ivanovich

Hi all, I saw Comtek came out with this new antenna which, along with a mod for the older m216-option7 TXs, claims to reduce handling noise, improve RF performance and also keeps other RF stuff from getting into the input. I use these TX’s for small bag setups mostly with Zaxcom wireless (or Nova) and the Zaxnet whine gets int there sometimes. Are there any users out there that have tried this new antenna with a new TX or a TX that has been modified? I’ve tried and come up with a solution to mitigate Zax whine, and it’s ok I’m just wondering if this mod/antenna does a significantly better job. Would love to hear any experiences people have had. Many thanks!

on a funnier note, I’ve had sit downs where the production doesn’t want to hire the slate, but when we get to filming, it is sometimes requested by producer or director to make the CEO or whomever that is ‘important’ hire it without hesitation to make the person feel important. it’s part of the show i guess lol

Super interesting conversation. I feel pretty strongly at this point in saying 'nay' to 32 bit float. I think in theory it solves lot of 'problems' (hiring a sound mixer, engineer, etc) for low budget stuff. Because every time I hear this request from clients, it's always the newer generation that are trying to explore this idea. Sure, if the technology gets adopted at all the different production stages, I really don't care, I'll switch to the 'yay' camp, as I'm sure most of us would. I'm sure protocols/workflows would have to exist, as they do now. At the end of the day, I'll be setting proper levels(for whatever specific format), assessing and mitigating sound issues, matching mics to source, and doing all the things I usually do to deliver the best possible tracks I am capable of. At some point, I believe the HD/X systems (systems before too maybe?) were capable of recording 32-bit fixed or float (you post guys probably have the specifics don't quote me on this stuff) but never once did I or we(collaborators) EVER create a session for a paying client in 32-bit. I did record higher sampling rates like 88.2/96/192 when clients requested it, but I knew that for the most part it would be truncated to 16/44.1. Right now, consumers don't even get that. They get some sort of something that is not even PCM. I now see a lot of people listening to content on tablets, or with the white earbuds, maybe some sort of sound bar or something at home. The theoretical stuff is great. I'll hope (archival). But in the end, I just don't see how 32bit float would ever practically make it to our physical world (all of it). This signal chain pretty much spells it all out. You can have 32 bit all you want but if the 1st thing(mic placement) isn't spot on, someone is going to end up polishing a turd. At least with the technology we have now. "What's being said > mic placement > mic selection > wind/cable/handling/location-noise mitigation > recorder/preamp choice > gain staging > recording format" To illustrate the low budget comment, this is the list of someone in the 'above the line' camp who is demanding a 32bit float capable recorder sent me. If I didn't have 32bit float, I would've lost a job. H4N recorder / AC power adaptor F6 recorder Deity Sync Rode Boom mic + XLR cable Rode Boom mic + XLR cable Rode Boom mic + XLR cable Sennheiser wireless Lav A Sennheiser wireless Lav B (2) Boom Stand – Extended Arm Procell Batteries Headphones I've never had a high end client have those demands. That's the part that concerns me at the moment and to which I say 'nay' to 32bit float. I'm sure when it's ready to be adopted by the masses it'll be fine. As I type this I'm perhaps figuring out that yes, the obvious is to have that safety where capturing a magical moment, is super nice to have(more work would be needed than just 'setting' it to 32 bit float). Maybe we don't have the technology of having transducers either deliver to an A/D or receive from a D/A right in this moment in time, but perhaps we will in the future ? The archival aspect of it is interesting. Maybe something could be re-mixed later on (I'm thinking music here/or sound stage stuff I guess) and nuances can be uncovered therefore making the delivery of the message better? Could be. Maybe it will have more info for AI synthesis. Maybe a badly placed boom/lav mic will have enough information for an AI entity to recreate that moment in the desired way? Maybe it could be used for scientific research? I ramble on. I kinda want to read up on the theory regarding archiving for the future, but I think we have bigger things to worry about at the moment. Cheers everyone, great discussion.

A lot of good advice here. For this situation that you mention “Unfortunately, there are situations where that's not always possible in documentary” That is, not possible to have a dedicated sound person, ditch the camera and bring just the mics. Remember, pictures without sound worked way back when there was no choice. The sound is what tells the story. The pictures merely support it. There’s a reason why radio and podcasts work! Ditch the big camera, grab a stills camera and sound equipment and carry on!

Those $15k wont get you too far for a mid-high end setup. If it’s for the speakers only then you might be able to get a small setup. But if you don’t have a monitor controller, you’re going to be stretched thin. Spending a good bit of time and effort tuning your room will be insanely helpful. I really like the Focals, the ProAC’s, and the Barefoots. The thing is you just have to spend time with them. I’d try to audition as many as you can. Bring some reference material to playback so you know how the room/speaker setup reacts like. Not too sure where you’re located but you can always check them out at a post house or a dealer might be able to set up an appointment. I really like the Cranesong Avocet stuff and the Grace design monitor controllers.

