Jeff Wexler

Usually when I break down a script one of the things I am doing is making notes where the sound department may have to interface with another key department, in this case, the Art Department. Anytime it is descrtibed that someone is speaking at a podium or is making an announcement through a P.A. system, or it is a courtroom scene as you describe, I discuss this with the Art Department. Often it is the Prop Master and/or the Set Decorator who needs to be consulted so we can get together on what the microphones will actually be. In courtroom scenes, I have always tried to make sure that all the docket microphones are practical and for the most part, my choice as to the type of microphone. I am very sensitive, aesthetically, to what I consider a real mistake, which is putting practical microphones and shockmounts into a scene where it really is NOT the right microphone for the setting. This often requires either very careful selection through research I have done (and usually the Set Decorator if they are good) or artful disguise of an otherwise inappropriate microphone. On "Sweet Dreams" (the Patsy Cline story) we used all proper period microphones, all practical and functioning, for the purpose of being authentic for the period and the venue (when she sings at a High School itr wouldn't be a Nuemann U87!) and providing the ability for us to record dialoh spoken on the mic (after lip-syncing all the singing). I know Peter Kurland faced simialr challenges with "Walk The Line" and used all practical mics. Peter had the additional concern that they had to record live vocals on these mics, something we did not do on "Sweet Dreams" (although I have done it on other movies). Regards, Jeff Wexler

I think as Eric pointed out that the Canare cable is very common and although not as flexible or as small in diameter as its Mogami counterpart, the Canare has worked better for me in the long run (I have duplexes made from both). Regards, Jeff Wexler

Moe Chamberlain (Crew's brother) went in my place to China on "Mission Impossible 3". Here you see Moe and Robert "Max" Maxfield (Don Coufal is probably taking the picture). Regards, Jeff Wexler

I am pleased that so many of you have posted "who you are" and from the looks of things, everyone is interested in this. We have 208 registered members as of today and this topic, "Who Are You" has been read 131 times so far! So, here goes: Jeff Wexler:Â I turned 59 years old yesterday, April 18th. I grew up in Chicago, have been around the film buisness (way before it was called the "Entertainment BUSINESS") all my life, riding around on the dolly at the age of two. My father is Haskell Wexler (who hates being called "the legendary cinematographer") and contrary to the documentary made by my half-brother Mark ("Tell Them Who You Are") my father has been not only a hugely talented cinematographer and director, he has been and continues to be a wonderful father. I went to college in San Francisco, earned my Masters in sociology, planning to teach social sciences at the college level. No intention to enter the film business, did not want to follow in my father's footsteps (large shoes to fill), so I pursued what I believed would be my career, that of school teacher. My father got me a summer job in 1969, working on a film directed by his old friend, Hal Ashby. The film, "Harold and Maude" changed the course of my life. I worked as a production assistant assigned to the Art Department and the whole experience was amazing --- I felt totally at home on the set and really enjoyed the contribution to the movie. Hal Ashby was so terrific and so appreciative of the work that I did, that I got an up front credit, shared with two associate producers, and I was just a P.A.! That experience sealed the deal, I was going to abandon teaching and start working in the industry. I wanted to do something more technical than the art department, I had always been a real gadget freak, so it was going to be Camera or Sound. I wasn't going to do camera, so it was SOUND that I chose. To make a long story short, I started doing sound in 1970, low budget non-union films, it took me 5 years and a class action lawsuit to get into the union, and I then started doing decent movies. I was fortunate as well to hook up with a lot of very talented people, Don Coufal, Crew Chamberlain and others, and we are all still friends. Don and I continue to work together, for the last 28 years, having done 56 movies. In 1980, Don Coufal, Roger Daniell and I were offered by Hal Ashby, his post-production company, Northstar Media Sound Services which we ran for about 15 years. Having Northstar allowed me to experiment with a new format, DAT, and I was the first to use DAT as a production sound recording medium. Later, I was the first again to use the Deva on the west coast, ushering in the use of non-linear file based recording to the industry. Over the years I have gotten my teaching chops back, guest lecturing at USC, UCLA, teaching at AFI, hosting and on the panel for numerous seminars and workshops, and am presently the co-chairman with Wolf Seeberg of the Education Committee in our Union, Local 695. I have mixed 70 feature films, been nominated twice for Academy Award, won a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for "Almost Famous" and nominated once for an Emmy for Billy Crytal's "*61". So, that's about it. Regards,Â

Thanks for the warning. I have not had the pleasure of visiting those forums. - JW

One of the good things for me running this Discussion Group with the forum software from Simple Machines (this is true with other software as well) is the statistics report that is available. Under "stats" I can see who has been contributing, what topics have a lot of attention and which hold very little interest for our members. By studying these stats I hope to be able to dynamically moderate this Group in much the same way a moderator would deal with a group of REAL people in a real room (I think you know what I mean). That brings me back to the subject of WHO are our members (and I'm not back on my original thread about nicknames and handles, I'm well over that). What I would like to see, for those who wish to, to have our members post something about themselves, even if just a really brief bio or where you are geographically located, where you work, etc. I do not wish this to be any invasion of privacy in any way (and in any case, like everything else on the Internet, feel free to fabricate --- just kidding). For example, I see that Phillip Perkins has posted more here than any of the rest of us (except for me of course) and I think lots of us might want to know a little bit more about Phillip. So, do what you want with this idea and just ignore it if I'm off base here or others feel that this is not interesting. We have over 200 members now and I'm really enjoying my participation in the Group. Best Regards, your host, Jeff Wexler

