Bag for Audio Gear

DigitalBard

DigitalBard

Well-known member
What bag are you using for your audio gear? I have been keeping mine in my camera bag, but I just got a bunch of new stuff over the holiday and I can't keep everything in a single bag any more.

Do you just use a camera bag with dividers for your audio gear? Hard case with foam?

I am moving from a camera bag to a large camera backpack for my camera stuff and was thinking of trying to re-purpose my old camera bag for audio. I have a recorder, two shotun mics, three wireless sets, a couple dozen lav mics, four hand-held mics, two wired headphones and one wireless headphone, dozens of cables & adapters and a bunch of different mounts for everything. I can stuff it all into my camera bag, but not very organized.

Looking for ideas.
 
Which recorder? And which wireless systems? And how portable do you need to be?

I keep my kits assembled in Porta Brace audio organizers (you might also look at offerings from K-tek depending on the recorder you’re using). If your wireless receivers have detachable antennae (such as Lectrosonics), detach them for storage and re-attach them for use. If the receivers do not have detachable antennae (such as Sennheiser G3/G4), the receivers will need to be safely packed for storage.

The audio bag goes into a Pelican 1650 that also holds cables, headphones, shotgun mic and zeppelin assemblies, NP-1 batteries and charger, Sony L batteries and charger, etc. The Pelican isn’t exactly a “grab and go” solution, but it’s durable, protects my gear, and holds everything but the boom poles. Keeping the bag (mostly) assebled means it’s easy to be up and running once I’ve opened the case.
 
Tascam DR-70D, Zoom H4N, Two Sennheiser wireless G3 kits, and a MOVI Wireless kit (two transmitters, one receiver). I just packed it all into my carry bag and it's a tight fit. I ordered the Lowepro Pro Runner 450 AW II backpack for my camera gear. I'm thinking I may keep a few audio bits in with my camera gear... One of the Sennheisers and the H4N. I actually keep the G3 kits in Rode zipper pouches for safety and keeping them together. I keep one of the NTG-2's in its blimp all the time and another in the deadcat, so I used those zipper pouches for the G3s.
 
It sounds like you're asking about storage/transport for all of your audio gear and not just a "mixer bag". I use a rolling Petrol bag, but several of my dedicated audio guys have gone to rolling, multi-level fold-out toolboxes. Something similar to this:

076174816631.jpg
 
I just ordered the Sound Devices Mix Pre 3 with the Strut Case. Have never used a Strut Case but it looked like the best choice out of all of the Mix Pre 3 bags as it accomdates the Sony L battery sled for the Mix Pre 3 and I will be using my Sony NPFs to power the Mix Pre 3. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1357955-REG/sound_devices_sound_devices_mixpre_3_audio.html

If I were buying a bigger bag and becoming a pro sound mixer, I would probably lean toward Porta Brace and KTek, I have both and have liked both over the years. Most of the sound mixers I hire are using Porta Brace here in LA, usually with one of the larger Sound Devices Recorders and up to four Lectro Receivers and NP1s. But buying an audio bag is like buying a pair of jeans, everyone likes different brands and styles, depends on what you are shooting and what gear you need to carry. A lot of solo mixers want a bag that will also carry their boom pole and boom mic, most higher end mixers work off of a cart because they bring everything and the kitchen sink to set, sharkfin antennae, multiple booms, a Zaxcom console, etc. Reality guys who have to do hops to multiple cameras use different gear than a mixers who shoot single camera feature style.
 
All three of my mixer bags are Petrol. Nice bags, but oddly(and overly) heavy, even when empty. Everyone used to use Porta-Brace, mostly because they were the only game in town, then competition from Kata and Petrol came along in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Over the last few years Porta-Brace has redesigned/updated their audio bags and I think people are buying them again, but now you see a lot of dedicated sound guys with Orca and K-Tek bags. If I was buying from scratch today, I’m not sure what I’d get...
 
I have a lot of audio bags and cases (and have owned many more over the years). So briefly:

For transport, both local and air, I tend to use Pelican (and Storm) cases. A 1500-series (and a Storm) for carryon size and smaller kits, a 1600-series for bigger jobs. Mostly wheeled these days for audio, with the goal of getting most everything (depending on how I'm travelling and the job) into one case. I'm mostly using those padded-foam+velcro dividers for protection and so I can reconfigure stuff.
https://www.pelican.com/us/en/products/cases

I also have a few Porta-Brace and a couple Petrol cases. Those are soft, but still protective enough for transport in a trunk, van, or whatever. But I do like the "no worries during transport" aspect of Pelicans. And no wheels on mine.

