Jump to content

ptalsky

Members
  • Posts

    243
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by ptalsky

  1. I second Philip's recommendation - buy the card from someone like Best Buy that has a very liberal return policy. This way, if it doesn't work for you, you're not stuck with a board that you don't need. It would be interesting to find out if the 1/8" adapter on the camera is broken. If not, you may want to look at the Beechtek adapters. I've never used one, but they are fairly well known as the solution for converting 1/8 to XLR. Again, you might even be able to rent one for a few days. Phil
  2. One other thought...before you buy an audio card for your computer, does your computer have USB 2.0 ports? If so, there are lots of USB interfaces that you can get that should let you hook up your A-3440 and capture directly from it (most of them come with some software to help you). Another option would be to rent a digital recorder, like a SD 722, or even a PMD670/671 and connect the A-3440 to that and record. You will still have synch problems once you get the audio into the computer, but you will also preserve the quality the best way possible. Good luck! Phil
  3. Hi all, I just finished watching "San Francisco" from 1936 and I just have to say WOW. Amazing special effects for the day, and the sound was really good. Makes me wonder how they could do so well in 1936 without multi-track recorders, analog or digital mixers, wireless mics, etc. etc. etc. Do you ever think that maybe we spend way too much time thinking about our "toys"? ;-) If you haven't seen this (or haven't seen it in a while) I highly recommend it. Check out the earthquake scenes and the scenes where they are dynamiting the city to stop the fire. Sounds pretty darn good to my ears. (Okay, yes, I missed having the deep bass rumbling during the earthquake, but still really good). Phil
  4. Philip, Most of the directors I've worked with are fairly inexperienced, so it hasn't been an issue. And I do usually follow up with "and here's why". But, I also use the line to condition these inexperienced directors to forget about "fixing it in post". I also have rigged my comteks so I can talk to the director and script supervisor on a single channel (boom op goes on a different channel). This way I can communicate with the director directly (no pun intended), and the script supervisor can note it if we decide not to go on (this works when the director remembers to put his/her headphones on, of course.) I don't have two-way communication (yet) but at least I can let the director know immediately if there is a problem. Phil
  5. You can edit your own posts. There is a modify option added near the reply option on your own posts. Phil
  6. Philip, Thank you for the reply -- I never noticed that the eject button folds down. (Actually, it had never been a problem, but I'm paranoid about stuff like that, but now that it folds down, no worries). As far as the headphone amp goes, I do the same, but it does seem a bit softer than my old recorder (I wonder if the lawsuit against Apple and the iPod influenced this...) As far as media delivery, I send a CD right now, upgrading to a DVD system shortly. I make three copies...first to an external project HD connected to my notebook, then two CD's (one for permanent backup, one for hand-off). Most of my projects have been video, and the few projects I've done on film they didn't synch sound in telecine, so the hand-off was still to a video editing system (mostly FCP, once to Avid, a couple of times to Vegas 6). Are you based in S.F? I'm down on the Penninsula (Sunnyvale, specifically). Thank you again! Phil Talsky
  7. Along with everything said above, the other thing I would add is a director and AD that actually care about sound. Since I am almost always working with inexperienced directors, I always start them off with the same line: "If I ask for another take for sound, pretend the DP just told you that the last shot was out of focus". I don't ask often, especially if there is a lot of coverage on a scene, but when I know that there is a line (or set of lines of dialogue) that I have not gotten clean on any take, I will ask. It is amazing how using that one line seems to open their eyes. They would never hesitate to shoot another take if there is one out of focus, so why hesitate when the mixers asks for one more? Again, this works well with inexperienced directors and AD's. Not sure how well this would play on a larger, more professional set. ;-) Phil
  8. Jeff, for me this is a carry over from many years of either managing or sysoping boards like this. I don't use my full name except for direct business related work (as opposed to this forum, which is informational for me). It's the same reason I have three different email addresses that I actually use (in addition to my spam catcher emails.) So, I think that may be the same for many. But, my nickname is close to my real name. Phil (Talsky)
  9. Peter, I don't mean to start a misguided discussion here, but I think many of the Guitar Center Octavas were the counterfeit (or Chinese) version, rather than the true Russian version. There is info on the Sound Room site on how to tell the difference. Phil
  10. Sounds like most of you guys (don't think there are any "gals" in this thread) are doing much more "professional" work than I am right now, and probably working with more experienced boom ops. For me, I keep essentially two sets of mics, depending on my boom op's skills. Most are converted PA's that really didn't want to stand with their arms in the air all day anyway, so for them I use my more forgiving mics (I always explain this process going in to the director and producers...but most times it doesn't seem to help.) And yes, I know that an experienced boom op can get really good sound from lower quality mics where a less experienced boom op can actually make a Schoeps or 416 sound like crap. So I train a lot of boom ops...unfortunately they rarely want to come back for new projects. I haven't moved up to Schoeps yet. I'm still using Octava with a hyper cap for my "better" mic and Rode cardioids for my lower end mic. For shotguns, a 4073a and a 416. Seems to work okay, but would definately like to move my Octava down (I think they make a cartioid cap for it) and go to a 641 for my high end. But, I have a strict rule for myself and equipment -- one round of purchases has to be paid for through work before I can go into the next round of purchases and upgrades. That being said, Jeff, please be sure to let us know if you're going to part with another Schoeps. Phil
  11. I'm also using a P2 now, and love it. It so far has been a workhorse. Some comments on Philip's posts -- I haven't noticed any problems with the pre's on it, but I'm almost always working from a mixer and going line-in. (I have not verified this yet, but I have been told that the XLR connectors on the P2 cannot be set for line-in, just mic in. You have to go to the RCA connector for line-in (which is what I do anyway, so it hasn't been a problem for me)). As for timecode, I jam from my Denecke slate and have been using free-run. One thing I did do when I first got it was a TC test, and after about 6 hours, there was a 2-3 frame drift (not sure if it came from the slate or the P2), but jamming is so easy (essentially plug the slate back in for about 2 seconds and I was back in synch immediately and stayed that way again for about 6 hours. A couple of other things to watch out for...the button to pop out the CF card sticks way out when the card is in. I put a piece of gaffer tape over the card just to be safe. It's easy to pop the card without using the button, so I may just remove the button all together to eliminate this worry. Also, I discovered this weekend that the Porta-Brace bag I had for my PMD670 can be used with the P2. Doesn't quite fit, but close enough for most work. Let's see...what else. The display is large, readable and has good information on it. The firewire connection is awesome, very fast. Another thing the P2 does is buffers the recordings, and then closes and re-opens the file as it is recording (every 5-10 seconds) so even if you run into a problem (the chip popping out, etc.) your file will still be solid and intact up to the point of the problem. Another thing I've seen on mine (Philip, have you seen this?) is that the headphones out seems to be a bit soft compared to what is actually recording (again, at least compared to my PMD670). Worried me a bit at first, but after bringing the audio over to my computer (into Protools) everything sounded fine. Almost all of the controls are on the top of the P2, so if you're going to carry it in a bag, you need to be aware of this. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm doing some sound checks to tomorrow for a new project so I may have more feedback after that. Phil
×
×
  • Create New...