new follow cart for day calls

My dilemma: The follow and accessory cart that I have been using for the last couple of years is a rather huge, six drawered behemoth that has the nickname of "the bus". When doing day calls and commercials I have to use my GMC Safari van, which completely rules out it's use. I can't even get this cart through the back doors of the GMC, and even if I could...it could kill me at any moment. In years past I have used a Rubbermaid cart fashioned with three drawers, hooks for the Rycotes, pole mounts, etc.

My mission is to make a vertical cart into a usable accessory and follow cart. Haven't seen anything that I like in this realm, so it's a good project. I've got lots of time thanks to the WGA strike, and several carts to steal parts from in the garage. It will be a recycle project as well... More to come.

~pwp

strike movement??

A couple of things have happened in the last days that show some positive movement in the continuing WGA strike. First, welcome to the Directors. It seems the DGA is not thrilled with the continued effect the strike is having on it's members, and has chosen to begin its negotiations in January regardless of the status of the WGA situation. This has the effect of saying, "the directors have arrived". If a deal is sealed by the DGA for it's upcoming contract negotiations, the pressure will surely increase dramatically for the WGA to follow suit. The next thing that has so many talking is the Late Night hosts have decided to return to the small screen in January regardless of the WGA strike efforts. This shows the support for the strike has eroded in some circles, specifically all those NOT part of Worldwide Pants (The Letterman owned production company). WWP has lined up an interim deal with the WGA to allow his writers to return to work. The other shows, Leno/O'Brian/Kimmel, all will be without WGA support at this time. The ratings have sloped to all time lows, and their long term future is apparently in jeapordy. I guess this would be the only reason to return while the strike is still on.

The best source for strike information, Deadline Hollywood Daily. I don't always agree with Nikki, but she gets all the info and lays it out there. She's totally on top of it, and she's the new industry trade as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/

Please negotiate

The arrogance of the negotiating teams for the WGA and AMPTP is astounding. As I sit, almost all of my friends in the business of Television and Film Production have lost their jobs. A select few have found jobs on features that will carry them through the holidays, and perhaps the toughest part of the strike. The ripple effect is being felt throughout the community. My next door neighbor has seen a decline in business at his work place. There have been lay offs at restaurants around the studio sites due to no lunch and dinner crowds. Crew folk like myself are not shopping for the holidays. Charitable donations have all but ceased, food banks and toy drives are empty.

All this is from the greed of a very select few people who already stand to make a very good living from their job of choice, even with the previous contract. The new one, even if it's the one the the AMPTP would like to see, will certainly show some sort of increase in the average income of the ABOVE average salaries.

It's very true that many, if not most of the writers in the WGA do not make a substantial living from their efforts. The large part of the income is garnered by a select few individuals who have had the fortune of writing successful projects. But I must stress an earlier point...it is a job of choice. No one is holding anyone down and forcing them to be a writer. For most, it is a vocation of passion, and art. And with any luck, you can make a buck.

But now...the entire industry is being held hostage by the negotiating team of the WGA. Pull yourselves together and go back to the table. Clean slate...no demands. Negotiating is not about demands, it's about give and take. Start over from the beginning and save our jobs.

Just my opinion....

~pwp

Jericho air date - 2/12

We have an air date! Season 2 of Jericho will begin on February 12 at 10pm. Our lead in show will be a new season of Big Brother.

The WGA strike has effectively shut down the fall season of TV shows. Nearly all shows have shut down, or are in the process of doing so at this point. It looks like a bleak holiday season if you are in our business. Since the talks have broken down, support for the striking writers is becoming more fragile. I expect that support to erode substantially as we head through the holidays. My hopes are high for a good WGA contract, but the price for that contract seems to be the jobs of so many.

It's up to the Jericho Rangers now. Get the word out. Let's get the viewers in front of the TV's. The ratings are more important now than ever. It's a whole new ball game to get a season 3.

~PWP

Swingtown...down for the strike

This past Tuesday was our last day of photography due to the current dispute between the AMPTP and the WGA. We had high hopes of continuing production, but we were cut short due to lack of prepared scripts. At lunch on Tuesday, lay off letters were issued to each crew member. We knew it was coming, but I've never actually received an official lay off letter. That's a first.

