Malcolm Davies Amps CAS

On 9 November 2018 at 1:20 PM, Constantin said:

 

Yes, but he was specifically enquiring about Sound blankets in Berlin

I introduced sound blankets to the UK in 1991 and since then have sold over 3,000 all over Europe including Berlin and  Zurich.)

The Chinese manufacturers are a fickle lot and have dropped the black ones in favour of the original blue ones which are well known in the US and Canada as they claim that they sell more blue than they ever did with the black ones. (They even had a spate of only supplying green.)

I stock the blue ones and will gladly get a shipping cost to Berlin if I can get the quantity required.

6 hours ago, mikewest said:

Thanks for that observation Larry.

There is a similar problem with large HMI lamps on-set that produce a high level noise at 19kHz

My ears cannot hear that!!!

Regards

 

mike

That's interesting Mike, the HMI high level noise on the larger lamps used in the Uk is always14kHz

On 17 February 2018 at 10:03 PM, sinnlicht said:

Hi All, 

Having updated to the :Wave I would like to make its power cable. 

I have Switchcraft 761K for BDS and am looking for the appropriate 2-pin lemo for the :Wave. I have a source for these that needs to know if these are "0B" or "1B"?

Any help would be appreciated. 

RL

A quick email to Matt Adams at Wendy's Broadcast will reveal all as they make the leads up and carry stock of the two pin Lemo.

Mike, Kris Jaroz might be able to help. He is ex Richmond Film Services and one of the UK's leading repairer. His email is chrisaudiosevices@gmail.com

Definately put in the correct place IMHO John!

28 minutes ago, KGraham045 said:

Yes! That’s exactly it! Here’s part of their original concern....

 

“The client is asking to remove some specific sounds the interviewer is making while the CEO is talking. Since both tracks appear to be mixed together we can’t fully solve the problem.”

 

“We are in a bit of a time crunch for this, client is high profile and wants to see this done by today eod, tomorrow at the latest.”

 

So my thought is if it’s a “high profile client” and the project is in need of a time crunch. They should offer to pay for work/expertise.  Not expect a professional to work on it for free. Or play the blame game to get free work

Kyle your interpretation is bang on and as far as the post guy is concerned a little knowledge I'd dangerous.

Bump

If my memory serves me correctly there was a Nagra.111 in shot on The Ipcress File which was completed in 1964/5.

21 hours ago, daniel said:

Beta box looked like a nice idea if you mainly worked on sony digi-beta for example, but didn't you need a different beta box for each type of camera? Great being able to plug and unplug 1 handed (because of the beta box solid attachment) but otherwise an expensive solution. I'd have liked a 'beta box' that fitted to a 'cold-shoe' and a 1/4" thread - keep the 1 handed thing but just 1 box fitting most cameras. Either way still need to take strain off multipin connector by hanging umbilical from camera. 

Wasn't it just a case of having a different set of tails if the camera didn't have XLR inputs?. Must admit that That when I used one of these boxes thirty years ago all cameras were XLR.

4 hours ago, zerascal said:

+1 ABBloch

+ 1 from me as well.

Is it possible to delete notifications I have received and no longer want?

On 28 October 2017 at 11:57 PM, mikewest said:

Yep tying the the shields together perfectly OK

Also running an unbalanced return(s) no problem.

 

Ravenscourt UK make a single cable that does all this plus a coax for analogue video in the old days.

 

I used to run this out of my SQN mixer into a Ravenscourt BetaBox all the time

 

Cheers

 

mike

Unfortunately Mike the Ravenscourt solution is no more as John Pearson who owned the company closed it down about three years ago and moved to France.

On 7 January 2018 at 4:57 AM, mikewest said:

I once hear that telling a mixer to record MS was like telling a DP to only use a 50mm lens!

 

mike

At one point the BBC insisted that all FX to be used on any documentary had to be recorded in MS. The consensus of opinion from a lot of the 150+ recordists at BBC Ealing was that this was a total waste of time and effort and had been dreamt up by some desk pilot at Wood Norton. It was never in vogue at ITV.

1 hour ago, nch said:

Cool, I'll keep an eye out for them, they look like a really interesting little set of hidden mic clips. 

 

Not Vampire clips though, if anyone knows where to find some for the DPAs, still be good to know?

