ninjafreddan

Good thinking. Cheers Fred Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hard hat and headphones don't dress well together. Wearing the headphones upside down is a workaround in some situations. I hope he was wearing hard hat. Let us know how he's doing okay. Take care Fred Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used two gooseneck mics and later a handheld Shure mic for President Clinton at a corporate show a couple of years ago. Lav mics are kind of no-no for celebrities of that caliber. I usually try to use a floor positioned shotgun mic if it's a sit down interview, works very well and often produce a surprisingly tight dialouge sound compared to a boom hanging over the interviewee. I did however manage to put a lav mic on Rod Stewart once, I was fast and polite, but kind of got the feeling that he wasn't a 100% down with it. But I was taller than him and gone with the wind in five seconds, so he went with it. :-) Regarding micing a minister, in Sweden they have cotton robes me thinks and I've never had any problems with rustling clothes. But if you don't find a proper place to put the mic, ask kindly if you're allowed to tape the lav just in front of his left or right ear (depending on the position of the main camera). Then at least the mic is closer to the mouth than to the clothes. Hanging in a boom mic would be my last resort, I would rather put the shotgun mic on a short stand as close to the altar as possible (and say a silent prayer). :-) Micing the bride's bouquet of flowers, well that's pure genius...up til the point where she throws the bouquet at a pack of love hungry bridesmaids.... LOL! :-D Cheers Fred

Remember that you need to sync everything up in post, without having time code stamped files from the Zoom. That can be a bitch and the director usually don't want to wait for that when checking the recorded material. My suggestion is to use the 552 as main recorder running the same time code as the camera, recording the boom on channel 1 and a mix of the two lavs on channel 2. If you mix the lavs live you will be perfectly fine, just listen to what's happening and you will be able to kill the lav not being used at the moment. And when you're not using the boom, pan one of the lavs to channel 1. This way the editors will have a working mix with the right time code to start editing from right away and you know that it works because you have listened to it in your headphones during the shoot. Also, make sure to record a mono or stereo mix in the camera, for reference. Then as a bonus, use the direct outs from the 552 and send the two lavs to the Zoom recorder. Later in the post you will be able to find and match the position of the recording more easily because of the lav mix on the 552. And salvage sound bites that you missed during the shoot. Even if you're recording a show with just two persons on lavs, never underestimate the boom channel. It's you're best friend when unscripted stuff happens. Good luck Fred

Always remember that the dialogue is the most important thing to capture and on a documentary you really only get one shot. If you haven't done it before then consider capturing atmospheres, room tones and sound effects a bonus - when and if you remember to capture them. My guess is that you're going to be fully occupied setting up lav mics, not be in the way of the camera, not cast mic shadows or dip the mic in the picture and making sure that the sound is properly recorded - that you will forget or not have the time to capture sound effects and ambiences in stereo. But do bring a small hand held recorder for such occasions. If you remember to use it once a day, I'll buy you a beer. For me, the most important thing filming documentaries is to capture the dialogue as clean as possible, and try not to interfere with the natural flow of a recording situation. That means swinging boom when two people meet, get their natural reactions greeting each other, and when they have done that and the camera man wants to position them for a better picture, I quickly hide a lav mic on the new person. So always think about what you're filming first, and technical stuff second. On some occasions you will not get the perfect sound but instead you will get raw and natural human reactions and they have a tendency to survive in the editing because they are interesting to see. But you will bash yourself for chickening out and not positioning the boom at the proper position and the next time you do it better. So when are you suppose to mic people? Depends entirely on the situation. It takes years of experience to grow a form of sixth sense of what might happen in a situation, what the usual pitfalls are etcetera. In documentaries the really interesting stuff have a tendency to happen off camera, when people forget that they are being filmed and you have to be prepared for it. That means always carrying the sound bag on your stomach and consider the boom you're third arm. Regarding equipment, travel light by building a good sound bag with a comfy back strap, a couple of wireless systems, at least one wireless in-ear for the director/reporter, rechargeable batteries, a curled snake cable to hook up with the camera, a good boom with built-in cable, a good shotgun mic and a pair of headphones that you are comfortable to work with. If you have the equipment then iso record every channel but make sure that you're running on the same time code as the camera. ALWAYS send a good stereo mix to the camera and ONLY monitor the return signal from the camera, even if you're iso recording. That way you know that good audio is being recorded on the camera as well as your iso tracks. When going abroad, remember to buy power plugs compatible with the country you're visiting and bring enough battery power to last for two-three days. Check if you need a carnet for you gear to get into the country. In an interview situation do your best to remedy background noise and poor acoustics, by being creative. Sometimes changing room or moving a rug and put it in front of the interviewee helps a bit, more obvious stuff like closing windows, turning off radios and unplugging refrigerators are easily forgotten when you are stressed out. So always take a deep breath, and listen to the background sound in your headphones before starting an interview. Chinese LED light panels sometimes emit a high-pitched noise when set to full power, backing them off 20% usually removes the noise. There might be situations when you suddenly get hum into the mixer and you don't understand why, usually it's the director's TV-monitor that's hooked up to the camera and the crappy main power of a building. If noting else works, then the director and camera man have to set up the picture and then unhook the TV-monitor. There's loads of technical and creative pitfalls when filming a documentary and the only way for you to learn is to do the mistakes, learn from them and do a better job next time. Also, you need to learn how the camera man is cutting the pictures, if possible look at the screen on the camera whenever you can, otherwise just ask how close you can position the shotgun mic. Learn the different picture compositions used, the more people in the picture the most space is shown above their heads etc. You really need to team up with the camera man as fast as possible, because it's you and him/her that capture the content of a recording situation. Do that by being helpful whenever you can and the courtesy will be mutual. The good thing is that you will be working in post with you're own recordings, that will teach you a lot! And next time you will do a better ENG job. I'd say there's three simple rules for docs: 1. Capture as clean dialogue as possible and make sure it's recorded on the camera 2. Team up with the camera man - make his job easier and he will make your job easier 3. Try not to interfere with the natural flow of a situation I wish you the best of luck Fred

