I just returned from another two-day shoot in Orlando. Again, I was shooting with a Canon 7D package and, like all filmmakers using these cameras, I am hungry for an acceptable way to record audio to the camera. I had high hopes for Beachtek’s newly-released DXA-SLR, the follow up to their DXA-5DA adapter that allows you to use mics with XLR outputs with DSLR cameras that only accept stereo mini inputs. The DXA-SLR also promises better disabling of the camera’s AGC and allows you, for the first time, to actually monitor the sound that is being recorded to the camera, not just the sound that is coming into the unit.

Coffey Sound was good enough to pull a unit from their sales shelf to rent to us. Unfortunately, the unit was defective out-of-the-box. It powered on, but no sound came through it. After double and triple-checking the instructions to make sure I had it set up properly (it’s fairly simple and I am familiar with its switches and functions), the unit suddenly came to life and worked sporadically for about 10 minutes before cutting out again. I had an engineer open it up and test it and he determined the main chip had two fried contacts. Poor QC from Beachtek: an unfortunate result, I’m sure, of their rush to get it to market. Fortunately for me, however, I had a couple backup plans, including recording double system to a Zoom H4n.

My backpack with some of the gear I carried around. In the top pocket is a roll of gaff tape and a Sennheiser G2 radio mic kit. On the right are a couple Lite Panel Minis and the Zoom H4n. On the left is another Sennheiser G2 wireless system in a waist pack and in the middle is a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L ISii lens. Various batteries, cards and cables throughout.

The first day of shooting, the show was going live to network TV. It was frantic but fun. I was doing the one-man band thing: lighting and shooting interviews and other pieces single-camera while running double system sound. I would mic up our people with lavs and run the receivers to the H4n, which I would jam into my pocket. I would hit record on the H4n, hit record on the 7D, do an audible slate, then shoot the piece. After recording a good take, I would run to the broadcast truck (above), and load the audio and video files from the CF and SD cards into my Final Cut Pro system. I would transcode the video files to DVCPRO HD and sync them up to the audio tracks using Pluraleyes, a great little utility that examines the waveforms from the H4n and the 7D and matches them up. Then I would print-to-tape from FCP to the deck and hand the tape to the engineer behind me who would load it into their Elvis system to be played during the in-progress live show. Sometimes, the stuff I was shooting with the 7D would be broadcast live, across the world, within 20 minutes of being shot. Anybody accustomed to working with the 7D (and other DSLR cameras lacking acceptable live-output capabilities) will appreciate that feat. It was exhilarating to be working within such tight margins.

My powerful little 7D rig (lower left) on the floor of a sound stage.

It was raining cats and dogs at Universal.

The Hard Rock hotel.

I dress like a ninja when I’m working. A hobo ninja.