Michael Scrip

Yes you should always try to set your levels. But sometimes accidents happen. Do people use limiters? Or safety tracks? Why would anyone need limiters or safety tracks if they always set their levels correctly every time? 🤔 Answer: these are all safety features. I think it's cool that you have the ability to lower the level of a 32-bit float file afterwards if the recording gain was set too high. Or raise the level if the recording gain was set too low. Ideally you shouldn't set your levels wrong. But sometimes accidents happen. If you make a mistake and clip a 24-bit file... it's ruined. But with a 32-bit float file... there's a good chance you can recover it like in the example below: The 24-bit file is clipped and there's nothing you can do about it. But the 32-bit float file can be adjusted afterwards. That doesn't seem like snake oil to me. But I'm just an enthusiast. Professionals don't have 32-bit float in their expensive recorders. That's because they never make mistakes. But manufacturers (Sound Devices, Zoom, Tascam, Deity, etc) seem to think 32-bit float is a good safety feature to have in their less-expensive consumer-oriented recorders. It's just another tool in the toolbox. 😊

That's correct. But assuming you had everyone right... except you had the levels on your recorder set a little too high or there was an unexpected loud sound... there's still a good chance that you will be able to recover those clipped peaks in editing. That's the big benefit of recording to a 32-bit float file. In one of his "tests" he yelled into a tiny lav mic that was right in front of his mouth... so of course he overloaded the mic and it sounded distorted. Obviously there's no fixing that in post. But I downloaded some of his other sample files and I was able to fix most of what he said was unfixable. It seems he doesn't understand how to properly edit in a DAW. He knew enough to lower the levels in Adobe Audition... but he still had it peaking above 0db so it sounded clipped and distorted. And his conclusion was "See? It's still clipped!" Meanwhile... I took that same file... normalized each section... and made it sound great. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Seems like it. 🤣 I stumbled onto his channel a week ago and he's made a few videos on this topic. It's funny that we've had recorders with 32-bit float for a few years... yet he's the only guy shouting "It's a scam!" In one of his videos his thesis was basically "They say you can't clip with 32-bit float... but I made it clip!" Well... there were a number of things wrong with his testing methodology... from poor mic placement to erroneous editing in his DAW. I now watch his videos for comic relief. 😋

The marketing and social media teams at Rode have been busy! They made another video answering questions about the Wireless Pro and timecode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwh1xYaEf7I

Rode posted a new video answering some questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCPlo0MT6R4

What are your thoughts on the Sennheiser AVX system? It uses the 1.9 GHz band. I don't think there are many things that use that band. I've also seen some Shure mics that use the 900 MHz band. That frequency used to be for old cordless phones... but I don't think there are many things using that band either.

Consumer-ish 2.4GHz solutions like the DJI Mic and the Rode Wireless GO II offer a clever feature: built-in recording. So even if there is wireless interference you still have a clean recording saved to the transmitter as a backup. You'll just have to transfer the files and do some additional editing afterwards. I've watched tons of Youtube reviews of these devices and dropouts can occur when they are hundreds of feet away. But at "normal" distances like interviews there shouldn't be a problem. Yes... the 2.4GHz band is congested... but these modern devices use various methods of frequency-hopping to mitigate interference. There are not "professional" devices but they could get the job done. My biggest question is if these consumer solutions can power the B6 microphone. I'm not sure if they provide the proper plug-in power for professional mics. That could be a problem. But I don't know. I'd suggest renting the DJI or Rode from a place like LensRentals and try them for yourself. Each is available for $31 a week. Or for that matter... you can rent a G4 for $54/week and see how it works too. 😎

I'm also interested in the box on their belt. Is it some sort of mixer for the mic and headset? Are they tethered?

