Glen Trew

I'm reminded of a similar issue when the original Sound Devices MixPre was used with the original PD-150 camcorder: The tone would line up normally and sound clean, but dynamic dialog would distort badly. Sound Devices answered with a cable that had resistors strategicly placed. At this point it's just a guess, but my guess is that in-line resistors on each leg (total of 4; 2 left and 2 right) will solve the problem with the 442-TRX900 combo. Then the question is "what value resistors?", and the answer is "I don't know", but my guess is that 10K on each leg would be enough isolation without significantly altering the input voltage at the TRX900 (the input level should be about the same). This scheme is not a pad (there is no shunt resistor). It will be tough to install 2 resistors in each of the TA3 connectors, but it can be done. We'll experiment with this when our TRX900's come in, but anyone else is welcome to try it now if they have all the pieces. Keep in mind that at this point it's called an experiment because I could be totally wrong, but the answer is out there and we'll find it. Glen Trew

FSBELLA, please post your findings because we happen to be out of TRX900 xmitters at the moment. Glen Trew

Yes, it is sounding like a cable problem. Monday I will get with the Remote Audio shop and see if we can determine what's going on. Glen Trew

The Bose ative noise cancelling headsets (and evidently the ones by Audio Technica and others) are great for personal listening. However, since they are designed to actively reduce ambient noise, they can also reduce the ambientce heard through the microphone (assuming that you are sitting in the same ambience, which is often the case). This is one reason that passive attenuating phones (like the Remote Audio HN-7506) are a better choice for knowing what you are actually recording. Also, since the Bose headphones (and others) take time to sample and adjust for changes in ambience, you ears would not be actively protected from sudden noises like gun fire and explosions. Glen Trew

It is my understanding that all video tuner/monitors that are imported into the US must now be HD compliant. Many major retailers saw this coming and stocked up before the mandate took place, and are still selling from their old stock. This means that the floodgates have not yet opened for HD compliant tuner/monitors into the US, which means that they are much more expensive than what we have been used to. As soon as the existing stock of non-HD complient versions have been depleted, the availability of small portable HD tuner/monitors should be good and the prices should come way down. Glen Trew

I just finished a feature. Part of the reason I stay involved in production is because there's no better way to get familiar with the gear made for location film/video production. One new piece of gear I used this time was the DPA 4017 short shotgun microphone. Please consider this a brief account of my first use with this mic, and not an in-depth review. I the mic about the second week into the film and used it for several scenes. It is exceptionally light weight, so it could be used in a number of traditional mounts, but it seemed a perfect match for the mount that comes with the DPA WindPac system I already had, so that's what we used. SIDE NOTE: The WindPac system sounds great and gives an impressive amount of wind protection, but not as much wind protection as from the more traditional basket-and-fur arrangements (i.e. Windjammer and similar models). It seems to keep wind away from the microphone very well, but when broadside against the wind the skin starts to behave like a drum head which results in a low frequency flutter. My preamp was a Sonosax SX-ST mixer. The first real opportunity to use the 4017 for dialog on this show was on an exterior set (a simulated African hut with an fairly open and high roof). The floors were dirt. The mic had to be higher than we would have prefered because of verticle lighting shadows and to keep the TV frame safe. Over all, the microphone is very quiet and has what I keep describing as extraordinary clarity. It doesn't have and doesn't seem to need switchable pads. It can handle high levels that would have normally prompted me to switch in the 10dB pad on my MKH-60. Several of our interior sets had low door frames, in which case I resorted to my Schoeps MK41 with GVC swivel for "low profile mode". The only concern I had is that what I call extraordinary clarity was sometimes translated by my brain as being extraordinarily bright. I use Sony MDR-7506 phones, which would have exaggerated that perception, so it may not have been an issue at all if monitoring with speakers. But, none-the-less, there were a couple of times that, after listening to the DPA during rehearsal, when the camera rolled I switched to a "known quantity": the Schoeps CMC6/MK41. There were several occaisions that the addition "reach" of the 4017 made it the better choice. An exterior walk-and-talk scene comes to mindl, where the mic had to be worked at around 5 feet, that sounded great. However, in my opinion, this is not a microphone to be used close to the actor unless there is serious wispering. When worked close on interior sets, the shotgun pattern tends to make any ambience seem unnaturally dead (but, to be fair, I've noticed the same phenomenon when using the Schoeps CMIT). I never felt the need to engage the high freq boost or the low freq cut switches. So, the bottom line is that it is an exceptionally high-quality microphone with ultra low noise and distortion with characteristics well suited for high-end film/video production. As others use this microphone, it will be interesting to know if the exceptional brightness is an issue for them or if it was just my imagination. Morre later. Glen Trew

