[Bob Cole]

[Bill Davis] “The on-board mic is enough to record a scratch track that works fine with Plural Eyes Software that will sync the sumptuous 5d video with audio off virtually any outboard recording you want to use.”

I recommended PluralEyes to a Canon 7d shooter/editor who found it was fantastically helpful. Then I tried it myself and couldn’t get it to work very well at all, although it was my fault. I probably gave it no chance for success. I had a doc situation with two people standing and walking next to one another, each of whom wore a wireless, each wireless going to a different video camera. PluralEyes couldn’t make sense of it, but I shouldn’t be surprised by that given what I fed the cameras.

Are you saying that you can record the scene to your Zoom or computer, then let the Canon 5d record with its own microphone, and that PluralEyes has no trouble matching the two? That’s amazing, and encouraging.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Ty Ford] “the way the light falls off in the hallway”

Or, in “The Farmer’s Wife,” the way the cameraman instinctively holds the no-longer-a-two-shot when the angry husband leaves the frame, revealing the young wife staring at his empty chair…

Sorry for dumping on you, or seeming to, Peter. I think audio is under-appreciated, and the only time people talk about it is when it displeases them. The attention that George Lucas forced the theater owners to pay to audio speaks to its importance – and its low-place-on-the-totem-pole unless someone like Lucas says “Fix this, or else you don’t get the next Star Wars.”

[Bob Cole]

[Ty Ford] “Due to cheapness, many just stick a pad in front of the mic pre when the “line level” switch is engaged. So the signal still goes through the camera’s mic preamp. Usually not ideal, but there you have it.”

Wow. That sounds insane. Is that fact ever mentioned in camera spec’s? I don’t recall ever having seen that. Double-system, though a pain, sounds like a very good idea, especially as a back-up. I’ve always avoided it as a primary method, as being too time-consuming in post. I wonder whether software like PluralEyes can be used to automate the process now.

Thanks very much!

Bob

[Bob Cole]

[Peter Groom] “No one ever came out of a cinema saying what a great 2 shot, but they sure as hell do say what a great soundtrack!”

Not to take anything away from your statement about soundtracks, but I beg to differ about the 2 shot.

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Ty – great find; this has been a valuable learning experience. I still wish my camera’s internal mic level worked better, but if I become a convert to Line In, maybe that won’t be such a bad thing. Is your basic principle: Don’t use Mic Level In on cameras? Does it really make a difference? Do you think it’s advisable to boost the mic level to line as early in the chain — as close to the mic — as possible?

The first device you told me about, the MP-1, must not have T power as it only mentions phantom. But the MP-1 is a bit smaller, and would, in combo with a barrel 48V Phantom-to-12V T adapter, do the trick with the Schoeps that needs T. (I assume that is okay?) With the monitoring capability, the MM-1 looks great as a boom op control. I still wish there were an inline pre-amp, but that obviously is asking too much.

For some documentary shoots, minimal gear works best, so I tested using the Sennheiser ew100 G3 receiver as a pre-amp, essentially, and it seems to work. If I set the transmitter’s sensitivity to 0dB (as opposed to -30dB, my usual setting) and the receiver’s AF Out to +12, and the camera to Line In, I get a good level (though not quite as hot as I’m used to with settings of -30/0/Mic In, on transmitter/receiver/camera, respectively). I’d like to borrow your ears sometime to make sure I’m not fooling myself.

I’m beginning to see why audio guys have all those tools…. Every time I look at a product review by an audio recordist, it seems that I see the words, “great tool that belongs in every recordist’s kit.”

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Ty Ford] “Yes, but you’d still need a preamp for hardwired mics.”

Thanks Ty. Good point.

I’m still puzzled about inputting a line level to the Sennheiser transmitter. (I assume the CL2 is just an adapter cable from XLR to Sennheiser’s 1/8″ plug, with no alteration in the signal.)

If I want to use the CL2’s female XLR to take a line output from a mix board into my ew100 G2 or G3 transmitter, how do I keep the transmitter from getting overloaded by the line signal? Even with the lav, I have to adjust the transmitter’s sensitivity to the lowest point (-30). (Perhaps because I have not adjusted the receiver’s AF Out to -6, as recommended in the manual that I’m studying a bit more closely, thanks to this problem….)

On the phone you recommended I look at Sound Device’s MP-1 pre-amp, which looks very interesting. For one thing, it offers 48v and 12v phantom powering. I assume this will not help with my Schoeps, which needs 12v “T” powering. That would be very nice.

D

[Bob Cole]

[Paul Zwicker] “Sony no longer sees this as a problem.”

It’s not a problem for me either. I was considering an EX3 several months ago, but when I saw this thread, I thought, “Why bother buying a problem?”

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Shawn Miller] “how is it that an immature, unsophisticated country like China can maintain a 228 billion dollar trade deficit with the US?”

Interesting thread. All I know is what I read in the papers, but I would answer your question this way:

Pretend for a minute that you’re a young mechanical engineer with a cool new idea for manufacturing a product or a part for a product. If you’re in China, it’s easy: pay the right official, rent a building, hire the key employees, buy the machine tool, and hang a sign offering semi-skilled jobs. Within weeks, you’ll be manufacturing.

In the U.S.A., you’ll start by hiring a lawyer, an accountant, perhaps a consultant in compliance for your particular manufacturing process, and a bookkeeper. You’ll apply for permits, consulting regularly with the above experts to make sure you don’t violate some regulation.

And, some months later, just as you’re about to start manufacturing your product, you’ll see that somebody in China is offering it for half of your COST.

Distance a worry? No problem. It is probably about the same cost to send something (via container) from China to LA as from LA to Las Vegas.

[Bob Cole]

[grinner hester] “That’s the same as dating a friend’s ex. There is no grace period. It’s a no no forever.”

Reminds me of “the roommate switch.” Often been contemplated, rarely been tried, never (to my knowledge) met with success. But people continue to dream.

[Bob Cole]

Along those lines, Grinner… Like you, I work as both a production company and freelancer. (btw, your website does seem to negotiate that fine line quite well.)

I know the mantra for freelancers: if a producer has hired you to work for a client, you need to work through that producer, never directly for the client.

But… what happens when a producer has clearly lost the account? Is there a grace period after which I can approach the client directly?

I had been working extensively for a local company, through a producer who subsequently moved out of the area. He tried to retain the client, but distance and distraction seem to have made him much less focussed on the account, and the client is, I suspect, gone forever. I’d like to go after the business. How long do I have to wait? Forever? A year? Three? I think I should discuss this with the producer, and I think that after a couple years, I’d feel comfortable doing that.

Bob C