All the gigs I'm on are all-mask-all-the-time, and anything involving talent that will be performing unmasked requires various forms of testing and vax proof. It seems like this is going to be the deal going forward, for as long as I'll be actively working. Some people are just not going to get vaxxed, some folks will resist the mask thing and the virus is going to mutate faster and faster in any case. Each gig, each show, each store trip, each plane trip, each mass-trans trip, each gathering requires its own risk calc, that's where we are.

I've spent a lot of 12-14 hour days in a mask, sometimes in very hot environments, and anyone who doesn't think that sucks is either a masochist or is not paying attention.

fact/current state of knowledge is that vaccinated people transmit less of the virus...

..and wearing a mask is the least of my worries, even when doing hard work!

Wearing a mask per se doesn't bother me except it fogs up the viewfinder on one of my cameras. FWIW, it's less of an issue with my other cameras fitted with larger aftermarket eyecups.

I tend to think masks are here to stay for large group situations indoors for the forseeable future.

If vaccination alone was sufficient, then the replication rate would be declining in all countries where the vaccination rate is steadily (even if slowly, now) rising. That is clearly not the case in many parts of Europe. A FOPH vaccination certificate is no proof of an inability to pass on the disease. Mask wearing, avoiding crowded and non-air-vented spaces, vaccination are all contribution methods for reducing spread...nothing has changed there.

Try RainX on the eyepiece glass.

pls note that i didn't say vaccinationen alone stops the virus/i'm with you that together will all other methods it helps to slow down transmission...

...which is why i'm not getting why some folks complain about the most simply yet highly effective measures such as wearing a mask!

Yes, I reckon the mask’s overall comfort…and its seemingly paradoxical role of droplet containment and allowing lung air exchange could use a rethink ?

I’m not going to cut a Rycote fluffy zeppelin frame apart for experimental purposes, but in principle it seems to embrace the attributes which would make for an effective mask too ?

Perhaps a compressed version of its multilayer construction (without the enclosed ‘still air’ afforded by the cage structure) is the right track for a mask substitute…?

Or some kind of fine multiple layer mesh (similar to that which covers your typical SD omni mic) which affixes directly to the nose and mouth ?

We’re stuck with oral/nasal filtering (currently… masks) for the foreseeable future…where’s the R’nD to give us the ergonomically improved 21st C version which doesn’t cause some folks to experience significant discomfort when worn all day or during above-average exertion ?

What’s needed is a reverse-engineering of the naso-pharyngeal system…which warms, filters and moisturises air between nose intake and lung gas exchange.

Industry and the automotive sector have invented multiple sundry filters, traps and path diverters over past 150 years…this just represents an evolution tweak to that !

I don’t consider our current n-95 surgical or cloth mask, no matter how close fitting…to be any great ‘statement of the art’ in droplet/vapour control….it’s merely sufficient-to-competent (and cheap !)

Who knows….it might even give us a better mic windscreen as a trickle-down tech evolution !

Droplets are way bigger than molocules, @ studer58 , but there are indeed differences in efficacy between masks. Cloth masks are the worst: a decent two layer one is maybe 30-35% better than nothing. It may not seem especially worthwhile to an individual, but considered on a population-wide basis it can be the difference between an Ro that's worrisome vs. one that's catastrophic. Also, it's important to distinguish raw risk from worst-case cost. The cost of a serious COVID infection is extremely high: a weeks-long process of something akin to drowning. Given an easy way to lower the odds of that happening to me by 3X, I'll take it. I wear glasses, so I had to figure out how to keep them from fogging. Double-sided mask tape on the bridge of my nose works pretty well for me. This is the how I mask at work, since it's a big facility and I'm rarely close to anybody.

Simple non-woven surgical masks are about twice as good as cloth ones because they augment finite-size filtration with electrostatic particle attraction. Just don't leave them in a very hot car, lest the membrane depolarize. I prefer to avoid disposables, but that's what I wear in crowded public spaces.

A N-95 mask is so-named because it's about 95% effective. If you're in a situation where you will be exposed, not just might be, that's the PPE you need. We keep a small stock in the house in case one of us gets sick.

I am looking forward to the release of the Rycote 'Dead Cat' covid mask. It should be particularly popular with hirsute audio engineers who feel the look of their beards is spoiled by the current style of masks. Of course, it will be available in a range of colours. No doubt the Antipodean versions will be produced by Rode.

