What she said.

I was sifting though the archives over at the very sharp Life Below the Line, an anonymous blog about the glorious world of being a boom op in New York, and came across what is probably the most apt description of the frustrations inherent when using wireless microphones.

Contrary to what you might think when you sort through your positive memories of feeling people up, putting a radio mike on a person is no cheap thrill. First of all, a film production does not like to wait on sound. They’ll wait a millennium for camera and lighting to do their jobs if that’s what it takes, but nobody seems to remember that it needs to sound good as well as look good, nooo. Plus, we only get our turn after the talent has finished hair, make-up, and wardrobe, which is often precisely the moment when they’re getting called to set, and then suddenly you and your three minutes of miking time are holding up the whole enchilada – at which point the AD just has to call out over the walkie, “Waiting on sound!” just to make sure everybody knows it.

I feel her pain on a daily basis. Read the rest of the post here.