Hello Philip, Yes the front door of my cart does come off, but it rarely needs to. It's a simple matter of turning two latches and it's off. When taking it off I lose my video monitors (or have to relocate them) and I lose the desk. Sometimes it's a lifesaver, though, such as in a tight hallway. Glen Trew

So far the only two days I've had the DPA 4017 have been mostly MOS and sfx, so I can't fully answer your question fully yet. However, based on some general listening, I expect the "reach" (combination of front width and side/rear rejection) to be about like the CMIT and MKH-60. Hopefully i'll have more first-hand observations to report in the next few days. Glen Trew

I generally check the "recent posts" at the bottom of the home page and click on the ones I haven't read. With that in mind, I think it would be a good idea for the "recent posts" section to have more lines because I have missed some posts that weren't recent enough to be on the list when I checked. Glen Trew

Received my DPA 4017 shotgun demo today and put it to use on the show I'm working. Other than being very lightweight (much lighter than my Schoeps w/GVC swivle) and very nice looking (stylistically it goes great with the Sonosax SX-ST board), it appearantly holds up well with very loud voices. One scene today involved serious yelling, but we decided to keep the mic close anyway (12" on the closeup) to overcome some loud ambience. There was no breakup during moments that I would have had to add the 10dB pad on the Sennheiser MKH series. It sounded great, and had no proximity effect problems working that close. More on the mic later next week, but I'm convinced it's going to be a winner. Glen Trew

It is important, especially with Schoeps and Neumann mics, that the female XLR that plugs into the microphone have pin-1 jumped to the grounding tab. Another possibility: One time when I was having a hum issue similar to yours, the problem turned out to a cabled boom pole that had the shield attached to pin-2 at both ends instead of pin-1. Since the pole itself acted like a shield for the cable iside the pole, the problem wasn't as obvious as you might expect. Only the part of the cable coming out the top of the pole into the mic was sensitive to induced noise. Whenever the pole swung near an HMI head, there was a buzz. You have to open the connectors to check this out because cables wired this way will appear normal if using an ohm meter or cable tester.

I'm currently using a K-Tek aluminum Avalon poll. It's inexpensive and strong. I'm also using a simple model of antenna bar. The one in the phone (but difficult to see) has two Lectro SNA folding dipole antennas for a Venue system and a modified SNA ( http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=868&cat=70&page=1 ) for my Comtek 216 base station transmitter. (sorry for the commercial link, but it's the only photo I could find). Glen Trew

Cleaned up my 16 year old cart to get ready for my annual film. See it here: http://gallery.mac.com/jwsound#100100. Still gets the job done nicely. Equipment top to bottom: Lectro Venue, Fostex DC powered rack speakers (my modification), Deva 5 recorder, Sonosax SX-ST mixer, Drawer for transmitters and granola bars, distribution amp (I built it in 1979), TT patch bay, power amplifier, Comtek BST-216 basestation xmiltter, MEON power supply. (see the close-up to see how many amps I'm pulling. Glen Trew

The difference noticed between an 816 and 815 was probably not due to design. I've heard 816's that sounded different from each other. Keep in mind that the quietness of a T-powered mic can be directly related to the noise/lack of noise of the T-power supply because it puts + and - voltage directly on the audio conductors (pins 2 & 3). Conversely, phantom voltage that may be noisy is not likely to increase the noise of a phantom powered mic. This is why, for example, T-power mics are nearly unuseable with the Cameo mixer, while 48V phantom mics are fine on the same mixer. Glen Trew