This coming Monday, November 26, the two sides have reported that they will begin negotiations again. Many things could happen, so I will reserve my predictions. My hopes however, are the swift end to this strike, a compromise and agreement to return back to work. Thousands will suffer the consequences of this strike this holiday season, which is tough already due to the economy.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. Cross your fingers and lets send good wishes to the negotiators, in hopes that an agreement will be made.

~PWP

A short ending

We are now mid way through shooting episode 103 of Swingtown, and due to the current WGA writers strike we will be shutting down production next week. We got off to a pretty good start, but alas...the disagreement between the studios and the writers will put a quick end to our production schedule. This will put some 140 or more of us out of work.

Let's all hope cooler heads will prevail, and the negotiating will begin again. It seems there is no talking at this point...which many of us do not understand. It seems, at least to me, that if you want a contract that you like...you must negotiate to get it. There is so much more at play than I or any of those I work with understand, but now we are out of work because of it. We are now the casualties. Many of us in the industry cannot afford a long lay off, as we do not make the salaries of the executives or the select few writers who make most of the money. We are the working class, the labor, the engine that keeps the shows on the air, in the theaters and I guess now on the web.

Please, lets get back together and hammer out a deal!

~PWP

Pre-Production of Swingtown

We have several phases of production in the film and TV world. Pre-production, everything before the camera starts rolling. Production, everything while the camera is rolling. And Post-production, which is everything after the camera stops rolling. There is actually more, but that's the gist of it all. There is more...but not something I will go into any detail.

Right now, we are less than a week away from beginning production and principal photography of Swingtown. This is a freshman series that will be a mid-season replacement on CBS for the 2007-2008 season. We're looking at a January(ish) start for Swingtown. We don't know the dates or time because we are waiting to see what new shows don't fulfill the networks dream of success.

Pre-production for a me as a sound mixer is a lot of things. Equipment cleaning, updating my gear if possible, meetings, and getting in as much rest as possible since our days will be long. The gear is in pretty dusty and dirty shape after Jericho, so I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning the main recording cart. Today will be the follow and accessory cart. Lots of new wireless to program and label, as I've updated all my transmitters.

Swingtown looks as though I will get a bit of a reprieve from the dusty farms of Jericho. Our new show takes place in Chicago, so it looks like urban locations for the next 5 or more months. I welcome that aspect. The farm was incredibly dusty and difficult on the crew and myself.

I look forward to giving some updates as we start production next week.

Lectro transmitter upgrades

I've wanted to do this for some time now, and with the new SMa mods now available for the smaller SM transmitters it seems now is the time. I'm upgrading all my UM transmitters to the SMa model. It's an expensive transition, but the size, weight and performance benefit makes it a worthwhile expense. The boom rigs will stay as UM's but I am upgrading to the UM450, 1/4 watt version.

I'll report later on the transition.

We start Swingtown at the end of the month, so it's clean up and upgrade time.

~PWP

Wrap on Jericho season 2

That's it! We're done with principal photography on Jericho season 2, all 7 episodes. It was a crazy, long, and emotional last week of filming.

Thank you to everyone at Jericho and CBS for helping us out. And to all the fans for their support and dedication, which is why we came back for more.

It's rest time for me and my crew. We have about a month off before we embark on another project....more on that in another post.

Time to clean all the Jericho dust off of everything....

Tomorrow is the release of the Season 1 box set of Jericho. There is a lot there, behind the scenes, all the episodes, interviews, etc. Go pick it up... Thanks for listening.

~PWP

Mini rig in action

For those sound mixers out there who daily do the bag rig deal, this probably seems like a strange post. However, those of us who primarily spend our days sitting behind our sound carts...this is a pretty big deal. I put together this bag rig as a totally separate recording system for when I have to jump in a car, on an insert vehicle, top of a building, down on the beach...you get the idea. Anywhere the cart is a difficult operation.

These past 2 episodes of Jericho have been really rough and tumble. Lots of difficult locations and situations. I've been able to do these things by having this rig ready to go at any time. I just burn a different sound DVD for these situations. It's working great! Redundant receivers for the mini rig, allow for the seemless transition to my cart when we jump back to normal operations, as we did here. As soon as the dialog was complete in the vehicle...we continued the scene outside.



