S & P From B & H

Two from B & H today. First up: the basics on using portable audio recorders. Snip:

Since audio is such an important element of video and film production, there are often production scenarios that call for more than two tracks of recorded sound. Reality programs are among the most popular shows on television. These shows will regularly have numerous people wandering around, all of them wearing wireless microphones. Since their actions are unscripted, the challenge of mixing all of those separate wireless microphones down to two tracks is often too risky. One solution is to use a portable audio recorder with multi-track capabilities.

Yes, yes, a million times yes. Even the best wireless are subject to dropouts on occasion. Sometimes you just can't: budget or schedule won't permit the extra care and feeding required. But if you're a producer putting together your next show, consider affording your production sound mixer the flexibility they need to do the job properly. Not only will the final product be better, it is always cheaper to do it right the first time, rather than try to recover useful material after the fact.

Next, a profile of globe-trotting mixer Raphael Gorham. Snip:

Has certain equipment ever saved the day for you?

On an ENG shoot where Hilary Clinton was thanking a dozen local politicians in a suburban diner, there were about 6 network crews waiting for her when she arrived. There were only 3 sound techs and we all had planned to use booms to get her audio. I happened to have a Crown PZM mic and phantom PS in my bag, so I set in the middle of the tables where they were to sit and attached a wireless transmitter. When Clinton arrived, Secret Service moved the press further out of range than we had anticipated (which is not a problem for cameramen) so booming her was not an option. The PZM worked great and I was able to record the entire conversation.

Pay attention, kids. This is the kind of stuff that can make or break an entire shoot.

"How To Use a Portable Audio Recorder"

"Pro Audio Profiles - Raphael Gorham"

New Sound Mixer Blog

Whitney Ince, pro sound mixer, has started a sound-for-picture blog, prolocationsound.com.

The interwebs could certainly use more in-depth coverage of production sound and gear. To that end, Whitney has a ringing endorsement of iPower rechargeable batteries. Snip:

For anyone who hasn’t tried these rechargeable batteries they are a must. I use them as my primary battery in all my 200c and 250c Tx with zero issues. On my last project I saved over $1000.00 over using standard

Link.

The 700 Club

On January 28th, 2008, a chunk of the sky is going away.

The FCC will officially open bidding on this date for the 700 Mhz band of the RF broadcast spectrum. Since the US is mandated to finish transitioning to a digital broadcast infrastructure by 2009 (yes, this means that your ol' Zenith nineteen-incher will no longer work without a set-top box), the folks in charge of something invisible, weightless and tasteless have decided to sell it.

What does this mean for the world of audio? Plenty, if you have Sennheiser wireless in the C block, or Lectrosonics in blocks 27-31 (which is quite a few folks out there). By all accounts, either the effective range will be greatly diminished or unusable in urban areas.

What happens to big shows that depend on a lot of wireless? Either they'll have to redesign how the show is shot (unlikely, given that many of these programs are popular and very profitable due to their low production costs), or audio companies will have to get more innovative with their wireless technologies.

Already, some companies (notably Zaxcom and Ricsonix) are developing digital systems, some of which operate in the 2.4 GHz range, using the Bluetooth protocol (yes, the same tech in your little Borg-style phone earpiece) or a similar variant, and Audio Technica recently announced a new, wide-band analog RF system that skirts the issue altogether.

What's being put in its place? A portion of the band has been allocated to emergency communications, but a good chunk is up for grabs (if you happen to have, say, $15 billion or so just laying around). Obviously, major telco companies are jockeying for position, looking to gain a foothold in the ever-expanding mobile wireless market, especially as people get used to having things like the interwebs and media delivered directly to their phones. Others, including Google, want to extend wireless internet access in metropolitan areas, via a "third-pipe" (alongside the traditional channels of broadband cable and DSL).

Now, I'm lucky enough to make a living as a freelance sound mixer, but I personally believe that every person on the planet should have internet access (along with, you know, clean drinking water, food, shelter, etc. But we're talking tech here, so..:). If that means that I have to get new gear, or come up with a more creative solution to limited available spectrum, so be it.