Listen to your own body! Only go H-position when you really need to, otherwise find a good position holding the boom close to the chest and rest your arms and shoulders as much as possible, use a ladder or box to gain height when possible. Be a weight nazi and travel light, use a short and light boom for close work and a long and slightly heavier boom for long shoots, use a light weight microphone and zeppelin. And a light weight mixer and bag. There's much work strain to be saved by going light weight. And like others already have suggested, use proper shoes and do workout to strengthen your arms, shoulders and back. Cheers Fred

Same goes for the TV business! Hasty and stupid decisions are made by stressed out and sometimes inexperienced crew members. I'm not in the film making business so I can't imagine all the people involved onset, but I'm well acquainted with time-pressed schedules filming documentaries and TV-shows. I've stopped people from climbing onto roofs and camera men from backing into busy traffic and I've been lucky myself on some occasions when safety has been neglected on my behalf. And it's still important (and mandatory) to use seat belts, even if you're working with film or TV. Mental note to self - Keep watching each others back and always take precautions when filming in potentially dangerous situations. No picture is worth the safety of human lives or animals! Stay safe Fred

Try this link: http://jonoo.chickenkiller.com/ Complete madness in terms of safety thinking! Kudos to the lady in the picture, she's really brave standing in front of a "planned" explosion. Fred

Not for dialogue but I've used 4011 in many recording situations, on piano, as A/B pair in churches etc. It's a fantastic microphone! I use a DPA 4017 shotgun microphone for dialogue and love it to death. The length of the interference tube and excellent off-axis phase coherency makes it possible to use it indoors. Do try it out if you get the chance. Cheers Fred Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Any reason not using DPA lavs apart from the price tag? Happy user of DPA 4060 lavs along with my DPA 4017. They mix very well. Cheers Fred PS. Sorry for not having any other advice. To me DPA lavs are the best. :-)

Love my K-Tek boom. Only time she gets tangled up is when I've had her fully extended. Then I retract all sections but the thickest and unscrew the bottom, then I disconnect the mini-XLR and pull and twist the internal cable until it sits fine inside the pole. Only takes a couple of minutes once you get the hang of it. Happens like once a month or so. Regarding handling and cable noise, I have nothing but the outmost respect for the K-Tek design. Maybe there are even better booms available, but my K-Tek lets me get the job done without any hinder. Cheers Fred

I did the same and totally agree! My K-Tek boom is always by my side when I ENG, her name is "Doris". :-) Light-weight, good locking action and the built-in cable makes the sometimes tough job of boom operating a little bit easier. When the boom and shotgun mic are light-weight I don't mind extending the boom an extra section getting closer to the action. I really don't miss the aluminium booms and wooden grip shotgun mic handles. Ohh, workout... My ENG equipment is available for rental, except for my boom, she will only be touched by me. :-) Cheers Fred