I’ve found the Schoeps very good for harsh environments. From jungles in high humidity to really cold environments, it has never let me down. If you have something good, why not stick with it?

This! I use dual lock so I can remove it when I need to. You’ll just need dimensions for the HW store to cut the right size.

isn’t the neumann 191 an MS mic too?

Patrick, I’d look into buying it in Toronto or Canada since it wont be the US version. I got my SX-R4+ used. Looking into the history of the machine it looks like Toronto was the place where it was originally purchased.

newzhack, it’s been a while since your last post. how had Clear Waves for Mac been so far? have you had to deal with customer support at all? been thinking about taking the plunge. there’s not many mac os solutions out there sad to say. i’d live an app on my phone or ipad but no such luck for coordination software.

I’m still waiting on the RX8 and a small thin rotary fader pack with Zaxnet integration. I hope Zaxcom is listening. That fader pack should allow us to mount the RX8 and/or RX4 and have control over Zaxnet gain, freqs and such. Like you, I’m not on a Zaxcom recorder when on the cart. I’d love to be able to have Zaxnet control without ditching my main cart recorder. Ideally, I’d love to have the option for the fader pack to stay on the cart and remote the RX8/4/RX12 receivers closer to set. Extra sugar ontop would be if everything (Zaxnet included) can be hooked up via ethernet cable (a la Dante style). That way one could just have an RX/TX box close to set and be able to easily move it around. For now, there is no nice elegant easy way to have quick access to Zaxnet if you’re on a non-zaxcom recorder. I HOPE that is in the works.

Here’s mine. Still needs work but I had to put this one together real quick for the next job. Still haven’t integrated the IE charger and the lid has to be open to charge but once I get time I’ll put all chargers in there and punch an IEC connector hole and make it look really nice so it can charge while closed. For now, it is what it is!

Love the Otari MTR-90mkii. Punch ins and outs are always smooth. Very nice invisible (unless you effed it up,lol) crossfade. What I do like about the Studer a80 series is that it’s very user serviceable. Like re-capping, easily done…compared to a, eh, Sony APR-5000/1/2/3 series which are really hard to work on because I don’t know that much about microchips and such! Good times. Had a Mx5050 too, 1/2” 8-track…. ATR Magnetics is still manufacturing tape in various sized last I heard.

The NS10 do sound awful, but I think thats the point. In the comfort of a control room, you can switch between speakers, and for me NS10’s were for checks, to make sure the mix sounds good on s$&ty speakers. Yes a lot of people put TP or napkins on top of the tweeters. Interestingly Barefoot monitors came out with a switch which allows the monitor to mimic the sound of an NS10 and other profiles. Bringing this back to 7506’s, I wonder if through recorders DSP the headphone amp could have the same processing. That is to have different sonic profiles so one could hear the “7506’s”. I think with PSMing we have so many other challenges to deal with, maybe we should just pick your fave pair of cans and stick with that. If you can make great sounding mixes with the cans you like, then its all good. I believe SD has been pretty innovative lately and I could see them do a DSP monitoring plug in but who knows! I’m all into the in ear monitors nowadays. Been using the Westones W-30’s and I love them 😎

To the OP, what do you think of NS10’s? Do you have a spot for them in your mix room? I guess they’re more useful in music since it has that boom box sound with hyped mids and highs. I guess in the control rooms that I’ve worked in one can switch between speakers and such. I believe the 7506’s are like the NS10’s. They’re the standard and everyone (or a lot of people) know the sound. I wish I had the opportunity to have a director that pays attention to and cares that much about sound. I feel like the younger newer directors are less keen to give sound a shot to get the best sound. Interesting conversation!

Codyman, true that! Or go with the X3 instead of the Scorpion. A lot of options!

