boom pole operation upgrade

[Richard Crowley]

https://ktekpro.com/ would be first on my list of boom pole vendors. They make a wide variety of very nice products at sensible prices. I have one of their poles with internal cable and I much prefer it to the primitive way of doing business.

There are basically three ways of having the boom operator hear what they are doing.
1) Use a local monitor amplifier like the Rolls PM55 or, if you have deeper pockets and more up-scale tastes, the SoundDevices MP-1. And there are likely other similar options.
2) As you mention, you can use a “split” off of the mixer’s headphone monitor.
3) If you are “broadcasting” production audio (as on a “ComTek” system or equivalent), then the boom operator could listen on that source.

However, the problem with (2) and (3) are that the boom operator won’t necessarily hear the result of their own microphone positioning, but may hear more of the mix which could be confusing and misleading. IMHO (1) is prefered.

Yes there are a few kinds of “boom cradle” which can hold the pole when not being used. For example:
https://ktekpro.com/products/audio/audio-accessories/boom-cradle/
https://www.filmtools.com/ikan-audio-boom-cradle-mount.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=boom%20cradle

There are dozens of choices for mic cable. As with most things you must make a trade-off decision for flexibility vs. durability. I have made all my own cables now for almost 50 years. I buy cable and connectors from https://www.redco.com. They also offer a custom service where you can select which cable, which connectors, and the desired length and they will make your cable for a modest charge. 25-30 ft is pretty short for some of us. All my cables are 50 or 100 ft. And I regularly have mic cable runs of 100s of ft.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks so much Richard. Big help.

The poles are used by a lot of people and the coiled cables end up getting hopelessly twisted. But I like the ones where you can use a straight cable that comes out the bottom side of the pole so the boom op can rest the foot down. Plus easy to switch out cable.

Yes I was leaning toward the first solution for a number of reasons.

The mm1 looks good but does this effect the gain to the audio mixer? I’d rather the boom pole operator left that to the audio tech and instead just be able to listen what they are picking up. How’s the battery life on the rolls? I want either a separate xlr going to the boom op or a passthrough to the audio mixer and just a headphone amp for the boom op. Does that make sense?

So do I have one length xlr from the mike to the rolls and another from the rolls to the mixer? Or split the xor from the mike so the headphone amp and mixer each get one?

I’m not looking for a boom cradle. Just a way to rest the boom when the team is taking a break or getting a visual only shot.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Richard Crowley]

The Rolls PM55 is more suitable for boom operator monitoring as the mic signal is just a “pass-thru” and unaffected on its way to the mixer/recorder/camera.

Typically you would have a short cable from the microphone to the PM55, and then a long cable from the PM55 back to the mixer/recorder/camera.

If you use google image search for: production sound cart, you will see that many of them have simple PVC pipes attached to the sides for holding boom poles when not in use.

There are also special pockets and clips made for holding boom poles: https://www.filmtools.com/sounboomhol.html

[Craig Alan]

Sounds good. I’ll go with the PM55. It does pass thru the phantom power from the mixer, correct?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Richard Crowley]

Yes, it passes through the phantom power. It cannot power the microphone on its own.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks again. The pm55 has been replaced with the PM55P which they say is stereo.

A typical set up for us is one boom mike to input one output left channel from the SD 302 to input 2 on our camcorders. This produces dual mono recorded to the media card.

Any problems with this for a mono mike. It has a switchable stereo/mono 1/4″ monitor input jack. But we are using xlr.

Unless BH just doesn’t sell the right model?

https://www.rolls.com/pdf/M_PM55P.pdf

MONITOR LEVEL: Adjusts the level of the incoming signal from the Monitor Input.

But that won’t change the pass thru levels right?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Richard Crowley]

The microphone connection is hard-wired from the female input XLR over to the male output XLR connector. The Rolls box does nothing to the mic signal.

I don’t understand your question about the connector. The microphone IN and OUT connections are XLR.

[Craig Alan]

Ok let me rephrase this is the pm55P the best PM55 model for this purpose. It seems to have more features than the previous model and that’s fine but want to make sure it serves my primary purpose for its use.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Richard Crowley]

BOTH models meet your primary requirement. Not clear why there is any confusion?

[Craig Alan]

Well there isn’t now. Thanks. Just wasn’t sure about the stereo vs mono.

Many years ago I ordered some kind of adapter cable that ended not working due to a mono or stereo plug where we needed the other. Don’t remember the details but remember wondering why it wasn’t working.

Anyway I’m ordering 5 of these and looking forward to using them. I looked into other solutions and they were way more expensive and added features I was trying to avoid. Surprised there isn’t more choices for this obvious need.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.