~PWP

Ep 6 almost in the can...

We are on the last day of photography for episode 6 of Jericho season 2. Scott Peters has been our director for this episode, and done a fine job with so little time to tell a story.

Scott is most known for his work as Writer/Director/Producer of the popular series 4400. Also quite a bit of work on the series The Outer Limits. Don't worry Jericho fans....we haven't jumped the shark and gone to the Aliens did it. But that's a good leap...

We have one episode left before we put the show to bed once again. It will be up to the fans once again.

Buy the DVD box set please. I believe there will be quite a few extras such as commentary, behind the scenes, etc. in the DVD package.

~PWP

Going green - using rechargeable batteries

This season of Jericho I decided to try and cut down on my waste of one use alkaline and lithum batteries. We would go through a bucket of batteries every couple of weeks under normal operation. The wireless transmitters, IFB receivers, sync boxes, TC slates and many other items all use 9 volt and AA batteries. So I have given it a try and I am very pleased with the results.

For 9 volt batteries, I have been using the IPower Lithium Polymer battery system. The batteries seem to last longer than your average alkaline and on par with the lithium single use battery. The accompanying chargers are called smart chargers, due to their conditioning ability of the battery. The battery is drained and charged properly to ensure a longer and more reliable life. There have been a couple of batteries that had strange behavior. Specifically, showing full charge but having absolutely no voltage when metered. When put back on the charger, they still show full charge. Then taken off the charger, they might show max voltage...or not. Apparently the internal circuitry is at fault here, and the battery is no good. I've sent back a couple. These are easy to single out, and I've replaced them. I also had one charger that was quite flakey. It would sometimes light up when a battery was placed on charge, and sometimes not. That one got swapped out too.



The AA batteries are Duracell NiMH 2650mAh batteries, and again have better performance than the comparable AA alkaline battery. The chargers are the Maha MH-C801D eight cell charger. These work very quickly and produce a lot of heat. If you try and grab a battery off the charger right as it's done...you'll get burned. They are really hot!!



We keep 16 9 volts and 32 AA batteries in circulation. I hope to add some more Ipower 9 volts soon, to start using them in all the comteks as well. I've cut down on my disposable battery usage by at least 50% since starting this season. The results have been much better than anticipated.

~PWP

Jericho ep. 5

We are a few days into episode 5 of season 2. Guy Bee is our director for this ep. Guy was our director for "Rogue River" and "Coalition of the Willing" last year. A seasoned veterin of the Jericho family. Very happy to have him for another great, action packed episode.

It's time I did another equipment related post, so tomorrow I'm going to try and put something together about my new rechargeable battery systems. Boring as it may seem, it's part of my world.

~PWP

Jericho season 2.....halfway

This past Friday marked our halfway point in production of season 2. Sadly we have only 7 episodes to film this season, but all of us hope that these will lead to a longer and full season 3 next year.

Friday we were out at the Farm once again. The dust and seemed more than usual...not too sure why. Maybe the water trucks weren't running full steam or something.

Our director for this episode has been Steve Gomer. Steve directed one of our best episodes from last season, "Heart of Winter". At least this episode doesn't have the wind, snow and cold weather we endured for his last season.

Cheers to Jon Turtletaub, Karim Zreik and Dan Shotz for signing their deal with CBS/Paramount for more TV projects in the future.

~PWP

Sunset at Richmond Farm

Here is a photo taken from our set out at Big Sky... aka. Richmond Farm. I think that's our Fire Safety Officer enjoying the sunset.




~PWP

Jericho 2 .... mid week 4

Not too much to report at this time, just wanted to touch base. We've been putting in some long hours...which is pretty normal for TV production these days.

We've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks on stage, which has been welcome since the heat here in So. CA has been pretty intense.

I'll try and have a more detailed update soon.

PWP

interview on Jericho Monster

Here's a link to an interview with me on the blog Jericho Monster:

Thanks...

PWP

Jericho 2 .... End of week 2

It's Friday here on the set of Jericho. We've spent the last couple of days out at the ranch getting dusty. Glad to be back in the air conditioning.

Thank you to all the Rangers and fans who have posted comments and sent shouts through BlogCatalog. It's great to hear from all of you.

