Using field mixer Sony DMXP01

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:31 pm

Hello, I'll be mixing in the field on saturday and sunday with a Sony DMXP01 4 channel field mixer. 2 lavaliers 1 shotgun straight to the camera. The thing is I've never used any field mixer and I can't even try it before the shooting. I got the manual from SONY, but if you have had any experience with this kind of devices would be great to receive your input, as to what to expect from a field mixer, techniques, etc (excuse my poor english).

Thanks!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:43 pm

Well, the unit was very friendly. Having read the manual I made some notes with the most important stuff: Generate the 1 Khz tone for setting the levels right, the frequencies of the low cut filters for quick sort of eq. and the connection diagrams. Didn't touch the limiters/compressors as I had not enough time to tweak them. Also, I have never tried lavaliers before and it was so easy. You turn on the receiver and the transmitter and that's it; I have read of problems setting the freqs. for 2 or more lavaliers but I was lucky enough to receive the lavs already configured. The setup was:

2 Lavaliers Sony UWPC1 6668
1 Sennheiser MKH416 Boom

to

SONY DMXP01

to

Panasonic AG-HVX200A P2 (2 XLR)

The only downside I see on this kind of work it's that the audio it's not really important to the director. Something that I learned very quickly was that he wouldn't tell me anything as to what he wanted. Instead he would trust that I guess what he wanted. Damn! The photography crew would take 3-4 hours to make every scene the way they wanted. And the director would be on them on every move they make. The only moment I had some feedback from the director was to tell me that in a scene there wouldn't be any audio.
Furthermore the strange behavior, I learned a lot. It's tough to be a boom operator. To repeat a 4 minutes scene 10 times in a uncomfortable position on a chair even though the boom pole w/ the MKH416 weighs less than a kilo, requires not only muscle but also concentration.
My guess is that if I could choose I'd stay on the post prod facilities, or composing for the film. On my own.
Hope my short experience helps someone.

Kind regards,

P. Rubio

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:44 am

That's why I stick to doing audio post. As a production sound mixer you're a third class citizen. They "trust you" until they hear the results of their own indifference to production sound (I've got stories...). The DP and key grip get hours to set up a shot, but if the production sound mixer wants five minutes it's a major inconvenience for the cast and the rest of the crew. And, for me, there's too much hurry up and wait - be there at 5am and not do anything until 10am.

Sound is half of the experience - Steven Spielberg

Most directors and producers could care less about sound until they get into post. By then, of course, it's much too late. They either have to spend a fortune on production sound noise reduction & clean-up or go through the interminable frustration of doing ADR/looping with talent inexperienced with the process.

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