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Freeheel

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Everything posted by Freeheel

  1. What are you using for batteries in the transmitter? Maybe your rechargeable NiMh batteries are getting a little old? Next time it happens throw in some Everready lithiums. I've heard motor boating when the mic wasn't getting enough power. Aso make sure your mic XLR pins are clean, for the same reason. This may be a superstitious suggestion, but you've replaced pretty much everything else in the chain.. Also try replacing the cable between the mic and the transmitter...you may have a break in its shielding, or have one bad leg in the balanced pair. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  2. Thanks for the input! I was also PM'd a nice comprehensive review that I somehow missed. http://www.creativefieldrecording.com/2017/01/18/sony-pcm-d100-review-one-year-later/ I'm not too concerned about the lack of XLR's, more interested to know how well it works in it's native state using it's onboard mics - If I'm using an outboard mic array, the 744 is plenty small enough to keep using, although those tiny mixpres are very attractive as well. The review reference above has answered all my questions pretty well, but if anyone has one of these rigs, feel free to add your experiences! Cheers, Brent Calkin
  3. Hey Grant, I think you may like the Sanken quite a bit- The Sennheiser 416 is a classic mic, and sounds good outside or in well damped spaces, but it fares really quite badly with excessive off axis reverberant sound. It also lets in low frequency sound from all sides- it's not very directional at low frequencies. The Sanken uses 3 capsules and some electronic magic to create off axis rejection at all frequencies. For live work, I'd generally prefer the boom, as the lav is always at risk from inadvertent subject movement, although I agree with Mike that a lav will usually provide more isolation from the reverberation, and also greatly cuts down noise coming from the hallway BEHIND your interview subject. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  4. Hi Glenn My standards are a little more stringent than a waterproofed, well padded and careful placement on a football player. My Lectro MM400's have been put on surfers, kayakers, sky divers, and fallen 90 feet out of trees onto rocks. They are 10 years old and have never failed. They are like little armoured tanks. If I dropped one into a bucket of sea water and threw it at a concrete wall, it would likely survive just fine. My TRX LA2's, I keep in a cloth protective bag so their plastic won't get scratched. And I know exactly how long they would last if dropped in salt water. So, I'd rather not argue with you about how durable Zax transmitters are. I would make a polite request for you to design one that can compete physically with a Lectro Tx- after all, the recording function is most useful when the subject is out of radio range- like those surfers, kayakers, and sky divers often were. If Zaxcom is going to be the only company with a recording wireless, it would be great if you guys made one that's up to the challenge of the conditions where it's recording functions are most needed. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  5. I've worked in that area as well and feel your pain. A lav will generally give you better signal to noise, but I was working a show where we didn't want to see the mic, so lav'ing for short clips was not always possible. I generally used a Sanken CS3e which has pretty darn good rejection, and it worked pretty well. I will say that nothing really makes the clips with the cleaning cart usable. The sound of those things bouncing off miles of marble is brutal, and all you can do is wait until they painfully and slowly move away... Or have an alternate corridor or room nearby that you can duck into. As for the second mic phase reverse idea- It's a bit of a myth- It only works in theory, in the real world there is too much difference between the mic signals and it will just create a variably comb filtered mess. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  6. Hi All, I love the detailed clarity and incredibly low noise floor of a pair of Sennheisers feeding a 744t, especially for quiet nature ambiences and ocean sounds. Sometimes the rig can be a little bulky though. I've looked over a bunch of older threads on small, 2 channel, all in one recorders and most of them dated to when the PCM D100 was still very new, so it would be nice to get some updated opinions. How does the Sony PCM D100 hold up to the level of sonic quality of a Schoeps or Sennheiser stereo rig going into a nice recorder like a SD 744t? 90%? 80%? And where does the Sony break down? Noise floor, mic quality? Curious to know whether I should just keep hauling the big rig around, or whether I can save my back and some baggage costs by picking up a D100? (or a Nagra SD with stereo mic- feel free to include that in the discussion...) Cheers, Brent Calkin
  7. If Zaxcom made a transmitter with the potato gun-proof build quality of a Lectro transmitter, I would agree with that.. (google "lectrosonics potato gun" if this is a cryptic statement...) Cheers, Brent Calkin
  8. Thanks for that link Peter. The economic argument against a 400 mode R1 makes sense, although as a documentary recordist who only needs one unit for the director and maybe one for a field producer- I probably WOULD pay $1100 for a single IFB receiver channel, if it meant that I could leave the comteks at home. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  9. I would love to have a R1 format receiver that could receive a signal from one channel of my camera hop. And I bet I'm not the only one... Cheers, Brent Calkin
  10. It's only 8 bit... -Brent Calkin
  11. Yep, sorry Ty, the very effective ceiling mount was also acting as a lint mount, not to mention it's capabilities as a dog hair mount... Cheers, Brent Calkin
