Happy Holidays to everyone

It's the day after Christmas here in Southern CA.  Christmas day was a rainy and cold one for those who stayed here in town.  Today...it's about freezing outside, Kathy had to scrape the ice off her car this morning.  Personally...I love it...  Weather is good.

I'm happy to report that Glee is green lit to go into full series production.  We did the pilot in November, and plan to join the series as well.  Very much looking forward to the show.  It's a both a challenge and quite fun to work on a musical.

Sent off a bunch of wireless to Lectro to get checked out and updated.  Moving some blocks around due to the new FCC laws.  I was going to wait and see...but the break in work allowed me to do the change without effect.  Adding a Venue system to the main cart.  Also considering the new Sennheiser Circularly Polarized Helical antennae for the main cart.  Always looking to better my wireless performance.

Let's hope SAG hears the voices of reason and does not go on strike.

pwp

Slow December

Yes, it's a slow December on the work front.  November wasn't too much better, just a few days here and there.  This time of year is always a bit slow if you're not already on a project.  Makes for a conservative Christmas...which seems proper this year anyway.

It is leaving me a bit of time to tune up the gear package a bit.  Some repairs, finishing out the truck, and cleaning the gear are keeping me busy this week.

The last show, Glee, had so much playback that we were able to dial in a nicely packed playback rig using Pro-Tools LE, JBL Eons, speaker/power snakes, and a horizontal Magliner.  It was such a good set-up, quick and easy, that we are dialing it in for future gigs.  We are hopeful that Glee will be picked up for series this spring.  Putting the rig to work on a regular job.  

Also, I will be putting some microphones up for sale very soon.  2 full Schoeps systems, including 2 CMC6, 2 CUT 1, 2 MK41, 1 MK4, Collet cable, and mounting hardware.  And 2 MKH70's with Rycote Systems.  Details soon.

~pwp

new utility cart

As promised.  Here are some pictures of the new utility cart built by Brett Grant-Grierson.  He used square tube steel on this version.  Very sturdy and lighter than aluminum.

Already had it out on a few days of work and it's a great addition to the kit.  Not missing the old cart, fondly known as "the bus".

~pwp

November update

So much for my promise to keep things rolling on this blog...

Since Angels and Demons, my crew and I have completed a pilot for Fox television and Ryan Murphy Productions.  Ryan is the creator of Nip/Tuck and directed the pilot.  The pilot is called Glee, and hopefully will be making it's way to television this spring.  It is a musical comedy about the competitive world of high school Glee Clubs.  As far as the sound goes on the pilot, it was a challenge.  Thoroughly enjoyable experience, and totally different from any of the TV that I have done to date.  Thanks to John Kousakis for bringing my on board for this one.

I took delivery of my new follow cart mid-way through production of Glee. I didn't load it up for use until we finished, but have done so and have already worked a couple of days with it. It's awesome and perfect...  Finally.

I will post pictures as soon as I can get things together enough to do so.  I'm painting the shelving in my truck today, so I'm all out of sorts.  Perhaps I can get some pics up tomorrow.

Work is starting to wind down for the end of year.  It will be day calls and commercials till we get into the new year.  Sort of looking forward to the day call routine.  It's always interesting coming into something for a day here and there.

~pwp

Finishing Angels and Demons

We finish up Angels and Demons this week.  Actually 1st unit finished this past Friday, but we have 2 more days to shoot on 2nd unit.  It's been a great experience and we will miss the crew and production.  The movie should be great, so look for it next May.

No rest for the weary, as we start a pilot for Ryan Murphy beginning this coming Saturday.  We will quickly clean off the gear this week and begin filming this weekend.  It's a pilot that has a lot of local High School locations so we are filming a Wednesday through Saturday schedule for most of the show.  It's a pilot, so we will be done at the end of the month with only 3 and a half weeks of photography.

Brett is building my new follow/utility cart.  We should start seeing that in the coming weeks. It's about done with the main cart welding, pictures should be coming soon.

~pwp

Truck's done

Brett finished the interior of my sound truck a couple of weeks ago. Pictures are now up on this page.

E350 Spartan Truck

The last three pictures give you the finished interior views. Lots of shelving for cases and what not. Tie downs all over the place for carts. Work bench for solder, repair or whatever. And best of all...a lift gate.

We are finishing up Angels and Demons over at Sony this next week. Down to the last week and a half of filming. It's been a great experience. Look for it in theaters next May.

~pwp

Truck link

above link takes you to my .mac page.

~pwp

Top of Sept

We've got about a month to go on Angels and Demons. Lots more to do...

Things have come to a slow halt in feature production in Los Angeles. Thanks to the fears of another strike, the production of movies has been effected this time around. Last year we saw TV production come to a crashing halt with the writers strike, then months of no production. Movies were not as impacted by that strike, as the scripts for most movies had been locked and put away. It was much more of a TV strike. This go around has been much different. SAG has not come to any agreement with the AMPTP, but no strike vote or lock out has occurred. It's basically a stalemate at this point. I think things are starting to pick back up, as the possibility of a strike has diminished.

The new truck is being fitted with shelving and metalwork. I should get it back from Brett next week. Really looking forward to that.




Next up will be a new utility cart... More on that later.

updates...

Sorry for the long delay in posting... I get that way.

We finished up Swingtown right before the 4th of July. No news yet on a pick up or even a cancellation, so no news is good news at this point. The summer had one of the lowest amount of viewers in history I believe, so none of the shows got great ratings. We've yet to find out the decisions of CBS regarding the show's future.