The weather is supposed to cool down a little this weekend, and on into next week. That should make our exteriors much easier to handle. It's still better than last season, when the temp got up to 115 out at the mine while we were filming episode 2. That was miserable.

Someone sent me a note asking to give a bit of a Job Description of what I do. I'll start putting that together.

For the sound folks out there... I put the mini-rig together and it's working great. No more dragging the cart into impossible locations or ripping everything apart for insert cars. The mini-rig consists of a Sound Devices 442 and 744T, 3 Lectro 411 receivers, 1 Comtek M216, and an Ambiet Lockit. All powered by a Remote Audio BDS and NP1. Here's a pic:



Hope everyone has a great weekend.

PWP

Jericho 2....day 7

Well...thanks to the Jericho Rangers and BlogCatalog, I no longer have to wonder if anyone ever reads this blog. Thanks for all the comments and shout outs.

Yesterday was quite a day, long and hot. We started the day at 6am, pretty normal for a Monday here in LA...but it was a 14 hour day and I rolled in my door at about 8:30 last night. Exhausted and it's only the first day of the week.

The cast and producers went to ComiCon this past Sunday and we heard the stories. It was an amazing turnout to the panel. They were absolutely blown away by the response and fan support. The fans really own the show. If it weren't for all of you out there, we would all be doing something else this year...but Jericho lives. Lennie gave me the run down of all the questions, the cheers, the Rangers...he's hilarious. We laughed...and watched more YouTube Jericho videos. Yes, we watch them...

We complete episode 201 today, with 202 coming right on it's heals. Back out at the farm on Wednesday. Hot...

PWP

Jericho begins

Still have no idea if anyone ever reads this thing...

We started photography for Season 2 of Jericho this past week.  Lots of changes in the crew, as many left for other shows at the notice of cancellation.  We have an entirely different Camera, Grip and Electric department.  The show is looking great and we have some great stories developing for the fans that brought us back.  We hope they are as excited as we are.

This past week found the crew deep in a ravine, yet again.  Very rough terrain with no real level ground.  My sound cart was doing okay, but I think it would have been a lot easier to just do the mini-rig that I have been thinking of building.  The mini-rig will consist of a SD 442, SD 744, 3 radios, and a Comtek transmitter all in a Petrol PEGZ1 bag.   So, I put the order in and should have it for our next trip down the rough road.

Here's something for our Jericho fans:

NT2 and the water...

We only had 5 days to complete on National Treasure 2, though they were a very difficult 5 days. It consisted of 6 actors being close to neck deep in rushing water delivering 6 pages of dialog. We gave up on radios right off the bat because the packs would be below water level, and the rushing water would dowse the mic capsules immediately. We opted for two booms, bagged up as best as possible to keep dry. Not much kept dry.  On day 3 we lost both boom rigs to the water, with 2 MKH50's going under. The booms were wireless, so the transmitters went too.  A heavy day for loss and damage.  We also lost a Time Code Slate somewhere along the way. I'm probably no friend to the production accountant right now.

All in all we recorded a pretty good guide track for the sequence.  The rushing water noise, along with the pumps, shouting crew, etc. didn't make for an ideal recording situation.  

My crew really dug in and did their best to get the best tracks possible. Thank you to Robert Maxfield on boom, and Patrick Martens and Jeff Zimmerman as Sound Utility. Great job guys.

Now, I've got to get all this stuff cleaned up for Jericho. We start production in less than 2 weeks.

PWP

SF for the Weekend & finishing up NT2:Book of Secrets

Went for a quick weekend trip to San Francisco, which is close to an impossibility.  A quick weekend trip anywhere is very difficult these days with the state of air travel.  And a trip for only 2 days to San Francisco is almost futile.  Well, we tried it and had a good time.  Though quite a bit rushed to do just about everything.  Had a couple of good dinners, and did some shopping around Union Square.  We stayed at a very swanky boutique hotel called Hotel Diva on Geary street.  The first night almost killed the entire weekend.  I booked the trip through Travelocity, which meant that I had no input as to where or what our rooms might be.  We ended up with a room directly on top of the truck delivery and trash pick up.  Also right in front of the Geary Theater which is the current home of Jersey Boys.  The noise was unbelievable.  We were about to check out at 3 am and head to the airport to hop on a plane back home, when they offered to "upgrade" us to a more pleasant room.  Well...the new room had a bigger bed, a desk lamp that actually turned off without unplugging it, no street noise, and a clock radio that was actually plugged in.  Disaster averted by the night desk clerk.  We enjoyed the rest of our stay very nicely in the swanky, Euro styled Hotel Diva, which had very cool internet lounges on almost every floor.  My suggestion if you plan to stay there....call ahead and ask for a room as far away from Geary street as possible.

