What's in your Kit? With Sound Mixer Chris Howland, CAS | URSA Exclusive

I do artistic things with technical tools so my brain is definitely more on the artistic side of it even a mediocre mic if it's mounted correctly and I can work with it it pays to have options and many tools at your disposal to get these jobs done hi I'm Kim Kyle and I'm here with Chris Holland sound mixer in Los Angeles California and we are going to look at his gear and find out what's in his box and this is the first time I've been interviewed by a sound mixer while they're actually sound mixing yep that's pretty cool as a sound mixer I love being able to have different setups and because it reminds me of when I play drums I could organize my setups according to the gig according to the job so some jobs require more extensive setups with more capabilities like this one and other jobs are simpler like that one so you know they're both really great setups and they help me get the job done so the sound rigs are a lot the same way I have a I have three systems the bigger one is getting worked on right now it's a Midas Console 970 and a 270 sound devices also boom recorder and it's has a computer on the card it has its own power and everything but remaining two rigs since I bounced around a lot between Eng documentary work and then I still do a lot of episodic TV and feature films the last couple of years for me have been exclusively day playing occasional commercials substituting are doing be unit days on episodic sand and feature films it pays to have options and and mini tools at your disposal to get these jobs done absolutely and I'd love to start talking about your your smallest your Jazz kit over here yeah this is a it's funny this is a this is my bag rig and it's a very straight ahead 633 along with I have five four 11s in here I also have the the PSC antenna distribution and and then sound guys solution battery distro and I'm using these they updated smart batteries which have been really cool from the amp you that we used to use these are great a really great improvement by the weight difference yep a weight difference they're more powerful and these are made by inspired energy I was the original company and there's different companies now that have purchased them and they rebrand them for those companies which is great making them easy to find I stuck with the 411 s in this bag because I typically don't wear it that much anymore I think maybe in the last year I've worn it twice and that was for walkin talks on SWAT TV show so that's fine and I've got three different harnesses I do have a Kate tech harness the full one the one I use most commonly is the Versa flex which has the straps on the bottom which are really helpful when I'm doing walking talks that kind of stuff and if I'm doing like documentary coverage where I'm getting in and out of a van I have the just the very simplest exile Porter brace harness so that I can put it on and I can I can actually pick it up get out of the car in the car so I don't really wear the bag that much anymore so I stuck with a 411 s because I love their extended range they have a tracking front-end so and I've I purchased both the SRS and the SRBs and they're great they're lighter but that they didn't have quite the range is the 411 s so stuck with four lemons awesome I'd love to talk about this little arm you have here this magic is this yeah who makes this one this is a this is a magic arm by Manfrotto okay that's why I thought and this is actually a cell phone holder off a selfie stick so the idea is that when I'm using wingman or something else I can have that I can have the phone mounted and you know the power is here so I can have it plugged in it runs off the bat the BDS system and yeah it's just a great way to work it's very compact love the extended range in being able to remote a tent and I quickly is key for process trailer work when I'm in the cab you know this is it's very easy to remote from the ComTech an antenna three antennas basically the two receiving antennas for the for the electrodes and the transmitting antenna for the contact and I'm good to go it's awesome this setup sounds like it's really versatile it's worked for you in a lot of different situations yeah solutely I can do sit-down interviews with it I can take it anywhere so yeah so that's what's in the bag when it comes to running gun jobs horizontal space on any set is gonna be a premium so it's good to bring your own horizontal space so you can have dibs on it so I found this stool at IKEA actually there was a place where I was shooting that had a stool like this and I grabbed it I put my stuff on it I was like you know what I love this I'm gonna buy a stool so I went and found this I think it was an IKEA stool maybe it was Target I don't remember really but it was just a really great place it fits the back perfectly I loved it that it doesn't take up any more room than bag does and I can leave it standing there and it's it's perfectly reasonable because like I said it doesn't take any more room than the bag arty takes and so I use this for a while it was it was a lot of fun I put this little handle on it so I could just carry it and it works really nicely had my name on it so nobody yeah so they use that for a long time and then I wanted to kind of upgrade it I wanted it to do a little more so I bought another one