Having better access to the greatest repository of information since the Library of Alexandria can only help people; I, for one, greatly benefited from the internet. I never went to film school, but having access to volumes of information about sound and audio electronics gave me a foundation to begin the career I have today. If you ask any working professional out there, they'll tell you that they've learned a thing or two by having access to industry veterans, by way of online forums and the like.

Would things be easier if we could keep the freq's as they are? You betcha. But Uncle Sam says they're going away, and we all have to plan accordingly. As with all things, the only constant is change; this axiom is no more relevant than in a technology-based industry such as ours.

Article round up:

Ars-Technica; Wired's FAQ; Shure's White Space Info (very in-depth); Sports Video Group's press release (explains considerable use of wireless by pro sports); Apple Eyes Wireless Auction (via businessweek.com); What DTV Means to Wireless Microphone Users.

But this blog takes the cake for spectrum info: publicknowledge.org.

Booked.

Ladies and gents, I am booked.

I'm now ten days into a twenty-two day shoot in and around Portland, Oregon for the movie Trainmaster, directed by Phil Branson.

I'm production sound mixer on my first full feature (I've only day-played before). We're shooting single-system (yeah, I know...), with two Panasonic HVX-200's, utilizing both P2 and Firestore hard drives.

It's long days in hot rooms with sweaty people. Luckily, everyone's cool and I have an awesome boom op in the form of Creed Spencer. Actually having someone who is more of a teammate rather than an intern has made an incredible difference in the efficiency and quality of the work that we've been able to produce.

Plus, I finally got my kit.

Things happened in a hurry. I was asked to come on board about ten days before we started shooting, so I had to make it all happen post-haste. Since I'd been refining my wish list for the past two years, it was only a matter of calling in the order and getting it shipped in time. As it turned out, I used the kit for the first time on the first day of shooting (after having diligently tested everything at home the night before, natch:). A full review of each piece will be forth coming sometime after we finish.

This is what we're working with:

Sound Devices 442 mixer
Sennheiser G2 Evolution wireless
Countryman B3 lav mics
K-tek boom pole
Rycote S-Series suspension
Petrol PEGZ-1F audio bag
AKG Blueline modular mic system with SE-300b amp body, CK-93 hyper-cardioid capsule, and CK-98 short shotgun capsule

We're slated to wrap in early August. Until then, quiet on set. :)

-Christian

And sometimes, it just works out...

I had a pretty good day recently.

Most of my day job gigs are rather dry, corporate/industrial affairs, usually training or internal use videos, with some broadcast here and there.

But, every once in a while, you get the choice gig.

The one with the relaxed schedule, a cool, laid-back producer, and lunch provided for you courtesy of the client.

And every once in an even greater while, you get one like I got this past Friday.

I was part of a video crew, contracted to capture the 25th anniversary party of Wieden +Kennedy, a very prominent advertising firm whose clients include Nike, Starbucks, and many other struggling-to-get-off-the-ground businesses (I hope my sarcasm is apparent here).

They took over a very large warehouse in North Portland, retro-fitting it into an indoor carnival, complete with a milk-jug toss and gypsy fire dancers in the main ring.

Plus, open bar all night. But the kicker?

Live music, provided by the Beastie Boys.



Whom I like, and have never had the opportunity to see before. And now, I was watching them in a private show.

And getting paid for it.

Eat it, suckers.

I mean that nicely. :)

Yes, sometimes it does just work out...

Link to the rest of the photos (sorry for the occasional lack of focus. As you may have noticed, I do audio for a living).

Miclopedia

Back from the dead; or, in my case, the mixing suite. :)

While perusing the R.A.MP.S. boards the other day, I found a link to what appears to be the online catalog of mics.

Sponsored by Rycote, microphone-data.com is an exhaustive reference site for pretty much anything you'd want to know about professional microphones, including pictures.

