Recording in combat

[charles maynes]

whatever gear you choose to take, make sure you can get replacements of the same type very quickly.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

I was a broadcast specialist in the Army during the Viet Nam era. I never went into combat but did go through a couple of real simulated Vietnam village raids with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Campbell. I used a UHER 4000L report reel to reel tape machine for my work with it's companion microphone.

Where you are going is much more dangerous than anything I did.

A couple of thoughts,

1. Do know how to fire at least an M-16 and a .45 caliber pistol.

2. Do take extras batteries for everything.

3. Do wear a helmet and body armor if possible.

4. Don't get separated from the rest of the people you are embedded with and try and find someone who can watch your back when you are concentrating on doing the audio recording.

5. Don't pick up anything on the ground it could be a booby trap.

6. Don't get so engrossed in doing audio that you lose your sense of where you are and what is happening around you at all times.

7. Don't go into buildings or caves without having them cleared by the people you are working with.

8. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

9. Before leaving for the war try and get in good physical shape. Lugging equipment and running in the heat can all have negative effects on your well being. If you have meds make sure you have enough supplies for the duration of your time in the war zone.

10. Where you are going is dangerous. Keep your wits about you. Double think everything you do except when someone yells "hit the deck"

While on simulated raids I was "killed" three times. Once by stepping on Punji stakes, once by picking up a camera that had a grenade under it and once by being sniped by a sniper from 200 yards. Luckily this was only practice but where you are going it will be for real.

Best of luck and be safe and keep your head and butt down.

[picklecakelake]

Hi everyone,

I just want to let you guys know that I ve returned safely from my journey to Afghanistan. I ve spent 5 weeks there, embedded with the American/Afghan forces in the nordeast of Afghanistan; near the Pakistan border.

The director and I shot a docu about the coorperation between the US/ANA forces wich will be part of a larger feature film about Afghanistan.
We've spent most of our time on a very small outpost in the mountains, with 1 platoon American soldiers and 1 platoon ANA.
We saw contact almost every day, the Taliban shot at us from de surrounding hills mostly with small arms but occasionally they shot mortars too.
It was a pretty heavy experience but I don't regret doing it.

Recording the sound was far from easy: you always have to be ready to start recording even in the most difficult conditions meaning mostly when you get shot at. You have to pay attention to your meters and faders but you also have to know what's going on around you ( a headphone that completly isolates you from the outside world is not the best way to hear where the bullets are coming from). It's always a compromise between your safety and the quality of the recordings.
Ad to this the heat, dust and a 20 pound body armour/kevlar and you know its going to be heavy.

I had a lot of gear with me, way too much actually cause I had to carry all the gear myself and I had to load it in & out helicopters, but i wanted to have backups for pretty much everything. (Of course only the things I haven't provided backups for broke down)

My main recorder was a Sound devices 744T wich I'm very pleased with,
it endured the heat and dust without big problems.
I had also a SD 422 mixer with me witch was pretty heavy but very rugged.
My main boommic was a sennheiser 418 MS mic, wich was very handy cause that way i could always record stereo without having the hassle of changing mics all the time. Also had a Schoeps CCM8 + CCM41 with me for recording wild sounds.
For lavs I had a couple of Sanken COS 11 & DPA 4071 with me.

Filming in combat is 90% boredom and 10% excitement, so I had a lot of time to kill, wich I used to record wild sounds. I've recorded a lot of weapons like the M4, M16. M240, 50 cal, Mark 19 even a 155 (howitzer), recorded helicopters (Blackhawk, Chinook) airplanes (F16, F18), and airstrikes.
By now I have a pretty big library of war related sounds.
Does anyone know people/companies who might be intrested in these sounds?
I'm definitely not going to use all this sounds myself.

Finally I want to thank all the people who gave me advice in this thread it was much appreciated and I've learnt a lot from it.

greets,

Bram Celis

Belgium

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by picklecakelake

Hi everyone,

I just want to let you guys know that I ve returned safely from my journey to Afghanistan.
greets,

Bram Celis

Belgium

GREAT!!!

[charles maynes]

Originally Posted by picklecakelake

Hi everyone,

I just want to let you guys know that I ve returned safely from my journey to Afghanistan. I ve spent 5 weeks there, embedded with the American/Afghan forces in the nordeast of Afghanistan; near the Pakistan border.

The director and I shot a docu about the coorperation between the US/ANA forces wich will be part of a larger feature film about Afghanistan.
We've spent most of our time on a very small outpost in the mountains, with 1 platoon American soldiers and 1 platoon ANA.
We saw contact almost every day, the Taliban shot at us from de surrounding hills mostly with small arms but occasionally they shot mortars too.
It was a pretty heavy experience but I don't regret doing it.

Recording the sound was far from easy: you always have to be ready to start recording even in the most difficult conditions meaning mostly when you get shot at. You have to pay attention to your meters and faders but you also have to know what's going on around you ( a headphone that completly isolates you from the outside world is not the best way to hear where the bullets are coming from). It's always a compromise between your safety and the quality of the recordings.
Ad to this the heat, dust and a 20 pound body armour/kevlar and you know its going to be heavy.

I had a lot of gear with me, way too much actually cause I had to carry all the gear myself and I had to load it in & out helicopters, but i wanted to have backups for pretty much everything. (Of course only the things I haven't provided backups for broke down)

My main recorder was a Sound devices 744T wich I'm very pleased with,
it endured the heat and dust without big problems.
I had also a SD 422 mixer with me witch was pretty heavy but very rugged.
My main boommic was a sennheiser 418 MS mic, wich was very handy cause that way i could always record stereo without having the hassle of changing mics all the time. Also had a Schoeps CCM8 + CCM41 with me for recording wild sounds.
For lavs I had a couple of Sanken COS 11 & DPA 4071 with me.

Filming in combat is 90% boredom and 10% excitement, so I had a lot of time to kill, wich I used to record wild sounds. I've recorded a lot of weapons like the M4, M16. M240, 50 cal, Mark 19 even a 155 (howitzer), recorded helicopters (Blackhawk, Chinook) airplanes (F16, F18), and airstrikes.
By now I have a pretty big library of war related sounds.
Does anyone know people/companies who might be intrested in these sounds?
I'm definitely not going to use all this sounds myself.

Finally I want to thank all the people who gave me advice in this thread it was much appreciated and I've learnt a lot from it.

greets,

Bram Celis

Belgium

Good to hear your safe and sound Bram-

PM me and I can give you some interested parties for your sounds.....


Best Regards-

Charles Maynes

[JSt0rm]

great photo!

You should also think about releasing the sounds as your own library

[drosophila]

Just wanted to say, this whole thread made for a really interesting read, and I'm glad you made it back safe! Much respect to people like you who are willing to put yourself out there to capture this sort of thing.

[eoats]

Welcome Home.

from a former 84c20.

[leeg1970]

Originally Posted by picklecakelake

Hi everyone,

I just want to let you guys know that I ve returned safely from my journey to Afghanistan.

Belgium

Brilliant man! Hope you had the time of your life!

[iluvatar]

Glad you made it back. I hope I never have to factor this into my pre-production:

Originally Posted by picklecakelake

a headphone that completly isolates you from the outside world is not the best way to hear where the bullets are coming from

-Dan.