The Sound Guy vs Everyone Else

The Sound Guy vs Everyone Else

  • Yes. Everysound guy is "that guy".

    Votes: 12 46.2%

  • Thats why I only shoot silent films.

    Votes: 3 11.5%

  • I am that sound guy you jerk!

    Votes: 6 23.1%

  • Wait! Someone is clicking a mouse somewhere... Can I put a sound blanket on this thread?

    Votes: 5 19.2%
  • Total voters
    26
Hunter Hampton

Hunter Hampton

Carbonite Member
Every now and then there is "that guy" who runs the boards who I could create a stereotype for.

Features include:

1. Hyper sensitive hearing, or "Stop the show, someone has their air on in this neighborhood."

2. Talking, and talking more... still talking... talking... Do you just love the sound of your voice!? (then back to number 1 again)

3. Talking more...

4. Just before a take... Does the number 1 thing again, then asks to put sound blankets everywhere.

5. 15 minutes later... ready for a take? (I'm thinking: Why didnt sound dept figure this out while we were setting up?)

6. Making jokes with the boom op, while camera dept is setting up... then going through this whole process again.


This is all in good fun. I'm just wondering why I have noticed these attributes with nearly every sound guy I have worked with?

I guess thats the price you pay for good audio!:)
 
So were you spying on me lately? :) oh, where's craft services? hey John, blah blah blah,
 
what is this thread supposed to prove?

That you
1. don't understand the sound dept?
2. hire people that seem to have a decent amount to learn still..?
3. That you seem to be "bothered" with the aspect of recording good sound on your sets?


First off, sometimes it IS last min that the sound dept needs to make changes..
why?
Because right before the take is when the set is FINALLY quiet, and there were issues
being masked by every other dept.

While 15 mins is a long time for the sound dept to hold up a set,
I'd LOVE to see the next time you're on a set and not one other dept tweak right before a take.

Dont dare as hair to come in and fix a fly away, or an electric to pan a light slightly..
or a 1st a/c ask for an actor to goto a particular mark again...


I bet you're the guy who says "as a joke"
"Waiting on sound" har har. After the lighting dept just took 45mins for a simple setup and not a word spoken about time.

Sorry this kind of thread just hits a nerve.
 
I think you are taking this way to seriously. Hunter said that in fun - not seriously. Every department takes a long time.

If you think film moves slow - try a tech rehearsal for theater.
 
Did you think I was talking about you? I love the sound dept!

I'm guilty of every camera dept "crime" in the book and I have made many mistakes that cost time on set. I was just pointing out some sort of personality traits of sound mixers I have noticed, some are exaggerated of course! All just a bit of humor... but the talking thing is strait across the board.

Waiting on sound...
 
You hit a nerve with me too because of every time that I've had to sit for 45-60 minutes (or longer) waiting for a set up only to be told that there is no time left to adjust anything to do with sound and besides, we can fix it in post anyway, right? Or watching a DP that just spent more than an hour on a set up and then wouldn't give my boom op a frame line and then yelled at him in front of the entire crew for getting the boom in the shot (btw, you have never seem me jump up out of my chair and onto a set so fast in your life - every nasty tone that came out of that DP's mouth was thrown right back in his face - and I came armed with the sound report and pointed to every take that was cut early because of framing/focus/bad dolly moves, etc. That DP apologized to my boom op in front of the entire crew - of course the fact that I wouldn't roll sound until he did might have had something to do with it.) (It was amusing to see the AD's face when he called for sound to roll and my response was, "NOT speeding and not rolling".)

Hunter, you obviously haven't ever mixed a feature length film. Give it a try sometime and then revisit this post and see if you think it's still funny.

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
...- of course the fact that I wouldn't roll sound until he did might have had something to do with it.) (It was amusing to see the AD's face when he called for sound to roll and my response was, "NOT speeding and not rolling".)
... Phil
Click to expand...


that's pretty funny! I'll have to give it a try. ;)
 
Geezzz, sound dept is pissed!

I would love to mix sound on a feature- unfortunately I would probably drink myself to death before I finished! You guys are great at what you do- I didnt post this to intentionally piss of sound people... its ok to laugh at yourself once in a while. I would suck at doing ANYTHING in sound dept.
 
ptalsky said:
You hit a nerve with me too because of every time that I've had to sit for 45-60 minutes (or longer) waiting for a set up only to be told that there is no time left to adjust anything to do with sound and besides, we can fix it in post anyway, right? Or watching a DP that just spent more than an hour on a set up and then wouldn't give my boom op a frame line and then yelled at him in front of the entire crew for getting the boom in the shot (btw, you have never seem me jump up out of my chair and onto a set so fast in your life - every nasty tone that came out of that DP's mouth was thrown right back in his face - and I came armed with the sound report and pointed to every take that was cut early because of framing/focus/bad dolly moves, etc. That DP apologized to my boom op in front of the entire crew - of course the fact that I wouldn't roll sound until he did might have had something to do with it.) (It was amusing to see the AD's face when he called for sound to roll and my response was, "NOT speeding and not rolling".)

