Jim Feeley on Year-End Bargain Tools

For years I thought the word "prosaic" meant something that approached the quality of good poetry, with perhaps a little 19th Century British countryside or Jane Austen tossed in. The true definition is more mundane, as in factual, dull, unimaginative, everyday, ordinary. But I for one don’t consider "everyday" to be pejorative. Herewith is a collection of everyday tools that make my job easier and my work more creative. They may not be sexy, but they certainly aren’t unimaginative.

While the images generated by handheld camcorders continue to improve, the ergonomics remain terrible. Shooting with handheld camcorders quickly becomes a pain in the arm and shoulder.

The Davis & Sanford Steady Stick Compact (available through Tiffen) shifts camcorder weight from arms to hips. One end attaches to the bottom of your camera and the other rests in a belt holster you wear around your waist. The Steady Stick isn’t a replacement for a Steadicam system, but it makes handheld shooting smoother and less fatiguing. The Steady Stick Compact lists for $180, but the street price is much lower. www.tiffen.com

An alternative is a monopod with a small tilt head. Several companies make monopods; Manfrotto (sold by Bogen in this country) makes dozens and also sells a $15 belt pouch that makes a collapsed monopod something like a Steady Stick. Matched with one of the company’s small tilt/swivel heads, an aluminum or carbon monopod costs about $70 to $200. (For more about the technology behind tripods, see our special section beginning on page 25). www.manfrotto.com

The gold-standard dialog mic remains a Schoeps CMC6 preamp coupled with an MK41 hypercardioid capsule and a Cut 1 low-cut filter. Smooth and silky, the Schoeps carries a gold-standard price of over $2,000.

This year I found two mics that come close to the solid-gold sound of a Schoeps, but ask only a gold-plated price. Even Schoeps users may like these mics for situations like gunshot scenes where one wouldn’t want to risk ruining their beloved Schoeps.

The Audix SX1/HC and Audio-Technica AT4053a are both hypercardioid condensers marketed primarily as studio microphones. But both work great mounted to the end of a boompole, especially on interiors. On axis, they sound great. Off axis, they sound quite nice, though not as smooth as the Schoeps. The mics’ $600 list prices aren’t exactly cheap, but both are widely discounted. And these are the least-expensive mics I’ve found that really deserve comparison to a Schoeps.

www.audixusa.com• www.audio-technicacom

I find myself at more press conferences and hearings with neither a press box nor time to set up. When I need to instantly place a mic near the speaker, I’ll sometimes toss one on a table. But when I have 10 extra seconds, I choose a more-elegant solution. My 231/1 K&M tabletop microphone has three folding legs that form an eight-inch base with a two-inch rise, enough to let me mount and aim a handheld or short shotgun mic without causing a fuss. The $10 K&M stand is also available for a few dollars more as the AKG 231/1. www.k-m.de

If the speaker is standing in front of a forest of microphones and I’m late to the party, I use an Ac-cetera PIG-E-BAK clamp to clip my mic to another already set (after getting permission from the other mic’s user). If my mic is already good to go, I’ll loan the clip to anyone who still needs to get their mic on the stand; speeding their set up helps us both. The $43 PIG-E-BAK has two spring-loaded mic clamps, each like you’d find at the end of a music mic stand. The two clamps are connected by a one-inch center post- prosaic and useful. www.ac-cetera.com

It’s hard to think of a more prosaic piece of gear than a C-Stand. Mine look no worse (and no better) than the day I bought them used. They’re useful, rugged, heavy and bulky. The most common C-Stand design hasn’t changed in over 30 years. But recently I worked with something different.

I heard of the Manfrotto Combi-Boom stands years ago, but had never seen any in the wild. Now that I have, I like them. Raise the second section of the stand, flick a lever, and the top two sections pivot, giving you a stand with a two-section boom arm that extends a bit over six feet. That’s twice the 40-inch reach of the gobo arms on my C-Stands.

When used as a boom, the arm supports up to 11 pounds, enough to easily mount and place lights, softboxes, reflectors, and flags in more places than with a standard C-Stand. Manfrotto includes an empty sandbag counterweight to let you keep things stable. The Combi-Boom’s collapsing tripod base simplifies storing and transporting the stands.

The A470 steel Combi-Boom weighs 19 pounds and costs $200. Manfrotto also makes an aluminum model that weighs and supports less.

Improving location audio quality is the cheapest means of raising production values. Easier said than done, unless you know what to do. Dean Miles, an experienced location mixer, wrote a wonderful book that clearly explains what to do. Location Audio Simplified provides the most-useful coverage that I’ve seen of location audio tools and techniques for video and film production.

Miles covers choosing and preparing a location (half the battle of getting good sound), using mixers and microphones, boom technique, working with lav mics and wireless systems, and getting good audio into professional and consumer cameras. He details techniques that can take years to learn on your own. This book is useful not just for budding sound pros, but for camera operators and one-man-bands who want their sound to be as good as possible. The 287-page book costs $55.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques, by Mark Christiansen (disclosure: an old friend), teaches the techniques he and others use to create visual effects for major feature films. In this third edition of his book, Christiansen assumes some familiarity with After Effects or another compositing program. That lets him get right to the tasks at hand. He covers color matching, keying, rotoscoping, motion tracking and other techniques. There’s a lot of depth here; the book steps beyond technique to explain how to produce truly professional-level results. The 480-page book/CD lists for $60.

Years ago a post-production supervisor told me, "There’s no-

thing more dangerous than an idle producer." To keep your favorite producer out of your hair and out of your shot, give him or her the Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. Illustrated radio waves on the front of the shirt light up to display the current 802.11b or 802.11g Wi-Fi signal strength. A hidden pocket holds three AAA batteries that power the shirt. The animated decal can be removed so you can wash the black cotton t-shirt ($30). www.thinkgeek.com

If you’d like to comment on this article visit studiomonthly.com