and put casters on it just knock those things in there and a couple of boom pole holders and so this is kind of the second generation of it and it worked really well it's very non-threatening in a home type environment people don't you know think oh this won't make any mess it's clean again it also takes very little space right now like a cart this is just I mean this is super slim especially being right next to you it's like takes a barely no space yeah and nobody can really complain about it and oh that's me you know while the interview setup is getting set up and I can just leave this where I want to be and it's and it's good to go so this worked for a long time and then I finally found this guy this was an Ikea cart that was modified by a Jean Martin and so once I figured out this cart could fit my bag in the same way this became the go-to cart and I had it had small Castor's which weren't really good like like the ones on some nice rubber wheels yeah so Jean put the quarter-twenty around it put the wheels on it and so the whole idea is that I can get you know to and from the car in one trip with very very important to stand as you can see mounts here and I love having the wheels on the stand and I'll show you that in a second but and then you know a couple of boom poles and the good thing is that I can keep my follow cart I can keep this in the back of the car and grab whatever I need if I need a time coat slate seat boxes I can throw that in there I need a couple of labs throw that in there and then I can grab my my lab mountings and my lab mics I can throw that in there at this perfectly so right so this this then can just stay in the car and this is all that comes with you right that's right so I still have you know this this stays in the car and and I can if I need to come back and get stuff I can yeah but but rolling into an office or a house with just this is very non-threatening absolutely this might be a little much right but if I roll in with just this again it takes very it takes just the same amount of room as the bag does absolutely and the cool thing is that I can undo this go and instead of using a traditional c-stand I really like using the stand with wheels because it allows me to do a little cheating on the day if I got my mic on a subject but they're a leaner I can just reach over and you know barely move it but but this way I can you know get set up I do like this this mount because it does hold on to this pole very tight absolutely yeah it's very nice and snug this is the Loon eight-foot loon which I have what do I have I have three loons and a eight-footer and in - 18 footers these are I want to say it's Matthews it's been so long since I bought it no it's an Avenger stand oh cool so it's readily available at marker tech okay I know there's two different heights I think one goes to 10 and the other one goes to like 6 or 7 but this is the slightly taller one so you know I like it because the wheels allow the maneuverability and it's also it gives you more weight on the bottom so for just a short reach like this I don't have to have a sandbag yes and bag per se so say yeah I kiddin you've got a sound guy solution yeah the quick-release absolutely yeah yeah sungai solution quick release and this is an engage 50 with the same amount there philippe cheynet is from Sonoma in Paris I love these amazing so yeah my to kind of go to Mike's are the 50 and the sank in cs3 II this is the follow car yeah pretty much goes with me anywhere I go right so no matter if you're if you're a have a bag set up or cart set up this always comes yeah this is almost this is almost always there which is I've been reluctant to update this because and this is still was my first follow car when I first started as an Eng mixer you know I had was a bag I still had this a version of this cart with these type of drawers and I've been reluctant to change it because it fits in my vehicle perfectly now which is a Honda Element that was my next question do you have a huge production ban I don't and honestly in working my last two years have been B units and a plane so it really helps to have the flexibility to move my own gear absolutely and there's you know there's some shows where they'll come and pick up your gear at your house which is great and that's how Big Show's work but as a day player I have to have that flexibility to just show up there's anywhere on the day and as long as Transpo can give me a parking accommodation here the set and then I'm good that's also but this being able to take this with me on either bag rig jobs or carp jobs helps for me to not forget things yeah because it's I know it's packed here and I can grab one nd down the day I can roll it in with you this trigger that rig and I just don't forget things which is great yeah that's super helpful I don't rely on me to remember don't worry your mind is elsewhere on the important stuff yeah so this I had a Johnathan Lulu's designed this drawer and it's got you know backup backup mics in the sink in cs3 II with the semen or what this has the cement mount but it's the it's also for this Hanken but from sanella which are really great mounts they're really the only mounts I'd like to use I do have some k-tec mounts that are awesome that I've used for years those are my fall backs and I use them in certain situations this one's kind of a fun mic Oh what is