davidm

I have been using DAP 4071's for about 18 months for feature film and TV drama work and it's not just that they match my boom mics better than Sanken's, IMHO, they sound more "open" and natural. While we reach for the DPA's first, the Sankens, B6's and Tram's all have their uses. The DPA's are physically fatter than a Sanken COS11 but they are shorter as well. In practice, if the size is a problem then I'd be thinking about a B6. David M

The cost of a Sonic Studio model 306 which has 8 analogue I/O and 8 AES I/O is USD$$6,995.00. It's made by Metric Halo and includes all the Metric Halo Console, Mixer and Plug In software. The ULN-8 effectively replaces the 306 and cost's less. All the processing power and most of the software is implemented in the current MH 2882 which cost's USD$1895. The current Record Panel is very basic. TC is not implemented. You can record arm any input and there's record, stop and play buttons. There's no film or video relevant metadata. Screen shot copied below. There must be considerably more electronics in the ULN-8. It's got ventilation on the sides and the spec of 32 watts is considerably more than my non 2D card 2882's which use 11 watts (no DSP) and 15 watts (with DSP). David M

The great feature of the MOTU Traveler is that it has a software timecode generator included. For the price conscious, a Traveler and a Mac with Boomrecorder is all you need to get recording with timecode. The sync will good for up to 10 minute takes assuming there's no free run timecode slate or camera timecode involved as the Traveler internal clock spec seems to be around 50 to 100ppm. I did some tests with a Traveler, MH 2882 and a G4 Mac Powerbook referenced against a calibrated Ambient Controller a few years ago. The Powerbook internal sound card was best at about 10ppm (parts per million). David M

Sonic Studio (http://www.sonicstudio.com) who make music mastering software supply full rack width variants of Metric Halo's hardware. These products which have quite a price premium over the MH 2882, have options including Jensen transformer inputs, AES I/O's on DB25's, and TC I/O's for the Sonic Studio software. Perhaps Metric Halo are rationalising the product manufacturing lines a little. On the other hand, if the TC input can be treated as extra audio I/O's on the routing matrix, Metacorder and Boomrecorder could access that TC. David M

I have a pair of MH 2882's and have long wanted a variant with DB25's so that I can tidy up the wiring in the back of my cart. I just hope the gain controls on the front can be physically pushed in or locked out in software. As for the clocking, the new 2D card upgrade for the 2882's apparently has a higher spec clock than my models but this is still musicians grade, not the film / broadcast grade of 1ppm or better. I'll continue to clock with my 744T or a Lockit. David M

Canford Ltd in the UK manufacture Panamic booms. You can order the parts online: http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/53-5851.aspx http://www.canford.co.uk/ProductResources/ig/5570.pdf David M

I asked both Mark Gilbert and Chris Price from Ambient about Metacorder reading the timecode from the ACC501 in May 2006. Ambient had originally proposed a small USB timecode generator but decided to concentrate on the new ACC501 Master Controller which featured MTC timecode out on one of the USB ports. At Mark's suggestion, I downloaded the demo of Gallery's Virtual VTR and verified that the Gallery technology and the Ambient Controller were working. Virtual VTR read the MTC timecode fine although looking back at my past e-mails, there was a bug in the ACC501 Controller the resulted in incorrect frame rate identification. This was fixed by Chris Price within a few days. So the technology is available but I don't believe it was ported over to Metacorder I use the line in on my Mac Mini for timecode input which I source from my 744T or an Ambient Lockit. David Madigan

I'm running a Carnetix P2140 with my Mac Mini. Pro's: It will run from 12 volt Gel Cells and 14.4 volt Lithium Ion's. The Lithium Ion's have a fresh charge voltage of up to 17 volts and that is higher than the 12 volt only P1900 will accept (according to Carnetix). There's also a small OS X application that will monitor the P2140 via the USB port called "PSU Moni" which can be found by searching the Carnetix Support Forums. Con's: The fan is noisier than the P1900 (IMHO). It has some sort of pulse drive with feedback and so it makes more noise than a straight DC fan. The direct mounting to the frame doesn't help. I tried other fans but they didn't sound any better. You can disconnect the fan sensing system with "PSU Moni" or the PC equivalent but Carnetix say you must have cooling and the regulators will shut down above 60 deg C. My P2140 is in a rack case and I mounted the fan with some rubber rings to reduce the mechanical transmission from the fan to the chassis. My P2140 gets up 55 deg C on very hot days. I keep the P2140 load low by running my monitor from a different supply. I suspect it's designed to be operated in an air conditioned vehicle. I have a 1.8MHz Mac Mini with 1GB RAM. CPU usage running Metacorder and a few utilities is between 12 and 18% of that available. David M

