I wanted to take a quick second to slide you some free tutorial video action.

http://budurl.com/SoundExplained

Also

http://budurl.com/SoundDevices788

They are optimized for you if you are interested in working as a
Sound Mixer full time on reality shows….but even if you aren’t you can
learn about the black magic of audio .

It still really surprises me when 20 year veteran Producers, Directors
and Camera Operators of reality TV still have no idea what goes into
mixing sound on TV shows like these.  They can do THEIR job better if they
are aware of the Sound person’s limitations.

With that….I encourage ANYONE in or out of  the TV biz to check these out!

Making your new career REALITY,

Aaron D. Murphy

Here in LA, it’s been really hot as you may have seen on the news.
I walked my dog Tony (tonythedog.com) at 8 am this morning
and I was dragging his panting black body like a sack of potatoes by 9am.
It was that hot!!

Here’s a quick list of some items I think you will find useful.
There is something for everyone here. Coaching, tutorials and
job/resume posting sites to keep you head in the game.
Lots of reality tv shoots happening right now all over the country.
Most of the gear rental houses are slammed and running out of gear.

If you having the opposite problem, not enough work…check out the
resources below and LET ME KNOW if you find anything particularly
effective or educational!!

Professional Career Coaching for Entertainment People:

http://budurl.com/GreenlightCoach

One of my tutorial videos for Sound Mixers in training:
http://vimeo.com/15192833

Great tutorials to get you started with skills that make you more indispensable:
http://www.videomaker.com/learn/

TV job/resume posting sites:

http://www.crewavenue.com/

http://www.realitystaff.com/

http://careertv.com/

http://mandy.com

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/tfr/

http://www.media-match.com/usa/jobsboard.php

http://www.productionhub.com/

http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/jcat.asp?jcat=109

http://jobfox.com

Making your new career REALITY,

Aaron Murphy

If your like me, beer is considered a major food group.
In fact I’ve started brewing it with some guy pals of mine.
My favorite is the India Pale Ale, otherwise known simply
as IPA. Beer is rich in B vitamins.  Pilgrims, like many
sailors  throughout history, owe beer their lives because
it was one of the few sources of water on the boat that
would not go putrid due to the anti-microbial properties
of hops, one of beers tastiest ingredients.  Hops are
directly related to the cannabis family and alsothe
ingredient that gives beer it’s skunkiness
(think bottled Heineken) when it’s not stored
in a dark brown bottle.  It’s a fragile oil that makes
beer’s flavor more complex.

How do I know all of this?  Working in un-scripted
TV of course…. I worked on a show for Discovery Channel
last year that put me on the production floor of one of
my favorite breweries, Sierra Nevada.  We learned a
lot while shooting the owner of that amazing (and very
sustainable operated) company.

Just wanted to get you as excited as I am about
learning about the world….all on someone else’s
dime.  Reality TV, I love you.

Wanna check out my career in adventure?
Here’s are few of my travel pix:
http://www.slide.com/r/LOamhUrg4T9-f2xKhDV7aslDNAPDhzQS?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Making your new career REALITY!

Aaron Murphy

P.S.  I’m rolling out some new products soon
and as a result offering you a 50% discount on ALL
of my teleseminars for the next week!!  Step
onto the court and start playing seriously
in your own success!!
These instantly delivered audio MP3 recordings
are the cheapest and most valuable way you can
start down your path as a professional crew member.
Visit www.realitycrew.com/training and enter this
coupon code at checkout to receive
HALF OFF of any of my products until Sept 28th, 2010:

50SEPT28

I’m about to announce my class schedule for new
crew training classes. Stayed tuned for that.

Making your career REALITY

Aaron Murphy here again with some great FREE training.

You may remember a while back that I was doing a webinar about how to get great audio while
using HDSLR cameras. It’s called:

Life Without Timecode (Audio for HDSLR)

These amazing little HD cameras are being used in many different parts
of the film and TV business right now.  I was asked by Createasphere.com to put
together this webinar to help clear up a few mis-understandings about working
with audio on cameras like the Canon 5D and 7D.

Now you can watch the whole 1 hour long presentation online for FREE at this link:

http://budurl.com/NoTimecode

Just sign up with them and you can watch it right now!!

We are working on doing more together so stayed tuned for that.

I’m really curios…. are you interested in developing your own reality show concept?
Do you have a great idea for a show but no clear path for getting it on TV?

I would love it if you could complete this short survey because I am really interested
in developing products for you in this area.

http://budurl.com/showideasurvey

Thanks for your time.