that a kg ec 451 EB which is that EQ revision this was actually interesting head here yeah for the longest time this was my hi-hat Mike really drumset so yeah it would be normally it would be mounted you know here ish yeah and you know so we can handle a lot you can - pls i can use it for car sounds i can use it you know interior car it's easy to mountain and very easy to position i see from that swivel yeah the head is really that is very cool can we can we take the wig protection off yeah let's see oh look at that yeah so CK one capsule it's uh yeah it works really nicely I love it and I've had it like I said I've had it probably 20 years now are there more things that you brought in from your your music life to your sound mixer life like I know Mark you lana was your mentor for a long time and he's also a great musician so I don't know if that's maybe some influence that you picked up from him it was yeah it was we were definitely for the first few days we were two drummers talking about music talking about sex oh yeah but when it came time to learn the filmmaking process I mean he most of the education I got from him was not necessarily on the engineering side it was on the filmmaker side one of the things he told me was as a musician when you talk about guitar players you're gonna talk about you're gonna have reference points yeah Jimi Hendrix Eric Clapton you know my favorite Erik Johnson of Austin great guitar because when you describing tones and the creative direction you want to go those are the those are the influences that you're gonna mention is the filmmakers have those same references Fellini Truffaut all these different you know all these different movies that filmmakers refer to that influenced filmmakers and you need he his big thing was I needed to know those same reference points and so that was a lot of the community education I got from him was about set hierarchy communication how the information flows but also from the creative side you know you have to be on board with your director you have to know the story they're trying to tell and you're gonna bring your contribution to help make that happen but you have to know where they're going absolute have to know what their motivation is Sammy and it's all that storytelling you know you could have the best gear in the world we all know interesting it hammer nails exactly cool let's go back over to the drawer here sure so yeah so that's this you know a couple of replacement batteries and then we have some charging stations that's built-in velcro down this is velcro down an awesome what's funny is that when I'm day playing I typically am not using these because in the day playing mode I have maybe four or five different utilities yeah I'm into work and I used to be really anal about how things were set up and maintained in here especially when I was just doing Eng work by myself yeah but as I started working with more and more utilities on day playing jobs which are shorter in duration you know there would be a time where I would kind of go in after another utility after the job ended and and put everything back yeah but then I realize my doing this yeah the next utility is just gonna come in and I always I always tell them this is your cart now you organize it the way you want if there's something specific you need let me know I'll get it for you but for the most part let them I let them set it up to to where it's comfortable for them absolutely and so now it's whatever state it's in today is you know my last show I think yeah maybe it was l-word I forgot what it was but this is this is how it was left but but yeah he's that all these labels were put on by at Marissa Minh Paresh when she was my utility on a movie called valley girl loves MGM the feature was a musical retelling of the 1980s movie with Nicolas Cage so we'll hopefully see a release soon yeah she came in and that she came in and labeled everything that's humanly default label maker so I know it alright so this joy is the transmitter drawer in yeah can we pull this out and bring it to the top that would be wonderful yeah this is you know this was just my kind of crude way of keeping all these organized I'm thinking here right now I have eight transmitters and three of these plug on transmitters a couple of ATMs and one of the HMAS and the HMA is up there on that pole and do you run all electro Sonic's yeah electrics for wires so what what models do you have your transmitter is I'm curious to know what these are the SM SM WB green a one a single battery version so and then my older ones are just the regular SM SM B's and SN q B's so I like the I want to hang on to these because even though they're not the wideband they still have 250 milliwatts capability which these don't you know we go to 100 which for whatever rhyme or reason they did that they did that but these also or wideband and they have the ability to record if I don't want to transmit I can record on these as well I just know electro Sonics you could do that I thought that was exclusive does X come they can't it is exclusive to Zacks come they can't transmit and record at the same time that's that's what it is so it has the card in there I can set this up to record but I'd have to put another transmitter on there alright cool you know narrative coverage in Los Angeles you know the electro gear is very robust it's very easy