traut

I did a doc called I-52.

How sad. One of my first jobs was assisting Eric Zeehandelaar with playback on a music video at Linda's house with Linda, Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris and David Lindley directed by George Lucas and co-directed by Steven Spielberg. Pretty heady stuff for a wide-eyed newbie from Michigan.

Hello JP! Thank you for Cantar. Please don't change the battery arrangement on X3. Merci! Paul Trautman #217 & 496

These guys are amateur seamen at best. I would feel a lot safer on a crab boat.

Almost every Disney job I have ever worked on turned out to be crap.

I heard they haven't been approved yet by FCC for use in US.

I have a couple of UWPs I use to feed Alexas. They have pretty good range and a pair of rechargeable AA's last about 7 hours. They're only about $500 or so.

I am almost always feeding Alexas. I bought a couple of Sony UWP diversity wireless and made a mini to 5 pin XLR cable for them. The AC sticks velcro on them and mounts them where they want. Batts last 6-7 hours

Crew, rigging a process trailer in ten minutes has me beat by a mile. Usually takes me 30. Cantar, BST and video monitor in the cab. Mount the Comtek antenna outside, run a snake to the car, feed the Alexas, rig the talk back from director to car. Get a feed from VTR, audio feed to VTR. Tove rides the trailer to get sticks and track down flappy squeaky bits for me. But once I'm dialed in, it's a stroll in the park.

In front of any great mixer is a great boom swinger.

Kish Patel at Audio Ltd told me they tested the 788 and when they started plugging cables in to it, it became an RFI generator.

This is from the motor's ignition system. The only thing to do in this situation is try to find a freq that works.

We were chasing vintage F1 cars around a block in San Francisco and the director wanted me to ride on the back porch of a race camera car to get some efx. I clamped two 82 shotguns on the front and plugged them into my IVS-TC. I asked the driver how fast we would be going and he replied "pitifully slow". As soon as we set out, I was hanging on for dear life. I remember going round a corner watching a little boy and his mother pointing at me and I am quite sure he was saying "look, Mom, that man is going to die"! When we finally pulled in, I had the grips build me a cage with a harness and cadged a helmet. I can't tell you how many trunks of cars I have ridden in. Now that is all in my sordid past. Retirement is starting to look pretty good.

I have seen numerous pictures of sound carts strapped to process trailers or camera cars and have always wondered why. My experience has been, #1, there is no room for a cart and #2, why? I have never needed more than two mics in a car and find that, once it is rigged, it is much more comfortable to ride shotgun with the camera car driver. Warm in winter and cool in summer. My boom rides the trailer wearing a comtek to track down squeaks and rattles and we usually plant a mic so I can hear what's going on on the trailer and to get sticks. I also stick a speakeasy in the car with a PTT so the director can talk to the talent. The hardest part is usually getting the entire apparatus quiet. Flapping gels, squeaky barndoors, rattly trailers.

I used to work for a director, (and dear friend), who would tell me: "don't bother bringing any radio mics, I hate them". He would often tell me, "take the mic higher, I want more perspective". Now, I have to shove a radio up every actor's ass on the set.

IV-L, 4.2, IVS-TC. I had a little doodad (KAT?) that would let you use the center pot with a mic. My cart rig was a Nagra, Sela mixer, 415, Schoeps and a couple of Nady RF mics. Never needed more than 4 comteks. When I would go off on docs I would travel with about 100 lbs. of 1/4" and D cells. I had 2 Thermodynes that would each hold a complete kit so that if one got lost in shipping I still had a backup. No Audio Services in Siberia! They were heavy. Once, in Japan, our driver looked at me and told me to lay on my stomach. He pulled on both my legs, and my right leg was 2" shorter than my left. He performed some Ju Jitsu on my back and when I stood up I realized just how out of balance I had become!

For me, it's Cinela interior, Rycote exterior. My oldest Cinela is at least 4 or 5 years old and still works great. I know the Cinela is expensive, but some boom swingers have quieter hands than others.

As soon as you say yes, something better will come along.

Dear Friend, John, We met a couple of years ago, when you were booming for JCG. Time flies, eh? Gray of age may have fallen on our ears, but we keep rowing. Thank you for your friendship and support through the years. I will miss our office chats. I think it's time to spring for Business Class seats and enjoy the fruits of your labor for a while. Best. Traut

I love my 2001 VW Eurovan.

I love my Cantars. Don't know the specs, but the preamps and limiters are crazy good.

I used to be a Schoeps guy, but for the last 15 years I have been using Neumanns. Do today's Schoeps' still suffer from humidity crackling?

No backup? Eek!

A $10K package? Sheesh.

Years ago we were doing pickups on Bette Davis' last film. Father/Son camera team with a blimped Cinema Products 35mm! Shot was dolly in and boom up. First take: "Boom in shot." Second take: "Boom in shot." My boom said "I think he is screwing up his move and tilting up to cover his ass." I told him to watch the camera and pull up if he saw the camera tilting up. Take three: Camera tilts up to reveal green boards. The glare the DP gave me was priceless!