PMC

Bob K,

Please don't take our comments about sound recording and business methods as condescending or snarky (not that you have, just saying). You asked and we answered. Take our years of experience and recommendations as you will.

As for filling up my 12 channel mixer inputs on occasion in a bag rig, yes it happens. I like it and I hate it both. I like all the rental I am getting but I hate that there are compromises and I tell the producer that. I can't properly mix all those channels with several different conversations going on at the same time while around my neck. But when the producer says I want lavs on everyone I use all 8 wireless lavs I own plus a boom and a plant mic or two. Sometimes on these reality shows the producer will wear a lav and I'll send that channel to the camera hops for direction to cam ops rather than a two-way.

Scripted reality shows are shows that have a known structure going into it. The producer and participants already know the talking points. They already know we are shooting coverage of the daughter and mother always bickering about the menu, the FOH hostess coping with the wait staff, the dad arguing with the cooks about the smelly fish, etc. And everyone is wearing a mic because it is a working restaurant and all this action plays out at the same time. It is hectic, chaotic, but can be fun as long as mom stops taking her mic off because she doesn't want to do this anymore. Another story.

Kent

Bob K,

My portable kit has 12 channels. I work all over North Ametica but in Iowa specifically, I have mixed up to 8 wireless lavs and 2 booms with my SD 664 (6 mic level inputs and 6 line level inputs) strapped to my chest. 4 cameras with wireless hops and Denecke TC boxes and half a dozen Comteks. I even strap my TC slate to the front of my bag so the non-TC cameras can simply point at me briefly and get a TC sync from the constant display. (a trick I learned from NFL Films).

All this for scripted reality shows like  restaurant makeovers, team vehicle rebuilds, sports, docu-drama shoots with two active sets at the same time, etc. In Iowa I am lucky to get the budget for a boom op on these gigs. Pretty ridiculous. But I have worked on a lot of pilot shows this way.

On commercials and corporate gigs I am typically a one man band even on 5-lav and 1-boom shoots.

Just to make booming tougher, it seems like the only category of production that is shooting with one camera these days is commercials. 

Kent

On 2/27/2023 at 10:00 AM, Fred Salles said:

Thanks,

Production bankruptcy it is actually more complex than deadbeat producers. 

A production company not paying an invoice can be sued and forced to pay by law. Whereas in case of bankruptcy there is no more company to sue, and it is the french officials that manages whatever money is left in the account of the company. In case of embezzlement the CEO can be sent to jail but that does not mean the suppliers will see their money, at least not before decades! Besides, in my case as in many, they did not do anything dishonest, circonstances and « deadbeat » debtors pushed them out, to make it simple... Covid19 has and continues to do serious damage to independent film producers.

 

 

 

Do you require the same for your own gear? (Invoice to be paid at or before pick up)

For production companies that they know rental companies here usually ask for end of the month payment or payment on invoice issued after the shoot (possibly charging in case gear got missing or broken). So it is difficult for us technicians to ask producers to pay upfront or on pick up. But I have not tried yet and will probably always do from now on.

 

Payment for gear that I own and use on a job is usually net 30 days or credir card charge at the end of the day. I have a gaffer friend with lots of G, E & L who asks for gear payment up front. Most of the time he gets it. I haven't. 

Bob K,

You may have formed an opinion and are now seeking support for that opinon from others. I think you can see that many of us prefer to use a TC slate outside of being able to charge for it's use.

It just works and has many benefits for split system filming. I am sending a dirty mix to the camera via wireless or lavs on one channel and booms on a second channel (or lav 1 left, lav 2 right) when tethered to cameras.

What the cameras DON'T get is all my seperate IOS tracks for the 6 lavs and two booms I have roaming the set.

Kent

Bouke,

Who am I? I am a guy who has been shooting, recording and editing professionally since 1978. I am a dinosaur. I grew up with Quad tape, uMatic tape then Betacam and 1 inch tape era. All VITC. Now it's digital cinema. Definitely not VITC anymore but not LTC either.

I actually can't say what kind of TC digital cinema cameras record other than the fiddly meta data. Of course vertical interval data was a thing with the long dead NTSC TV standard (we lovingly referred to it as Never The Same Color).

Adobe, currently, doesn't accept an audio track TC signal (what used to be called LTC). I have software from Tentecle that can deal with it but it is just easier to sync sound and multi cam timelines referencing my TC slate when shooting with GoPros, FS7, mirrorless cams, etc.

Kent

Tourtelot,

Most of my clients prefer poly waves. They say easier for them for media management. When I edit, I prefer mono wav. but then I know what I recorder and only drag in the isolated lavs and iso booms I need.

I have the luxury of being able to record poly to one memory card and mono to a second on my SD664.

Timecode slates are useful for the following resons

1) syncing my mult camera shoots that don't have timecode input like FS7, GoPros, mirroless cams, new Arri and Red camers with beta software that screw up TC, etc. A TC slate is essential for syncing GoPros. Yes I can simply  trigger a flash unit or send a tone beep to connected cameras but an actual TC slate is far more professional and has written info on the slate pertaining to the scene.

