George’s One-Case Location VO Rig (NTG-4 vs NTG-5, backups, old-school war stories)

George heads out on a time-sensitive PSA to capture wild VO lines at an actor’s house — and rebuilds a lean, one-case kit on the fly. We dig into what made the rig work, why he chose an onboard recorder for redundancy, mic choices (NTG-4 vs NTG-5), and a stack of road-tested tips from our early days hauling DA-88s, DATs and Franken-booms. What we cover: Packing everything into a Pelican 1510 (laptop, interface, mic, stand, boom) Primary vs backup: PortCaster with onboard record + laptop DAW Why the NTG-4 worked (once the low-cut was off) and when the NTG-5 is nicer Quiet-room scouting at talent’s home (carpet, bookshelves, sofa placement) Redundancy paranoia that saves the day (and the gig) Old-school sync and remote workflows: clapper slates, Boom Recorder, Reaper, DA-88s, DAT, Ramza/Fostex rigs Gear & software mentioned: Pelican 1510, Sentrance MicPort Pro, PortCaster, RØDE NTG-4/NTG-5, Grace Lunatec V2, Sony & Tascam DAT, Boom Recorder, Reaper, DA-88, Fostex 9624, Ramza 8-bus. Sponsors: TRI-BOOTH — use code TRIPAP200 for $200 off your Tri-Booth. Austrian Audio — Making Passion Heard. Credits: Recorded via Source-Connect. Edited by Andrew Peters. Mixed by Robbo. Tech support from George “The Tech” Whittam. Got an audio issue? JustAskRobbo.com