Category: Equipment

Just bought a new backpack for carrying most of my day-to-day gear around for doco type jobs after the old one was starting to get a bit small and won’t be able to fit my sound bag with the radio distribution system I’m putting together.

After having a look at lots of different bags, I found those designed for photographers seemed to fit my needs best, as they have quick access and you can see what’s inside them, so it’s harder to lose things in them.  Another criteria I had was to be as large as possible, yet still be able to take it as carry-on luggage on flights.

I ended up going with an F-Stop Loka in a nice loud blue colour so I can find it easily with a large “ICU” (removable bit with all the protective padding).  It’s really light and I think I’ve found all the pockets now.  I found the lowepro equivalents to be quite a bit heavier and found the protective compartment in the Vertex wasn’t deep enough to get my sound bag in.

Here’s the back that opens, so  can just lift my bag straight out, transmitters are in the side bit behind the big divider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cables, adapters and memory cards are in the flap that opens:

Mics go in the top, with hypers/cardiods in the small peli underneath (you can see it on the back)

There’s also space for a laptop or ipad down the back of the ICU and a couple of spare XLR cables.

Boom pole and light stand (together they make a lightweight mic stand) go on the sides. Harness can also attach to the front

Batteries in the front pocket (might be able to squeeze a charger in too)

And last of all, in the top pocket, I’ve got a pocket recorder for quickly grabbing atmos or as an emergency backup.  Along with in-ear headphones and some tape and velcro

It’s looking like this will replace 2 bags at the moment and hopefully result in less strain on my back.  I also think it holds more than my wheely petrol bag

It’s nice to be able to sit down in order to concentrate on mixing.  And on drama sets you’re often in a different room so need to be able to see what’s going on through a monitor in order to be able to queue fades and be able to put a script up and follow it.

As a bit of an experiment I’ve put together a ‘mini trolley’ .  You can spend *thousands* on putting together a decent one, but I’ve mainly thought of getting something I can pop my bag on and look at a monitor (or even two).  It’s a Rocknroller RMH with 2 laptop shelf attachments.  It’s designed as a sack truck really.

This is sort of a proof of concept, I’m wondering about maybe cutting back the top shelf so it doesn’t go as far forward (they’re made of wood).  In this setup it won’t actually stand up with the bottom lip extended (as a sack truck) and leans forward.  With the lip in it actually leans back a little but would fall over if something fell into it.  I’ll also be coming back to those antennas when the cables to test them have arrived…

However, this seems to fix the problem:

Now, if I could get some drawers in that petrol bag…

Well, last weekend during a couple of not particularly pleasant night shoots on a low budget feature, this happened after an SFX shot:

Anyway, I got the worst off straight away and all my gear continued to work without any problems for the rest of the shoot.

The exterior was easy enough to clean with spray on isopropyl alcohol, but the stuff that could get into pots/switches cause damage would be inside

Here’s the inside of the mixer:

 

I was slightly amazed how little dust had got in (although there was a bit, mostly at the back) however, I cleaned all the switches and pots with IPA and a toothbrush .  I’m also amazed how they pack so much into these small boxes.

The bag and harness were soaked in warm water with a bit of washing powder in, they’re currently drying in the bath:

 

A couple of months back I had a bit of a discussion with someone looking to put together some interviews and was after a small 3 channel mixer.  I just thought I’d put some of my thoughts together on what’s out there, which I’ve used.

Sound Devices 302
Solid workhorse mixer, really compact, practically indestuctible.  I’ve used quite a few of these and they sound clean and fine, although some other preamps have a bit more ‘niceness’ to them and a little less noise.  They sound the same as the mixpre, 552 and 442 so are certainly broadcast standard.  It’s also possible to feed an extra 2 channels to the mix bus on the return (minijack) and adjust them independently.  3 channel direct out is possible, but a bit of a bodge- send ch1 and ch2 to left and right, leave ch3 faded down and monitor it pre fade on the headphones.

Fostex FM3
I’m really surprised I haven’t seen more of these about.  I tried one when I went for the Sonosax and there wasn’t much in it preamp-wise.  It’s got more flexible outputs than the Sound Devices.  It’s got 2 pairs of balanced outputs, which can be set at different output levels and an aux out which sends 2 of the 3 channels (selectable), pre-fade.  Loads of the I/O are on full size XLR’s too (including a 2ch balanced Bus in)  Only thing which I found a let down was the “fake” digital VU meters, which I didn’t find easy to read.