If the latest variant takes over from Delta, as Delta did to its predecessor, and is able to do this due to enhanced airborne transmissability....then as David Rick shows above, the efficacy of masks is going to be the biggest factor in community and individual safety, well ahead of double or triple vaccination (assuming current vaccinations remain protective against the Big O ?)

The following interview (with the South African doctor who raised the alarm there last week) suggexts that a different suite of (much less severe) symptome awaits with Omicron....we can but hope that it proves to be thus...

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational...ptoms/13653002
https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/po...11129_0735.mp3

Worth a quick read (not as any kind of definitive scientific reference but just useful general interest):

theguardian.com: Best-masks-covid-tests-cloth-surgical-respirators

in terms of touring/live work, all international tours got cancelled/postponed until late april/may, same for all national festivals between december and march, a few remaining smaller national tours most likely will get cancelled shortly.
the only thing left (besides a bit of installation work/planning) are some local gigs (mostly classical) and studio work (various genres) - let's see how long the next break will last...

I tested positive last Thursday after some fatigue and sore throat, and subsequently had a few unhappy days of bad cold Covid. Pretty sure I caught it at a lessons and carols service recording the weekend before, either that or the deli sandwich I had earlier that day. Not the thing I was hoping to receive for Christmas!

Thankfully the vaccine seems to have done its job and turned 3 weeks into 3 days, and fortunately I have a few weeks of downtime to get over it. Hope you all stay healthy, and that we can get back to doing what we love sooner than later!

I'd been looking for some nicer masks with ASTM Level 3 / EN 149 FFP2 ratings. The article you linked pointed me to masklab, from whom I ordered some KF94-style masks that don't look like I just walked off a superfund worksite.

Broadway shows in NYC and on the road have been dropping like flies for the past couple of weeks due to "break through" COVID infections in their cast and crew. (All of whom, ostensibly, are already fully vaccinated and are also required to wear masks full time).

Several shows have closed early permanently including Jagged Little Pill, Ain't Too Proud, and the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker. The Hamilton tour canceled their run in Los Angeles through the end of January, as well as several performances in Buffalo. Come From Away permanently closed their Toronto show in their home city. And several other tours have had canceled dates or closed early in various cities.

I myself was called in at the last minute, ACTUALLY two hours before the first rehearsal, to mix a local theatre production of A Christmas Carol for three weeks in December because the regular mixer who had been mixing the show for 15 years got COVID.

And in the wake of all of this, the CDC just shortened the recommended quarantine period following exposure to 5 days, followed by 5 days of mask wearing.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...-guidance.html

and included this guidance for people who are vaccinated and have received their booster shots:
Hopefully, this new guidance will help us in the arts and entertainment industry to weather this storm better and keep us up and running.

We'll see.

It's been 2 weeks since omicron overtook delta as the main varient of Covid (https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/omic...-of-cases.html) and the US reported 280 deaths yesterday (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases).

I'd say this trend looks quite good.

I take back what I said. Overnight, the U.S. jumped from 240 deaths in a single day to 1,688 deaths. As a point of reference, Delta at its height was claiming 2000+ per day.

Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases

Our child came home for Christmas Eve thinking she had allergies going on. Mrs. Rocks gave me the "what gives" look when I said we were masking up indoors and eating outdoors. After our child left, I opened the windows and blew the living room out with a window fan. Three days later, our child tested +. Mrs. Rocks and I somehow didn't get it. Could have turned out much worse.

Lost two weeks of work due to infections. 5 out of 7 contracted and cancelled their sessions. Rough times....

The irony in all this is that, if Omicron had been the very first variant, it just would have been another nasty airborne bug and there would have been no lockdowns, no testing, no vaccines, none of it. Then, when the first really deadly variant popped up, it would have either been A. herd immunity has kicked in and hardly anyone gets it, or B. it hasn't and surprise, we're all dead.

I have invested a small portion of 'hope' in the - more infectious virus, but a virus evolving to be less dangerous - theories... Fingers crossed / hoping for the best. My 14 & 15 year old kids are allowed 2nd shots in a week. My parter and I are triple jabbed. Roughly 50% of the Gearspace.com team have contracted Covid... Most have recovered fully..

Well, in evolutionary terms, a combo of infectious and inconsequential is the recipe for long-term survival. That's why we still have Ed Sheeran.