to move as well yeah has a very a totally the learning curve is very easy mm-hmm so which is good because I really needed to focus especially in LA I focus on frequencies in RF absolutely coordinating yeah RF coordination especially and I think that's gonna be your Achilles heel so let's see what else do we have we got batteries for days yeah I use one a day playing attendees lithium batteries the transmitters if I'm on a series or a longer running show then I'll use the the rechargeables especially if it depends on the rapport with talent too if we clean it into a nice groove where they don't mind battery changes that kind of stuff then we'll use the rechargeable stuff but you do sometimes get the talent who's like you know once it's in their costume they don't want you in and out of there so I don't understand we'll have these there these are great for many hours yeah so sometimes it's just it's respecting their space it's having options and being able to give them the options but yeah so various clips beautiful more electro stuff this is all like I will occasionally run into stuff where I'm doing roundtable discussions or you know mics that are seen so these for all my sanctum perfect I have all the tight lips and one greatest rent so caps yeah win capsules that's an arm 11 oh yeah just little stuff like that but it helps to have it in the same place this one is another important one via Pisa yeah those are so easy to lose - screws here yeah so I have a you know you can go - it's so good to have replacements through those yams little ones that this is actually yeah these are still in here from my ng days you recognize those I think what would you use those for the rings on the g4 oh yeah yeah transmitter this is the ring that holds the the receiver you always have these handy yep you know to tighten these on oh and then it looks like you have more screws down there are those nails what are those rubber bands does somebody like them Oh beats me maybe these are maybe this was an ever thing I don't remember who Oh safety pins okay so two colors the safety pins you never know when you're gonna need a safety pin or a rubber band you know I trust that they were used certainly somehow by somebody there's there's also just you know everywhere everywhere yes you never know yeah when I was down there yeah there's replaceable you know I haven't more in tennis like three or four more down there just because I like to leave them attached and I shut the drawer and it's usually okay but I like to have extras absolutely just in case but you know Tweaker this is a comtex weaker there's you know the lecture of the lecture clip this is for the electro clip yep and also the lecture clip awesome so your setup and everywhere we've turned I feel like it there its simplicity you're not super Precious about where everything goes and how it goes and I you know I like keeping these batteries here because these batteries go with these transmitters so I only wanted to open up one drawer to do some people like to keep all their batteries together but yeah this is the transmitter drawer and you know more often than not if I'm if I'm if I have to park in a dodgy neighborhood yeah you know it's really easy to just pop this drawer out yeah say take it with me very impressive especially in LA at $1500 a transmitter times 8 yeah you're not gonna these are all 1,100 a piece there's three of them so you're talking about many tens of thousands of dollars sitting in this one absolutely this one thing so yeah so dodgy neighborhood I can just take this with me yeah and then put it right back in so this one is Labs basically sinking cos 11s a few countryman be sixes and yeah so those are you know these are the labs and the most commonly is mounting apparatuses that I have in here even have one of these shorties I would love this was it this is a no Sennheiser mic yeah they ended up cutting it short because I was working on a show that had a lot of puppeteers and we had to slate in really weird places so I would put electrode transmitter on the slate tape this to the side of the just late and I could record the slate clap from across the room and keep my my stuff on I love that yeah so it's you know it's a very mic that I didn't use much anymore so I was like cut it yeah so let's let's make that two of those morning closer let's look at some of these bits and bobs here so we have more do you mind if I just get in here yeah these are uh those are the clips for the B sixes wonderful and then we have some is this BB we have these are tech is that oh yeah this is a this is actually yes it's a it's a cover I don't know if it's about will be I don't remember who the brand is but it's a cover I can use them on just various plant Mike that kind of stuff which works there was a some car coverage where I had a white interior mmm this really helps beautiful you know some eels eels and then we have some what are these caps are these yeah these are the caps for the countrymen that's right and then the windscreens for the countrymen wonderful so keep those separate yeah so like I said all of this is in the state of the last show and let's see you have some labels here there were some labels some of these are outdated I can't remember if I did these are Emma did these but uh but this is you know red it's a red band saying yeah so red band meaning it's lower sensitivity