NAB 2013 Greatest Hits

What's the next big idea?

If you attended this year's show, you may have seen this guy
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Gotham's Peter Schneider sports a unique shoulder rig, affectionately called The Lion. Together, the unusual appearance of both rig and shooter draw quite a bit of attention, as you can tell by the passerby's face.

For the record, Peter Schneider is co-owner of Gotham Sound and Communications, Inc. in NYC and also my boss. What he's attempting here is to get manufacturers off the marketing podium and talking about their products candidly. No pitches or carefully rehearsed speeches, Peter wants to know what these manufacturers have to say about their products as close to off the record as he can get. Seeing this Jonah Hill look-a like approach you with this unique rig can be comically disarming. Who wouldn't want to talk to this guy?

Loaded with the rig, Peter spent three days in the trenches of the biggest industry show gathering as much content as humanly possible. What his shoulders and feet felt like after is painful for me to even imagine but I would say it was all worth it for the impressive collection of videos he's compiled and posted on our vimeo page.

(For the curious, the ergocine Lion is custom shaped out of wood to mimic the ergonomics of an Aaton camera. The Lion's latest version, pictured here, comes fitted with bars and a side mounted cheese plate recessed into the body. Peter completes the rig with his beloved Panasonic Lumix GH2, two Sennheiser G3 wireless mic systems, and a juicedLink DS214 for monitoring sound.)

What follows are three of my picks from Peter's labor of love. They show the conversation Gotham is trying to have with manufacturers and customers in regards to the wild world of wireless audio, which is in even more flux than usual given the new universe of wireless licences, FCC filings, and a UHF spectrum that probably isn't done changing.

Radio Active Designs

James Stoffo is a frequency coordinator and co-founder of Radio Active Designs, a brand new manufacturer showing off their VHF Communications System. Moving to the VHF spectrum, hopes Stoffo, will reduce future uncertainty, given the elements that are forming a dark cloud over the UHF spectrum.

NAB 2013 - Radio Active Designs from Gotham Sound on Vimeo.

Wisycom

Massimo Polo explains how reducing inter modulation in his products will increase the number of mics you can have in a future where there will be limited free space on the UHF spectrum.

WisyCom from Gotham Sound on Vimeo.

Lectrosonics

Karl Winkler gives a short and bittersweet synopsis on the state of the spectrum and roadblocks for users in the future.

NAB 2013 - Lectrosonics from Gotham Sound on Vimeo.