The Needs List:Audio
Every set I've ever worked on has had an equipment list. You know the one. The multi-page list of goodies that every department "needs". i recently had to submit my needs list for a short called Liquor Story, later to be renamed Convenience. This list of gear was short, only had about 6 things on it, what I like to call the basic essentials. The items that I "require" for a short.
Here's the list of gear that I wanted:
-
1 Pair of Headphones
1 Mixer
1 Tascam Hard Disk Recorder
6 XLR mic cables 30'+
2 Wireless Lavaliere mics
1 Shotgun Mic
1 Zeppelin
1 Boom pole
See, a simple list that doesn't seem like much. But the issue came when I showed up on set and realized I didn't have the Zeppelin, 2 XLR cables, and instead of 2 wireless Lavaliere mics I got 2 wired Lavaliere mics. The 2 XLRs are for back up incase one of the others are broken, not a big deal, but still I like to have backups. But not having a zeppelin for outside shots is unacceptable and made us do the 2 outside shots as MOS (mitt out sound), and not having WIRELESS mics for a hold up was making me dread the coming shoot.
Now I know what your thinking, "why didn't I check the equipment before the shoot?" The answer is simple, I am a full time student, part time live sound engineer with a habit of over extending myself. Also I didn't check it because I was informed by the director that the gear was already on a set and we would have to get it from them when they were done with it, and that they had everything on the list.
We ended up making due, but I learned a very important lesson. Do not take anyone's word that what you have asked for will get to where you asked it to go. Trust only yourself.