pverrando

I recently restored an early Sela mixer. It has an ID plate from American Zoetrope:

Boom operator David Allen Smith (deceased) told me this story about 14 years ago: David was in New Zealand around 1999, working on mountain-climbing-thriller "Vertical Limit". They were moving large amounts of production equipment to the top of the mountain via pallets, lifted by helicopter. The foothills, over which the helicopter flew, were dense forest, also covered in multi-feet deep snow. Inside an Anvil case, a new, unused STC was part of one of the helicopter runs. Except when the helicopter landed on the mountain top, the Anvil holding the Nagra was not on the pallet. It had come loose mid-flight and fallen into the forest. There was no practical way to retrieve it. Given the sturdiness of the case and the forest/snow breaking the fall, it is likely still there, intact.

JBond, did you end up with that "unopened" Nagra package that appeared on ebay a year or so ago?

John Coffey wrote a great & funny article about his only experience as a "run & gun" mixer with a Nagra, covering a boxing match in Las Vegas. But I can't find the article. It's in one of the "Sound and Picture" periodicals.

I'd like to acquire one or more of these old mixers for display purposes. Anyone with a lead, please let me know, thanks. I enjoy exploring the location gear from the "golden age", as it were. I recently restored and original Sela panel to go with a Nagra III (attached). My motivation was this image from the filmsweden website...

Thanks to Jim Gallup, I was just made aware of this thread. I have been working on the CMC4 to CMC5 conversion process for quite some time. In December, I wrote a quick blog post about it: http://www.txsound.com/blog/schoeps-cmc4u-preamp-cmc5u/ I've managed to bring the conversion to a level of consistency that I'm offering to do the conversion for $145 plus return shipping. More details can be had here: http://www.cmc4upgrade.com Thank you Pete Verrando

What an amazing collection. Is that part of Zipporeels? One of my prize recorders is a Stellavox SM5, pictured above. I did major surgery on the motor, I still can't get enough tourque from it to run properly. I have the original manual with schematics. Stellavox provided r/p response curve charts and individual spec measurements for each unit they made.

Congratulations to Jack Cline and Tyler Faison of Vandelay Sound Exports, Inc. on their 2nd annual Lone Star Mixer Mixer in Dallas TX on January 4, 2015. Well attended, with unlimited libation/food support from Gotham Audio, as well as significant manufacturer representation from many of the usual suspects. 2nd year at the Ginger Man in Dallas TX. Please check out https://www.facebook.com/events/717435288352517/ for mucho paparazzi news, views, and gossip from this glamourous and exclusive fete... Especially the unannounced surprise appearance by the legendary Glen Trew !

This looks like one of the Schoeps, same seller: (sold) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schoeps-CMC-6-U-Mikrofonverstarker-mit-MK-41-Mikrofonkapsel-/151486201423?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Audio_Hi_Fi_Mikrofone&hash=item234547fe4f

Pretty certain this is your CMIT #2772 mic: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schoeps-CMIT-5U-Richtrohrmikrofon-Shotgun-Mikrofon-im-Koffer-/151424439136?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Audio_Hi_Fi_Mikrofone&hash=item2341999360&nma=true&si=d1%252Fp9sN5Bb40KxOwCBIlhE0theM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 This may well be your superCMIT: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schoeps-Super-CMIT-Richtrohrmikrofon-Shotgun-Mikrofon-im-Koffer-/151469880980?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Audio_Hi_Fi_Mikrofone&hash=item23444ef694

Great sounds. Shortwave radio also great source for atmospheric sounds

http://www.txsound.com/blog/?p=483 A blog post about these interesting rechargeables for location sound use.

Here's a 16" Presto transcription turntable, just restored, acquired from a surplus military depot in Ft Worth, TX. Back in the day, they used it to play reveille calls on the base.

I collect and restore production and broadcast gear, and have restored many Nagras. I also do alignment. I've never been properly tutored in the procedure, relying mostly on previous experience with other professional decks, the Nagra service manual, and trial/error. I particularly enjoy doing cosmetic restoration. Here's an STC that had substantial battery corrosion damage, before and after.

It's reality tv. Nobody has to be "that good." Selling the stuff to the people, that's the best money in any business. That's why there's better money in teaching people to sell real estate, rather than just selling real estate. Same with reality tv, Same with dental hygienist's school. Same with location sound equipment... The best money in sound is in making/providing/selling the gear. That's a secret a lot of folks here don't want you to know. All Blair Halver needs to be really "good at" is selling his product to eager and willing kids with credit cards or daddy's money. He knows the secret that Full Sail, Media Institute and SCAD have known for years. Pete Verrando