Could be following the pattern of the 1918 flu--very serious for 18 -24 months and then tapers off but never goes completely away.

The story I tell to the incredulous friends I meet on the street: the pandemic has been wonderful for audio/video production. The local theater got into the habit of video-taping-and-putting-online their concerts when audiences were banned-- and when audiences were allowed back in, they kept it up, seeing the wisdom of having their performances permanently accessible, to a wide and potentially infinite slice of humanity. Event-style presentations especially-- rather than the few hundred souls they could host in real life and real time. These people must feel like it's well worth it, somehow. And of course it is!

Today I'm working my last symphony recording...for at least the next year and a half anyway. My local symphony has brought in a recording engineer from NYC and I have been training up a small group of the local stage hands to take over in my place when I go back out on the road.

On January 26th I get on a plane for the first time since my tour ended in March 2020 and fly back to New York City to start shop prep for the next installment of the Blue Man Group North American Tour. I'm returning as the Head Audio/A1 and will be on the road (with a few breaks) through May of 2023. When I step into the shop on the 27th it will have been 684 days since the tour got shut down and we all flew hope. What we thought would be a short 2 week layoff quickly turned into a month, then 3 months, then a year turned into a nearly 2 years long shut down. I was only on the tour for 8 months the first time out anyway.

We do 2 weeks of shop prep at Sound Associates in Yonkers, then we move to the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse for 2 1/2 weeks of tech and rehearsals and will open on February 24th. We'll be playing more than 140 shows in 50 cities, mostly on the east coast and the rust belt, with a short run through the southern plains of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The tour is scheduled through May 2023, and dates for the fall and next spring should be posted later this year. Keep an eye on the official website for dates as they get posted:

https://www.blueman.com/tour/buy-tickets

I wish I could offer up some back stage tours or the chance to join me at FOH, but because of "reasons", the company is being super strict and not allowing non company members back stage or at the FOH locations. But if you happen to catch a show, drop by the mix position and we can do air fives from 2 1/2 meters away through plexiglass shields. Then Maybe we can grab a drink or a burger afterwards.

If this tour goes on mostly as planned and I survive, it will probably be the end of my location recording career until after I retire from the road. My plan is to try to stay on the road with Broadway shows, save up as much money as I can over 8 or 10 years and then build my recording studio. We'll see if fate cooperates or not.

It's been a hell of a ride over the last two years: Going from moving a five-truck show every day or every few days to absolute zero over night, with no way to work for nearly a year, a COVID infection, a death in the family, a broken wrist, a severely sprained ankle, battling depression and anger, and staring down the barrel of a full and total career change only to be rescued at the last moment by the faintest glimmer of hope that our industry would come back, and then an all out push to slam as many shows through as possible since June; It's all been a little much and I yearn for the stability that a touring job and benefits for my family will bring.

congraz - glad to hear that you're 'back on the block'!

the situation here will not normalize so quickly, firstly because there has been a major exodus of skilled workers, secondly because we are currently running into the 'omicron wall' and thirdly because the consequences of the brexit will be felt in the rest of europe for a long time to come!

to illustrate: on one weekend in june, i'd need to get 200 (!) riggers for three large events: i can currently only find 70! and if that seems difficult, it is not yet compared to the difficulty of finding capable production managers for large events...

___


unlike the op, i have decided to scale back on touring, at least i don't want to do long stretches anymore (because they are too exhausting for me) - but more importantly, because i can less and less identify with the conditions under which touring seems to take place nowadays...

...but to end this comment on a positive note: not least thanks to investments in high-quality gear during the last two year, i was able to acquire other work that i enjoy even more!

Bon Voyage JCB--I hope the current "wave" has crested by the time you are in public spaces with the new show. It's been shown (to me anyhow) that a tour can work if A: everyone stays smart and B: luck holds. Both of those have to be considered all the time. By now even in super-vaxxo-masko Berkeley I sense a fatalism in play, like no one is going to avoid the virus forever, and that we won't be able to vax our way out of this thing. So....in one's current state of chronic health issues, family, income and business each of us is deciding what is worth the risk to go do now, I guess. Good luck to you!

Outstanding news!

Best wishes to you and yours!

Yonkers is not too far from Queens, NY. If you find the time, reach out to me, perhaps we can get some lunch or diner when you are in town.

FYI, I've rented gear to BMG in the past, small world.