Pro Location Sound LLC

As someone who often works outside in high wind conditions I always keep a blimp close by in my kit. Like most sound mixers I have a modular windshield kit. Last year I bought a Rycote S-300 Blimp for a project that I thought would require a lot of outdoor use of two boom poles. However it ended up not so the Rycote S-300 Blimp had just been sitting in my shop. After buying my Schoeps CMIT-5U I decided I would give the Rycote S-300 Blimp a try and I am glad I did the shock mount is excellent and the ability to quickly remove the blimp part from the shock mount is excellent.

A project it became especially useful on was a golf video which we were quickly moving from outdoors to indoors without any down time, in less than 30 seconds I was able to remove the Rycote S-300 Blimp from the shock mount and be ready to go. I also found the wind protection to be just as good as the older Rycote Windshield system. The Rycote S-300 Blimp is also build a bit more robust then the wind shield system which is always a plus in the field.

So overall if your looking for a blimp that is good for traveling in a Pelican case and provides great wind protection check out the Rycote S-300 Blimp you will be happy you did.

To better serve our clients we have added two new exciting pieces of equipment :

We have added a 2nd Denecke TS-C All Timecode rate slate. Having a second slate will be helpful on multi camera shoots and will allow me to have a back up slate as well

We have also added the Denecke SB3 Timecode box this allows us to stay in sync with all cameras and will be especially helpful to our RED Camera Clients.

Even though the RED can record audio you should also run a audio recorder as well and have a proper double system work flow set up.  Many productions will tell you it isn’t needed or don’t want to pay for the recorder, smart slate and SBT sync boxes to do this but it is a must. Here is the work flow I always use on a RED Production:

Work flow :

Sound Devices 442 4 Channel Mixer

Sound Devices 744T set to Free Run TOD (Time of Day)

Denecke Time code Slate

Denecke SBT Lockit Sync Box for each camera

Remote Audio RED Fan Tail (This tail allows me to use all of my existing breakaway snake cables)

I do my mix to up to 3 camera from my 442 and record my pre fader isos to my 744T

I jam my slate and my SBT boxes to keep everything in sync. Ideally we slate before every shot like a film shoot as a back up to the SBT boxes. But if I cannot slate before every shot the SBT boxes will keep the camera and audio in sync.

The RED will not hold a jam without a SBT it will drift like crazy.

Time code Settings:

Most Red projects are shot at 23.976 so you want your recorder to be set to 23.976 as well as your Slate and SBT boxes. Sometimes post request 29.97NDF which will also work. But I try to keep it simple and standardize to the same time code as the camera. A quick call to post before a project is always a good idea I tell them my work flow and then we agree on what to do.

Other RED time code options that are sometimes used are 24 & 24p which are bad work flow choices you should ALWAYS double check with Post that this is what they want. If they indeed want to do a 24 or 24P work flow you need to record your audio at 30NDF. IF they request 24 for the audio frame rate get it in writing.

Always communicate with post production and get them to email you what they want so you have proof if something goes wrong later as you were just following orders.

In Part 3 I will talk about mixing to the RED

To better serve our clients we have added one of the top microphones in the industry the Schoeps CMIT 5U below is what they say about this excellant microphone:

The Schoeps CMIT 5U Shotgun microphone is a recent product from one of the most respected manufacturers of professional microphones. The emphasis was on matching the already outstanding quality and reliability established by Schoeps throughout its entire line. Schoeps has always felt that if they were going to produce a shotgun microphone that it needed to offer a level of improvement over what was available. This, they have done with superior RF immunity, unusually low coloration of off-axis sounds, low weight of 3 1/8 ounces and the introduction of 3 micro push buttons for filtering. This microphone is a perfect compliment to the CMC 641 or an outstanding start to the legendary Schoeps way of audio.

• Weight: An amazing 3 1/8 ounces!
• 48 Volt phantom powering
• Superior RF immunity
• Unusually low coloration of off-axis sound, for a shotgun
• Pickup pattern is consistent in both the horizontal and vertical planes
• Increased directivity at medium frequencies
• Less sensitive to wind noise than a Schoeps CMC 641
• Schoeps sound quality makes the microphone suitable for music recording as well as dialogue
• Beautiful, blue anodized all-metal housing

I haven’t been posting much recently due to my work schedule, However I am going to be writing a number of posts about RED Camera Audio.  Is the audio on the RED Camera good enough?

The simple answer is no but many editors think it is and will still use it. The RED camera makes pretty pictures but it isn’t a great audio recorder. So in this situation you need to provide the best mix to camera possible and also protect yourself and the project by recording a high quality ISO track recording as well. Part II will cover and discuss best work flow to achieve this