That would be a good feature and it is good to know that you could implement it the way you describe (but I know, not now). It would then work in those situations where you may be working with cameras in rec run and BoomRecorder would autostart (go into record) based on having seen running code from the camera. - JW

I purchased recently a refurbished iBook for my sister-in-law. I set it up for her and it has been working beautifully. So, that's one good experience. My feeling personally, however, is that the savings are not so great with a refurb. if you factor in the stuff bundled with a new machine. Another possibility is to get a new machine purchased near the EOL (end of life) of a specific tried and true model. If you do not need those things that a new model provides, a "new" older model is a good bet. I know that this suggestion, which has been a good suggestion for many in the past, carries with it a little more complexity with the transition to the new models --- models that really are new because of the Intel processors. Regards, Jeff Wexler

Another one, this time created by a friend of ours from some of Don Coufal's images. This could be a poster for "The Last Samurai" featuring cinematographer John Toll. - JW

This is the last thing I will say on this topic (which we know, of course, is no longer the topic as named, but hey, that's the deal) The comment about others not knowing "non-linear" (and that I have been at it longer than most) was really, honestly, a statement to answer the original comment of mine about "Deva files." The period of time that I was referring to, when production supervisors were talking about ALL non-linear work as "Deva files", was the period of time when the other machines were only just beginning to come into play. This was a time when many of the people who ARE doing non-linear work now (and are of course dealing with post supervisors) were not even considering adopting this way of work (with ANY machine). So, these people were not even exposed to this element of history that I was commenting on. Now, fortunately, things have come around to what the early Deva adopters said over 8 years ago --- non-linear is the way we will do our work. You are right that now most post supervisors DO talk about the files themselves, the BWF, and not so much the machine they were made on, and this is a good thing for all of us. Regards, Jeff Wexler

We have had our first instance of what I consider bad behavior in this group wherein a simple question asked was used by one of our members to vent on another issue. When there is the desire to subvert a topic in order to push one's own agenda (and we are all guilty of this at one time or another), I suggest stepping back and thinking about whether you would post such a comment under a new and appropriate topic heading, something like: I HATE THAT MACHINE (and the company that made itg screwed me over). Then, everyone who wants to could chime in with their experiences, good or bad, or not. A little bit of self-moderation could be a good thing. Regards, Jeff Wexler

I have never claimed to be humble but I am not a zealot either. I'm going to get tough here since I AM the moderator, and yes, "call you out" (which I thought I had already done by pointing out your mis-use of this topic) and ask you to refrain from continuing this subversion of the topic. In an effort to be fair to everyone, if there is a general consensus that this forum needs a section where people can vent their real or imagined frustrations, act unreasonably and thoughtlessly, or just blow their own horn loudly and for no particular reason, I will put up such a section. I don't know what I will call it, but like everything else here, people will be free to roam around that section or not. I do not appreciate topics being hijacked and the questions being asked not being answered. There are more than enough opportunities elsewhere, like RAMPS, where this sort of thing has become the norm. Regards, Jeff Wexler - Moderator

I use QuickBooks Pro for the Mac also but abandoned it when Intuit abandoned the Mac platform several years ago. I then used MYOB for years (and I still do use it in one of my other businesses). I am back using QuickBooks and it works fine for me. There is a really good program, purpose built for entertainment industry crew people called PAID! It has been developed as a FileMaker Pro application (so it could be cross platform but I don't know). It is not specifically an accounting program (an accounting program will still be needed for taxes and other stuff) but it is a program which is designed to assist in keeping track of jobs, companies, equipment rental, expendables sold, etc. Take a look (I think there may be a free demo): http://www.minutiaesoftware.com/paid.htm Regards, Jeff Wexler

Hear, here... literally. You are so right. There have been times when I have gone to greater lengths to protect the gear and have neglected to protect MY gear. - JW

I really do not think that the "heading" you were taking, using this question about multitrack recording as an opportunity to take a "jab" at anyone or any company, is appropriate here. There was nothing in the initial post nor subsequent replies that would lead us into a discussion of the merits of the companies or their products, whether it be the Deva from Zaxcom, PD-6 from Fostex, Cantar from Aaton or Metacorder from Gallery Software. My replies, which could be viewed as "defending" Zaxcom, were intended only to illuminate certain aspdects of the history of the use of multi-track for production recordings. The statements regarding that files have been referred to as "Deva files" (even when made by a different recorder) is a fact and happened on numerous occassions. It is quite possible that those who have NOT experienced this semantic "mistake" coming form post production supervisors have not been involved in file based multi-track production recording as long as I have been. Regards, Jeff Wexler

