phenix

Rick , Thank you. That was my first thought. -- I'm not sure I will buy or rent and I hate to ask people to do work for me when it distracts from what they already have on their menu. On the other hand, I have always had good experience dealing with Trew in TN, GA, and CA. Roger (I had a friend who called himself Planet O -- he's no longer with us tho...)

I've got a personal project following trail of family ancestors in Ontario and Quebec. I've got frequency-agile wireless (Wisy-Com),. I have not shot in Canada for about ten years. (started my career working for CTV projects). Any advice on operating wireless within the law, and finding available frequencies in downtown Montreal and downtown Toronto? I haven't yet located a frequency-finder such as the Sennheiser site, but there must be one (?). Also any recommendations on audio rental in Montreal? Thanks, Roger Phenix

THE single-battery transmitter presumably has a limiter but it has no menu option for limiter, so it can't be defeated. The dual battery version has limiter on and limiter off menu option. The maximum RF output on the single-battery version is 50mw while on my dual-battery transmitters it is 100 mw. There may be a higher-output version available. I don't have the latest firmware installed, so some of these details may have been changed with newer firmware.

Hi Douglas, Thank you! Well, I've heard it said, "The more I've worked with ______ the more I've come to respect him as a professional ...and the less I've come to respect him as a human being..., , My grandfather's mother - my great grandmother on my mother's side of the family-- -- was named Alzadia Tourtellot. (sp?) She died long before my mother married, possibly in the 1918-19 flue epidemic. I heard stories about her and have a few photographs. Her father's name was Amasa and the wedding took place in Providence. I sill try go upload one photo: bowling on he lawn with son and other family, c.1902

I wonder whether people might have thoughts to share on the following? Today I got a call from a producer who needs to hire a "Sound Operator." to team up with their "Director of Photography". I've never previously been asked to be a sound operator. A couple of years ago, I was disqualified from a National Emmy Award nomination because the credit on the project was "Sound Recordist". Their board did not recognize this title, which I had not requested but the producer had insisted on using. The Emmy award department required a protest letter from the producer to let the nomination stand (which I recall the producer was reluctant to do --presumably their office was busy with more current projects). Lately, I notice the "Recordist" title seems to be accepted in the Awards judging nomination rounds for "News and Documentary" Awards. "Recordist" also seems to be very much the normal title in British film and television productions. I was party to a phone discussion with a union local at one point, in which it was made clear that "Recordist" does not refer to the person recording sound on location. I am seeing "sound mixer", "production sound", "production sound mixer", "sound", and "location sound". IMDB does not list "production sound mixer" the last time I looked in their dropdown menu. I understand that the use pf "mixer" has the quicksand of potentially being confused with the role of "Re-recording mixer." One producer once said that if it's a program consisting of interviews with one person sitting in a chair, there is only one signal and hence nothing to mix and therefore the credit should not be used. The National Emmy judging rep told me that this is not the case--"if your hand is on the fader, you are the mixer, period." Has anyone written or researched a definitive overview of the correct credits for this job? Often I find that producers have their own opinions (or perhaps legal reasons) which cause them to refuse to use the requested credit.

Received on Friday--certified letter from T-Mobile -- shot across the bow. Their website (www.howmobileworks.com/spectrum/) is thanking "ancillary equipment occupants of the 600MHz band" in advance for telling all their broadcast colleagues about the imperative to vacate their frequency allocations. t-Mobile.jpg.pdf t mobil website.pdf

Apologies if this thread has already been started. Re: The quite useful Sennheiser website (for those who may travel to an unfamiliar city on short notice) that allows one to type in a zip code and find out what television stations are on the air in that locality: [http://sennheiser.us/freqfinder/index2.html] Up until two or three days ago, the range of frequencies listed started at channel 14 and ended at channel 52. As of this morning, the upper limit displayed is channel 36. They say their website is linked directly to FCC, so this may be an FCC modification. Or, since manufacturers will be no longer manufacturing units that can work above ch 36, they may have made this modification as a business decision. It would seem that since the FCC is allowing use of the frequencies above ch36 until 2020, they have effectively turned their tool temporarily from a helpful one into a detrimental one. This new tool will potentially direct users into spaces to which they would not have previously flocked, contributing to potential overpopulation of certain local frequency use unnecessarily for the time being. If it's a business decision, perhaps someone with proper skills and contact info could ask them to revisit. (?) A review of the Shure frequecy finder site today (9/17/17) indicates that frequencies above TV ch 36 are operational in their tool.: https://www.shure.com/americas/support/tools/wireless-frequency-finder

