Jeff Wexler

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. I loved Tom Lehrer! My mother bought the first record, I played it over and over again, I think I learned all the words at age 5 or 6! The only one I had trouble with was The Elements -- I could never really get all the way through that one. Many, many years later in High School I tried to sing the Elements but in the proper order of the Periodic Table of Elements --- could not do it because of course Tom sang them in his own order for the song. Still love it to this day (as I love Gilbert and Sullivan music also). The Elents.1.mp4

Don Zimmerman, a veteran film editor who scored an Oscar nom for Coming Home and worked on dozens of other movies including Being There, The Prince of Tides, Night at the Museum and two Rocky sequels, died July 24 of acute myeloid leukemia at his Studio City home. He was 81. I had not been in contact with Don for years, very sad to hear of his passing. On Facebook, of course, again continuing my love-hate with Facebook. Don was very much in the Hal Ashby group, I did a number of movies with him besides the Hal Ashby movies, he was a pleasure to work with, so mutually supportive and a real team player. When he asked me if I would do the sequel to Saturday Night Fever I of course said yes, I would love work with him again. He said the Director was Sly Stone ("Saturday Night Fever II - Everyday People" ?). It wasn't until my first pre-production meeting that I realized it was Sly STALLONE, not Sly Stone! I did the movie and it was a kind of a wild ride, Stallone never seemed comfortable directing. He was very competitive regarding another movie being made at the same time but he was very sure he had a winner with his movie, He called the other movie "Flushdance".

I'm not sure about this but it looks like the custom studio built 3 input mixing panel that was used at Universal Studio. This would have been back when most of the sound gear for shows was supplied by the Sound Department at the Studio.

Good work Doc Justice! WildTrax is so much more than just the successor to Gallery's Metacorder and Boom Recorder. I know you say in the video you don't care what people think of you or even what they think of the software, but I have to say I think you are brilliant and have been the all important shepard in developing this platform. I was very impressed! I'm recommending that everyone who has any interest in making high track count recordings directly to Mac OS should watch the really good Gotham Sound video with Peter Schneider. LINK to Gotham Sound video

I just heard that Chris Newman has died, February 3rd. My father gave Chris one of his first jobs in sound on the movie "Medium Cool". Chris had done some documentary work and my father had already decided that "Medium Cool" would be shot very much in a documentary style during the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. Chris was helpful in the beginning of my career in sound but I realized in hindsight that I learned a lot more about the politics of sound mixing than I did about actual sound mixing. In retirement Chris was a great teacher and was very generous, even throughout his working career, with his knowledge and experience (and opinions!).

I am very sad to report that the love my life, my sweet Carol, has passed away. Many of you know her and have worked with her, Unit Still Photographer Carol McCullough, retired for many years now but never on Facebook. She had a fall, one of many, and was in rehab getting Physical Therapy and had a stroke from which she did not recover. We were together for 35 wonderful years with no loss of love, through wonderful times and not so wonderful times -- I miss her so much.

Thanks for the report. I think we may have fixed everything -- let's hope!

Still trying to sort this out. We're working on it. - JW

The site is experiencing problems now after a software update. It may be affecting Safari primarily as I am using Chrome now to make this post (I do not typically use Chrome). We're working on a fix. Sorry for the disruption if members are having problems. - JW

We have a section "Want To Buy - Want To Sell" which is used by members on this site. It is not a general auction or classified ads type of section and is restricted to members who have made at least 5 posts. If you contact me and I can verify you, I might be able to give permission for you to post an ad.

I am surprised that you did not find me on the list of StellaDAT users -- I was one of the early adopters way before Sonosax had anything to do with the recorder. Just as you had stated, one look at the StellaDAT and I was in love -- easily the most "Nagra like" DAT machine ever produced. I actually went through 2 machines and finally had to give up on the StellaDAT. The first problem was the dreaded sunlight problem --- light getting into the machine and tripping the optical sensor and shutting the machine down. The other major problem was heat. The machine would get so hot you could barely touch it. I had to abandon it in. favor of the HHB PortaDAT that proved to be the most reliable of all the DAT machines I used (and I think I used them all). I never fell in love with the DAT format and was so pleased when I was an early adopter of the Zaxcom Deva, the first file-based production recorder that revolutionized the industry.

I do not normally single out individual members who have donated, but I'm making an exception with a special shout out to Philip Perkins along with a thank you for his incredibly generous donation. Philip is certainly one of the founding members of JWSOUND signing up just under a month after our launch. Philip's participation here has been so wonderful, so thoughtful and helpful for so many, his generosity sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience is a cornerstone of the site. We have all benefitted from the huge variety of jobs Philip has done over the years, developing the art of sound recording for everything from commercials, documentaries, feature films and live concerts. Thank you!

Thank you Jim for offering guidance for Donations. -- and huge thank you to all of our great members who have so generously donated without me even asking! JSWOUND continues to be one of best online communities and this comes from all of the thoughtful and generous participation of our members. Thank you !!!

Nice!

I made a brief post which helped me deal with the current situation. I do not encourage nor discourage anyone else making comment. We do have an unwritten policy of trying to keep most political discussions off this site (we retired the Society and Politics section years ago) but no one should be critical of a few comments at this time. What has just occurred in this country is way beyond just "politics". So, to all our great members of this online community, monitor and moderate yourselves as you have always done, one of the main reasons JWSOUND has endured.