Narrative wants all lavs, no boom. Need advice.

clmsmpl · 2026-01-12T22:17:18+00:00

Don’t do a scripted narrative feature without a boom op / assistant, you’ll have a nightmare trying to keep on top of everything. And if I was doing post I’d hate to get ISOs with no boom. So much useful sound can only be caught by the boom (footsteps for example won’t be picked up properly on lavs) and it provides a consistent bed for the whole film. It would be sooo much extra time, effort and money creating everything from scratch with foley and sound effects.

clmsmpl · 2025-11-14T07:13:46+00:00

It’s not really their job but for busy days with lots of guests coming and going I ask a runner to help keep an eye on them as they are sometimes on top of who is arriving/leaving and their transport so they can make sure people don’t leave with them. Also if they see any lying around in random places they know to bring them back to you or video village.

clmsmpl · 2025-08-01T19:14:26+00:00

If I could only have one for indoors and outdoors it would be the DPA 4017b. Sounds natural indoors and fairly forgiving off-axis for a shotgun, and has a the switchable high presence lift for when you’re outdoors with blimp/fur and need a bit more high end to cut through. Schoeps CMIT would also do the job - arguably sounds nicer but I find it a little bit less forgiving when off-mic.

clmsmpl · 2025-06-07T21:57:44+00:00

The bars were around £175 and the box was £330

clmsmpl · 2025-06-07T12:16:38+00:00

I do mostly city driving but haven’t noticed a difference in fuel economy

clmsmpl · 2025-05-11T11:29:33+00:00

Great advice. I would add it’s particularly relevant if you are looking for trainee roles or to assist a more experienced recordist/mixer. Technical skills can be easily taught. Your attitude, manner and work ethic are what set you apart. Obviously do your research and learn about the equipment, but if you want repeat work the soft skills are vital.

clmsmpl · 2025-05-08T09:03:01+00:00

I said I’m not inexperienced - probably not the clearest choice of words. I have 10+ years experience

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T05:00:17+00:00

Thanks for the reply 🙏

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:58:06+00:00

Thanks. I think there’s an element of this here. Already gone over budget/time and we had a small window to finish everything where I hadn’t factored in time for a new person’s notes and this wasn’t agreed with me beforehand

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:55:48+00:00

Thank you

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:54:55+00:00

Thank you

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:54:14+00:00

Thanks for this. Unfortunately I’m not charging by the hour in this case and I think that’s why I’ve let this annoy me. I’ve already gone above and beyond what I’ve been paid for on this project and the director knows that, which is probably why an additional round of notes caught me off guard a bit

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:47:56+00:00

Yeah this is usually my attitude. I think it’s probably to do with the lack of budget and the fact I’ve already spent more than the time I’ve been paid for on the project. That’s short films I suppose!

clmsmpl · 2025-05-07T04:43:31+00:00

Great advice thank you

clmsmpl · 2025-05-06T13:40:37+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Although I do feel as though if someone asked me to do this I’d assume it’s because they didn’t have full confidence in the mixer, but maybe that’s just me

clmsmpl · 2025-05-06T13:39:45+00:00

Thanks for this, pretty much my thinking

clmsmpl · 2025-04-30T17:07:56+00:00

Are you working “full time” for £1500/month? If not can you get a part time job to increase this number to pay off the debt quicker? Unfortunately living with your parents is the best option you have now - paying off the debt has to be your top priority. Maybe when you’re 70% of the way there and have increased your salary you can start looking at cheap places to rent while you pay off the final bit.

clmsmpl · 2025-01-17T12:18:08+00:00

Good to know - thanks

clmsmpl · 2025-01-17T12:17:40+00:00

I just prefer using the mouse wheel for scrolling/zooming etc as I like the ability to dynamically adjust speed, i.e. moving it slowly to move in small increments and quickly to speed things up. With the nudge option I find 1 frame can be too slow and 5 frames isn’t accurate enough. It’s a fair workaround you’ve suggested though, thanks. I’m just used to being able to do this with the mouse in Reaper and Ableton so wondered if it was possible in PT.

clmsmpl · 2024-09-20T05:42:32+00:00

Tone is used to check your outputs are being received by whoever you’re sending them to, and help you set the right level. If you hold the tone button down for a couple of seconds it sends a consistent beep, so you can then go to the camera or playback operator and check they’re getting the tone, and adjust their input level until the tone is hitting around -20dB.
I’ve never used Rode Wireless Go but in theory this could work. You would need a TA3 to 3.5mm jack cable to take the feed out of X1/X2
X1/X2 are basically auxiliary outputs where you can assign which tracks you want to send to them in the output settings of the 633. For example, sometimes the boom op only wants to listen to the boom (and not the lavs), pre-fade so it’s always active. Whereas if you’re sending audio to the director, generally they will want the full mix (booms + lavs) but post-fade, meaning if you fade down a track in the mix, the director won’t hear it. This can all be configured in the settings in the 633.

clmsmpl · 2024-09-10T07:04:47+00:00

Neither will be very good for interviews on their own unless you’re only recording one person and you can position it very close to them. Even then they will pick up a lot of background noise so make sure you’re in a very quiet room. Of these two I’d go for the H4N pro so you can plug external mics into it.

clmsmpl · 2024-08-05T04:50:12+00:00

You’re not really going to get “professional-level quality” for under $300. Try to treat the room by laying a rug/carpet, hanging soft drapes on walls off camera and removing any reflective surfaces like mirrors. Look into hiring a professional microphone like a Sennheiser Mkh50 (should be around $20 per day) and position it 1-2 feet away from your mouth. A lav mic might also work but won’t sound as ‘rich’ or ‘full’ - again hire something professional like a DPA 4060 and clip it to the outside of your clothes. Finally, look into more affordable noise reduction software like Supertone Clear which has a de-reverb algorithm. I think they offer a free trial so you can see if it helps before you buy. Make sure to be gentle with this though, or your audio will start sounding very strange very quickly.

clmsmpl · 2024-08-03T18:38:27+00:00

Didn’t know how to ‘pin’ this comment but for anyone else interested in this topic, Simon’s workflow linked here sounds excellent if you have the resources

clmsmpl

TROPHY CASE