No, not .zax files. You missed my point. Like Kleenex and TiVO, many people (primarily in post who are not really so concerned with what machine we are using, as long as they get the files they expect) refer to ALL non-linear production work, regardless of what machine is used, as "Deva work" or "Deva files". That's all I'm saying. It is a measure of the impact and influence Zaxcom and the Deva has had on our industry (remember as well that Glen Sanders and Zaxcom received Academy Award for technical achievement with the introduction of the Deva). That's all, no biggie... where I come from we call them BWF also. Regards, Jeff Wexler

I suppose there could be if it is close enough to the speaker. Typically, if one were miking a speaker with high SPL program, a delicate condenser microphone would probably not be the microphone of choice. Non-polarized, non-condenser dynamic microphones are far less subject to the kind of damage we are talking about. - JW

Sort of difficult to describe the blueish one, taken on "The Last Samurai". Artificial "fog" and color balance caused the blueish tint, shot is over one camera setup in the foregorund, through which a Camera Car with crane arm passes as a blur. The other is a Steadicam rig on a wheeled dolly, this shot in Italy on "Mission Impossible III" - JW

Just drop it. CHANNELS FILES FOLDERS - JW

That screenshot looks pretty good and is a nice clear matrix. Does "Nr" stand for "Number" of tracks or whatever? - JW

Yes, it is really true. The damage occurs as the microphone capsule membrane (which is quite delicate) when it is hit with high sound pressure levels, like a very loud sound, an explosion for instance. The microphone need not be plugged into anything or powered up in any way. This is a purely mechanical thing --- the suspension material that supports the diaphram and sometimes the membrane itself, can be damaged by just the pressure of the loud sound. This is why merely unplugging the microphone before the explosion or whatever is sometimes not sufficient. If the microphone to be protected is far enough away (so it doesn't "hear" the loud sound) or is in a case that prevents the high sound pressure levels from reaching the mic with enough energy, then you will be all right. So, taking the mic physically off the set is usually not necessary but is sometimes to avoid proximity to the damaging loud sounds. Regards, Jeff Wexler

Zaxcom did not invent multitrack production recording (read my post below about the Altman movies) but Zaxcom was the first to introduce easy file based multitrack recording for motion picture work. Prior to the Deva it was either a Tascam DA 88/98 (NOT ever in a Porta-Brace I might add) or a full ProTools rig. Although Zaxcom did not invent multitrack and other companies did come on the scene with comparable recorders, still to this day people in post refer to having gotten "Deva files" on the last job, even if the production mixer was using a PD-6. Regards, Jeff Wexler

Forgive me, but I need to ask what personal computers you have been using? I have never had a "gremlin" problem so I don't really know what I have been missing. - JW

I agree competely with this and I would add that BoomRecorder, like Metacorder, is the only other piece of software that I know of that is designed specifcially to be a RECORDER, not an editor, midi composer, designer, beat detector or plug-in host. I think what people are saying here is that we are probably okay now with personal computers running consumer OS as long as it is not asked to do a whole lot more than the primary task, and the software program that is used should be as single purpose built as possible. I think both Metacorder and BoomRecorder have achieved this and since both run only on Mac OS X on Apple hardware, I think the personal computer side of things is pretty well covered. I would like to hear from those using Windows computers (laptops) what their experiences are and what software programs have been developed primarily for production recording. Regards, Jeff Wexler

So, I agree with much of what you say as well. I will add that when I was trying to defend the Deva as yes, being a computer, but NOT a computer like the one you probably used today, and specifcially not the one running the dominate and all pervasive Windows. I have been attacked in several other circles for pointing out that I would not mind relying on my computer and software to make master recordings, but then I have always used Macs and I think they have been more reliable than the computers friends of mine use running Windows OS. I agree with you as well that just because a company has put everything in one box, it still is a computer and can be subject to all the problems people voice here about how dangerous it would be to use a computer for our work. One of my first run ins with Fostex over the miserable PD-2 was having to listen to their explanaton of why the recorder refused to go into record when I hit the big red button. I was told it was due to "stack errors" which I learned later have to do with the sequenced of software commands the machine issues to itself after I push the button. Welcome to the world of computers! I sort of thought at the very least the machine should be able to ALWAYS go into record when I push the record button... I guess it just got confused at times... try explaining "stack error" to Clint Eastwood when he is directing and wants to finish up by 4 in the afternoon. I asked Mark Gilbert at Gallery Software when they were developing Metacorder whether he thought it would be a hard sell to production sound mixers who were vwary of using a computer and software to record. He said that the mixers who were using Macs probably would not be worried but the Windows users would be... and when asked if Gallery would do a Windows version of Metacorder, they declined of course, but not for reasons which most Windows users are willing to accept. The Mac OS ios a more stable operating system, the hardware from Apple is generally better than lots of the PC stuff, and most importantly, Metacorder (and now BoomRecorder) would not be as good software as it is if it had to run under Windows. Regards, Jeff Wexler