I can’t wait to make your new career REALITY!!

Aaron Murphy
RealityCrew.com

I hope you took my advice from the last Crew Call Newsletter and managed to fit in some summer fun!

Many shows are in fact going into production.  How do I know?  I get calls for them, all the equipment rental houses in LA are slammed and all the Sound Mixers I know are busy on great jobs.

One interesting thing that has come up with many of the shows I’m talking with is the pervasive use of HDSLR cameras.  They look like still cameras (like a fashion photographer might use) but take great HD video shots too.  These small cameras are amazing because they shoot in true HD,  have a 50 mbps data rate, use interchangeable lenses,  have 35 mm or larger sensors and cost about $147,000 less than the competition for all this functionality.  Pretty sweet right?  BUT….

Where do you hook up wireless mics, how can Boom Operator help you get great sound,  how do you mount a shotgun mic on the damn things?  The audio on them is difficult at best.

So this is why I’ve partnered with Createasphere and Rode Microphones on a webinar dedicated to helping you make sense of all of the crazy audio options available when working with these cameras  and their unique workflow.

It happens for FREE for those that register this Tuesday July 20th, 11:00am PDT.  Sign up now because if you have burning questions about how to work with this type of camera I’ll be answering questions during the webcast.  Cool right?

See you on the webcast!

Making your career REALITY,

Aaron Murphy

I know it’s summer when I pull out the tent and fill up the cooler with beer and ice.  Summer has landed and despite the fact that all the rental houses are jammed and I’ve been getting TONS of calls for new shows going into production, I wanted to remind you AND me of one important part of freelancing.

Taking time to enjoy life.

Even if the bills aren’t getting paid on time or you don’t eat out as much as you would like due to the recent economy crisis, it’s important to stay focused on the real purpose of our lives on this planet.  To fully experience life and enjoy the simple pleasures of being alive.  Being with friends or family.  Doing something that gets you excited to be alive whatever that may be for you.

I mention this now because fun does not have to be expensive.  Camping for example is a great way to vacation on a budget.  I’m going to a big regional California Burning Man style event called www.lightninginabottle.org.  It’s DJs and many friends.   Ok so maybe you can’t take 4 days off too but even overnight trips can relieve stress and hopefully wash away some of those fears we’ve all been carrying around recently.

Take some time for yourself and it will also very likely improve your outlook on life.  I wouldn’t want to hire a sour grapes desperate freelancer either.  Get out their, shake of some stress and know that a warm relaxed state of mind is just as important as a great resume’ when looking for work in Reality TV or any other type of work.

Making your career REALITY,

Aaron

Wanted to follow up regarding the Canon series HD video/still cameras.

Yes the 5D and 7D are being used more and more on many types of productions.

It has to do with a couple factors one of which I forgot to include in the last newsletter…
they look great.  Here’s a link to a music video a friend shot of a great female artist, Kate Earl.

http://kateearl.com/

It’s the video that loads on the home screen, all shot on the 5D.

Anyway, wanted to let someone else chime-in on this converstation.

Jon Speyers (Camera Op and Editor extrordinaire) had this to say in
response to the last Crew Call newsletter:

“The 7d has some serious weaknesses in terms of audio.
I shoot with the 5d very often (which has a full-frame sensor and
faster rolling shutter) and have come up with a reliable audio solution.

For one,  I always go dual system and sync in post with a final
cut pro plugin called Pluraleyes.  (Pluraleyes analyzes the
waveforms and does all the syncing for you. No need for timecode or slating!)

Secondly,  firmware exists for the 5d which gives full control
over the audio set up – AGC (auto gain control) override, on screen levels,
and digital and analogue gain control.  It also allows you to use the AV out
to monitor audio with headphones (I recommend using a Boosteroo to
increase the output volume as the signal is low.)

The firmware is called Magiclantern and should be released soon
for the 7d as well.

Finally,  as it disables the AGC, I use an external preamp which
does not inject a tone into the camera – the Juicedlink CX231 -
which the bloggers say is the quietest.

Hope that info helps for future DSLR productions!”

I agree with Jon entirely and his follow-up makes one thing clear.
If you are going to use this work flow, you do need to know much
more than just point, shoot, digitize….  Likely you are either Editing
the material yourself or having a SERIOUS conversation with the
person that is doing the editing BEFORE you shoot anything with it,
especially for pay…..

Making your new career REALITY,

Aaron Murphy

P.S.

