About

About me

Welcome to my blog. I’m Roland Harris: living in Norfolk (UK), I make sound recordings and, to a lesser extent, films, and do the odd bit of live sound mixing. After teenage years playing around with sound, lighting and cameras (as well as much healthier pursuits), I first got my hands on serious kit and met like-minded people at UCL in the mid-1980s, where Film Soc gave me a chance to become familiar with Nagra tape recorders, Arriflex 16mm cameras, studios, editing and, in the Bloomsbury Theatre, projecting 35mm films. I didn’t become Christopher Nolan (who cut his teeth at Film Soc too, just after my time there), though did make films with David Julyan, who went on to be the composer for several of Nolan’s feature films. Leaving UCL in 1987, the sort of filmmaking and sound-recording kit we had use of there wasn’t something available outside the professional world, but, after a long hiatus of about 15 years, the advent of affordable digital video cameras and digital sound-recorders rekindled my interest. Since then I have followed a path from poorly-equipped amateur to a well-equipped and, I hope, more competent sound recordist and, often in support of this, filmmaker.

About the blog

This blog is a means of sharing my modest adventures in still more recent years, focused on the gear and techniques used. As the blog has developed, I have found myself carrying out many gear tests and reviews, especially for sound-recording equipment such as microphones, shockmounts and windshields, so I should perhaps say a few words about this. These pieces of equipment have been ones that have been of particular interest to me, and, where not items I have bought myself, I have approached the manufacturers directly to see if they might provide an item for testing and a write-up: these aren’t items sent to me randomly for review. Manufacturers include Sennheiser, Rycote, and Radius Windshields. The written-up tests in the blog, supported where relevant by sound files and videos, are, perhaps, rather different than those in many a vlog: they are not promotions (or puff pieces!), but, rather, technical in nature (sometimes a bit dry, I admit, though I try to make them digestible) and always underpinned by what I hope is a neutral and objective approach. And, to give them their due, none of these companies has made any attempt to influence what I write or what I do with their products. Along the way, I’ve enjoyed interactions with the various staff at these companies, including the designers and engineers, which has been most relevant for the pre-production gear that I have tested. For example, it has been rewarding to see my suggestion of alignment markings added to the Rycote BD-10 fig 8 mic for the final production version, and I have particularly enjoyed to-ing and fro-ing with Simon Davies at newly-formed Radius Windshields over fine details of shockmounts and windshields in relation to the provision for mid-side mic rigs (one of my favourite forms of recording).

Availability for sound recording and filmmaking

Most of my sound recording and filmmaking comprises projects I initiate, often involving others who either lack the resources or wish to go to commercial studios, or who are interested in my approach. Sometimes the people involved are as distant from social media and self-promotion as you can imagine, and are reluctant about being recorded or filmed, perhaps based on past experience (e.g. dislike the stress of the studio recording light) or just don’t see the need or attraction, and my low-key and non-commercial approach is the only viable means of capturing their performances. As a result, I rarely get paid anything (and then rather nominally), although, obviously, my testing of equipment sees a benefit in kind for those projects. But as a consequence of years of sound recording and filmmaking, including the gear testing along the way, I have gained significant experience and some rather exceptional professional equipment, and am increasingly interested in collaborating with others. So if you have something that you feel might be relevant then please do get in touch via the contact form. Perhaps you are an acoustic musician, or group, and wish to have a sound recording (perhaps with video too) made on location, even outside (for which I am unusually well equipped), and, therefore, are not well served by a local studio; perhaps you are an individual or group that would like a short film or documentary made about an activity, professional or amateur, that you do (and this need not be anything to do with music), and find commercial companies a poor fit for your needs (or simply unaffordable); perhaps you are a group of impoverished or amateur actors wishing to film, and need a sound recordist or camera operator (with gear!); perhaps you are a professional videographer who needs someone to handle more complex audio requirements for a specific project (e.g. involving music recording); or perhaps you need some specific sound effects recording for radio, TV, film or computer games). At the bottom of this page you can see my current gear list.

The ‘Dr Badphil’ name

Adopting this nom de plume for the blog, rather than the more prosaic and less catchy ‘The Random Jottings of Dr Roland Harris’, is something of a convoluted in-joke – a case of confusion on a band tour in France where post-nominal letters inexplicably became my name. You had to be there…

GEAR LIST

Sound recorders

Sound Devices 788T-SSD (8-channel/12-track field audio recorder/mixer)
Sound Devices MixPre-3 (5-channel/7-track field recorder [with +2 plugin], with overdubbing [with Musician plugin])
Zoom F8n Pro (8-channel/10-track field audio recorder/mixer)

Microphones

Sennheiser MKH 30 (fig 8)
Sennheiser MKH 50 (supercardioid)
Sennheiser MKH 8020 (omni)
Sennheiser MKH 8030 pair (fig 8s)
Sennheiser MKH 8040 (cardioid)
Sennheiser MKH 8050 (supercardioid)
Rycote BD-10 pair (fig 8s)
Rycote OM-08 pair (omnis)
Rycote CA-08 pair (cardioids)
Rycote SC-08 (supercardioid)
Rycote HC-15 (short shotgun)
Rycote HC-22 pair (medium shotguns)
Rycote HC-35 (long shotgun)
Rode lav mic
Rode NT1 (cardioid)
Rode NT2a pair (multi-patterns)
Rode Wireless Go
Rode Wireless Goii pair
Audio Technica ATM610a
NoHype Audio – LRM-V ribbon mic
MicBooster Clippy mic stereo pair

Windshields and shockmounts

Rycote Cyclone medium
Rycote Cyclone small
Rycote Stereo Cyclone kit 5
Rycote Nano Shield NS1-BA
Rycote Nano Shield NS4-DB
Rycote Modular WS6 kit
Rycote Baby Ball Gag (pair)
Rycote InVision 6 and 7 shockmounts – numerous
Rode Blimp
Radius Windshields – RAD1
Radius Windshields – RAD2
DIY blimp for LDC mics and large arrays

Monitoring

Vivid Audio Kaya S12 (via Topping DX1 ADC and Fosi Audio V3 power amp)

General audio equipment

Gitzo GB3560 carbon-fibre boom pole
Sachtler SN607 sound bag
Sennheiser HD-25 headphones
Manfrotto 154b stereo bar – pair
Manfrotto stands – 1004BAC, 1005BAC and 5002BL
Pop filters – various
Cables – numerous balanced XLR (mainly VanDamme starquad)
Rycote quick-release system on blimps, boom pole, stands etc.

Cameras

Panasonic Lumix G9ii
Panasonic Lumix G9
Panasonic Lumix GX80 – pair
DJI Mavic Mini 3 Pro (drone)

Lenses

Meike T2.2 16mm cinema lens
Meike T2.2 35mm cinema lens
Panasonic Leica Lumix 12-60mm
Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm
Panasonic Lumix 25mm f1.7
Panasonic Lumix 45-150mm
Olympus 60mm macro

Camera support, lights and ancillary equipment

Zhiyun Crane V2 gimbal
Libec RT40RB video tripod with 75mm bowl and Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head
Manfrotto 055 Pro tripod w ball head
Benro TAD18A tripod with S2H fluid head
Manfrotto Figrig
Hague K2 Junior Camera Jib
Lanparte follow focus
Tilta MB-T15 matte box
SmallRig 3196 matte box
ND filters for all lenses, including drone
SmallRig RC120 LED COB light – pair
SmallRig RA-D55 parabolic softbox
SmallRig RA-L65 lantern softbox
Zhiyun M40 LED light
Falcon F7 LED light

Software

Reaper
Davinci Resolve
Magix Vegas
Photoshop