Eric Shultz

Eric Shultz

Thanks for the link, Engin (edit: link to data sheet from Olle, thanks). Wow, the polar pattern compares well with the CS-3e! That's just on paper, of course, but... I'm interested.

Jeff, Great list! I'd take them all, but it's not in this year's budget. The plan is to build up the collection for the whole film department and I'm just trying to make sure sound doesn't get shorted. Seems like I couldn't go wrong choosing any from the list, but I'm hoping people already in the profession might recommend three or four books they consider indispensable for a college program. Steve, I'm not laughing. You had me at ice cream. I'll definitely check it out. Al, we're in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school in Gainesville recently changed its name from Santa Fe Community College to Santa Fe College. That allowed us to have the domain name--sfcc.edu--we had long felt was rightfully ours! Thanks for responding.

What sound-for-picture books should a young and growing film department have in our library reference section? I raised this in a but want to open up the discussion. I'm a student in the Santa Fe Community College film program and am specializing in sound. We are growing, and the department is finding great teachers with real-world experience and getting hold of industry-grade equipment since the general approach is very hands-on (as for sound equipment, not so much---ah, well, with time...). The approach is working: our students are getting hired in the industry (in New Mexico and beyond) and employers seem pleased with our preparation. But I noticed that our library sorely lacks technical reference books to support both students and faculty as we become a bigger and better program. I'm an older student and my experience is that the abundance of online material is both a blessing and a curse and even careful search engine queries often produce way more chaff than wheat. In short, the web is a valuable supplement but no substitute for books carefully written by genuine experts and meticulously edited by serious publishers. I took my concerns to the department head (the right advice, Mike) and she didn't hesitate to find a faculty member as eager as I am to make improvements. He is asking the other faculty to recommend books in their various fields. The library wants to buy books that are recent (or recently updated) and that will have a long useful life (I guess the collection's three different guides to ProTools 7 are a lesson learned). I recently read Purcell's Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures, 2nd Ed. and learned a ton. And I'm just starting Yewdall's Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound and am loving it. And I know Jay Rose's books are highly recommended, but I can only read so fast! Also, I have very little experience to judge a book's relevance in the real world. That's why I'm asking the JWSound crew to weigh in. Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Mike; thanks, Jim. I'll keep at it and report back.

Well I just placed my order, partly on y'alls' recommendation and partly on the quality of the other Focal Press books I've bought. But it is with some sadness. Sadness because my school, Santa Fe Community College, with its growing film department eager to support the lively movie and TV industry in New Mexico (Breaking Bad is not our only gift to humanity!), to me seems way behind in building up a reference section in our school library. I'm kind of an oldster so I value books, and I understand that the department needs to divide its budget between faculty and equipment to give us a hands-on learning experience, and I also understand that there is a lot accessible on the internet, but a library collection with as many books like Purcell's as possible should be a no-brainer (uh, maybe not the best choice of words). I'll lobby the school librarian and try to rally the faculty. I realize that from an author's or publisher's point of view, a good library collection might prevent a purchase like mine, but that seems short-sighted: if we experience the value of such books during our school days, once out working in the world, many of us will still want those resources for our own shelves.

No doubt, as I'm finding out, which is why practitioners such as the OP who have the prudence and courage to ask "Is my theory... correct?" are good models for those of us just joining the ranks. That said, let me add that I understand the value of discussion is in addition to and not in place of actual experience on professional-grade projects. All in good time.

Very helpful thread! This issue came up the other day on my first non-school-project job. I argued that my having rolled sound had created a file with a take number, so the numbers should advance, and I prevailed! Little did I know... And don't blame my school: I've only just now completed enough preliminaries to take Sound for Film, which starts next month. For those of us who don't yet have years of experience, in the mean time it's great to have the benefit of listening to those who do.

About the cost, I bought a demo from the factory, new in appearance and functionality and with a 1-year warranty, for about half the retail price. See "Second hand market" on the Sonosax home page. Dealt directly (in English) with Mr. Pierre Blanc in a smooth and easy transaction. As I recall, shipping to USA took four or five days. I've used it only a few times but am happy with the results. Controls are minimal, such as the 3-position switches for headphone volume and gain. I don't think the fader knob adds any gain, just attenuation from the selected level (20, 46 or 72 dB) down to -inf. I like the idea of using it with the ZFR100 (not an option for me at the moment), but to use it with other tiny recorders for maximum minimalism, the SX-BD1's line out signal is true line level so too hot for some consumer decks unless you use a pad, but it can be set to mic-level output. Besides use on a boom pole, it attaches nicely to c-stands, etc. and offers a lot of clean gain with a long lasting self-contained power supply for many odd situations. With batteries, mine weighs 5.6 oz (158 g).

Aha, obviously a good design feature so I had to wonder when it wasn't bragged about. Thanks for the quick info.

When you remove the Wing, can you plug a right-angle XLR through the BaseMate slot directly into the base? If the Loon website says, I missed it.

On the 352 wish list, AES42 support on at least two of the inputs.