Booming AND Mixing

Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson

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I've been wondering about this for a while, and never have been able to find a good explanation - how does one boom and mix at the same time?

Say I've got two lavs and a boom going - do you just set all levels before the take and hope for the best readjusting in between takes or is there some magic way to boom and run the mixer that I'm missing. Or is most of the control of the boom going to be in how close you hold it to the sound. Jay Rose book is in the mail so if its in there just tell me calm down and wait a couple of days :)
 
Sometimes you have to tweak levels which means you might have to float the pole in one hand briefly... otherwise you may have to adjust levels between takes. It depends on the situation and how good of shape you're in.

One-man sound jobs will justify pricey audio gear faster then you can imagine... a graphite k-tek and a well-laid-out petrol bag with harness quickly becomes your best friend as you drop 2 fingers on that 302 (or 442) and trim that pot in the blink of an eye ;-)
 
Some mixers have remote faders that attach to the boom pole and allow you to ride one of the mic channels with your thumb while booming.
 
I think Mike may have the best idea there - maybe just get a seperate boom op :)

Although I'm in way early planning for a documentary that I really would like to have as small of a crew as possible - two man would be preferable so perhaps I'll be getting my sound guy (well hes not a sound guy yet, but he will be soon) a nicer lighter boom than the gitzo.

wabbit - are you talking about things like a holder you'd attach to a c-stand or is there something else I dont know about? The catch is that I'd like for him to be pretty mobile and able to follow the action where it goes. We'll be doing alot of static interviews though and I think that may be what we do for those.

Steagle (or anyone else) - have you heard much good or bad about the k-tek articulated boom - its pricey but if it works well I'd be fine with buying one. Most of our run and gun stuff will be tight shots on people talking so I wouldnt need that much distance out of a pole.

The techniques are good to know as far as floating the boom or locking it under an armpit - these are things that I suppose will just take some practice which is good as the next few months will be just practice for us anyways. The on pole faders look nice too - any comment on the preamps/lmiters in these? if only using one mic would I even need my sd302? This may just be the end all solution as the only times we'll be running on such a small crew we'll be only using one mic as well...

anyways thanks for the input guys - ya'll rock
 
yep we're both reading them! I got the cheap shipping on Amazon though and they arent here yet... Started reading through Jay's articles on his website though and have been learning waay to much.

I have dreams about all those little lights on the 302...
 
ooh an Iphone... if i could only justify why i need one of those to make a documentary... although I did get trapped in houston the other day with no web capable phone and no laptop. I actually had to go buy a magazine and read it. what a drag. how navigable is dvxuser on the iphone - good or just bearable?
 
the iPhone is drop dead amazing. I had a smart phone and and as it turns out it wasn't very smart. Google maps with realtime traffic watching movies iPod great phone email that works web that actually works I will die without it
 
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