My favorite piece of equipment

[Guest Mick]

I was pondering the other day, in between takes, that now that I have my cart almost the way I want it, other than my chair and my ears, what is my most important piece of equipment? I came to the conclusion that it's my PSC powermax's (I have two) They distribute 6, 12 and 18 volts to the various power consumers on my cart with invariable efficiency and even when the electricians inadvertantly "re-patch" without informing me, they continue to supply uninterrupted DC to all my bits and pieces. They are fed by two 55 amp/hour sealed lead acid batteries in a custom box which was made for me by our construction crew. If I get the opportunity I'll post a pic of my cart which is something iIthink we all should do just so that we can nick (pilfer) ideas and improvements from each other.

I have no idea why I was prompted to post this, or even why the subject matter was even thought by me to be relevant. I like this site and the sense of community it inspires and I enjoy reading all the posts, be they anecdotal or educational and sometimes both. We're a weird bunch and I celebrate our weirdness.

[redge]

In August, I spent two weeks recording sound in Newfoundland.

I got there early, which means that I had the pleasure of telling my New York partner, when we spoke each night, that while it may be 104 degrees where he was (humidex 124), complete with the usual brownouts, I was enjoying temperatures from 70-80, wonderful company, great food and vey good wine.

During one of these discussions, I asked him to pick up a shoulder strap for the Sound Devices 702 that we use, because I didn't want to use it in a bag.

So he goes to one of the New York shops that specialize in production sound equipment (a dealer that I like, but which will bear the brunt of this story), and buys a strap, complete with cushioned shoulder, with nifty clips to attach to the lugs on the recorder.

Then my partner shows up in Newfoundland, two days late, having been delayed due to cancellation of flights out of LaGuardia - the usual deal with thunderstorms in New York in August.

When he arrives, there is a problem with the the strap. Despite the fact that the expert New York sound shop sells Sound Devices products, the clips are way too thick for the lugs on the recorder. There isn't a hope in hell that it will work. And there's one other problem. Even if the clips worked, the strap plus shoulder cushion are designed for carrying something like a bazooka.

So the next day, while walking around St. John's (where Marconi did his transatlantic transmission), we walk by a sporting goods store, the kind of store that sells backpacks and camping gear and canoes and kayaks. We walk in and I explain, to a young man who can't be more than 20, and who looks like he knows plenty about canoes, and nothing about sound recorders, that we need something that isn't cumbersome, that will fit the lugs and that will let me carry the recorder over my shoulder.

It took him all of about 10 seconds to come up with exactly what we needed. No clips. He had them, but said "No, not necessary, and less secure". He wanted us to use a simple strap, made of some super-strong space-age material, with a cinch. In the following two weeks, it became obvious that he knew what he was talking about.

Cost of the bag to which I wanted an alternative? $180

Cost of the New York strap? $45.

Cost of the Newfoundland strap? $4.

Right now, that strap is my favourite piece of gear, not because of the price, but because a young guy in Newfoundland, used to talking about backpacks and canoes, took one look at our recorder and knew exactly what we needed.

Cheers.

Rory

P.S. For those of you in North America, have a great Labour Day Weekend.

[Guest Mick]

Redge, you reminded me of a story. Many years ago I was working on an Elvis story for "Unsolved Mysteries" in Memphis. They had cast a young Canadian guy as the King on the presumption that he could play the guitar. Of course he said yes and of course on the day of shooting we found out that he was clueless, about guitar playing anyway. Picture this. Being unable to shoot him from the front because of his inability to be a convincing guitarist, we dolly around the back of him and the girl he is singing to. The scene takes place on a blanket in a park. Off screen I have a mic on him to record his voice and a mic on a guitar which is hung over the front of my Nagra. I am playing the guitar for him to sing to as well as modulating the two mics and also giving him a visual cue to shift his wrist a little to give the impression that he's actually changing chords. It all turned out really well and to top it all, the DP and I had actually written the song he was singing to the girl, it being a story about Elvis in his pre-fame years. My years as a rock n Roll musician came in pretty handy that day and I put 'em to good use in a jam with the band at the Rum Boogie Cafe that night too!!

[Jeff Wexler]

Picture this. Being unable to shoot him from the front because of his inability to be a convincing guitarist, we dolly around the back of him and the girl he is singing to. The scene takes place on a blanket in a park. Off screen I have a mic on him to record his voice and a mic on a guitar which is hung over the front of my Nagra. I am playing the guitar for him to sing to as well as modulating the two mics and also giving him a visual cue to shift his wrist a little to give the impression that he's actually changing chords.

Your description of what had to be done for that job is fantastic. What I would love to see, but of course not likely, would be a re-enactment of YOUR scene --- camera moves around the people/set and sees you with a guitar around your neck, playing and mixing! Beautiful.

-  JW