Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/634968
21 "When we got to the SSM, we looked elsewhere. The defining factor was size. It had to be full-featured, it had to be as small as possible, it had to run for four to five hours. We got it up to six. The driving criteria were size, size, size. The Lemo made sense because that was the other most common connector." Moore and Lectrosonics were able to identify some of the common practices of their customers, and make sure to cater to their needs. Paul Isaacs of Sound Devices presents a similar take on this theme. "We are totally guided by our customers' needs. Occasionally, we'll throw things out there they didn't know they needed. "Should there be a feature that needs to have a standard and there isn't one in existence, we'll create it. We won't keep it to ourselves. We'll share it, and SuperSlot is a fine example of that." Glenn Sanders' view is a bit different. "I'm not scared of tak- ing risks. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. You gotta take risks. If you don't, you end up making the same stuff that everybody else makes and that's not exciting. I want to make cool stuff. I want the people who are willing to go out with features and abilities and use them to impress people. That's what we do. Life is boring without that. I've never been accused of being boring. "User's workflow is the most important thing. We have to understand what the customer is doing with the product. What the expectations are from getting it as a new product, installing it on the cart, what it's going to interface with, what the media will be, how post production will deal with that media. "You buy the gear, and based on what the gear can do, then you know what your workflow is. You could buy Zaxcom gear and have different workflow than somebody else's gear. Your workflow might be with Zaxcom recording on the transmitters and only recording on transmitters. That could change the whole production! You can't do that with anything else. "I'm looking to redefine workflow. There's innovation and there's change. I want to show people that there is some- thing better." These are the views of just three of the more popular manu- facturers in our industry, and there are dozens and dozens of others. Each of these companies shape their products based on their own unique views of how to best satisfy their customers' needs, which are also constantly shifting. As Sound Mixers, we make purchasing decisions for many different reasons. Some choose to pursue aggressive upgrade paths to keep up with the most advanced feature sets. Others only buy out of necessity; when their current gear becomes obsolete. Some purchase with an eye toward the future, while others treasure backward-compatibility. Our profession is not black and white. There is no line between right and wrong decisions. There are no written standards for how to mix, which equipment to buy and how to run a business. There are no requirements for manufac- turers to include or exclude features other than to follow their own beliefs on how to serve their customer base. There is no set standard. When purchasing, make decisions that suit you and your work best. The only standard that matters is the one you hold yourself to. Dante is an example of that. When we got into Dante, nobody was talking about it at all. When we released it, it quickly took hold and now there's no looking back. "It's a two-way conversation. We push things out there, and users feed back what they want. It's a handshake process. But if we need to adhere to a particular standard so our cus- tomers have a simpler life, we will support that. "In terms of drive formats and file formats. The recording needs to fall in line with post production. We're very aware if it doesn't easily fall into place, productions will just reject that equipment. The cost of doing workarounds in post production to make nonstandard formats fit in is huge. Production companies are guided by budgets that are always being cut, so if you do something in a nonstandard way, those companies will say 'nope, it's not going to happen.' "We're constantly thinking of ways to improve the work- flow. We put in MP3 capability since some users need tran- scription files. We're always looking to fit in with common practices. "We want to make sure we support the widest consensus we can. NP-1s have been widely used for many years so designing around that battery was key. Even though it's not the 'best' battery available these days (there are alternatives available), it is the most popular. Even considering antenna connectors, we went with the BNC connector since that was what the users wanted. I'm looking to redefine workflow. There's innovation and there's change. I want to show people that there is something better. " " –Glenn Sanders, Zaxcom