which is great when you have screaming comedians and and it's you know black you know red band right with the black cable that was something I talked about with them Agamemnon you know yeah he's wonderful but you know he he gave us an example like you can't ask Robin Williams to just not do his thing and go scream and be Robin Williams and be hilarious so it's it's definitely important to have the different sensitivities nicely labeled you can just grab them and go right it's very clear which is wonderful and I do I do have other mics in other places you know I have actually two of these there's a smaller one that has me before yeah it's a quick grab thing you know I'm oh I always say we do I do artistic things with technical tools but so my brain is definitely more on the artistic side of man I could really honestly as long as the mic sounds good and it's flattering to the voice yeah I don't care the brand you know so for me it's kind of more about economics and yeah and just getting getting you know even a mediocre mic if it's mounted correctly yeah that I can I can get something with it yeah I can I can work with it I pulled off some pretty good miracles with you Sennheiser G twos what they're in me two mics they came with them yep you know for feature films shot on film you know with me working by myself or me working with a boom up that was you know but I did just fine with those and I didn't hear a single complaint from dialogue yet yes they could or filmmakers they could tell their stories and they didn't need to they didn't need to know that it wasn't a sinking it wasn't a yeah you know it was fine it really it's more about the approach it's more about how you integrate with the process is understanding sound and understanding placement absolutely it's a it's it's it's everything is depth and degree not too much of this not too much of that in you know you want to stay the in the end you want to stay emotionally connected to your character so so yeah there's there's that this is primarily Mike's this one is more mounting here into this so yeah they have this I don't even know what this is who makes this oh that's kind of Mike thank you yeah yeah I love those I have a couple of those myself they can be really perfect I'm touching my own migraine whoops yeah but this little the breast area right a little thank you yeah they're great for that area yeah yeah so I you know a lot of times when I'm when I'm gearing up for a show the utility that I'm working with I'll reach out to them and say hey are there any specific things you want me to buy and they'll give me a list and I'll make sure that we have it so awesome a lot of this stuff I hate to say I don't necessarily use it firsthand but my utilities do definitely so it looks like here you hide a mic stuff you have more hi to Mike back here these little tie and bra clips I love these as well what else does us think and make these no these are made by a company called optic optic and these are really great it's never used these this one's for this yeah for the Sinkin beautiful you can you put the Sinkin in there it's his big rubber mount I like to use it on suit jackets it really helps for some jackets there was as a TV show called SWAT that I do a lot of B units on they had one character that always were a blazer and so we would just mount this on the blazer they had a pouch in the back of the jacket ah yeah we're all ready to go she could just put it on and a subject who maybe doesn't want to be miked can be miked really well in a situation like that right wonderful Mike the jacket then they would take it to her and we'd listen to it so that I don't do the roll call I was already spooling up to shoot a take and it would sound fine and that must have required some back-and-forth between you and like the costume department or sure yeah yeah that was that's the thing about doing B units on shows like that there's usually an established protocol or workflow right that we have to figure that out which is different to you know from show to show and set to set yeah every show is a little different some some wardrobe departments are more engaged than others so we just have to feel that out yeah you know the standard arm the lemons yep we even have the good old sink in RM 11 mm-hmm cool oh yeah these are great these uh who makes these oh yeah fo v BB BB stickies for this exact model yeah Bobby's great and I have I have a couple of black ones as well I don't know whatever great and you have the little room the little fur patches here it's just yeah cling in to each other yeah this one's like an RM 11 with the furred oh yeah so some of them I see you leave like set up in a way somebody does yeah lol MC is this one we have some of the Earth's is sticky and I see you have a couple of there are so many mounts here yeah let's see I like these a lot oh they yeah those are great I think those for first sit-down interviews yeah stuff too that's that and I always have the clothes me on here good cuz yet that being knocked over what has had have gone through that before just the amount of money agency just sprawled across the floor is pretty fresh but no but both of these have little velcro pants on them so they stay right there and they don't move what else next headphones you know headphones this is all just headphones there's some some hush heels stuff in here good measure