Yes, cultural difference. The last time I did a corporate gig in China the A/V gear was rented from a local rental company. It was a high profile job so money was no issue, we just figured that it would be silly to ship the equipment from Europe or even Shanghai. And not very environmental friendly. The stuff showed up and it didn't take me long to hear that the Nexo PS15 speakers didn't sound quite as good as I remembered them, but I let it pass because I has a lot to setup. Then setting up the Shure receivers with directional antennas, synchronizing the transmitters (the older Shure system) I heard that the Shure headmics didn't sound good at all. I probably spent two or three hours calibrating the speaker system, ringing out spontaneous feedback that jumped on me like a jungle cat. The more I filtered out each speaker the crappier the sound became, I also heard faint clicking noises on the radio mics, so I took a look at the receivers and they where switching antennas a lot more often than I've ever seen them do before. When everything was set up I decided to surf the Internet and compare the official logos with the ones on the gear I was using. I found some logos to be thicker than the originals and sometimes the "R" in the Shure logo wasn't angle at the bottom right. Of course I wanted to check the serials with the manufacturer only to find NO serial numbers at all. At this point both I and the video guy was getting really annoyed, he'd spent four hours trying to sync two Barco projectors but due to the poorly made "Minolta" lenses he ended up with a picture that was sharp in the middle and almost all the was to the left, whereas the right-most of the picture was fuzzy. So I asked the Chinese freelance sound engineer that what helping me out - a knowledgeable guy - "dude, tell me honestly, are Shure receivers and Nexo speakers counterfeit here in China?". Hehe, he looked at me like "does the Pope have a funny hat" and said: "Yes of course! Shure is very expensive in China". Then HE started showing me what was poorly counterfeit on the gear, that all the rubber buttons on the Shure receivers felt different when pressed. He also saved the real Energizer batteries for the corporate show and told me not to leave any batteries inside the transmitters because they would be drained even when the transmitters was OFF. Basically all the gear I was using was counterfeit and due to the location and time constraint there was nothing I could do about it, more than accept the crappy sound quality and do the best I could. The clicking noise from the receivers was of course due to the fact that there was only one radio receiver inside that was switching antenna, instead of two receivers and switching the signal. I'm so glad I spent the extra hours filtering out each speaker, because where did the micked up CEO decide to sit? At a table in the audience under one of my "Nexo" speakers. I've done corporate gigs in China before without any trouble - renting the gear from reputable rental companies I guess. After this gig I will always make sure that the sound equipment is rented from reputable rental companies in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong. Nowadays my personal belief is that less reputable Chinese rental companies and individuals use the counterfeit gear themselves and maybe even convinces themselves that it is "Shure" that they are using. I've known about fake Shure SM58s for a long time, but now I wouldn't buy any professional gear from eBay if the seller isn't a reputable company in US or Europe, and I'm very suspicious if the price is too good to be true. Almost anything can be counterfeit in China. Lesson learned. Cheers Fred

Hi Yes, I'm adding three Shure UR5/UR1 systems to my sound bag. Still waiting for two of the UR5s, but my initial tests with the first UR5 have been very positive. I'm surprised how little that's been written on the Shure UR5, so I will share my finding when I've put them to proper use in the field. Here's the result of my first initial test though. I set the UR1 to high power (100mW), hooked up a DPA 4060, positioned the transmitter in the living room of my house. Then took a walk with the sound bag and UR5 receiver. I walk about 250 meters away from the house with a hill and a row of houses in between the transmitter and receiver - and still had drop out free reception. At 300 meters I started getting short dropouts but lowering the squelch made them more random. I had good audio even when the receiver was showing nothing on the RF meter. Very impressive performance indeed. I had to walk back to the house because I heard that the hired carpenters was looking for me speaking to my mother-in-law in the living room. The RF performance is of course very location dependent and more compromised with the transmitter on a moving human body, and I will report back when I've used them during a shoot. I've used racked Shure systems for a long time with UR1 transmitters (often in low power mode), and in mission critical situations (at several airports, Hong Kong harbor, downtown New York etc) and they have never let me don't in terms of sound quality or RF performance. That's why I was curious about the UR5 receiver and decided to get it. The sound quality is really good and compares quite well next to my DPA 4017 shotgun mic. The frequency scan can be done by pressing the Scan button twice, and synchronizing the transmitter is done by pressing another button twice. Very easily done, even for a camera guy! ;-) But the more interesting feature is the Full Frequency scan, because it's possible to see a spectrum analyse in the display. It's also possible to zoom in the display and by pressing the Scan button the noise floor is shown at the selected frequency. Scanning and looking at the display clearly shows that the up-most part of the frequency range should be used at my location. Checking the noise floor at the lowest frequency (not the soft peak) reports about -86dBm whereas the clearer up-most part of the spectrum shows -122dBm. I have no idea what this translates to in the real World, but I will of course use the up-most part of the spectrum for my transmitters. I wouldn't have gotten that information without seeing the spectrum analysis myself. Maybe it will result in less drop outs riding in a car behind the car with the person that's miced up or such situations. Time will tell. I will report back with battery time, performance in the field etc. Cheers Fred