Snip:

Microphone Data deals in facts, not opinions, with pictures, response curves and technical data from the manufacturers themselves for every currently listed microphone (and even a few that aren't).

To put the data into context you will also find a library of articles by some of the most eminent people within the audio industry that Rycote has commissioned specially.

Link to website.

Double Fault

Received this link to a funny German tennis commercial via email today:

http://www.lovo.be/uploads/1862_DAB_tennis_vl30_ws.mpg

Thanks to Gonzo for sending it in. Be sure to drop by Gonzo's website at t2audio.com.

The Basics Numero Tres

You regular readers out there (all six of you) may be asking yourself, "Why another basics article?"

Well, just as there is no one right way to do things, there is no one basics article that covers everything, or every perspective. I look at it like a Venn diagram: you take multiple examples, and whatever overlaps between them is a good base upon which you can build your own experience (and, before any math nerds chime in, I'm using the diagram as a metaphor. So, compute that, you George Boole wannabes...).

Today's contribution comes from The Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, by David Yewdall, veteran sound editor extraordinaire. In this extract from chapter 5, he talks about what he calls the "changing battlefield of production sound":

Here the ignorance and apathy of other production-unit department heads, usually consumed by their own contracted concerns, becomes apparent; they do little to help the sound-recording team in what should be a collaborative effort to achieve ideal production audio tracks during the shoot. Only seasoned directors and producers know the loss that occurs of both real money -- spent to ADR actors' lines -- and of the magic of on-camera performance, rarely recaptured and seldom improved.

Kids, I know that the tone of many of these posts about production sound tends to skew a little...bitter, but don't be put off by it. Production sound is a harsh mistress, to be sure, but it can also be very rewarding.

Just not, you know, financially.

No, it's great. Really. :)

Link to the article.

Tilting at Windmills

Yikes.

Just read about a lawsuit in England concerning a freelance production sound mixer who was paralyzed by a falling wind turbine.

From the article:

Mr Jones told the court that he had been employed by the BBC to work on a documentary and had at no time been given warnings of any potential danger involved. He said that at the time of the accident his sound equipment was hooked up to the camera being used for filming and when the cameraman moved under the mast of the wind-powered generator, he simply followed.

Keep your wits about you out there in the field, kids. If you're freelance, and you're not on a partner/significant other's health care plan, an injury could seriously affect-or end- your career.

Remember, you are under no obligation to risk your life or bodily harm for any client under any circumstances, ever. If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, discuss it with the producer. If they don't address your concerns, walk away. You may lose the gig, but you'll live to mix another day.

Link to the article, via injurywatch.co.uk.

Who Needs Sleep?

As I slouch here after a full work day, feeling neither bright-eyed nor bushy-tailed, I'm reminded of the ongoing plight of production crews everywhere, as they fight for a fair schedule.

The average for production is twelve hours. But when are film shoots average? You stay as long as it takes. My longest day was twenty hours. Of course, it was my choice to stay, as I was working for a friend. But what about folks who are just on the job?

Veteran cinematographer Haskell Wexler has directed a documentary about the subject entitled Who Needs Sleep?. From the website:

In 1997, after a 19-hour day on the set, assistant cameraman Brent Hershman fell asleep behind the wheel, crashed his car, and died. Deeply disturbed by Hershman's preventable death, filmmaker and multiple-Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler shows how sleep deprivation and long work hours are a lethal combination.

From the film:

We are the only group of industrial workers, in the world, who are fighting for a fourteen-hour workday.

If you book crews, you need to buy a copy of the DVD and watch it. If you're a crew member, buy one and share it with your superiors. If you're a student or newbie, buy it and learn to protect yourself out there.

After all, it's only a movie.

Link to the website with streaming trailer.

Get a Grip

Greetings and salutations.

Today, we're going to talk a little about set survival. As Orson Welles once said, "A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a filmmaker an army." A good chunk of any film army is the grip department.