For all practicle purposes, the 415 sounds just like the 416, and the 815 sounds just like the 816. The primary differences are that the 415 and 815 were T-power only, while the 416 and 816 could be ordered T or 48P. The noise spec improved just a little bit with the x16 series, but not enough to choose one over the other. Glen Trew

The length of time it take to post to a USENET newsgroup probably has everything to do with the service used to make the post and to read the post. It could be that your posts are being made faster than you are receiving them, or it could be that the posts are just being made late. It is my experience that when using a true newsgroup reader (I sometimes use the one in Outlook Express) the posts to ramps are made and received almost instantly. It used to be that when linking through a service such as "Google Groups" (the portal used on the Trew Aiudio homepage) it could take a while for a post to appear. However, now it seems that Google Groups nearly instant, too. How are you posting to the ramps newsgroup? Glen Trew

Most support companies have a variety of colored audio cable and can custom make special lengths/colors. However, if you haven't already, you might consider going with black cable and use colored caps for the connectors. For Neutrik connectors, there are two types of caps. One type must be installed before soldering the connector (and cannot be removed without unsoldering), The other type (my preference) has a flat spot for labling, and can be securely added and changed without unsoldering the connector. Both types are quite inexpensive. Glen Trew

Well, looks like my personal Remote Audio Antenna Bar was sold right out of my kit! So, now I have added incentive to design "Version 2". Nothing at the moment, though. Glen Trew

What wireless?

Hello Alan, The Juicer will handle a fully loaded Venue system. We have several customers doing just that and I am doing the same on my cart. Not knowing what mixer you are using, I can't say whether the Juicer has enough power for your mixer, but probably so. The original Juicer had a capacity of 26 Watts, and the newer Big Juicer has a capacity of 30 watts. It will be fine plugging two (or more) Juicers into the Hot Box, which has a total capability of 26 Amps. Using the Juicers as you described will isolate the mixer power from the Venue power, and will isolate both from everything else being powered by the Hot Box. Glen Trew

This is true for some 9V batteries, but some are designed very differently. Alex, if the reason for using 9V is faster battery changes, remember you can preload a AA battery holder for the TS-C which makes battery changes very fast (and less often). Glen Trew

Hello Richard (and all), The days of timecode controlling the playback speed stopped with the Nagra IV-STC. Since the use of DAT, playback speed has been, and is still, controlled by the sampling frequency. For location film/video recorders, the Fostex PD-2 was the first to have a sampling freq specifically for the purpose of the .1% pull down, but missed the bet with 44.056kHz. The PD-4 finally got it right with the option of 48.048kHz. The "-F mode", coined by Zaxcom, stands for "Fostex Mode", where a 48.048 file is stamped as 48K. The Fostex idea is to stamp the file with the predicted playback rate (typically 48K) to achieve automatic pull-down. Zaxcom's idea was to stamp the file with the original recorded frame rate and then choose to pull it down or not. Fostex's method was ingenious for the linear system they pioneered (DAT), and it is logical that the idea continue - though not neccessary - with their nonlinear machines (DV-40 and PD-6). Both concepts have their strong points and logic, but most of the major players (specifically Fostex, Zaxcom, Sound Devices, Metacorder, to name a few) have implemented user options to accomodate each others systems. The more these can be understood by the users, the better, but it also underlines the increased need to have communication between the prouction and post production sound teams prior to rolling the first take. Glen Trew

Sorry you were having problems getting on the Trew Audio site. If needed in the future you are welcome to contact our webmaster, Rob Rightmeyer, directly (webmaster@trewaudio.com or by phone at 1-615-256-3642). He office is in Nashville, just down the hall from mine, and manages both the ".com" and the ".ca" websites. He likes to hear about problems as soon as possible. Thanks, Glen Trew