There are a few Uk dealers for these products so I would contact Everything Audio at Elstree who no doubt will stock the new ones when they become available.

18 hours ago, afewmoreyears said:

The best question was... "what are you TRYING to achieve.."?

Years ago there was a huge debate on here about MS and some wise old mixer summed it up with the words MS has

 no part of film making.

One of the snags with this machine is going to be the cost of the tape. A 10 1/2 inch reel of tape is currently 48 UK Pounds (60 US Dollars)

19 hours ago, John Blankenship said:

My experience:  Years ago I made a sign-out sheet for Comteks and quickly learned that it simply wouldn't work for a number of reasons.  There may be conditions under which it might, but on most of the jobs I've ever done, it wouldn't -- especially with agency folk.

 

John, I have used a "Whose got what" sheet for many years with complete success. 

2 hours ago, mikewest said:

The Oscar TL40 looks like a TRAM and maybe great value at the price.

 

The COS-11 is a stunning microphone but expensive.

 

My judgement on any personal mike is how easy is it to apply quickly and reliably!

 

mike

Mike, isn't the TL-40 more like the Cos-11 in appearance than a Tram or am I mistaking it for something else?

15 hours ago, tourtelot said:

But Glen, yer old.

 

:):):):)

 

D.

Nah Douglas, He just looks old. It's me and Mr. Toline who are old.

Malcolm Davies Amps CAS

On 17 November 2017 at 7:36 AM, Reg said:

Hi all

 

Just struggling on trying to update SQN 5S bag (currently old tatty porta brace soft shell). Was looking at getting a bag with a solid frame to also hold 2-4 wireless. Any SQN users out there using one that works well for them? 

SQN bags with a frame are scarcer than dragon poo. Your best plan would be to talk to Ian Fraser at KT systems. He makes bags for virtually any piece of gear. 

Jeff, I'm sure I speak for all of us in the UK that you have a speedy recovery.

Constantin!

walk away & leave them to it.

The cart that Phillip referred to with the canvas bag was indeed the Samuelson one. I still have one of these bags somewhere.

23 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

No--these guys had carts even then: I've seen photos of these guys with their carts (Jeff might have some on his personal site--that's him in the lower pic, and Crew Chamberlain in the upper)-in these shots they are working more portable to get that particular scene.  These pix are also from after the era of the Nagra III as a front-line recorder: they are both using either IV-L or 4.2 machines.  At the time these pix were taken these folks were the "new generation", using new methods etc.  By this time the Nagra III was being used by newbs who bought them used (like me) or by older mixers who were doing simple jobs and didn't see the need to upgrade.  I used a BMII with both Nagra III and 4.2 at various times.   The carts in use were often similar to the pic I attached: a folding AV cart with 2 laminated shelves and small solid wheels.  Many of us had home-made carts based on hand-trucks (with added shelves etc), not so different than what people make today except much heavier and more awkward.  We all oo'ed and ahh'ed when Agamemnon A brought a very cool folding cart back from a job in the UK around this time that fit his Sela+Nagra rig quite elegantly--it was way more advanced than what most of use were using. 

 

It may come as a bit of a surprise but in the UK in the 60/70's there wasn't any such think as a cart per se. Most mixers used a fold up picnic table. It was quite a revelation when in the early 70's the Samuelson company brought out a folding stand that just held a Nagra plus a small mixer. It still had to be carried as it wasn't fitted with castors or wheels. The first real cart was made by Stuart Ebbs a close friend of Simon Bishop. His company was the Ursta Engineering Company and was the only company making carts for the film industry.

When Stuart semi retired we took over the manufacture of his cart and until Mathew Bacon started  manufacture of his range of carts. We had the UK monopoly on carts and have made nearly 200 to date. A couple have managed to find their was across the pond.

Stuart and Simon are collaborating on some very interesting cart projects photos of which appear here from time to time.

Following the question as to the Nagra used on The Shining I contacted Ivan Sharrock who was the mixer at the start of the film and he sent this back.

Hi Malcolm

We used Stanley's Nagra IV-S. The other Mixer was Richard Daniel who took over from me in December after we had been filming for 30 weeks. I left, with my Boom Op/ 1st Asst  - Ken Weston, as Stanley would only give us two days off at Christmas!! The principle photography carried on for another 24 weeks ……… (original schedule was 17weeks)!