Currently my crew and I, Patrick Martens on boom and Devendra Cleary as utility, are working on the 2nd unit of Angels and Demons for Columbia/Sony. We are just about mid way through filming and will complete in October. Very big show, wonderful actors and crew, lots of action...what can I say. It's been a great experience so far. Many thanks to my good friend Peter Devlin for bringing me on board.

The new truck should land next week (I hope). As soon as it arrives I'll start the interior prep and build, posting pictures along the way.

That's about it...

~pwp

Equipment truck version 2.0

As I've mentioned more than once, when you change one thing...you usually have to change a lot more just to make the new thing work. I think that made sense.

This past January we built my new sound cart which is much larger than the previous version. The resulting issue is that now neither the main cart and the accessory cart will fit in my current van anymore. I've had the GMC Safari for 10 years, and it's served me well. But now it's time to move to a much larger vehicle.

A new box van is in the planning stages and will be in production soon. More details to follow, but I can tell you that it will be nice to be able to stand up inside the truck and also have a lift gate. Can't wait for both of those things.

~pwp

saving Jericho....again

This past week Brad Beyer, who plays Stanley Richmond on Jericho, and I recorded some Voice Over for a new campaign to keep the show alive. The fans of Jericho are tireless in their endeavor to keep the show on TV. Brad and I had a great time recording the VO and are very happy to help out in the efforts.

Personally, I'd like to thank all the fans that have written in to the SaveJerichoAgain website with kind words and praise. I'm happy to help. Really.

Just a bit of trivia, Brad and I recorded the dialog on the stages that were used for Jericho. In fact Brad was about 20 feet from Gracie's Market (turned Trading Post) and almost exactly on the spot where Hawkins had his basement and "safe room". We thought it was fitting...

~pwp

Last weeks of Swingtown

We've been back in production on Swingtown since the end of March and we are nearing the end. There are just over 2 episodes left for production. Our premiere was this past week with a good showing and good ratings. The spirits are high here at Swingtown central. We are hopeful to find out something positive regarding the future of our show before we wrap, but that rarely happens. We'll probably find out our fate after we have shut down.

Keep watching Swingtown on Thursday nights at 10pm(eastern/pacific)-9pm(central) on CBS.

finally got an iPhone

Many that work with me on a regular basis have been baffled as to why I hadn't jumped on the iPhone wagon. In fact, there might have even been a bet as to whether I would have one on day 1. Much to everyone's disbelief...I waited until about 2 weeks ago. My Treo finally bit the big one and re-booted one too many times on an important phone call. It hit the ground, no I didn't throw it, after a miss cue out of my pants pocket and exploded into many pieces. It was all I needed to go to the Apple Store and snatch up one of the 16G hunkies from the shelf.

Oh yea... Can't believe I waited as long as I did. Very cool interface. Haven't gone down the Jailbreak path, and not sure if I will. Not unhappy with the ATT service as I thought I would...I couldn't even talk in my own home with Verizon. I was happy to find that ATT has FULL bars in my casa!

Very happy so far.... Sa-weet.

~pwp

updates

We've started Swingtown, back from the WGA strike. Production for the show began back on March 25 and we are already into our second episode since we kick back into production. Everything is going quite smoothly and we are all happy to be back to the grind. Swingtown will begin airing May 29 at 10pm. It's the slot right after CSI, so we are hopeful for a good carry over audience. The show is good, so all we need is viewers...

The new cart is working fantastic. Not much I'd like to change at this point as I'm still getting used to the design and footprint. We were out at Disney Ranch for a couple of days last week, so it had the rough ground test. It was really stable and performed just fine. Actually much better than my previous cart, which was a surprise. Very happy so far.

~pwp

Finished sound cart

The cart is done. Finished loading the gear this weekend. Just in time to load in for work this Monday. Here is the link to the whole process:

sound cart page




~pwp

Cart phase 1.5

I got the base back from powder coating this past Friday. I've reassembled the base structure..looks pretty good.

I'm in the middle of ordering and purchasing all the needed items for the gear assembly.

~pwp

Cart phase 1

I took delivery of the new cart this past weekend. Brett Grant-Grierson has done a great job building the base and platform for the SKB Shock Rack. I've put a page of photos together.

Sound Cart photos

Here is the assembly before the powder coat. The bottom supports for the base are steel, and are off getting coated black at this time.



Once I get the base back and coated, I'll assemble the gear and put up some new shots.

~pwp

New Cart in production

I've decided to move on from my PSC modified sound cart, which has been my main recording cart (off and on) for 9 years. It has become somewhat unstable due to the amount of weight that it must support. I sit a little too high for my liking, causing me to hunch over when I get tired..which is everyday and my back hurts regularly.

The new design will be a Shock Rack based cart with a platform designed around a vertical Magliner. Brett Grant-Grierson is designing and building the platform. Hopefully we can have it completed before he heads back to work on Medium...which is a couple of weeks off.

I'm sourcing all the parts today and hopefully will have them to him by this evening. The cutting and welding will begin immediately. Pictures to follow...

~pwp

New vertical follow cart completed

Sorry it took me a while to finish out this project, but it was the holidays after all.

The cart is completed with three rack drawers containing microphones, wireless transmitters and related gear, Comteks and IFB's, mic mounts, etc. The bottom bin is for extra gear and spare batteries, etc. The top deck has small bins for primary batteries, and 2 IPower 9volt chargers. The back has hooks for 2 Rycotes that have Sanken CS3e's.

This was my first sound cart, and had been sitting in my garage for about 8 years. It was a recycle job. This new/old cart will fit nicely behind my main cart inside my GMC Safari van. Bye Bye to the Rubbermaid!









~pwp