Beeps at end of take

[Philip Perkins]

If it's a bunch of takes together, we just call it a series (SER) and let the assistant editor sort it out. A couple of beeps at the end or a "and that's a cut" works fine.

I'd say if you have notes that they liked a particular take (like the last one), to me, that would be information for the sound report. No need to waste disk space describing it verbally.

I agree with Robert that more and more productions don't even yell "CUT" anymore. Suddenly in dailies, the film stops, the sound stops, and we're kind of bracing ourselves for more in post. I think it's sloppy, but I also recognize that every director has his or her own personal working method. Still, knowing the take is over helps, and I think the two beeps is a tradition with a reason and a purpose, even though it was originally just an analog convenience (like when cueing a Nagra, as Arnold says above).

I've been asking Zaxcom to add an "auto-beep" system to the end of Deva takes, just to drop in two half-second beeps whenever the stop button ends a file. So far, it hasn't happened, but I continue to hope...

--Marc W.

I've been doing a bunch of wild on-set VO recording lately, with the scripty taking TC from me, and with me naming the files per her instruction.  This works well but I can still see that a beep or a slate mic click might be good between takes if we keep on rolling within the same file, even if the editor has the TC script notes.  (No telecine--direct to Final Cut.)  

Philip Perkins

[studiomprd]

" I still don't see why a tail beep is necessary "

I think we have pretty much agreed they are not necessary for files based recording.

[stacysound]

My boom Op likes it so he knows when he can start talking...

[mikewest]

I feel that with file based recording and metadata the beeps I used to add are redundant.

What is more topical is the use of a buffer on modern recorders to give syncers a good run-up.

This applies to Avid syncing as well a syncing in tele-cine.

mike

www.mikewestgatesound.co.nz

[Chris Howland CAS]

I usually state "That's a Cut" on the slate mic as well as 2 beeps at the end. The Boom Op, and the crew at video village usually like to hear it. It's part of the cadence. I got used to hearing it on my internship which was a 60 day shoot so I adopted it. I must say that 1k is still an annoying freq to hear over and over. I like to try and use a lower freq like 440Hz.

[johnpaul215]

What would be old school protocol when rolling takes as a series? If there is no cut, but they are going again, would you do one or two beeps?

I always name my files something like 43A_004.wav, and normally that's all post would ever want. I just finished a feature where the beeps would have been helpful. After the second day we shot almost everything as a series (even when it included dolly moves). 74B take 01 boiled down to everything we shoot of that specific angle of the scene. Most actual cuts were if we ran out of media or battery on the camera. The (on site) editor was going nuts trying to organize everything. It became a situation where "cut!" did not always mean cut...... and sometimes a camera cut was a secret to the rest of the people on set. First time I ever had to call for a cut because I was at risk of running out of media (6 tracks on a PD-6 can burn up DVD-Ram media pretty quick).

As a side note.... my tone button is not a momentary switch, so there is not a simple way to do a quick double beep. My current setup would also send the tone over the Comteks and might irritate some people.

[Marc Wielage]

What would be old school protocol when rolling takes as a series? If there is no cut, but they are going again, would you do one or two beeps?

From a post point of view, I would hope the mixer would jump in after the first take and say "still rolling." And indicate on the sound report that this was a series.

I always name my files something like 43A_004.wav, and normally that's all post would ever want.

That depends on how they're syncing. If they're doing it in telecine (now becoming passe), they do it totally by slate timecode. If an assistant is doing it in the Avid or FCP, then naming the files by scene & take is better ("16B-1.wav").

As a side note.... my tone button is not a momentary switch, so there is not a simple way to do a quick double beep. My current setup would also send the tone over the Comteks and might irritate some people.

I sympathize with you, because I'm using a Mix-12 and there's no momentary beep there, either. I envy old school mixers using Coopers who can do this easily.  We've asked for an auto-double-beep at the end of takes for Deva and Fusion recorders, but the software change has not happened yet.

My advice is always to talk to the post supervisor and/or the assistant editor (the latter is who normally does the syncing on HD/4K shoots), and ask them if they can locate the sound takes OK. 90% of the time, they just sort the takes by the creation date & time. That's where a head ID comes in very handy.

--Marc W.