Hi Brian, I used the 30x60 extrusion on the rear sides of lid. These provided an extra slot that I mounted the screen surround into. There's a gap above and below the screen surround for ventilation. The pictures below should explain how it works. The screen is a 15" widescreen, 12 volt Xenarc. It's powered via a Traco 9-18V to 12 volt DC/DC converter. It's sort of daylight readable and I can put some black card into the slot above the monitor for some extra shade. I also have an Elgato Eye TV250 mounted inside the cart which takes one camera video feed and floats the picture over lower left quarter of Metacorder . Here's also a photo of the Mark I and Mark II carts, the Mark II with it's lid closed. David Madigan

Hi Crew, I prefer to mix standing up but I also have a tall directors chair in which to while away the day..... Hi Philip, Don't ever do this. There are far more interesting things to do with ones life. That 1U silver rack case underneath the 744T contains a firewire DVD drive, a Carnetix P2140 power supply, a firewire hub and an Intel Mac Mini. As for the smallish front castor wheels, these are stock Item products. There's no doubt that large castor wheels travel over cables and rough ground better but I'd have to totally change the cart base and rear wheel mounts to accommodate significantly larger castors. In practice, I tilt the cart back and bump over cables and rough ground with the rear wheels only. This cart has been to all sorts of difficult places but in reality, I built it for the pavement and studio. David M

Hi Jeff, I use Item extrusions Profile 6 - 30x30mm and 30x60mm. There's a few variants of the Item T-slot insert nut but the basic version that I use (T-Slot Nut 6 St M5) can just be slipped sideways into the slot. You can mount all sorts of attachments anywhere at any time, and the joints are very strong. There is heavy duty connecter variant that has to be "pre loaded" from an open end The 80/20 range has a similar range of joint/connector variants. (I have just trolled through their extensive catalogue). If you are choosing between 80/20 and Item, i'd suggest it would come down to who can do the fabricating. My local Item agent (45 minutes away) has the jig's for cutting, drilling and tapping. I'm just not capable of producing the same quality result. There's no 80/20 agent here in New Zealand so Item it is for me. Another consideration could be dirt. The 80/20 profile has additional cosmetic grooves - I'm often brushing out location debris that accumulates in the slots and the additional grooves may accumulate even more. Both ranges have plastic covers that clip into the T slots. The Sonosax is mounted on a sliding shelf with Velcro. It's a thin timber shelf that is attached to a pair off horizontally mounted low profile aluminium drawer runners with about 20cm or 8" of travel that I found at a marine interior outfitter. These in turn are mounted on a pair of horizontal extrusions running front to back. In the first picture there is a 30x60mm extrusion in front of the mixer. This is attached to the shelf and acts a front protection for the mixer and a scribble strip. Just visible below that section are the front edges of the two runners. The horizontal sections running front to back are directly behind the next lower visible extrusion which is 30x30. They are connected to front and rear extrusions with a blind mounting joint (Automatic-Fastening Set 6) that isn't as strong as the T slot nuts but is more than adequate for the task. The shelf doesn't latch shut. I did try a rear magnetic catch but it wasn't very effective. I'm looking at a couple of button latches which would mount in the front extrusion and latch into the horizontal uprights. Carts are never finished! David Madigan

A few photo's of my cart built from "ITEM" "MB" extrusion. It was built in late 2006 and features parts from Roadmaster - a local case manufacturer who suppled the aluminium panels, Skyway Tuff wheels, cable hooks, boom holders and cup holder from Rob Stalder and Middle Atlantic UCP connector panels. I must get around to labeling the connector panel.... David Madigan

This product appears to be a clone of the "MB" aluminum T slot system made by ITEM in Germany. www.iteminternational.com or in the USA http://www.itemamerica.com/. I have built two carts from the Item extrusion. It's like Lego for engineers. The catalogue runs to 600 pages. Assuming the distributor does the fabrication, it's fast and relatively affordable for a custom solution. Apart from accurately cutting the extrusion, threads have to be tapped into ends of each section. My local distributor is able to cut and thread the extrusion very quickly. The Item extrusion isn't expensive but the fastners and specialist elements definitely push the price up. My mark 1 cart (2001/02) looked very similar to this: http://www.filmtontechnik.de/massanfertigung.html. I'll post some photo's of the mark II cart over on the Images of Interest page. David Madigan

