Author: cymbaline

A friend of mine began putting together a project studio after suddenly getting really into songwriting. I lent him my AKG Perception 200 large diaphragm condenser microphone. I’ve had that microphone for over ten years and probably only ever used it a couple times after I purchased it, so I knew it wouldn’t be missed.…

A few years ago I had a friend ask me to help her with a project. She was doing a one-woman show, but with a live band. We needed to do the live sound, record it, and film it. She had hired a couple of people with cameras, but asked if I knew any more.…

Battery Distro Systems (BDS) For The Bag For another exciting yet informative read, I’ve decided to write about Battery Distribution Systems, mostly because I recently made a major switch, but also because I’ve tried a few and have an opinion about them. I’ll also touch upon batteries, since they are also important to this scenario.…

Never being fully happy with any shock mount, I found myself with broken parts of a couple of Cinela OSIX 9’s donated to me by a colleague, and a couple of Rycote INV shockmounts that I don’t use. I don’t really like the Lyre system, specifically how rigid they are when taking my mic in…

  I’ve tried a number of shockmounts over the years, and some are good for somethings, and others are good for… Others. One thing I have found that they all have in common is weak points. So as an especially dry treat for the reader, I have a two-part series in shockmount tampering in store…

One of the best weapons one has to win a negotiation battle, is to picture oneself as a worrier. A knight, a samurai, whatever. A skilled worrier judges his opponent on what he seen before the battle, not the battle within itself. An experienced worrier knows what to expect from his opponent. Blind courage is…

Many people think that because I rent equipment to production for my department to use, that it does not count as a rental in the same way that a grip truck or camera package does. This is an entirely false assumption. My department rents our own equipment to production because of a tradition in the…

I am going to be talking about why Titles or Credits matter in terms of your position that you are employed as on a film or video shoot. No, this is not someone simply complaining about minutia that matters only to my own ego.  What is the difference between a Cinematographer and a Camera Operator?…

Not a lot of people today know that in North America, The Beatles albums were quite different than those we find on all modern issues. The versions available to us today are the official UK versions. But why were they different in North America? If you ever need to find a culprit, just follow the…

A number of weeks ago I was contacted about a job that was to happen in a weeks time. It was to be a series of interviews and b-roll of people that utilized the services of a major utility company. But that’s not what this article is about. It is about why hiring a seasoned…