Tomorrow I take over sound duties on National Treasure:Book of Secrets.  There is only about one week left of production, but they have gone over and the mixer had to leave for previous engagements.  Looking forward to working with Jon Turtletaub again.  We worked together on Jericho for quite some time.

PWP

IA 695 meeting and discussions

Went to the quarterly union meeting today and was saddened by the turnout.  We didn't make quorum, so it ending up being an informal gathering.  No business could be conducted.  Though we had lively discussion on a few subjects for over 2 hours.  One interesting thing was a brief mention on the looming contract negotiations between the Producers and the Writers Guild. The possibility of strike being the most feared outcome of those negotiations.  Several members feel that it is all talk and they will come to an agreement, while others are shouting "save your money, we're going down".  I'm trying not to buy into the fear of strike movement at this point, as I see that many productions are going on business as usual.  The fear was that production companies would start to stockpile shows in order to have a backlog of material when and if the strike happens.  In years past, this has created a 'de-facto" strike, as the strike never happened...the backlog of shows caused a long pause in production.  The end result was the same thing, many folks didn't work because of the backlog.  It seems to me that this is not happening this time, which could be good if the parties reach an agreement.  If they go on strike, the whole town will feel the heat.  I for one hope everyone holds their head up and comes to an agreement.

Bag Rigs

I don't really do the run and gun video shoots very often, and the reality gigs are not for me. But occasional documentaries, interviews and the odd day call are interesting for me. I've always had a bag ready for these sort of things, but lately I've wanted to upgrade it to a more useful rig. With the guidance of a few mixers who do this sort of thing on a regular basis, I went for the Petrol PEGZ1 bag rather than the old stand by Porta Brace. The end result was a nice and comfortable bag rig, that can be modified to do whatever I need to do.

In video mode, this rig contains:
Sound Devices 442
2 Lectro 411 receivers
2 Lectro 200 transmitters for camera hop
1 Comtek M216 transmitter
Remote Audio BDS power distribution with NP1
Transmitters, Lav mics and accessories.



My plans are to use this same bag as my mini rig for recording when needed. I will replace the contents of the upper pocket, the receivers and transmitters, with a Sound Devices 744T. This will be my rig for insert cars, tops of buildings, the occasional bus and train type of shots. Anywhere that the cart can't make the trip.

~PWP

Day calls and rechargeables

Starting to get quite a few day calls for coming up. I actually quite like doing commercials and day calls, as it allows me to meet so many more people. Last week it was toy commercials, this week it is dog trainers and 2nd unit on a big feature. We don't start back on Jericho till mid/late July, so it's good to keep the income going.

I'm going to try some rechargeable batteries this coming season. The new iPower Lithium rechargeable systems have been getting good reports. I'm going to try them on my wireless boom and IFB rigs, as well as my standard UM400 belt packs. Not sure what I'm going to do with my SM packs yet. The SM's and my slates use AA's, so I'm doing some more investigation. I'm trying to limit the big footprint of a bunch of plastic battery chargers and wall wart power supplies. I hate that... More reports to come on this.

~PWP

Jericho Lives!

It was amazing. Close to 25 tons of peanuts, endless phone calls and emails to the network. The largest fan and viewer revolt in TV history worked. Jericho will return to CBS sometime this fall season with at least 7 new episodes. The network will watch this VERY closely, so hopefully the fans will turn out. If there is success, perhaps a season 3. A long shot at best, but that's what the show is all about, survival. Cheers to all the fans who stuck with and supported us.

