Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433345
44 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2022 Speaking of directors, making sure they understand that you may be slightly farther away during some scenes is important. I've found that remaining close by and visible for any setups where there is room for the cart goes a long way when it comes time to make the compromise to remain at a distance. Once they see how much time can be saved without any loss in sound quality, they (often) quickly understand. With any new technology, there are going to be challenges. Before I had the custom Pelican case housing made by DataPro, walkie- talkies would cause interference and on very rare occasions, cause a slight signal hit. The remote gain and on-board recording feature of the Zaxcom transmitter was invaluable as a backup against this. Thankfully, the hits went away once the housing was created and better shielded cables were installed. Also, one thousand feet of cable, no matter how thin, gets to be heavy. Most of the cost is in the connectors so the difference between ten feet of fiber and one thousand feet was only a few hundred dollars. I recently pur- chased a 300' reel, which is far easier to handle. What's great about T-FOCA is that the connectors are hermaphroditic, and therefore, adding extra fiber only means attaching another set. If by accident, one thousand feet of fiber is cut at two hundred feet, for example, all one would have to do would be to add T-FOCA connectors on both cut ends, and all one thousand feet of fiber is still usable. And of course, price. All in, this system cost me about $8,500. Three RF modules at $1,500 each, one thousand feet of T-FOCA fiber cable at $1,500, T-FOCA Break-Out/Break-In Assemblies at $800, the DataPro Pelican case at $900, the Decimator Quad Splitter at $400, and another $500 or so in various connectors, cables, and a copy of Patrushkha Mierzwa's book, Behind the Sound Cart, which is excellent. From top: Receivers and IFB modules at the rear of the cart; T-FOCA II connector with RF inputs; SDI video input. Delroy Cornick at his sound cart