The grip department, defined here at mediacollege.com, essentially sets up, breaks down and moves just about everything on set the holds equipment, be it lighting, camera, or on occasion, the boom op.

Which brings me to today's tidbit: make friends with the grip department, early and often. A good grip will recognize when a flag is needed to cut a boom shadow, or an operator needs an apple box to stand on in order to reach into the scene. They can be a lifesaver or an enemy, depending on your attitude.

There is a boy's club mentality on many shoots, to be sure. We all want to joke around, but avoid the temptation to reinforce departmental rivalries. It's much more advantagious to let an opportunity for a great grip joke go by and keep them in your corner.

Finally, it will help if you know something of the lingo. Matthews Grip Equipment has put together a very thorough "griptionary", which also has pictures of many items.

Link, via DVguru, digg et al.

Boom Stick

Welcome back, campers.

Today, we're going to be given a brief glimpse into the much-fabled world of the boom operator. Hopefully, some of you out there will learn that the boom op is neither "that one person who keeps dropping some fuzzy phallic thing into my frame and ruining the shot", nor are they merely a "carbon-based stand" upon which you can drape equipment and derision.

In this interview panel by Mark Ulano, we learn that the boom op is more of an equal partner to the mixer, the "set ambassador" who assists with mic choice and coverage tactics, among many other things.

Snip:

The Boom Operator is the Sound Department's eyes and ears on the set. Shot after shot he or she performs on the front-line, in the trenches of film sound production. The efficiency and timing of my decisions are very important factors in gaining the trust of the mixer you are working with. I believe that the boom Operator is to the mixer like the Camera Operator is to the Director of Photography.
Directors: "don't piss them off"
Actors: "don't piss them off"
Utility person: Well, if the shot calls for it "piss them off", but take them out for drinks later.

Additionally, they discuss the mystical nature of the utility sound person, which, due to shrinking budgets, is a rarely-glimpsed luxury outside of the big shows nowadays.

This is more of that real-world stuff, people. Read early and often.

Link, via perchman.com.

(P.S. According to his CV, Mark Ulano was production sound mixer on Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. How cool is that? :)

The Basics Numero Dos

Bienvenidos, gauchos.

The most useful thing to have on set is the one thing you can't get in film school, which is experience. A veteran willing to share their wisdom is as valuable as a year's tuition, in my book.

Since this is, of course, just a blog, I can only offer the next best thing: a great article written by Dr. Fred Ginsberg, C.A.S., PhD., entitled Introduction To Pre-Production Planning for Audio. He covers set etiquette, hierarchies, and generally stuff that can bite you in the behind if you happen to be fresh out of school and new to the pro world.

Snip:

There are no apologies nor excuses run under the dailies. Good sound is always expected (and taken for granted). Bad sound, on the other hand, is always attributed as your fault. You will never heard [sic] it said that "even though the soundtrack was poor, the Mixer did a good job considering that we made him use bad equipment and no boomman." Instead, they will remark that they should have hired so-and-so, since that Mixer did a fine job on the last shoot.

Pay attention, kids. This is the kind of stuff that can save your future career from being a non-starter.

Link to article, via equipmentemporium.com. Many useful articles in them thar hills, so be sure to dig around the rest of the site as well.

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.

The Basics Numero Uno

Greetings, true believers.

Throughout this blog, I will be posting links to articles that lay out the basics of production audio. Since I'm pretty damned lazy, I will be posting them as I find them, rather than summarizing and critiquing in one big post. So there.

First up: "Location Sound: The Basics and Beyond", by Dan Brockett, one of many useful "white papers" on techie DV/production/post subjects available at kenstone.net.


Snip:

"...Four points to remember about sound for picture

1 . The principles of location sound are the same for almost everyone shooting anything.

2 . No matter who the audience is, at the very least, they expect "transparent" sound

3 . Sound conveys emotion - picture conveys information

4 . The better your soundtrack, the less it is consciously noticed"

A very good starting place.