yeah a lot of halter technically yeah yeah it was really great there's a few that I just found online my boobies were like three or four dollar jobs yes you're always prepared for a how many context do you have 1700 yeah usually at 15 and then I have two that are private for the crew right okay so that's typically around what I have see we had a little more huh she'll step here what's behind that there hush heels this is a just write code stuff I think this is probably where they stored that oh yeah there's a lab snake yeah and more mystic supers always you know if we are geographically spread out yeah operator utility and myself and I'll have them wear a lab that I will just use to communicate back yes so this has a talkback feature on it no these are just regular laughs okay these are just oh it's less expense looking into the boom mic right yeah these are less expensive you know sennheiser mics that were returned innate it to to electro great and here's the Mk II it is a version of it yeah okay it's funny cuz it has the built-in windscreen yeah yeah so well that's perfect yes I do have the the push-to-talk mics as well you do I'm not really a big fan of using them yeah for one thing it pops a little bit when you hit it yeah very nice to hear but the other thing too is that you know when it comes to dealing with the set and solving problems sometimes I'll send a utility to ask for something and it's nice for me to hear the tone of that conversation yeah I just want to make sure that the utility is not getting too much pushback and for me to just be able to listen to that or check in on that conversation helps because then instead of the spending that time for the utility to come back to me and really try to real and we can characterize how the exchange happened that you're just there yes and I can I can I can hear it I can react and then we either change our plan or we move accordingly right and and then we just it helps it helps me keep track of the tone of the set comes this is a light thing usually for the set up these are contexts I have a few of my contacts actually loaned out to friends right now okay but there's a couple extras in here like these little mag melt antennas which is that the light yeah they allow me to plug a transmitter and maybe put it in the visor of a car yeah and then that antenna I can put onto here mag mount this to the top of the car oh that's really good it's the Internet all right yep yeah so these are great to have for that yeah in here this is huh what's that hand warmers Oh important sometimes you know oh and in this this cool little thing huh it's uh has a mount you can actually shove this into like a like a window sill something like that it really helps see and then you could put the mic on this is what I'm talking about the inventiveness of sound mixers yeah what about timecode what do you offer timecode here encode I have usually I have three of these tunic ET SES I love how they just fit in here perfectly I usually have three in here I could have one wound out to a friend of mine right now but bad hair it's a movie I did pick up some hmm the l-word so yeah oh and you've the jb ones as well yes the jb ones i really love i love these six what I'm using right now yeah let's see five of them yeah v jb ones even these pouches just to keep him from getting yeah messed up but they're really I loved any key really awesome to have they're tiny and they have a display which is great for straps yeah straps I actually keep I try to keep a few of these new in the package huh because every now and then you'll get talent that does not want something that's been used on somebody understands yeah so you know this one's actually looking a little worse for the wear but I do like that it's still package that's the most important part I'm if I'm starting a new show I'll make this part of the Expendables and I'll buy I'll buy you know half a dozen or so refreshing all of this and then but then also I will leave a few in the package so people know that George opening the front of that Iman absolutely no yeah and I love the color coding on her so the biggest thing for me especially if you're grabbing something really quickly yeah I know the others yeah neo packs waste yep you know there's yea orsa all the IRS's are here yeah the tools roar oh yeah outdoor softies yep this is another another omni goose Oh what should you know should have been in the other door this is a 48 volt phantom power so every now and I'll have to put a 250 ml a lot transmitter on the boom ah mm-hmm so I can velcro that here plug this into them what plug there boom into that why would you have to do that what situation would call for that longer range because the plug on transmitters are only 100 yep and so there's been not very many but a handful of situations where I need you know I need a higher power transmitter on them cool so I've used that I've used this for that because you know you can grab one of these you know I hear this this I mean oh I don't know it's actually a rig that Kelly would wear a lot yeah because she liked she liked having this on her belt and she always had the cable running she liked she didn't like having the transmitter on the pole for the longest time so but yeah so this is a good long-range rig plus you know I think she it was great because she could unplug her boom plug in a plant mic and then