It just occurred to me that I might have experienced this bug back in March on my MixPre 6 II running the 7.16 firmware. I shot a 90 minute dance show and somewhere in the middle the sound got out of sync. I didn't think anything of it until now. Hopefully 7.17 fixes it. Next month starts dance recital season! 😎

Track E firmware 2.0.3 is now available! It fixes the connections problems and the forgotten device problems of the 2.0.1 release the other day. Wireless audio monitoring works too! Woohoo! Download here: https://tentaclesync.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416121744145-TRACK-E-firmware-update-2-0-3

Firmware version 2.0.1 has been released for the Track E along with an updated iOS app. It includes support for the wireless audio monitoring as featured in the beta. BUT... there is a bug with this firmware: ***25. Jan 2021*** We have encountered a bug in V2.0.1 where settings are not saved to device after changing the recording format. We will fix this asap and have a new version for you hopefully tomorrow. It is safe to use older firmware versions with the latest setup app for iOS/Android. Only the monitoring will not work (and that's why you are here, aren't you) Sorry for the inconveniences! So hold off for now. Check back after January 26th. https://tentaclesync.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/360000084557-Device-Firmware

I noticed the price increases a while ago... glad I bought my MixPre6-II back in 2019 Old prices: (MSRP) MixPre3-II... $649 MixPre6-II... $849 Current prices: MixPre3-II... $825 (backordered, EOL?) MixPre6-II... $1,060 🙁

Oh good idea! I have a Rode NTG4+ but I never thought to try it with my Track E. Will any XLR to 1/8" cable work? It might be cool to have this as an option. Like a very large plant mic.

Allen's new timecode test!

I messaged Allen on the Youtube video. He says he will have more videos about timecode on the BP-TRX. He also said there will be new firmware that fixes the display.

I was under the impression that Resolve could read both audio timecode *and* file timecode. But maybe not? 🤔

I'm guessing Tentacle's answer is to set decent levels beforehand and use 32-bit Float. Then if it peaks/clips... at least you can rescue it in post. It would have been nice if it could record a 2nd safety channel like the Tascam DR-10. But the Track E strictly a mono recorder. Though this wouldn't allow you to hear clothing rustle or other audio problems during recording. Question: How would you monitor the audio of a recorder if it's clipped on someone's belt? Would you also attach a transmitter to them? This is assuming you could get audio out during recording... Tentacle disables US headphone jacks because of the patent.

So... $400 for a pair of Tentacle Sync E boxes... that *only* do timecode... or... $480 for a pair of Deity BP-TRX boxes... that do timecode, and record, and transmit, and camera hop, and IEM, etc... Is anyone else cross-shopping these two systems? I already have a MixPre6-II with timecode... and I have a Tentacle Track E because I wanted a standalone lav recorder with timecode. So naturally I wanted a pair of Sync E to add timecode to cameras. But now the BP-TRX has me tempted! I love how the Tentacle devices can all be synced with the phone app. It's a very slick ecosystem. But the BP-TRX offers so much more functionality. It's a wireless audio system too! That's also something I'm interested in. Decisions, decisions... 🤩

True. But the F2-BT only gets timecode from an external timecode generator like the UltraSync BLUE. Perhaps that's how Zoom skirted the timecode portion of the patent... since it not built-in...

Which powerbank are you using? I use the Anker PowerCore+ 20100 that Sound Devices recommends. I've run it non-stop for hours and it's been flawless.

Yes I know. 🙂 I was simply using that as an example of how TC would still be useful even if someone is worried about a tiny bit of drift. Whether you use the Studio software for audio-based timecode files... or your NLE's built-in syncing function for metadata-based timecode files... having TC is definitely awesome.

Exactly. That's the whole point of Tentacle boxes. They have VERY accurate clocks inside them. And once they are jammed or synced together... they will keep consistent time for a long time. If they didn't... then they wouldn't be very useful... 😀 I haven't heard many complaints from owners of Tentacle boxes. They seem to work very well and are usually highly recommended. Though you should probably slate whenever you can. Just to be safe. You can still use the Tentacle Sync Studio software to arrange all your clips... even if you have to adjust them a tiny bit manually from the slate.

Yes... I was hoping they could be used as extra TC boxes when you don't need audio recording. But this way they can still sell you the standard Sync E boxes for each of your devices... 😎

Here's another review: https://wavreport.com/2020/11/12/review-tentacle-track-e/

The Track E finally has a listing on B&H !!! https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1506356-REG/tentacle_sync_track_e_pocket_audio.html