  12. I started down the list (and added a few) 99% alcohol - no change Dish soap- no change Fast orange citrus with pumice- a little bit cleaner- maybe the pumice rubbed some stickiness off. Naptha (Coleman Fuel)- no change brake cleaner - no change Acetone- no change Xylene- This actually seemed to clean the stickiness off. It left the rubber sheath a bit soft though, so I rubbed on some 303 Aerospace protectant, which seemed to reconstitute the rubber a bit, and made it feel normal again- though now I'm noticing that 3M Transpore tape doesn't like to stick to the 303. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  13. I was pulling out some older cos 11 lavs that I haven't used for a while, and one of the mics' cable sheath has started to degrade. It looks normal, but the entire length of it has gone sticky. I'm going to try a few terrifying solvents I have lying around (start with citrus, then alcohol, then naphtha, then xylene, then acetone, then Methyl Ethyl Ketone) but wondering if anyone has come up against this and can recommend a fix? The mic works fine apart from the fact that I can throw it at the ceiling like a piece of spaghetti and it will stick... The one interesting thing about this mic is that it was bought second hand with a transmitter, and it's sheath always seemed a bit different than all my other Cos 11's, I not sure whether Sanken changed how they manufacture the cable at some point, or whether it got contaminated with something at some point in its lifespan. Any thoughts? Cheers, Brent Calkin
  14. I love options and tickboxes and mysterious ring connectors. An optional jam lock will be a very nice addition as well. Thanks for chiming in Klaus! Cheers, Brent Calkin
  15. Thanks to both Nagnila and TJW for the helpful info. I've had a couple Nano's for a while and while the user manual has a lot packed into it - it's pretty brief and there's some missing information. For example- I was wondering what their effective RF range was! A few more tips. -Maybe I missed it, but there's seems to be no documentation for the fact that when you turn the output volume of the Nano down, it will alternately flash green and orange to let you know that it's below line level. -If you plug the Nano into an active bidirectional Timecode jack on a camera or mixer, it will rejam, even if it has been jammed previously. I've had to build a number unidirectional timecode cables to fix this issue, as it doesn't seem that unidirectional 5 pin lemo to 5 pin lemo are very common- most of the ones available for purchase are input AND output simultaneously... although looking around online, it seems that unidirectional cables may be more common in Europe... The included 5 pin lemo to 3.5mm TRS cable is wired interestingly - with TC output going from the pin 5 of the 5 pin lemo to the TRS tip, which is to be expected, but also the TRS ring is connected to pin 2 of the lemo, so TC could be sent from the ring connector to the Nano. This may be confusing to read- basically it's a bi-directional cable with tc output on the tip and input on the ring. I guess you could make a unique breakout cable to use this function if you were really short on lemo connectors and had no other way to jam your Nano by wire... As has been discussed above- when you first get them - it's quite easy to take the units off charge and put them away without turning them off- the auto power on function is a little counter intuitive, and if you put them away for a couple days they will die in their storage bag. If you then fire them up, thinking they are ready to go, they will start, but only last a minute or two before shutting down.- If you see a double blink when you pull them out of storage, you may be in trouble, since you can't just change the battery! If this happens, get them on charge fast and hope that the lighting setup takes way longer than usual... Anyone else have any undocumented tricks and tips? Cheers, Brent Calkin
  16. OK, so maybe you don't have to phone Lectro, since Larry is still making house calls... Cheers, Brent Calkin
  17. 1610 with wheels seems to be a good size for keeping flying weight under 50 pounds. I have a bigger one but find it a bit too unwieldy. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  18. I'm going to go all senatorial and suggest you phone Lectrosonics. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  19. I've got a barrel that gets occasional use on my older MM400 transmitters - usually when I want to use my white Cos 11. It screws right into the unit and is dead solid. It's a bit of an ungainly protuberance, and can cause a bit of discomfort for wearers who tend to "flow over" the back of their belts a bit. I've had a couple of complaints about that. But other than that, I think it's one of the more amazing and bombproof adapters I've ever seen. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  20. Ironically, hardwiring my cos 11's with an Ambient Eumel gives a more hissy result than my Lectrosonics 411's with "Normal" noise reduction in play. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  21. It would be fine for transcription- and that's the only reason I've ever had for Mp3 delivery. No good for backup. Cheers, Brent Calkin
  22. Yep, based on this experiment, that's the way I'll be doing it if I need to deliver MP3- any thoughts on why a raw recording to Mp3 would be so much worse than a downconvert? Cheers, Brent Calkin
  23. I just did a test on mine, close voice in an ambient neighbourhood with leaves rustling and distant traffic. At 128 I had a few unexpected and shocking warbles on the voice. The background ambience was somewhat squiggly, but about what you would expect at that bit rate. At 320, the same test sounded OK, less squiggly in the ambience and no warbling on the voice. Not exactly a scientific comparison to whatever you guys are doing recording for your tests, but some feedback anyway... - I thought 320 sounded all right, but I expected better from 128... With Mp3's I expect a loss of resolution and some squiggles on high frequency complex sounds (like water or tree leaves), but the large warbly artifacts on voice were unexpected.
  24. Another +1 for Pete's 416t work. I had 2 done a couple of weeks ago. I'm very happy with the job he did! They sound the exact same as they did before, and its awesome to be rid of those clunky, crackly, and heavy adapter barrels. Cheers, Brent Calkin
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