A little off subject but I assembled one of Rob Stalders G2 carts today for use as a follow cart. The packaging of the cart components was carried out with extraordinary care and attention and the assembled cart is well thought out and built to a high standard. More than a few heads tuned when it was wheeled onto set. http://www.rastorder.com.au/product_2g.htm David Madigan

I purchased a pair of Skyway Tuff Wheels for my cart direct from Skyway about two years ago but have heard since that they no longer sell direct. There's actually quite a range of hub widths available - I went for a narrower version than a standard bike hub to keep the overall cart width to a minimum. The problem with the narrow hub variants is that they are industrial products and my nearest Skyway distributor in Australia only sells bike wheels. There's a certain age group of crew members who had Skyway Tuff Wheels on their BMX bikes in the 1980's and instantly recognise them on my cart. They all seem to think I must have got them of an old BMX but are presently surprised to hear they are still being manufactured. I think the Tuff Wheels were about USD $35.00 to $40.00 each including tyres. The freight cost more than the wheels. David Madigan Auckland, NZ.

I upgraded from a Soundcraft LM1 to a Sonosax SX XT two years ago. Two other mixers in my market who had been Audio Developments 146 owners purchased SX XT's about the same time. It was a substantial jump in cost for all of us but we all took the view that the Sonosax has a practical operationally life of 10 to 15 years. So $US2500 per year for say 10 years is reasonably affordable. Sonosax have had another panel mixer on the drawing boards for some time that has an estimated basic configuration cost of around US$8K. It seems to have a few more features and is physically more compact the Audio Developments AD255 which I believe is currently the lowest cost 12 volt analogue location panel mixer on the market. http://www.sonosax.ch/mixers/sxes64/sxes64_index.htm http://www.audio.co.uk/B10.htm David Madigan

It's not for everyone but I prefer to deliver my audio with 100% accurate scene and take info in the metadata and that often requires some editing after the recording. I also generate electronic logs and so need to add notes after the recording and that's an editing function. If the recorder can allow efficient entry and editing of metadata then it doesn't detract from the essence of recording good audio. My audio tends by synched in an Avid and the assistant editors prefer scene and take info in the metadata as do audio post. David Madigan

There's nothing about editing metadata in the manual available on the Nagra website and the only reference to "machines" is the where you label the machine name - they allow you to out this in the file name. It doesn't seem a logical part of the menu for metadata editing. Of course, there may be software revisions more recent than than the manual publication date. I know it's early days for the Nagra VI but to catch up with the pack I believe metadata editing and a false start routine are essential from day one. http://www.nagraaudio.com/files/Manual+NVI.zip David Madigan

As a one off purchase, either a Deneke or Ambient box will do fine but if you are buying a number of units for use with multiple cameras, then Lockit's and an ACC501 Master Controller make a very elegant, easy to use system. The advantage of the Ambient box is that it's an integral part of a family of timecode products that are fully compatible with the original Aaton standard ASCII timecode in addition to LTC code. The advantage of working with ASCII timecode is that it's a bi-directional protocol. With an ASCII Controller, such as the Ambient 501 or an Aaton Origin C you can interrogate the Lockit box and confirm that the timecode is set and there are no errors. Ambient has built on that standard by allowing the user to calibrate the crystal oscillator frequency of all the Ambient products (and Sound Devices recorders) with the Master Controller. Practically, this means you can take the Controller to the camera to set the timecode in the morning and do after lunch checks. If the Lockits can be left setup on the cameras, there's less likelihood of damage to the TC and genlock cables which tend to be the single major source of faults. As for reliability, I have been selling and renting Ambient timecode products for 12 years and to date have not had any electronic failures. There have been a few mechanical issues such as frayed BNC cables on 1990's vintage Lockits and recently a backup battery solder joint breaking in a timecode slate after months of vigorous clapping (smashing) by one particular AC. David Madigan New Zealand

I own two MH2882's and am considering upgrading one of them with the new 2D card, mainly so that I can set up a spare mixer with a remote fader surface and also (but not seriously), so that I can send the client a Comtek feed with one of the new "Character" settings such as "California Vocal Box - Drive" or "Classic British Mic Pre". I can't find any reference to the "Record Panel" accepting timecode, either in the manual or in the version 5 software preferences. As for Metadata, while there is the ability to record bwf, the metadata is limited to two fields, "country code" & "facility code". To quote MH " It does support timestamping and standardized metadata" If anyone with Metacorder and a 2882 upgrades with the 2D card, I'd be interested to know if any parts of the new mixer such as the inserts appear before Metacorder.