Useful links below

Audio Peeps:
Great index of articles on TONS of pro audio related issues.
http://www.coffeyinteractive.com/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=1a4f304ae59cba135603a4803846eae0

Camera Peeps:
Some of the best mounts and accessories I’ve seen for DSLRs.
Also make a shoulder stock for  using your iPhone as a video camera…
http://www.zacuto.com/

Jon Speyers link:
http://vimeo.com/user400673/videos
Jon edited my Sound Seminar promo
http://vimeo.com/7699614

I just shot with an HD camera that is becoming really popular but has some MAJOR issues I wanted to share with you.

Its the Canon EOS 7D (see also the previous version the 5D).  It’s a still-frame (SLR) camera that also shoots 1080p HD video.  It’s a new breed of camera referred to as a DSLR.  If you have not heard about it… here’s my opinion of it from a reality TV/documentary perspective…

It’s small and cheap.  In a nutshell, those are it’s only benefits.  You can own a basic zoom lense and the camera body with a single battery for about $3,000.  It also takes amazing stills so it’s pretty slick.  When you ARE using it as a video camera you can make it look like you are simply shooting stills images, which means it can sneak you into some cool locations and  “fly under the radar”.   I heard that some crews were able to document some of the drug cartel atrocities in Mexico city by shooting this way because appearently the drug lords are cool with journalists shooting stills.  Wouldn’t want them to read this article though….

On the downside:

I would not rely on it’s built-in stereo audio recording tracks.  Why?

1) “Unbalanced” Input – The only way to get audio into the camera is with a mini (1/8 inch) stereo audio jack.  It’s an un-balanced connection (you need to check out my Reality Sound Mixing Seminar  http://budurl.com/SoundSeminar if you don’t know why ‘balanced’ is important). It also does not lock in place like the industry standard 3-pin XlR audio connector that you normally find on any camera’s audio inputs.

2) AGC – The audio input also automatically adjusted the gain on this camera which is bad.  It turns up the audio when it’s low and turns it down when it’s high.  You would think this would be a positive but you hear the circuit create this ‘pumping’ sound clearly audible on camera.  You do not want ‘auto’ anything turned on a camera that has a Sound Mixer (the person) attached to it.  You can buy a little adapter box by Beachtek (http://beachtek.com/dxa5da.html) that disables the auto gain (AGC).  Even then most professionals consider it a fix and not reliable.  I just shot a pilot with it and it works pretty well but this work-flow  has many short comings… including….

3) Confidence Monitoring – You can not plug headphones into the camera to hear what you are recording.  Audio has tons of things that can go wrong, by listening to your camera you can be alerted when things ‘hit the fan’.

All of this said, it’s the concensus among audio professionals (including Coffeysound.com rental department where I rented the Beachtek for the shoot I mentioned) that using the Canon 7D (or 5D) is a ‘dual-system’ shoot or in other words, you need a seperate recorder for audio.  Synching up your audio with the video is a whole other newsletter but trust me.  If someone is not monitoring the audio (the actual audio you are recording) it’s not very reliable or professional.  Image how embarrassing it is in reality TV to ask the talent (who aren’t Actors) for another ‘take’.  If you missed it, it didn’t happen.  Missing it with the Canon DSLR is VERY possible.

Cheers,

Aaron

Camera Peeps:  Cool article on what seperates a Director of Photography from a Camera Operator.  I think all crew people need to know the terms in this useful article.  http://budurl.com/DPvsCamOP

Audio Peeps:  some of the recent Lectrosonics wireless mics (http://budurl.com/LectroWireless) give you the option of putting the mics on ‘stand-by’ to save battery without having to touch your talent wearing the wireless mics.  It uses a little MP3 file you hold up to the microphone which ‘sleeps’ or ‘unsleeps’ the mics.  Handy little tone that makes you the coolest/geekiest Sound Person on-set when you download it as a ring-tone onto your cellphone.  It’s easiest to do if you have a web browser on your phone and you can navigate directly to this site to get it: http://budurl.com/SleepTones

Camera discussed: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_7D/

As you may have already seen, I’ve updated the website a bit and have a lot of great new training products for you!

To celebrate the new launch, I’m hosting a FREE event that I would like to invite you too.

It’s in Los Angeles on April 1st. 2010 at 7pm:

“Reality TV Career Tips – Capturing Great Content Fast”

This is a limited seating event so sign  up NOW at:

http://budurl.com/FreeShowbizEvent

We can chat in person, clear up some misconceptions about Reality TV and meet other like-minded crew types in the community.

Making your new career REALITY,

Aaron Murphy