Yes, the Sennheiser MKE-2 Gold has a rugged cable for sure and would be my first choice when extra ruggedness is needed. I started using them when I was working at a theater and the DPA lavs was breaking down on me. I wish DPA would consider making a sturdier cable as an option. I remember a show where two actors were wrestling and the MKE2s took the abuse without any problem. I had them glued to the chin of the actors with a special two component glue and on one occasion one actor momentarily sounded really muffled because a big drop of sweat was hanging from the mic, then he shook his head and the sound was good again. The MKE2s had a tough life at that theater; sweat, make-up and skin glue applied often two times a day, five or six days a week. Properly maintained and cleaned every day they just kept on performing really well. Personally I prefer the sound of the DPA 4060, but the Sennheiser MKE2-GOLD sound good too - and they served me really well. Give them a try! I'm sure they will work out well for your news anchors. The cable will probably even take the abuse of being run over by an office chair, but don't try it. ;-) Cheers Fred

Hi guys I've been lurking around this forum for a while gathering good information on rechargeable batteries, lectro systems etc. Much appreciated and helpful information! So I thought I'd share my view on problematic recording situations, how deal with them or best of all, avoid them. I've done dramas and studio recordings before but nowadays when I do ENG-work it's documentaries or reality shows - quick'n'dirty, a couple of lavs, boom, capturing the moment and creating a two-channel mix for the camera. I really love making documentaries, meeting interesting people, making them open up to the camera. Often it's like opening a good book. There are of course situations where the sound and picture are compromised and the best way to tackle them is to remember that you and the camera guy are an entity, you're not sound and picture guys, you're a TV- or documentary team and your quest is to capture the best possible experience for the audience. Okay, filming a silly reality show isn't going to put your names in the history book, but it's still work and it needs to be done to the best of your abilities. And your ability to do a great job tremendously increase if the camera guy and you are playing in the same team. He will get better pics and you will get better sound. So among the first things that I discuss with a camera guy that I haven't worked with before, is the way we are going to film. I want to get the feel of how he's cutting the pictures etc. But most important of all, I tell him that "okay, so when we get into a situation, we go for close-ups, right? Get the action close-up, and then back up for some cut scenes. It has worked very well for the documentaries I've worked on lately". If it's a cocky camera guy (you know the kind) it might turn into a bit of a peeing competition. Silly, but sometimes necessary. So I've been chased by thugs, filmed murder scenes, had bottles thrown at me, had face-downs with crazy dogs. I never back down, simple as that (except when being chased by stoned thugs). When the camera guy understands that I'm very much interested in the way he's working, partially because it affects the sound quality that I will be getting, but most of all that I want to capture the story, I will earn his respect much faster. Then helping him with the camera stand and all the standard stuff will of course also improve the working relationship. Well, nothing distracts the audience more than not hearing the dialogue. Talk about being left out! Sounds like the camera guy knows that his pictures will be stock footage without good sound. Yes, you can add subtitles or put a narrative voice on top, but how fun is that for the audience? The dialogue is equally important, if not even more important than his pictures. Sometimes I politely and with a smile tell them - the camera guy and the on-set producer: "A TV without picture is a radio, whereas a TV without sound...well, it's a furniture." Then they usually get the hang of it. You really need to make camera guys understand that, because sometimes the camera guys only think about their pictures and maybe use the zoom lens to get all the pics they need. Well, the proper way to do street action is to get close-ups of the action, interview people, then back up, film some cut scenes, getting the cut pics take two minutes extra. Then you end up with good audio and good pictures and the editor will have good pictures to cut down the length of the interviews. I hate when camera guys chicken out and uses the zoom lens, I usually give them a gentle push in the back and start walking forward. When I want to exercise I go to the gym. I only want to extend my boom to four meter when it's really necessary. In this case he's inviting you to signal when you're not getting good dialogue sound, so do it! Tell him to move in closer so that you can position the boom mic correctly. I know how you feel, but what makes an interview