leave it wherever with the cable and just mount the plant mic and leave this somewhere off to the side yeah so now you have it Oh what is this the K Tech tadpole which is adorable it's a nice thing yeah a couple of different uses I mean you can shove this in the seat of a car and it's a plant mic that's true and you can bathroom stall setups places where you're cramped in closets you know the long stick is not gonna help you I gotta get a tadpole but just a surgical wrap exactly then there it is battery tester you know more Jo sticky stuff yes seemed like four cans of this so far around yeah you can never have enough yeah and then basic basic tools so you always have iPhone charging case oh yeah unto people always yeah cuz it's that's the thing I usually say at the production meeting when you go around the table and introduce yourself it's like I'm so-and-so I'm the gaffer I'm so-and-so I'm the DP and I go my name is Chris I record I have recharge iPhones while recordings and don't encourage it which is fine it usually gets a laugh so I know my place in the world the one XLR cable one long just in case just in case you never know yeah I agree I have one of those in my kit at all times as well yeah so in the boom pole holders a cup holder for your coffee and I had this little mass here in case I need to put a an antenna on it oh look at that we're mounting I can mount a light from it I can do anything so yeah this has been a really really good good card to have it's a rock and roller it's a modified rock and roller that has you know new wheels put on it yep and these halo braces to accommodate the bigger wheels but yeah it's it's been a workhorse and what I call the mini rake this is the this is the the narrative car that I've been using for a lot of my day playing being at work anything that requires quick adaptability to small spaces this is a cart that this actually used to be my bag rig I had many 411's with a 688 in a bag and then I realized you know what I'm never gonna carry this around and I had the 633 in that bag rig already going it was great yeah that's a lot of weight IKEA so this actually this rig came about in two phases the first phase was actually this top section which we called the tabletop rig and something that Jean Martin I we just talked about it and drew a little diagram and he custom fabricated this whole piece and in fact I can pull it out the whole thing started out just like this Wow so I could walk into a house put it down and I have 12 faders nine channels of receiving and two channels of transmitting and everything is there it's powered off of these batteries and then I also have a the PSC triple play so I actually have two of these batteries engaged in the triple play the third input is used for AC yeah so I can plug it into the wall and it will run on AC power or I can run it off batteries indefinitely these yeah these are the same batteries that use on the bag rig yeah so that's awesome adaptability exchangeability so three of those how long would that get you without having to swap depending on how many channels I'm using yeah what about full speed in monitors three four hours it's the bed and then I can and that's well that's what - yeah and then these are honestly just riding in here right now mm-hmm if I wanted to I could have this filled venue run off of this battery yeah this is actually a custom mod I was just gonna say it that's quite cool yeah this is a gene did that as well these these this is the electro Sonics field venue it came stocked with an NP one adapter here so you could put an NP one in it would power the whole unit gene actually you know installed basically installed one of these in there did a custom cut on the side and you know my beautiful labeling changed the label so it's beautiful but it's yeah it works really nicely so this allows me to manage the power if I'm not using these three receivers I could turn them off but it's nice to be able to have this many channels and be able to mix on faders as a mixer that is the key to this rig is for narrative mixing I want to have my hands on faders and I want to be watching a monitor so that's that's what this ring was designed to do but the fact that it comes off and can be a tabletop unit is so amazing but it's like another level of portability to the head right I was I was doing a string of commercials for a French eyewear company called a salute we were shooting in these Malibu beach side mansions that didn't allow any carts to come in so you see the front door and this very ornate entrance and camera carts lined up so I was able to just pick this up and walk right in and set it down on a table and and I can remote my antenna to where I needed to remote it to and I had full portability and was able to roll quickly that's awesome yeah so that's how this works and I did want a place to put it down on permanently so we gene and I ended up calling this the pedestal and and I wanted these extra 5/8 pins here so that I could when I'm sitting at it for an extended amount of time I can mount I couldn't have my laptop I can have my my monitors if I'm going to to camera shoot so yeah these these are really great robust little HD monitors yeah I could tilt them and you know have picture like I said have gene made this bracket to hold both of these and then I have another single as well oddly enough well in these are