For boom poles, a couple compact Matthews light stands (to hold boom poles for sit-down interviews, etc), and a bit of grip, I use one of two things: An older Vinten tripod bag that's padded & that has a shoulder strap that allows for vertical carrying (i.e.- the strap attaches at the head-end of the bag and is padded... this works better than the "carry from the middle" straps on many tripod bags. I also have a SKB golf-bag case that has wheels, is pretty strong, and is bigger... I can fit more stuff and a sound-blanket or two (or when flying, jackets, etc) in there. And some people use Pelican or sporting-good-store gun cases to carry poles, windscreens, etc.

And for sound blankets I have a big duffle bag. Mine is made by Outdoor Products and is more cube shaped than standard duffles. I can get six thick sound blankets in there. A clever idea I've heard is to use a bag designed for ice hockey players to carry all their pads and stuff. But my bag, while cheap, works well enough.

For a working audio bag that I wear (or place in front of me), I've been through a bunch over the years. I used to use Porta-Brace, but some of their newer mixer-specific designs haven't done it for me. I have a couple older Petrols that I like. An Eargonizer and one originally designed for the SD 302 mixer (plus a couple RX, NP1 batt, etc)... But these were from the era when Ofer still ran Petrol. I don't know as much about the current Sachtler/Manfrotto (or whatever) decendents. They're probably OK.

Ofer went on to start Orca Bags. They're making some really good stuff that a bunch of mixers I know use and like:
http://www.orcabags.com

And as Dan says, K-Tek's current Stingray bags are pretty nice too:
https://ktekpro.com/product-category/bags/stingray-audio-bags/

I hadn't heard of Strut Bags until reading Dan's post above. But based on a quick look at their website, the location and design made me think it was a smaller company started by someone who used to be at Porta-Brace. And their "about" page confirms that. So if the design works for you, I'd think the stuff will prove to be really well made. Thanks for the find Dan!
http://strutcases.com

I find, if I need to keep things small, a 1500-series carry-on size Pelican, a good audio bag traveling while attached to the 1500's telescoping carry handle, and the tripod bag will let me carry everything I need.
 
Run&Gun said:
All three of my mixer bags are Petrol. Nice bags, but oddly(and overly) heavy, even when empty. Everyone used to use Porta-Brace, mostly because they were the only game in town, then competition from Kata and Petrol came along in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Over the last few years Porta-Brace has redesigned/updated their audio bags and I think people are buying them again, but now you see a lot of dedicated sound guys with Orca and K-Tek bags. If I was buying from scratch today, I’m not sure what I’d get...
Click to expand...

I had a Petrol case for my HPX-170 and still have a rolling Petrol tripod case for my Sachtler tripod. Good stuff, I miss them. From what I understand Vitec bought Petrol and combined them with Sachtler cases. I did buy a Sachtler DR 3 bag on the recommendation of SlavikB and it's been a GREAT case. Not sure if Sachtler is making audio bags though? Ah, yes, here we go, this looks promising https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...urvc3wIVFh6tBh29owAREAQYAiABEgIjAvD_BwE&smp=Y
 
I found a LowePro Protactic 350 AW backpack on Facebook locally for $75, so I bought it to store my audio gear. It's a pretty good sized backpack and I can fit everything in it. Once I get it exactly the way I want it, I'll take pictures and post them.

I also bought a few small zipper bags to store smaller items.

I am using this Makeup Bag (https://ebay.us/1JGu5Z) I got on eBay for my Zoom H4n, wired mics, AA batteries, and various audio adapters/cables. It fits well in the backpack.

I got two of each color (10 total) of these zipper pouches (https://ebay.us/P0bgNe) for misc items like XLR cables/adapters, the Sennheiser and Movo wireless kit, Sony NPF batteries, GoPro accessories and misc other stuff.

And I got this dual zipper pouch for my camera batteries... One side for charged, the other for dead. (https://ebay.us/g7aObt) I figured "Deadpool" was appropriate for that.
 
As long as we are on the topic, I use ZipLock bags for adapters. I put all of the same food group (RCA to anything, 1/4" to anything, 1/8" to anything, BNC, etc) in a ZipLock and all of them live in a zippered Shure mic Bag that I had. It makes it really easy to find what you are looking for.
 
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