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Audio&video

BARRIE A B WHITE MIBS has converted to a Francophile by a collection of plastic, foam and webbing components from France ( in spite of Welsh rugby defeat by the French).

French Sound Recordist, Pascal Coulombier who has even visited Aberystwyth and survived, is a Breton actually and therefore a Celt, so I warm to him immediately. He has used the above components to invent a device which takes the arm ache out of boom swinging. It is called " Kit Cool ". I have felt the need for such a device for a very long time but could never conceptualise it - if only!

With the introduction of " greater flexibility ", a euphemism for the lowering of technical standards, Sound Mixers are increasingly being expected to swing a microphone boom pole as well as mix. Call me old fashioned if you like but sound mixing and boom pole swinging are skills in their own right and are two separate jobs. When one tries to do both at the same time, and I have even had to do it on dramas, something has to give.

It is not possible to swing accurately, watch the mixer PPMs and properly control levels at the same time - without three arms and extra eyes.

Then there is another problem. Fatigue. Am I becoming too old for the job? Working usually with a mixer strapped to my waist, after about five minutes of pole swinging my arms become tired. After ten minutes they begin to ache. After fifteen minutes they start shaking. After thirty minutes my back aches too and then I loathe working with Betacam and thirty-five minutes tapes, and wonder why I do this job. At least with film the longest continuous running time is ten minutes.

Using the Kit Cool on a number of shoots recently, both film and video, and working days over ten and twelve hours on location, my arms still felt good and did not, fed physically tired. I was able to operate the boom one handed and, very importantly, keep the other hand on the mixer fader. No muscle ache and no shakes. (But I am still not keen on thirty minutes takes.)

The Kit Cool is a simple device which weighs only 450g in total. There is a clip which securely fits into a belt worn around the operator's waist and is cleverly designed not to be easily disloged. The full weight of the Kit Cool, and boom pole resting on it, is taken by this clip and the waist strap for my SQN mixer. The belt clip has a small rounded end (swivel joint) which click-fits into the base of the extendable lightweight tube.

(...) The hollow adjustable tube can be extended upwards from the belt clip from between 55 cms and 1m and the locking is positive. The elastic strap which fits over the head and under one arm is attached to the adjustable tube to keep it pointing upwards.

For comfort the foam cushion which is attached to the strap fits between the body and the vertical tube. The U-shaped bracket with the four sponge rollers fits on top of the tube and it is there that the boom pole balances between the rollers. Because the adjustable tube is not rigidly held in a fixed vertical position it is also possible for the boom pole to be moved horizontally forward, sideways or backwards. Using one hand only the pole can be panned, raised and lowered and also twisted on the rollers so the microphone can be pointed wherever you wish. It is also possible, with two hands of course, to lift the boom pole off and place it on the Kit Cool without any mechanical noise.

For those of us who have to mix and pole at the same time it is even more of a must-have because it enables single handed operation of the pole and frees the other hand to control the fader on the mixer.

From my short experience of using it I am so glad I have one. It also means that I have plenty of strength left in my right arm to lift a glass of wine or beer so there can be no excuse for not buying Pascal a drink the next time he comes to Wales.