Hunter, you obviously haven't ever mixed a feature length film. Give it a try sometime and then revisit this post and see if you think it's still funny.

Phil
Click to expand...
haha! thank you phil. making note of this one and putting you in my "under no circumstances" file. could i have the name of the DP too? :)
 
Remind me not to work with you guys. When you have a department delay you let your AD know. Never get into the situation where everything is set. Your set is locked. And you tell your AD that you will not be speeding. I think that is even worse than this thread. And highly unprofessional.

So yes, I do have an opinion Rippie. I do know how sound works - I run it from time to time - I've never run into those issues. I get things set up before we mess around. I scout the locations before shooting so I know what I need to do before I get there and set it up accordingly. And my AD knows I need a quiet moment to check everything and I need to run levels with the actors right before we go.
 
i just finished booming a feature. the DOP had the camera shoulder-mounted 90% of the time, and was pretty inconsistent with his framing. as a result, i probably went in 5 times a day, which is way above my average. it got pretty frustrating, especially as the focus puller was having similar problems, but the repercussions for me were always much more vocal and humiliating. i was reminded why i try to avoid drama.

this is turning into quite a grumpy thread! merry christmas, guys! lets all get drunk and forget about set rage for a week or so!
 
Matty,
Thats great that you dont run into those issues. My only complaint here is
someone that seems to be ragging on the sound dept under the pretense of "humor". (and personally I don't even think half those things happen nearly enough to warrant a thread about. Jokes with the boom op..etc? why is the mixer on set if he has a boom op in the first place..etc)

Obviously some of you "get" the humor in this and thats great, but I honestly bust my
ass in my career, (you are rarely waiting on me), and this thread TO ME is an attempt to
make sound mixers look stupid or wasteful of everyones time and I wanted to mention it.


I'd be very surprised if a sound mixer went into a Videographers forum
and started to post things like..

Isn't it funny how there is always a group of camera men than cant hold their shots (framing)
or blow a take because of focus, or take 3 times longer to set a scene than needed..haha!

I dont think that would go over too well. Nor would I expect it to.

Even though you dont agree with me and surely feel im over reacting I hope you can
at least see where I am coming from.

Merry Christmas guys.
 
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I'm with Rippie on this one. Sound guys are sensitive because we are the "red headed stepchild" in the industry. Everyone quotes Lucas that sound is half the picture and then they don't give us enough time to do our job adequately. For the record, I work in sound post and not production, but I have tremendous respect for location sound guys and gals. They have everybody on the set anxious to make their schedule for the day and sound gets put on the backburner. If they take the time to do their job, the crew gets angry with them. If they aren't allowed the time and quiet to listen for noises, then they have the dialog editor and mixer angry with them for turning in noisy tracks.

While I understand that the OP was trying to be funny and I do think that he means well, it's hard to convey humor and sarcasm in a forum. Personally, I would love to work with a production mixer that is dedicated enough to want to do their job right. I think that should be encouraged; especially in indie films where production sound usually suffers so much.
 
And also a joke, told from a very grumpy late night perspective. I have never "not rolled" sound on any take - and yes, I did take this issue to the AD and it was dealt with appropriately.

Okay, grumpy hat off....and I do hope that everyone (even THAT DP, and he know's who he is...) has a terrific, safe, healthy and happy holiday!

Phil
 
Zak Forsman said:
haha! thank you phil. making note of this one and putting you in my "under no circumstances" file. could i have the name of the DP too? :)
Click to expand...

Sorry, Zak, I actually work with this DP a lot and we work together very well know that we understand each other. :-) (See my note above - this was a lousy attempt at humor - seemed funny at 2am).

Have a great holiday!
 
whaaaaaa! :crybaby::(:crybaby::(:crybaby:


Yes, many productions forget about sound and are basically stupid when it comes to this topic. There's nothing new about this -- buck up!

A few months ago I worked a short where many of our locations were under the approach to a major international airport. At one point we had a 15 second window of acceptable silence to get our shot off before another jet was sonically in the way. :dankk2: That was brilliant location scouting, (I let them know, repeatedly). To cope with this, newbie/director with cash for his 1st short situation, with approval, I just basically acted as the AD to manage the shoot in these locations, holding action until it was OK to roll, it worked. This wasn't the first time & I'll assume it won't be the last.

Sometimes you just have to assume the full role of a professional and give the director a choice, "do you want good production audio or do you want guide tracks for ADR?" Usually they want good production audio so they take direction in these difficult situations, it's called collaboration. It's not the best situation, but I give them a choice, and if they take the help then I give it my best to get the best raw material we can obtain. On the other hand, if they don't respect audio during production they'll certainly respect the ADR bill and consider how to do it better next time. Their falure is not my failure.

By the way, I like the joke!!! keep it up, these guys are way too sensitive.
 
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