, but the production value in some do look amazing, and some directors can truly capture a magical moment), I might put one of these on the best man as he goes from table to table getting stories about the couple or his friend. I might put one on grandma, who is going to have some wonderful blessings to share as folks visit her. I might put one already running in the middle of the table, you know where we used to offer a disposable camera. But I wouldn't put this on the bride and groom and pray that I captured their vows, as least invasive and swift as these devices may be. I gave them the College Try on a trauma-informed yoga series, hosted by Lulemon...Part of the contingency was these were people returning from war and offering self regulating skills and equilibrium through yoga, with modifications for amputees and frankly every range of ability a body might have in a yoga class. That's a raised-hand-to-toe ultra full length shot from all directions that had to accommodate both seated and standing poses throughout a sequence in a single take. I wasn't allowed to show a pack, I guess for the brand. (maybe branded athletic wear has to think more about playback sync or VO and original music?) And the producers of course were insistent that I was not allowed to handle (touch) the participants. Ultimately, I could either offer these mics or realize that everyone was making more of a fuss, and to discover that every session welcomed my assistance and hands-on in placing the mics. But after each instructor, I had to run to the computers, hand over one of the last instamics, copy over and "check the gate" so to speak on each one. And the producers were not being realistic about city traffic listening to the boom mix nor slowing down for anything. In other words, they didn't schedule enough time so they had no recourse for anything that didn't work the first time (even when a construction crew was drilling.) It's not ideal, but doing a 12 minute yoga sequence a second time isn't going to kill anyone if they had scheduled 12 minutes out of an entire day to do a single 2nd take of something. Better than a reshoot. On a final note, I resist all remote apps for my recorders, particularly on the real estate of a phone. But in this case how else would you know you are recording on what is essentially a little "black box"? If you have them on auto-leveling, a topic for another discussion, the three LEDs will bounce responsively to incoming signal, and you can then confirm that you pressed something that actually ran sound. BUT BUT BUT those same LEDs have a flickering, elaborate sequence as the unit powers on, and you would not know if they were currently on or off just looking at them. And I've powered one on, confirmed, pressed the SAME button for record, got the flickering again, which logically should correspond to recording signal, and found out once the lights went back off (they don't stay on while you record) that it had been sitting inert for the first yoga instructor's video all the while (only captured on boom). Only way you would catch the error is if you pressed that same button a third time and it started to go through the record sequence lights. In other words, there's no confidence on the unit itself, and there's no stop button. Pressing the button again if it's already running triggers a new recording, or holding it down turns it off even if it is already running. So you are somewhat obligated to update the units themselves with the updates to the app and to consequently use the app. I assure you even if you habitually check that your fly is up a few times a day, this method of recording will catch you with your pants down.
  20. Waterproof is such a good selling point. I had a scene in a long shot of two brothers on surf boards. And a bathtub scene worked along the edge of the tub. These can be on wrist straps. They can be sewn into a wet suit, or placed under the hood of a full body suit. I have buoys for them, the way some folks with boats keep their set of keys. These are not underwater mics. But I haven't tested them for that purpose. I tried timecode on them yesterday. A peer support group for a documentary where I had to then leave the room. For a local public channel with community producers, this is a good forum to use as a lab. Running 7 units off a single Sync E. They won't function off an Ultrasync Blue at the time of this writing, however the Blue is kind of handicapped when it's anything but an accessory to a complete system. They inherit the frame rate, unlike the TS first gen and most anything which has to be changed over before it will read the TC. There were three different readouts, which I will take up with the developer. It could be lag in the display, it could be that I was looking at the record time and that they stagger as they speed. It could be that it doesn't really work. Perhaps it does a superficial nod to the TC coming in, and then a free run for the remaining recording...But my guess is that each unit will be nudged in place by hand...
  21. If you look carefully in that DPA article, it appears as though the mma-a is fitted with a rubber binding with three overhang segments holding it to the fixture. See that? Any idea where I could get one? I tried the general comments, questions submission on DPA but haven’t heard from anyone. Do you have someone you reach out to? as for laptops and phones, I have been using snot tape; I keep a rolled up end which I’ve scored with a knife in the same kit. But I also have the interview kit, and with their announcements on the heels of eachother, it has been my assumption that the plastic plate with Velcro fasteners would be suited both for body packs but also perhaps for the mma-a. It isn’t. With something disk shaped, coupled with connectors out the edge, I’m hesitant to use ties (it will always fit snug to the widest dimensions, the circumference). And I think tape is not suited for that kind of movement, being upside down etc… any suggestions?
  22. To @Philip Perkinspoint, what are the pressures that productions are experiencing with which they believe even safety protocols are optional? This sounds like one of the crazy-making jobs I did a flawless job of avoiding this last year. Even the financier is attached to work that was pumped through against union, against code, against health and safety considerations. In other words, they thrived at investing in projects that were spearheaded by someone self-important enough to risk everyone else's safety for what ends up being a hot mess. I consider the story tellers that did a good job this last year "essential workers" right up there with pizza making. It has been damn important for people to find enjoyable, nourishing, escapist, insightful, fun, content while sequestered at home. But most of the crap on my radar last year was not important. Not urgent. Not helping, not supportive not even in the name of fun. And slightly manic and rather willful to even attempt to execute against the times. No thanks. And if you felt the need to take these jobs, no judgement and no shame either. I cannot speak for how any of us survived, I have no idea how you did it, and I am just glad you are here and I can speak with you. In my opinion, my being a hard ass and rolling only when I'm ready, means you sure as hell know I'm on the jobs that represent my standards. Even if I'm cutting through 18 days of frozen sea. By being a hard ass about these things, people have paved way. There has been no reason to cave in. But we all feel different pressures and we all make different decisions and it's a blessing we are all here. So @tourtelotI think you know the answer to your own question. That's money. Above the Line, Below the Line. And the anyone and the coordination and the who is responsible, which I also am following as details come forward, that's the "who", the "resources" @BAB414. But time itself is beholden to no man, as Philip brings to our attention, and I think it points to the pressures and limits that make a tragedy like this one. Still, it's protocols that make the difference between us safely expressing our opinions and someone being dead. It's not "how old was she" or "who yelled what" on set, or "I was tired" or "I thought you said". He can say that because he's executed checklists, cross checks and protocols in an honored and time-tested manner without exception. Not because he never showed up on set grumpy, or never got caught in traffic, or was never young or never went out the night before etc etc...
  23. late to the convo here, but micro SD cards and micro SD card encasements, the card readers, can be the culprit. And this will be true wherever you stick that card and whatever you record onto it. Are the folks reporting corrupt files using verification software? The OS X finder is supposed to do a good job of this, but it won't catch unreadable errors or incompatibilities on a micro SD...
  24. That sounds really condemning of the armorer. Now what was the AD then doing handling the prop? What was the call time? Are you saying that the armorer was busy on instagram or preoccupied doing what other youngsters do? If I had to profile someone in our profession, young and 2nd generation can mean a very creative and attentive person, or it could mean someone who is not as ambitious as their dad. You're saying, she was the later. And by calling out producers, how are you exempting Baldwin? The gaffer sounds like he's responding the way I would while still hardening up, so I think we still need to keep our eyes on the evidence, as vividly direct as this account may be.
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