today 5:23:17.pdf

Jeff, Thank you for reinforcing this somber memory of times seemingly long past, the "Gilded Age" in which so-called leaders threw earnest pioneers and immigrants under the proverbial train on behalf of those who profited so much from the industry which depended on those same workers to keep the wheels turning. It's a moment when some can remember your father's insightful walk through the same neighborhoods of Chicago 82 years after the Haymarket "riot", with a 35mm camera filming another "riot" for which a number of people were later tried in court, and for equally inappropriate "crimes" that could have resulted in very long jail sentences or worse. One of the questions Haskell Wexler raised--and he was the director and auteur of that film, in addition to his camerawork--one of the questions the audience came away from theaters talking about was, if you're a journalist or a photographer, or a film maker, does that give you a pass on the obligation to come to the aid of someone who is in imminent danger? In these times, being a film maker and a journalist is statistically more dangerous than it has ever been. Many of us do take some courage from his example, and honor him for his work as one of the early mentors of our generation (among many) who articulated by what he chose to do and how he went about it, that special duty that we each have to come to grips with in our daily lives. Viva May Day indeed.

THE LICENSE I HAVE EXPIRES 2023, AND LISTS (AMONG OTHERS) FREQUENCIES BETWEEN 494 AND 698 MHZ (EXCLUDING RADIO ASTRONOMY) . THERE PROBABLY HAS BEEN DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS-- DO WE HAVE INFO ON WHAT PROCESS WOULD BE ADOPTED TO CHANGE THE LICENSE APPLICABILITY IN THOSE FREQUENCIES WHICH WERE AUCTIONED OFF IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS? I.E., DOES FCC CALL FOR A NEW ROUND OF APPLICATIONS ? OR SEND AN AMENDED LICENSE, ETC.?

We have had situations in which the 633 seemed to die completely, with the exception of the blue time code led continuing to blink. This is evidently not the situation you face. But it's worth keeping a note on this procedure from the manual in case you ever do have this problem. Sound Devices could not determine what had killed the entire functionality of the the 633 in question-- but forcing power off allowed the 633 to start up again and come back to life. -------------- Forcing Power Off (Optional) In the unlikely event you need to manually force a complete shutdown of the 633, by-passing the PowerSafe and QuickBoot features, do the following: To force power off: 1. Slide the Power button to the left. 2. Press and hold the MENU button for 5 seconds. After the 633 is manually powered off, the QuickBoot is reset and the TC LED no longer flashes. i Manual shutdown will turn off the timecode backup battery, requiring timecode to be rejammed and user bits to be reset upon next power up.

It's been mentioned in earlier posts that the Bulova Accutron watch served as the clock for early pilot tone generators, used for double system filming with 16mm cameras and Nagra III. The generators were handmade units (used by David Maysles, and others ). These contained Accutron watch movements encased inside a box with battery and transistor electronics to divide the tuning fork frequency to a 60 hz sine wave--no crystal. I worked with a cameraman who had a sound kit including one of these. The Accutron tuning fork was pitched somewhat higher than 60Hz--possibly 200 Hz or more. . It was wrapped in foam to keep it quiet, but even so the tone was clearly audible in a quiet room, esp if you put the generator down on a resonant surface. Legend had it that this design originated with the technical team assembled by Robert Drew (1924-2014) to make documentaries for Life magazine. The camera dept included Jim Lipscombe, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, Richard Leacock. Mitch Bogdanowicz was the machinist and camera engineer, commissioned to build equipment for the handheld battery-operated methods Drew required. He had a genious for finding available existing components (such as the watch) which could be repurposed into agile tools. The starting point for the cameras was the Bach Auricon Cinevoice Pro600 newsreel camera which was cumbersome. The camera was heavily modified -- chopped, channelled, its single- system sound was ditched, its AC synchronous motor was battery-powered by an inverter. Camera inverters used the Accutron tuning fork. Although this specific portable design effort started around 1954, the Accutron watch was not released commercially until around 1960. The new lighter and more portable sync sound equipment was emulated by others, esp the New Wave people in France, and in Canada and England, and by the early 1970's, the commercial designers Nagra, Stellavox, Ryder, and established camera companies had begun to design crystal pilot circuitry, more efficient equipment, crystal DC motors, etc..

http://www.americanmovieco.com/lytro-camera-light-field-technology/?utm_source=Lytro+Camera%3A+The+End+of+Green+Screen&utm_campaign=Augmented+Reality+Hololens&utm_medium=email Has anyone seen evidence of this LYTRO technology in use? Even if it's a hoax, it's a good one. I see a possible breakthrough in sound using analagous technology. Are the much slower sound waves and their travel through the medium of air (or other media) different enough from the photon-composed waves of light to have no relevance here? It seems the signal-processing requirement could be less than the 40K they are using (?)? The idea that focus is a thing of the past, if applied to sound waves, could be what we've been looking for.

