Questions from my Mixer/Boom Op

[_Rok_]

I took some good advice from this board, and if nothing else my little project will have great sound. I'm exchanging emails with a very experienced Mixer/Boom Op, and I don't know what he's referring when he says "tunable" & "frequencies" (see below).

"I have a variety of radio tools: radio mics, Comtek monitors and others. Most are tunable. Do you want frequencies?"


NOTE: I know the shoot is getting close because I've pretty much stopped sleeping, and when I do the dreams are beyond bizarre.


Thanks everyone.

- Thomas

 

[CraigL]

I took some good advice from this board, and if nothing else my little project will have great sound. I'm exchanging emails with a very experienced Mixer/Boom Op, and I don't know what he's referring when he says "tunable" & "frequencies" (see below).

"I have a variety of radio tools: radio mics, Comtek monitors and others. Most are tunable. Do you want frequencies?"


NOTE: I know the shoot is getting close because I've pretty much stopped sleeping, and when I do the dreams are beyond bizarre.


Thanks everyone.

- Thomas

My first impression is that he's asking you if you're using any specific frequencies for wireless gear already. Most (some?) wireless gear can be configured to operate on different channels, or frequencies. If you're currently using any wireless gear, you'd want to know what frequencies they operated on so you knew you could find sufficient distance between them to reduce the chances of any sort of interference.

Tunable implies to me some sort of fine-tuning, but I think that he probably just means selectable?

CraigL

 

[Alcove Audio]

Tunable = Selectable

He is telling you that his wireless gear is frequency agile; he can select which frequencies the gear will use.

 

[_Rok_]

Thanks for the help.

Mixer/Boom Op is hired. He came highly recommended. An A-lister who's occasionally willing to do a small job.

FYI, he didn't come easy though. He read the script, had several relevant questions and then interviewed me to confirm I had a real plan.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

"I have a variety of radio tools: radio mics, Comtek monitors and others. Most are tunable. Do you want frequencies?"

As Alcove and Craig said, basically he has mixed the order of his words in his question. He meant, "What frequencies do you want?". There could be two reasons why he is asking this question. One is as Craig has said, to work with any fixed radio frequency equipment you might already have and 2. Different countries and regions have different bands of radio frequencies which are allocated for public use, using anything outside that band would be illegal. Depending on the size of the frequency band and the number of people/businesses using it, it can be very useful to be able to switch to different frequencies.

I remember visiting a shoot on location in London where the radio frequency of all the equipment had to be changed in the middle of the shoot because a taxi company's broadcasts to it's drivers started breaking through. So having wireless equipment where you can change the frequency can be a life saver, especially in a major metropolitan area with crowded airwaves.

G