I've been following his business closely, have read all his forums, and watched all his public videos. I've exchanged a few emails with him. He's an entrepreneur. He also has a good t-shirt silk-screening business. (which fits in quite nicely, if you think about it) He's primarily targeting folks who are in music, or another field of sound. Blair's marketing efforts are strong, consistent & personable. There are thousands of music refugees, production desperadoes, "sound design" college graduates out there, dying to find a way to make a living with audio. Reality production is highly error tolerant, full of young, entry-level workers, and the demand- there's no end in sight. I'm quite sure Blair met his target numbers for the first class of students, and I'm guessing they're paying him about $5000 each. Blair also has integrity. He will make damn sure every one gets their money's worth. I think online videos have limitations for what he's trying to teach. But I don't know for sure if there's an "in-person" component included. Blair already has a few previous graduates that he's taught in person. In Blair's Q&A forums, none other than alien rocket scientist Jim Tannenbaum congratulates him at length. Has anyone ever received a gratuitous compliment from Tannenbaum? Pete Verrando

vin doesn't see a point. The production business has historically taken lots of risks, resulting in accidents or death. Crewpeople, especially young ones, often take risks because they don't want to fail at their task, or be perceived as dispassionate in their craft. In any industry, people sometimes cut corners, and make stupid decisions that cause accidents and loss of life. Maybe you could draw the conclusion that some industries are inherently dangerous, and have many rigorous standards in place to prevent accidents, and some industries have little accountability, or are just beginning to notice there's a problem. Generally, Is India a safer place to work than the U.S, or is it the other way around? Maybe that's beside the point. Maybe you could wonder why this most recent tragedy seems to have drawn more outrage than prior film tragedies. Had the victim been lower on the food chain (than the holy camera dept,) or a maybe a homeless guy sleeping under the trestle, would there have been any less outrage than we've seen here? If this accident had happened in any other industry, would people be signing petitions and starting facebook pages? If this accident had happened in India, would they be signing petitions? Would any of us in the West have noticed or cared? Maybe you could draw the conclusion that some parts of the world have different workplace safety standards than others (...you almost made that point yourself, vin...) As long as I can remember, "Cinematic Immunity" has been an industry catchphrase. From illegal parking, to filming on active train tracks. It is part of the arrogance this industry holds because it thinks everybody's impressed with our important work. Any industry, the stakes are high, hasty decisions are made, sometimes with tragic results. It seems to me the "fascinating" entertainment industry, that has everyone's attention, acts with a great deal of impunity. When an injustice occurs, this same industry also tends to display the most outrage. Except maybe for politicians. Politicians act with impunity and are easily outraged, too. At least politicians don't give themselves so many awards.

Here's a fascinating list of film accidents/deaths from the 1920's thru present day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_accidents

One of my chargers for this system failed after about a month, and the supplier promised to replace, but after about 2 months, have yet to see my replacement. The batteries are still holding up well, however.

I love my Senn G2/G3 iems and xmtr/receivers. - mini plug input/output is highly compatible without need for custom cables. You can feed a red epic with an ipod cable. Transmitter Mic/line input thru tip or ring. You can hook up to anything with a good set of adaptors. Have you sent audio to a Black Magic camera yet? Non-standard strangely wired 1/4" jack inputs, but no problem with a Senn and an ipod cable with a headphone adaptor. - feed hops and Ifb with same xmtr, as mentioned - I've yet to have one break - huge battery life -audio/rf metering on every unit -better range than lectro or zax, owing to receivers have external whip antennas -transmitter won't RF swamp a sound bag -some venues now restricting 2.4 gHz devices as they compete with wifi -super wide input/output level settings -instinctively intuitive to use. Big, understandable, backlit display -great for feeding video assist, pa systems, or pulling feeds from PA or press feeds -velcro them together for 2 channels, and they are still a very small reciever pkg. -Great crash wireless for talent I've found that the Lectro IFBs are better if your crew needs to change receiver channels frequently to listen to different sound units. They just push the volume button to cycle thru programmed channels, without needing to look at it. Don't know if the ERX can do this. Its tough to teach a showrunner to do it on an iem. -Senn's butt-plug transmitters are also cheap and great for a quickn'dirty wireless handheld for PA or voice-of-god mic for AD's -iem headphone amp VERY loud. Even the regular receivers can drive a headphone at +6 -you will probably get less range with the stereo xmtr due to mutiplexing, but good external antenna may make up for it. -easy to coordinate freqs with internal pre-selects/rf metering, or use freq finder. IEMs and receivers will also receive acceptable audio sent from more powerful lectro IFB transmitters. -I could go on. I've got buckets of these things. But I never will use them as frontline talent wireless.

Another vote for those videos as well! Thanks Glen.

New life to a "shelf-queen" Nagra IV-S with inclusion of a quarter-track stereo playback head in place of the pilot head. Great fun listening to vintage stereo consumer tapes, they sound pretty damn good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr0emFzysbE#t=113

My last experience (years ago) with swapping strobes, is that the inner circumferences differ between the 60hz strobe and the 50hz strobe. There's a bushing inside the strobe that rides on the transport shaft. As I recall, these cylindrical brass bushings are not interchangeable between the 50 and 60 hz strobe. Pete Verrando

In 2011, I had a university client request a 1M Liability policy to do a $10k project. The policy cost me about $350/for a year, I was specified as a "consultant," i.e., one who does not regularly engage in risky physical activities as part of one's work. Hiscox Insurance Co. Inc.

While there are good situations for using these antennas with transmitters, I would think if the metal joint touched skin directly, greater de-tuning would occur than with a fully insulated antenna against the skin