It's a tough choice. For a long time I've been somewhat disappointed with SD's offerings. To me, on the hardware front, they seem limited. That being said, with their integration of plugins and such, I've been really impressed. I think they're starting to show some real innovation which I'm stoked about. I'll say that I've owned (and still own) SD products. I've also been working with the X3 since 2016. The X3 is simply the most flexible machine I've ever worked with. With the many configurations that you can save for inputs and outputs, switching up workflows is a breeze. To many people it seems very complicated, but in reality it is extremely easy to use. Of course, everything takes time to get used to. All the points made above are great observations. I'm in the states (DC) and I had an accident that happened on the job. The main selector crown hit the ground and bits and pieces flew everywhere. My heart sank for many reasons. I got on the phone and in 1.5days I had a new crown delivered to me. I was able to install the new one in about 2 minutes. The service you get from these guys, even across the Atlantic, is simply stellar. I LOVE that the machine is user serviceable for the most part. And I love that even though the main selector went down, I was still able to have full control of the recorder via keyboard. When I bought the X3 I ordered it without the DANTE board. I bought card later and installed it myself. Easy. Love it. I was in a similar situation with an SD product (744t) and it failed in a shoot in my beloved Mexico. SD support kinda left me hanging. I had a backup recorder so it was no big deal but I felt left to my own devices. When I got back to the states, service was slow and I think it left a bad impression on the service front. This was a long time ago. I'm sure things have changed since. I've had other so-so experiences when I tried and wanted to use a 633. I tried two of them(brand new), and they both failed. This was more recent. So I gave up on them and moved on to something else. I know that there's a lot of positive SD experiences here but this is just mine. For me service is important. The X3 over the shoulder is definitely challenging. The protogear bags are fantastic for this. I got a chance to check out Chris Giles's bag and it was sweet. The typical box shaped recorders are easier to bag, regardless of weight. What sells me on the X3 is 1) the sound, 2)routing flexibility (you can pretty much do anything you can imagine), and 3)the fact that you can assign any fader or pot to any output or input. I really don't understand why more manufacturers don't bring this flexibility into their recorders. I cant stand the fact that I cant 'gang' a bunch of inputs to a pot/fader on other recorders. I do recordings in stereo, decca tree, ambisonic and such so its important to me to have this ease. Maybe you can with the Scorpio but it seems to me that fader 1 is tied (hardwired) to whatever track/input that is. I do a lot of music recording as well and to me the X3 excels in that department. Both great units, like has been said above, just try them both. Have your dealer of choice get one for you to audition for a week or two. All this being said, I know of at least one guy who left the X3 for the Nova workflow. Talk about compact! You could switch from on the go car rigs to cart mode in seconds (minutes but you know what I mean). It's a good time to be checking out new recorders as you have so many options!

10 is the most i’ve done. would be interesting to see how to patch in and extra rx for 12 or more

I’d also recommend the Nova and the SX-R4+. The Sonosax is the most efficient and lightest. The Nova is the smallest (w/built in RX) and extremely efficient. Both allow you to turn certain circuits on and off to customize your setup. The SX-R4+ has more options when it comes to turning specific circuits on and off. That being said, you’d have to add a fader pack or linear faders to really mix since the Sonosax only has 4 encoders. If you go with the Zaxom eco system it will be very stream lined. Even if you can and want to stay with your current wireless, the fader banking feature is pretty sweet. Never as nice as having all the faders you need/want but certainly better than having to carry around more gear and bulky energy consuming devices. If you can swing the purchase/rental, go with Zaxcom. Sonosax right behind it in my opinion.

I think I get where you're coming from Nico. I also came from the music (studio) world and know the M88 (great on guitar cabs) very well. I think what people have mentioned here is super helpful. I understand that you're very experienced with doing live sound for bands. The way we mic these kind of concerts are very different from film/tv/video. For example, yes, the venues are crowded with fans and they are very loud BUT the lead singers mouth is practically on the capsule most of the time. This helps with the S/N ratio. In this kind of work, we might have a noisy location (street, sidewalk, etc) and we can't get the mic capsule in front of the source like you would on a guitar cab, snare, or kick drum. The S/N ratio gets worse when actors whisper. This creates challenges when capturing dialogue. Getting close to the source is the main challenge in audio for picture. Specially nowadays with so many cameras playing wide, tight, and tighter. All this being said, in my experience, dynamic microphones react differently to different mic amps and the sound will change--dramatically-- depending on the mic and mic amp combination. I feel like tube mics and condenser mics are a bit less prone to this. Of course there will be a difference but it won't be as pronounced. Just my 2 cents.

Steve, you should ask John B. V. to help you. He is crazy good with this stuff. I’m thinking of adding handles on my 8020 cart. Seems like stanchions might be a good way to attach handles, wether its 8020 or not.

What wireless boom solution are you using now? I do like the way the Lectro system sounds. I’ve boomed for a mixer who has them and it seemed fine. I use the Zaxcom 742/743 and its really nice sounding. Quiet, amazing dynamic range, crisp and fast. I did the SGS battery sled solution and I can go 9-10hrs on a medium battery, about 5.5 hrs on a small battery which is nice. I usually go directly digital in to the Cantar and the results are solid in my opinion. I’m sure the rest of the competitors are great sounding too. I saw that sony recently released a boom specific TX. Has anyone used it? Really curious about the Wysicom solutions as well.

not to side track the discussion but i used zaxcom wireless with my other non-zaxcom recorders and enjoyed all of the things you seek and it worked flawlessly. started with the qrx235 (block specific but gives you zaxnet to control TX’s remotely) and added rx/qrx 200’s and linked them to the 235. all my inputs left at unity (analog) or digital ins and i would just control the gain remotely. that being said, i do love the Audio Ltd 2040’s. all the high end wireless sounds pretty darn good though. you could probably pick up some used zax gear and save some $$$$$.

I’ve rented the A10’s before to supplement my Zax kit. Similar observations regarding range. Is there a reason you’re not considering Zaxcom? Their solutions pretty much tick every check box that you mention: built in recorder (TC stamped), great dedicated boom TX, or phantom two which you could do both boom and lav and is small like SSM

i would love if zaxcom did this. without having to send in the units back to the mothership....