emotional? Filming someone crying or hearing how their voice starts to break up just before breaking into tears? Looking at pictures of a lost child or hearing what a great kid he was? What will make you laugh? Looking at pictures of kids laughing or hearing them giggle? If you ask me, most of the emotional impact comes from dialogue and music. Ask yourself this, will the camera guy interrupt when the lighting is too low and the sunlight from the windows in the back are burning out the picture? Will he ask for a new position when the reflections of the team is showing in the shopping windows? Will he work for half an hour to setup an interview situation? Yes, yes, yes! But wait, your sound is equally important, right? So go on and tell them that you're getting bad dialogue when cars are passing by at 60MPH next to the set, or that you need to move closer to get good audio standing next to a busy street. Like the camera guy will tell the interviewee to chin up, I will tell them to speak up. Simple stuff like that can really improve the sound quality. There are few situations where I won't interrupt if the audio is compromised. Fixing the problem will often take less than a minute - "excuse me, can you please let your barking dog outside during the shoot?" "how about moving the recording location to behind that hill, then we will be at least 20 meters off the main highway?" NEVER trust the director regarding the sound or picture quality, their job is to capture the moment of something interesting happening. They are already sitting in the cutting room, when you are recording the scene, it's really all they can think of, and that's the reason they are directors or on-set producers. There are of course exceptions and I love the ones that understand the technical side of things, but they are few. The best camera guys are the ones that also do editing, because they have delt with their own crappy sound from times to times having to explain to the director or client what didn't went so well; and really appreciate having a sound engineer on set. The curled cable that hooks them up with a long-haired sound dude looming around behind them is MUCH better than having to keep track of the sound themselves. But most of all, they know what pictures they need, no more no less. And they know that close-up action is what's needed, then some cut pics. Often they will direct what will happen in the cut pics, because we've already filmed the natural and spontaneous situation and just need some good cut pics. The worst camera guys are the ones that are used to working on their own, setting up two lav mics and not having anything to do with the editing later on. Still, they have to accept the fact that filming TV isn't spontaneous. There will always be technical difficulties with lighting and picture composition. Well, the same goes for sound with acoustics, wind and distance to source. So, in short what to think of when shooting reality TV: * Discuss with the camera guy and on set producer how you are going to work, what you are going to film. Try to indentify possible pitfalls. Maybe you need more gear to make the shooting as efficient as possible? Maybe add one lav mic resulting in swinging boom 10% of the time instead of 90% of the time? Maybe give the on-set producer IEM so that he can hear what you're capturing, that way he will accept when you have to interrupt the shooting. * Have them understand that you are in charge of the sound and responsible for the quality of dialogue. When it's not working, it's not working. * NEVER accept when someone tells you that the sound is okay, when you know it's not. If they don't understand your concern, offer them your sound bag and boom. * Help the camera guy get his pictures by giving him a hint when something interesting is happening off angle, give him a hand with the camera stand if you have one hand free. Help him set up lighting for an interview if he accept it. Good manners will never get you into trouble. If the camera guy is snotty, hit him with kindness. That will throw him off and just look silly. * Always keep your boom in reaching distance, even if you're doing a one or two person interview with lav mics. You never know what might happen or whom might enter the set. If one lav mic dies in a sensitive moment you can always use the boom without having to interrupt the shot. Saved my butt on several occasions. Consider this! When the material is being edited, usually a pretty stressed out situation for the producer and editors having both the production company and TV channel suits hanging over their shoulders with high demands, and good stuff end up in the trash can due to poor dialogue sound. Two scenarios might happen, they either call you and ask if anything can be done with the poor dialogue sound; or they never call you again. Pick your scenario. Your professional pride apart, when someone tells you that the sound is good enough, when it's not, ask yourself if it's worth risking future job offers for. I could go on about this, but my kids need attention. All the best Fred