Sonosax SX-M32
I went and bought one of these, mainly because of the sound, and that I could also use it as a high quality preamp pair for chamber music recording.  Good points- it sounds fantastic, both preamp-wise and on the input limiters.   The analogue to digital converter is also as good as some expensive studio boxes.  The layout’s great and it’s got loads of output options (I’ve got the direct out option’B’ with hirose 10pin).
Bad points:  It’s expensive, and some settings (like limiter threshold) have to be changed at the factory.  I’ve also had a couple of niggles with meters on mine.  I’m starting to suspect it may be because I’ve been running unregulated power to it, I’ve just got a regulated distro and it’s been fine since, but it’s been back to the factory twice now for a thorough check out (and Sonosax have been great with this).  The A/D converter also makes it maybe a bit greedier on power than some of the others (the Sound Devices will last longer on 3 AA batteries, compared to the Sonosax’s 6).

SQN 4S Mini
Here, instead of 3 channels- you get 4 in a similar sized box.  There is a small caveat though, channels 3 and 4 don’t have phantom power or as much gain as 1 & 2, so are oly really suitable for radio mics (I can’t think of may situations where they wouldn’t be used for that) .  Channels 1 and 2 are good though, bags of gain and great limiters.  There are also direct outs for all channels and and an umbilical connection on tajimi 10pin.  The ergonomics are a bit quirky (like all SQN’s) with switched gain and HPF controls on the bottom (along with most of the manual!) and pan assigns on the right hand side, but you get used to them pretty quickly.  Something I can’t see is any way of routing additional inputs to the mix bus though, so multiple mixers can’t be ganged.

AETA Mixy
I’ve never seen one of these in real life, and was certainly interested in it.  Unlike the others it’s a digital mixer, with 3x direct outs and digital in and out (including on optical and USB).  It also comes with a fixed internal battery, which I’m a bit less keen on- AA’s can really get you out of trouble and are available almost anywhere..  The umbilical output’s on a neutricon and is designed for wireless tx and rx (I think this is standard for French broadcast) and the pin out also has DC in and out, so you may be able to power a camera hop from the mixer- this is also an option on the Sonosax.

Future Stuff
There have been a couple of announcements of products to be released including Zaxcom’s Maxx which is a 4 channel digital mixer/recorder, with a option for a built in wireless transmitter.  Also Audio Developments have a small 3 channel mixer with 2 channel recorder coming out soon.  Fostex have the DC-R302 out already, which is a 3 channel mixer with 2 channel recorder, however it only has unbalanced outputs- making it awkward for straight to camera jobs (but perfect for DSLR ones).  There are also quite a few rumours floating around that Sound Devices may bring out a similar (sound) device…
Any of the mixers above can also be paired with a small, basic recorder (I use a Sony PCM-M10) for transcription or DSLR work without adding much weight or size.

 

After a couple of mentions from other soundies- I thought I’d make something to protect my windjammers, my old one’s got a bit squashed in the back of a backpack going to and from jobs.  So to protect it from knocks and keep its shape I thought putting it in some kind of tube could help.

I bought 1m of 4″ waste pipe for £10.  I found, after a lot of struggling with a hacksaw that heating them up with a heat gun lets you cut through them with a knife with ease.  I cut lengths a bit longer than the total length of the windshields, and then around an inch out lengthways along the pipe.  At the moment they’re a tight fit (especially on the newer Rycote) and require stretching a little to get them on and off, although they seem to work.

Protip: Don’t use the microphones with the drainpipes on.  They’re far from acoustically transparent and quite heavy.

I’ve also got a new boom mic for general purpose doco work.  I’ve had a couple of minor issues with the AKG- although they sound fine (especially the hypercardioid), they have had a few crackles and pops when in humid conditions, such as being outside all night.  They’re also a bit heavy with the shotgun capsule for one handed doco booming.

Mics which use an RF condenser principle (Sennheiser MKH series and Rode NTG-3) are more resistant to moisture and will work in more extreme conditions.  I’d also heard a lot of good things about Sennheiser’s tiny MKH8060, so tried one out and decided to buy it.

It’s got a little bit of a high frequency boost (as shown on the mic’s frequency response chart), which seems to bring out dialogue a bit more and gives the sound a little ‘sparkle’.

With that I needed to get a windshield sorted.  After looking at the measurements, even though Rycote suggested a WS3 windshield kit, I’d also seen the WS2-MZL kit (with an MZL connbox, which will work with this mic).  However with no additional modules or filters the 8060 will fit in a WS1 with the MZL connbox.  I phoned up Rycote to make sure this was correct and they even made up a new part number: 086067 (WS1-MZL kit).  I also bought a ‘Tac!t” cable, which contains a steep 18dB/octave high pass filter at 60Hz, which should eliminate low frequency handling noise.

It’s also considerably smaller and lighter than the AKG CK69 setup which fits in a WS4 and weight about 850g, while the 8060/WS1 weight a bit less than 500g.  This will make a lot of difference at the end of a long pole.