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One Man Band + Playback


Trey LaCroix

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Hey everybody, I just got offered a gig as a one man band for a narrative project (ugh already) and the producer just mentioned that there would need to be playback and earwigs with recorded dialogue. I said that I could not do playback, boom, and mix at the same time and she said that other mixers do it all the time.

 

I essentially told her that she should hire one of those guys and hung up but I wanted to check... IS ANYONE ACTUALLY DOING THIS? It seems absolutely bonkers to try and do this as a one man band.

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Come on man, airplane pilots always fuel up their own planes, serve drinks, grant seating arrangements requests, get out of the cockpit and taxi their own planes to their own runways, then go up into the air traffic control tower and makes sure the runway is clear: end sarcasm.                                                          

 

"If you aren't up to the job I will find somebody else who will" is not something you say to somebody you respect. 

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Of course you can do it, depending entirely on how ambitious they get with the shots they want.   I did this a fair amount on relatively simple stage shoots (so I could have everything on a cart), and some budget challenged corpo projects.  Just make sure that everyone understands the scope of what's being asked for, that your attention to any one part of the overall task will be split and that it will all take longer to get done with only you doing the work.  Be especially vigilant about "mission-creep" in this context: what can seem manageable in planning can get out of hand with just a few changes or additions to what's being asked for....

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On 6/12/2019 at 1:33 PM, dsound said:

You absolutely conveyed the correct response. Only a FOOL would take this kind of gig!!!

 

I can almost guarantee they are lining up to do it...that job was filled on the next call...  It's off the hook right now... There is no shame... the wheels are off the buss..

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5 hours ago, afewmoreyears said:

I can almost guarantee they are lining up to do it...that job was filled on the next call...  It's off the hook right now... There is no shame... the wheels are off the buss..

 

And it’s a race to the bottom for the younger group!

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 6/13/2019 at 2:52 PM, Philip Perkins said:

Of course you can do it, depending entirely on how ambitious they get with the shots they want.   I did this a fair amount on relatively simple stage shoots (so I could have everything on a cart), and some budget challenged corpo projects.  Just make sure that everyone understands the scope of what's being asked for, that your attention to any one part of the overall task will be split and that it will all take longer to get done with only you doing the work.  Be especially vigilant about "mission-creep" in this context: what can seem manageable in planning can get out of hand with just a few changes or additions to what's being asked for....

Well, yes this is possible. Again, possible. Do I recommend it? Nope. Have I done this? Yep. Did I like it? Hell no. It's one thing doing a small indie little project as a one man band but they have to realize the limitations of that. Playing back once in a while or at very most providing IFB so they can listen to takes as they happen is probably best and even that is saying a lot. Charge appropriately for it. Again, I'm reading "playback and earwigs with recorded dialogue" as something in it of itself as some sort of listening need. I haven't had too much experience with ear wigs but normally those are for dance sequences and in some cases hidden camera shoots to be able to talk to on camera talent. I've never had that request simply so other can listen to recorded dialogue. I do shoots all the time as a one man band (trust me I don't like it and I'd rather have an assistant the entire time but they don't ever want to pay for it) and utilize my ERX's for IFB assistive listening. But these are 1 day corporate ENG shoots. Not a whole feature. As a standard, features need to have at least 2 person sound team or they're really wasting money and time. 

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