2) when I edit the multi cam timeline it is far easier to align the cameras and sound sources when a TC slate is used vs fiddling with the waveforms. Plus simply using camera mics as a sync source can present errors if the cameras are far apart. Light and sound travel at different speeds.

3) because of a $1,000 investment about 20 years ago, my Denecke TCS has earned me at least ten times that cost in rental. In that time I have had to have it serviced only once.

For single camera shoots when the sound mixer/recorder is connected to the camera a TC slate is less essential.

I have used the Tenecle TC slate phone app. It is good for run and gun work with one or two cameras.

My two cents.

Kent

Jeez, I misspelled reasons, lol

Thanks, Jez.

I'm going to look into that.

Weapenized Boom Mic

It is called LTC. Used to use it frequently in the olden days. Before I had access to machines with VITC (Google it). Of course you have to have an NLE that accepts LTC.

Interrogative,

What is this thing in front of the mic? Does it reduce room echo?

Show credit lists Stuart Waring as Sound Mixer.

I feel your pain. We have to account for deadbeat producers. 

When the production requires that I rent additional gear (CL-12, more comteks, more wireless) I  negotiate a rental contract with the rental house and give that contract invoice to the UPM so THEY sign the contract and pay the invoice for that gear at or before the time of pickup. 

Expendables that I buy for the production are reimbursed before we begin shooting or I have them buy them. 

I require labor payment each week. I live in a state where we had some of the best film tax incentives in North America until out of state producers took advantage of us, over charged for rental, offered defired labor payments at twice normal rate which they never followed through with and stole taxpayer money. The program was shut down due to mismanagement/incompetence. 

This also reminds me of some producers asking PAs to pay for craft service items with their own credit card! Be red flag. Always, only use a production company credit card. I have mentioned this to more than a couple newbies. 

Line level input at the mixer is good for wireless mic receivers set to line level output. All of my Lectro SRb receivers feed my SD664 with line level (+6). As do my old Senn G3 receivers (+12) when I need 12 wireless. The only thing I need mic level input is for booms, plants, multbox. 

Amplification cable? Yeah, no. 

You may have read it already but the B&H purchasers seem to really like the mic and rate it highly. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/602082-REG/Audio_Technica_BP4025_BP4025_X_Y_Stereo_Field.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwOXA_77__AIV2f_jBx3L8gLsEAAYAyAAEgJcr_D_BwE

On commercials and narratives I always ask the talent to tell me that when they want a private moment TELL ME. If I see them walk off set I kill it automatically. Especially, since I am often feeding a zoom call these days. 

I did this on my first reality show many years ago and was raked over the coals by the AD. He wanted to hear and record EVERYTHING. Yeah but modesty… NO BUTS. 

I like the $200 price point but how is the  functionality? 

Humbuk, 

I have had 2 Dell and 4 HP laptops over the past 10 to 12 years. They ALL have developed fan noise. Either ticks or bearing whir. Very annoying. The only laptop I have owned that is still very very quiet, after 6 years, is an Asus except when I am exporting a GPU accelerated video timelime. Then the GPU dedicated fan spins up. Everything about the Asus is superior in my view. 

If silent running is extremely important to you you can get a windows laptop without high end graphics and no GPU or CPU fan at all. My wife has a thin profile Asus that emits no operating sound at all. No fans. 

Hope this helps. 

I stopped buying sound cables for camera interface several years ago when Red and Arri decided to use different cables for their different iterations of cameras. They couldn't be bothered with standardization. 

Now I request contact info for the AC prepping the camera package and tell them to add a timecode cable and in A-box for each camera. 

Kent

Continue to use your Tentacles and mount or hold your phone on or next to your dumb slate while running Tentacles free Timebar app. I have a smart slate but in run and gun situations I use Tmebar. 

Kent

Hurricane reporter defends use of condom on the air. My question is,  “Why the reservoir?"

Tech scout for the sound department? Blahahahaha. Mine are rare for industrials, commercials, docos. Then the AD gets upset with ME when I can't treat the environment to mask the sound from commercial rooftop aircon, elevator, computer server fans, restaurant exhaust fans, etc. Only on movies do i get any respect in this regard. Then it is my labor day rate.

I really liked, "Check if they're actually planning a silent film."

Sound Devices WaveAgent can read/edit/export bEXT and iXML data from BWF very easily.

('Gotta ask, people are still using Final Cut?)

Hi Steve,

I don't live in any of those cities listed but I have worked for elm many times in the Midwest and can say my experience is that they are a good company to work for.

Cheers,

Kent Pope

Two-way radios (Motorola) generally operate in the 46x.xxx and 151.xxx bands. I think you would have to build a bridge, ie. send a feed to a dedicated two-way from an output of your mixer. Of course you will need to latch the transmit mode to always on.

I know a friend who when encountering overly cluttered 19/20 will bring out her 26 to reveal a very clean scan. However,on occasion, she says she gets an electronic high pitch fluttering noise but only in certain geographic locations. Some areas are rural. No where near a city.

But hey, 5G telco is even screwing up rf relient altimeters in current aircraft.

Way to go FCC brainiacs.