First Job Utilizing the Sound Devices 664

I arrived home from covering Hurricane Sandy in New York with one day off and my brand new Sound Devices 664 waiting for me. There was no hesitation at all. I immediately reconfigured my bag around the 664 and headed out of town to cover the 2012 presidential election for NBC News.

On day one my assignment was live hits / possible package pieces with John Yang for MSNBC followed by a live hit in NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams so I configured the 664 in this way.

Aux1 = unarmed
Aux2 = IFB

Ch1 = John Yang
Ch2 = off (guest ready)
Ch3 = Stick Mic
Ch4 = off (guest ready)
Ch5 = IFB
Ch6 = Boom

I took the IFB from the sat truck and routed it through ch 5 and out of aux 2 feeding my Comteks directly. We were pretty fluid with the need to float a bit on our pops so the less bogging me down the better. It was a very bright sunny day in Cincinnati so the screen was put to the immediate visibility test. It was totally fine with one exception. My polarized sunglasses reacted to the screen so I ended up mixing without shades. I'll definitely need to sort that out!

The sound of the 664 is truly fantastic and seeing the input meters at all times was a refreshing experience. As far as glitches go... I experienced no official glitches but I did come across something I'd really like changed and thats the ability to remove the tone from the aux sends. Blasting the IFB with tone every time I do a set up or fax out to the network not only kills the ears of all listening but it inhibits constant communications with the studio.

I was so at ease and comfortable with the 664 that I didn't't even bring my 442 as a backup... Perhaps a bit rash but I sure didn't't regret that decision!

Have a fantastic day!!

Day 1 on location with my Sound Devices 664 - NBC News

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