The SX R-4 is 8 track. 4 analogue channel mic/line on XLR, 2 channel unbalanced analogue line on TA3 and 8 channel digital AES. The only analogue outputs are on TA3 or headphone (x2) . David Madigan

Photos of the Cinela windshield attached. David Madigan

There's news of Cinela's ZEPHYX windshield for smaller microphones mounted on OSIX suspensions on the web site of Paris sound equipment supplier DCA. \ http://www.dcaudiovisuel.com/news_info.php/newsPath/9/news_id/61/language/en The new ZEPHYX windscreen has several new benefits: - Wind protection is increased thanks to the ovoid shape and to better capsule position within windscreen volume. - It is possible to use basic fabric alone (without fur), even with rather high wind, and so, to have very good acoustic transparency. - The lack of "cage effect" (standing waves) is real: no disorder in the upper medium. - The addition of a furry envelope is possible, in case of higher wind. - An optional "Violent Storm" fur for high wind is available. - The cage is suspended, essential for avoiding boom noises (especially for stereo recording). - Full outdoor / indoor compatibility: indoors, there are no apparent rods. - Indoors, the internal arm and the second swivel allow virtual mic length extension, which means better mic direction viewing. - Perfect adaptation to the new OSIX CCM shock mount, for mono and MS stereo recording. - Full compatibility with these shock mounts: CCM (OSIX CCM), CMC (OSIX 2), KM 100 (OSIX 1), MKH 8000 (OSIX 8000) and certainly other configurations will be discovered with use. - Full compatibility with existing OSIX 1, 2 & 8000 shock mounts, by simply changing the XLR cable. - Double axis "Cinela exclusive" swivel with single knob tightening, perfect for stereo. David Madigan

Hi Jeff, For those of us not being able to make it to Las Vegas, what was it that you didn't actually like about the Nagra 6. Sure they are bit late at joining the party but apart from looking like a revised HHB Portadrive, does it actually work? With 6 tracks it's about the same size as a PD606 but without a DVD drive. It seems to have a couple less mic inputs than a PD606 but compared to the Sound Devices products, the gain controls look as though they are more than presets. Is there a false start routine, can you edit the metadata? Were Nagra saying anything about future software upgrades? David Madigan New Zealand

For the past 10 years or so I have been powering my various system from 2 x15 AH Gel Cells mounted in a Pelican case with smart chargers for overnight charging and more recently with dual 10 amp float chargers on my cart. For the last year this power supply has been struggling to cope with my Mac Mini based Metacorder based cart which draws up to 110 watts. Basically, the poor high current performance of the gel cells results in these relatively small batteries delivering less than 12 volts which quickly causes complaints from most of my audio components. So instead of investing in some Optima's and larger capacity chargers, in December last year I ordered a Li-Ion based UPS style system from Ocean Server Technology ( www.ocean-server.com ). It's all assembled in a temporary case at the moment but I have put together a dual system each with 4 x 95 watt / 14.4 voltt Li-Ion batteries and a float charger-controller & 120W /18 volt power supply. The capacity of the batteries is 52 amps at a nominal 14.4 volts. The 120 W power supplies charge the batteries from flat in about 6 hours while supplying 55 watts each to the cart at 16.5 - 18 volts. When charged the the battery runtime for my cart is around 6.5 - 7 hours on full load with the batteries delivering 16.5 volts full charged and a healthy 13.5 to 14 volts when indicating empty. I use one of the systems to power the Mac Mini and 15" screen and the other to power the audio equipment. Ocean Server Technologies have charger controllers which are scaleable so everything from a 1 x 95W Li-Ion Watt battery to over 64 x 95Wt Li-Ion batteries can be built. These are the components I used: A95HC-FL SMART LI-ION BATTERY PACK, 95Whr, 14.4V, 6.6Ah, FLYING LEAD EK-04 UNREGULATED IBPS POWER KIT LCD DISPLAY w/BACKLIGHT, 2x16 and CABLE I mounted everything in an old Pelican 1450 case with a low speed 12 volt, 120cm fan running on 5 volts via a DC-dc converter keeping things cool when connected to mains power. I'm looking at putting the parts in a custom aluminum case with passive cooling but I'll need to replace the sealed plastic case mains power supplies with open frame types. There's a few other issues to sort out including installing a 2 way 8 pole on/off switch which will disconnect each of the batteries from the controller board as when the batteries are not being used, there's an approx 1% per day current draw for the controller board and LCD. A relatively expensive solution but very reliable power and the weight = 10KG / 22 pounds! David Madigan Auckland New Zealand