MXL LDC as boom mic: Good idea....or dopey advertisement? :-)

[Jim Feeley]

Perhaps you've all seen this by now. Perhaps even here (and I missed it). But I keep seeing this advert and thinking, "How did this happen?" I actually, I have a couple guesses. And I'm not very upset...In fact, considering everything going on in the world these days, I'm glad this gives me a chance to get worked up about something unimportant.

 

BUT STILL!!!

 

 

[Philip Perkins]

It's a cardioid, so if that's all you've got then ok.  The MXLs I had that looked like that (green bodies) sounded ok, but were very sensitive to handling and stand-transmitted noise.  That said, the famous Oscar-winning mixer Nigel Noble used to make his boom ops work with U87s on long poles for dialog.  Heavy, sensitive but sounded quite good.  Better than a dinky Schoeps MK41 or one of the newer, even smaller hypercards?  Um....no.  But big exercise for the boomies!

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

I'm thinking art dept. chose the mic for the brand colour scheme.

I'm also thinking use of that boom may cause high blood pressure, increased heart rate, tightness of chest, hypertension, hot flashes, sweating, shaking or trembling, and grinding your teeth.  Not recommended for use by professional PSMs.  Consult your PM and discontinue use if symptoms continue.

[codyman]

Clearly the prop house special right there.  I'm assuming this is a commercial with no dialog (other than VO) so no sound mixer must have been on set because otherwise you would have heard nothing but laughter in the background.

[Izen Ears]

17 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

It's a cardioid, so if that's all you've got then ok.  The MXLs I had that looked like that (green bodies) sounded ok, but were very sensitive to handling and stand-transmitted noise.  That said, the famous Oscar-winning mixer Nigel Noble used to make his boom ops work with U87s on long poles for dialog.  Heavy, sensitive but sounded quite good.  Better than a dinky Schoeps MK41 or one of the newer, even smaller hypercards?  Um....no.  But big exercise for the boomies!

A U87 on a boom??????!!!!  Wow! I have one of those green MXL mics. I use it for a distorted drum overhead. It sounds great for that. It's also not bad as a clean overhead, it tames the cymbal highs pretty well. But it's heavy and I'd never use it on a pole!

[Rick Reineke]

I see that annoying Jardiance ad on INSP multiple times whilst watching reruns of Gunsmoke. 

[Philip Perkins]

I actually had 2 of those MXLs, bought about a year apart.  The joke was that while they looked the same the first one was about twice as heavy as the 2nd, and they sounded noticeably different.  No surprise, I guess.

[Johnny Karlsson]

Um… the mic used is your concern here? Haha, when I saw this , I wasn’t sure if I should laugh, or cry.

And yes, there is dialogue. Maybe watch the whole thing. Keep in mind though that we, as the Sound Dept have no jurisdiction on creative, so doesn't matter if there was a sound mixer present or not. If I were the mixer on this, I would probably just giggle and be thankful for having work.

 

But yeah, anyone who’s been on set, any set, even once, would scratch their heads. This “Boom Op” has an assistant, that takes the boom when he walks off set, then hands it back to him when walking back onto set, then he steps on to the camera crane, next to the camera op… and yeah I… ok.

It’s kind of like showing a F1 driver going in for a pit stop, changing his own tires wearing a equestrian’s outfit.

[John Blankenship]

My realism sensor noticed at least a half dozen blatant things that make this depiction nothing short of fantasy: Wrong mic, boom op has an assistant, cameraman gladly fastens him in not realizing it isn't the director, mic's side address pattern not aimed toward the shot, mic way too distant to capture decent sound, but that all means little when you realize that the wrong, poorly-aimed, too-distant microphone isn't even connected to anything. 

 

[Bouke]

What concerns me, how come a lamppost is parking in front of a hydrant?
That makes the whole thing a tad unconvincing.

[Rick Reineke]

There also appears to be an old Kustom speaker cabinet amongst the tables when they pan from right to left. bizarre