Thank you to www.nutsonline.com

On the work front, some more days of National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets as they are nearing the end of their schedule. 2nd unit is picking up the leftover bits and pieces. I rather enjoy that sort of thing. Lots of stunt work though, waiting around, etc. All good...

~PWP

updates

Been a bit of a slow summer, but things are picking up a bit. Did some 2nd unit work over on National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets, a couple of commercials and the NFL Rookie Premiere for the NFL Network.

The campaign to save Jericho is now called the biggest viewer revolt in television history. Check out www.nutsonline.com to see the up to date pound count of nuts sent to CBS. It's absolutely awesome to see the fan support of our show. We only wish that CBS would acknowlege the fans, but that seems a long shot. Keep this up! They have to listen eventually!

Really feeling the need to get a bigger vehicle to haul all my gear around. Doing the day call routine has required using my GMC Safrari van. I bought the thing way back in '99, when I had a few cases and a small sound cart...my things have changed. If I don't end up on a series for the coming season, I am considering a Sprinter van. I will have more than enough room in the Sprinter, and not have to fold my cart down for load. Not to mention the ability to stand up when I load and unload the equipment. My good friend Frank Menges has tricked out a Sprinter quite well for a sound package...very interesting.

Updated the website yesterday. www.palmeraudio.net It was looking a little old and Windows Front Page like, as that's how it was created. I've since moved over to the Mac camp, and used Freeway Express to quickly create a simple and effective site. Freeway is a really easy program...after the 3 tutorials you can get right down to business.

~PWP

I've been entertaining the idea of putting together a smaller, "mini rig", as a stand alone for insert cars, boats, busses, rooftops, or wherever the main cart can't make it. This would not be a bag rig type of set up, that's something else...and another topic.

This would have to be a mixer, recorder, 2 to 4 wireless receivers, Comtek and Lectro IFB's. Something nice and tight, that could stay built and be ready for use when the main cart is still set up.

Thoughts please...

Thanks to all those who helped me out this season. We had a lot of help both on and off the set. Thanks to Location Sound Corporation and Coffey Sound for their usual support. We had a lot of crew come and go throughout the 9 months, and I really appreciate all of you. We don't know if we are up for a season 2, so cross your fingers.

I'm taking some much needed time off, then getting back in the game. I should be ready for day work and whatever else beginning April 23. My van will be ready for day calls...so there you go.

~PWP

Looks like Zaxcom has figured out the problem with my DEVA, and potentially the problem of many early generation units. The first of the DEVA IV and V units that were shipped with the internal DVD-RAM drive had a 2X drive. The newer media that is available for use is 3X and 5X, with higher speeds on the way. The older drives had problems with the mounting and stability of the newer media speeds. With the install of a new UJ-85J drive, the unmounting and non-responsive drive issues have gone away. I've had the drive back for 3 days now, and things seem to be very stable. I'm running version 3.39.

Let me know if you're having strange DEVA behavior, I might have some insight.

~PWP

Pure sad blogging activity. I'm really bad about this. I promise to try and do better this year...

We've got about a month to go here on Jericho. Winding up the season with a lot of action...

Been having a lot of difficulty with my DEVA lately. The DVD-RAM drive has been very unpredictable and unreliable. Considering this is the method of delivery for the entire system...I consider this to be of great concern. The main problem is that the drive tends to un-mount the DVD-RAM periodically, rendering the drive unresponsive and useless until I power cycle the machine. This has been happening intermittently since I purchased the DEVA, but lately more frequent. Then all of sudden, the drive would not recognize any disk, by any manufacturer, or any speed. The common response from both the vendor and the maker of the machine has been, "it must be the media". I would think that, if the same media didn't work in other machines by other manufacturers, such as the Sound Devices 702T. This is not the case. The media works fine in other systems. I have also spoken with several other mixers who are experiencing the same symptoms and problems. Mine is finally going back to Zaxcom for service...let's hope it doesn't sit on the bench too long.

More to come on this matter...

Got a new console at the end of 2006. I'm now mixing on a Cooper 208D. A beautiful sounding mixing panel. I can't believe I waited so long to change over. I'm running all 10 channels on the DEVA, using the digital outputs for the master tracks and all eight iso tracks are running in analog. So far....so good.

Starting to look for work! Oh my...haven't done that in a while.

~PWP