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Birdman


chrisnewton

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The sound team on Birdman was, Mixer Tom Varga, Boom Op Adam Sanchez and (if I'm not mistaken) Utility / Boom Op Brendan O'Brien. I just had the privilege of working with Tom and Adam as an audio utility on a project the last two months.  I will contact Tom and see if he has time to chime in here to talk about the sound on Birdman, and the many, many challenges he talked about in getting the great sound that he did.  I do know he was incredibly proud of the boom op's Adam and Brendan, and the minimal use of wireless mics on this project. He also talked about the huge amount of time devoted to rehearsing the steadicam moves along with his boom ops, something that seems like a luxury these days.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean O'Neil

Brooklyn NYC

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

 

.....Your need to comment sarcastically is offending a lot of folks here, and I would imagine you're probably the most blocked person on this site, rendering your comments useless.....

 

..and I also feel that he turns off a lot of people, especially newbies, from posting anything for fear of some "sarcastic/you don't have a clue what you're talking about" type response. 

 

I consider myself a very tolerant individual when it comes to different personalities. I was able to hang tight with Mike for some time but up until a week or so ago, when he was picking on Richard Ragon, I decided it was also my time to block him. His comments finally wore me down. Kinda like the Chinese water torture. 

 

 

Anyways, +1 to your comment

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RVD: " Doesn't answer your question specifically, but it's a start...  I only offered my opinion. "

actually, that was a guess...

but my point is reenforced as you are speculating by (only) what it looks like, and not even guessing based on the sound...

no one saying anything resembling: 'it has the bite of a 416', or 'it sounds like it is rejecting as well as a CS-3e' or it has the warm sound of a Neumann, or it sounds as clear as a Schoeps or even there was virtually no handling noise, I'll bet they used the Cinela...

 

As for "newbies", well sorry folks but they really need to be guided to do their own troubleshooting, their own looking up, their own searching, IOW do their own homework.

Edited by studiomprd
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Senator Mike,

Your obsessive regurgitation of unhelpful mantras and useless comments might be okay if this were your own personal forum, but it's not. This site belongs to our gracious host, Jeff Wexler, and we are guests here.

Since Jeff's gentle manner seems far too subtle for you to grasp, I'll be more direct: Your obsessive behavior has gotten worse and you have reached the point of being extremely rude and a constant detractor to the otherwise worthwhile discussions taking place.

Jeff, in his gentlemanly way, has tried many times to tell you to knock it off. You obstinately refuse to comply.

Your taunting of newcomers is ironic, as your own behavior has become so infantile that you now appear to be the most clueless participant here.

Please have more consideration for other forum members. It will be appreciated.

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It seems obvious that all the subtle and not so subtle hints to Senator regarding his compulsive posting behavior have been falling on deaf ears. As Jeff has said many times he will not ban Senator from posting on here. It is really sad that someone with as much knowledge and professional experience as Senator has can't take a hint or get a clue to control and moderate his need for attention.

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Was that shotgun above Zach Galifinakis an audio technica?.... seems like the BHTS guy needed a sound guy too.

 
 That movie has been blowing a bunch of peoples minds away and the audio part really pushes the visuals on this film.
 
Guessing Sankens cos -11,  MKH -50, and no clue what that silver mic is I'm referencing.
 
 

CN: " What mikes did you use on the show? "

what mic does it sound like ?

 

 

This dudes a professor.  He's trying to make people think.   If you can't honestly think about what you may have heard maybe your just hear to have other people solve your problems.

 

How would anyone who gets offended by this hold up to a a**hole producer or director?... professional forum... not emotional forum...

 

As Bill Burr states " Shut up, bury those emotions deep down, pretend you know what your doing, and do some man shit."

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RVD made a separate thread devoted to answering the initial question, in which I respond to Chris to the best of my ability.

 

If anyone wants to ask any specific questions, they can PM me, and I'll be happy to share my email address. If anyone wants to hire me, I'd be happy for the work. I think this film is great advertisement for the three of us.

 

So long, 

 

A

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Hi everyone. Sorry to see this thread deteriorate. Schoeps 41s for interiors and 416s for exteriors. The occasional 816 was used. Cos-11s for wires. After worrying about the ceilings being 8 feet high, they decided it wasn't claustrophobic enough so the poor art department had to lower them to 6 feet! Swivels saved the day. Oh, and this is Tom Varga, the sound mixer on the movie. Both Adam and Brendan split the boom duties as each shot required 2 booms and a plethora of wires. Sorry about the font differences but I'm too tired to care about it. 

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Tom, thanks for your post and the info. I haven't seen Birdman yet, I didn't even know if it's showing here. However, in another thread (which was started to get away from the deterioration of this one) someone asked why you were limited to 8 tracks. I'm kind of curious myself...?

788 is an 8 track recorder (if being fed from a board). Why does this seem so mysterious?

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This dudes a professor.  He's trying to make people think.   If you can't honestly think about what you may have heard maybe your just hear to have other people solve your problems.

 

My observation is that The Senator's point is that knowing the specific equipment involved won't necessarily help anybody trying to duplicate the results. I would bet that the reason the sound is as good as it is is because of the skill and great timing of Mr. Varga and his crew, not just because of the microphones. I believe Senator Mike has said before, "often, it's more important where you put the microphone than what the microphone is." The fact that Mr. Varga and his crew got all the mics where they needed to be is a bloody miracle. And the movie is getting fantastic reviews, which is terrific news. I hope it gets some Oscar nods. 

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