Commercial Audio: Extend Your Pole 2 Feet!

Last week, I worked on a television commercial as the Sound Mixer. I was excited to try out some of my new gear. I had upgraded some of my sound kit not too long ago by adding a 12 foot carbon fiber boom pole and a blimp.

I loved my old boom pole since it was the lightest and most comfortable pole I've ever used. Although, I hand made it a few years ago so it's a bit delicate and I wasn't sure I'd be able to find replacement pieces if it were to break. So, I got a carbon fiber boom pole which is supposedly the lightest material professional boom poles are made from. So, I expected it to be lighter than my handmade pole, but it's definitely not. Either way, a little exercise didn't kill a boom op, plus it's a few feet longer than the other pole I still have as a backup. It's got a real comfortable feel despite the added weight though and the blimp certainly helps with outdoor sound.

That blimp really adds some weight at the worst part possible of the pole, but of course, if I don't need to use the entire shell, softie, etc, I don't have to. For indoor shooting, I decided to attach my shotgun mic to the blimp, but not use the shell or softie and just use the blimp as a long shock mount.

This was also only my second shoot using my new recorder, Tascam DR 680. It's so nice to have a recorder that can satisfy all my available mics if needed, and have control over each input/track on the recorder itself. I put all these to use on the commercial last week, with the exception of the blimp shell and softie since we were indoors all day. It was an easy short day for audio, but I can't say I had any fatigue from the pole.

Off topic, that location had the most ballin' public restroom I have ever seen on a college campus. It was an honor and a privilege.