these are just half Rackspace with like you know digital media you know charging cables add my highlighters for the scripts lots of little doodads here my my ultimate ears oh nice so oh it's even got your logo on it look at that right so beautiful it's actually the group's logo not mine well yeah it's uh yeah that's always been my logo is actually the my signal your signature I do love that because right there side yeah that's always been my logo and this has always been the heli sound mixers think so Jean was nice enough to make these up and surprise me with them on the rig which is kind of cool but yeah and then this is just space to carry extra monitors this is a nice brick light with the daylight in tungsten and this arm actually will usually mount to here and the light mounts to here and the light comes out right over here just gives me a nice little glow on the front of the unit cuz it's all dark and when he could start key it's hard to see but yeah so that's it and your your phone holder and usually I can mount the Milwaukee right here with the antenna coming straight up and then I have the the walkie-talkie R I like to run the walkie through the system so that so that when we need to the crew we can all monitor it we kind of know when first team is walking yeah we know how long lighting mode is we know as things are spooling up to the take we can just monitor it that's not ready so I have a you know eleven and twelve dedicated as playback and these can all move around and it make it in time but for the most part 11 and 12 will be my playback and 10 will be the walkie and then 8 and 9 will be you know boom up in utility and and then one through seven or for the coverage and if I need to dip and ditty it you know receivers eight and nine for coverage that can do that at anytime so it's nice for a a really compact solution I mean the cart at its widest point without the monitors is 19 and a half inches which is just barely bigger than a rack space so that's from wheel to wheel yeah and I remember you told me a story about this cart you were able to fit inside of a coat closet recently for like it there was a 360 shot the camera was doing yeah just shows how small this cart is yeah we were at the El Rey Theatre on Wilshire and it was a Jay Pharoah movie called 20 minutes of fame I think and they were doing a 360 Steadicam shot in the main club room with a fight going on and and there was playback and I needed somewhere where I could see the cues and see where I am but close enough for the RF coverage but far enough and out of sight but yeah tiny little cook closet that was I mean it was small they couldn't fit anything in there nothing could fit in there except me so I fit in there and I was able to have the monitors up I was able to have this out and this is the the chair that I normally used for it so it's nice sure oh it's a rocking chair look at that it's a freestyle rocker roof which is great chairs are very important when it comes to mixing sounds because that this size honestly has been really easy I've carried this thing up flights of stairs because it just I mean it's so light it takes I can pull these drawers out and lightens the load even more absolutely so I've had and this guy it comes off to do it separately yeah and the nice big wheels I mean we've walked it upstairs and it's not hard at all yeah so it works really nicely the what the risers come off so that I can load it into the into the Honda that's awesome so it's nice to be able to move all of this on my own yeah and more often than not it helps me with a speedy wrap out as well and we all like that yes yeah what do you think should we should we load it into the car these are 8 foot telescoping ramps this this car has been really good for my rigs moving stuff and this is primarily one of the reasons there's a I think of 39 inch clearance in the back of this vehicle so when I bought my fellow card it was a regular rock and roller first thing I did was I sized it down to about 38 and a half inches so it would fit I could just roll it on without having to break it down which really works well so this whole car or fan right here put the wheels in and the beautiful thing is that I can use this Apple box as a spacer so now it's solid it doesn't move back or go ride right there he's that kind of pedal on the side do kind of a getting yanking here and then last thing is the chair here that's all they're done so everything fits and it's a quick load in and out hi this is your host Kim Kyle and I'm a production sound mixer and the u.s. brand ambassador for Ursa straps thank you so much for watching as we delve further into crystalline sound kit a huge thank you to Chris for being so generous with his time and sharing his knowledge with us this video was brought to you by Ursa straps and bird murmur remember to Like and subscribe so you can get notifications as we release new videos every week [Music]

Channel: URSA Straps

Views: 28,868

Keywords: sound devices, ursa straps, chris howland, how to record sound, film sound, lav mics, plant mics, equipment video, location sound recordist, production sound, sennheiser, zaxcom, lectrosonics, shure, ambient boom pole, timecode, deneke timecode, boom pole, sound guys, sanken cs3e, hide a mic, bubblebee, comtek

Id: K5v3vmGYie4

Length: 45min 25sec (2725 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019