IN 1969, I was walking past Advance Electronics on 46th St between 5th and 6th aves (?) and saw in the window a crinkle-finish maybe 4" in diameter seven foot long microphone with baffle-fins along the barrel lying among other electronic parts. I remember that it had a sennheiser marque and a slick sculpted look to it. I went in and asked about it and was told that it was used and had come from a baseball stadium across the East river. I asked for the price but nobody had figured out a price, or even if it was really going to be for sale, so they told me to come back another day. It was there for awhile and I always looked at it but was pretty sure that whatever the cost I had more important things to do with my $52 a week. Never saw another. I've seen the EV's from a distance, but am pretty sure this was not one of those.

Yes, that probably is tape you see. Your story about falling parts resonates. Not sure the camera tape would have totally secured it, but as I recall, that pop screen basket fit tightly on the microphone--but the foam teardrop sometimes would be missing and you'd wonder where it went! The gutted Nagra was a new part supplied by N.M.R.Inc. in NY from their parts list. The chassis-half at the time was under $100. The phenolic battery case with spring-loaded contacts, handle mounting hardware, and the stainless battery door were also purchased new, housed the power supply for the rig. A boom person and a mixer could have been the right way to do it, but it wasn't a cost-saving decision. There was money. Flying into Rocky Mountain backcountry not sure what would be there, jumping out of a helicopter to pick up a patient with major trauma, it was cramped all the way back to the roof of the hospital, running into the elevator and through to the sometimes tiny operating room--the care providers wanted to see the smallest crew, so there were major compromises and risks were taken at times.

CORRECTION: The Noriyuki SNM-3 mixer was a 2x1 design, not 3x1. And the rig in these photos had only one Vega Traveller II diversity receiver in it. The production supplied an identical SN recorder to the transfer house, along with a Nagra LPS transfer unit. The production tracks were transferred to 16mm mag fullcoat. Weight of rig was 1/2 that of Nagra 4.2 with receiver and enough tape to record all day. Diameter of sound person at waist level was approximately 1/2 that of a sound person with Nagra 4.2 + wireless and enough tape to run for one day. Navigation through crowded surgical units was facilitated by the reduced profile.

Nagra SN paired with the Noriyuki 3x1 mixer ( Dutch reinvention of the first SQN-3 type C mixer) Noriyuki engineer/inventor Wim Van der Linden named the Noriyuki to sound Japanese. The mixer is nested into a Nagra 4.2 chassis case (note Nagra carry handle). In addition, Nagra 4.2 case holds 2 hidden Cetec-Vega Diversity receivers (note the antenna right angle connector at top rear). A green fiberglass "frogpole" emerges from the front. CP-16R handgrip with on-off switch for the SN recorder and pushbutton to activate Audio Services incandescent 7-segment display bloop slate. Nicad "D" cells powered the mixer/recorder/wireless assembly. The lightweight rig was shoulder-mounted. The attached photo may show a Sennheiser 404 in use. American Cinematographer Oct 1979, p.1040-1066. Production sound was recorded double system 16mm film / SN mono at top speed of 3.75 ips (specs: 60-17k +-2), for NBC prime time operating-room-based 13-part series "Lifeline". Photos by Rich Lerner

A young producer asked me last night: "Why does everyone use the same headphones? those Sony headphones. Is it because they are the best?" I had a few things to say about it, having transitioned directly from Beyer DT48S to MDR7506 at first somewhat sceptically (and having auditioned several sennheisers and others along the way. Would anyone like to wax eloquent on this question? .

Yes, the first discussion on this was requirement that a Loss Payee Certificate be issued to the owner of any and all equipment delivered to the location for use in the shoot. Also, requirement that production insurance is in place for personal injury.

All info very helpful. [Yes, SQMV would be 100mw not 100 watts!] This seems a good situation for use of recording device inside the suit. One mixer with Tesla coil experience cautioned that carbon fiber boompole in room with coil conducted stray current. He reported that Sound Devices 788 recorder case became "electrified" and that recorder froze, but recovered on reboot.

WE HAVE AN UPCOMING LOCATION SHOOT IN WHICH TALENT WILL BE WEARING A FARRADY CAGE SUIT. TESLA COIL WILL GENERATE ARTIFICIal lightning in the millions of volts whICh is to be deflected from talent by the suit. There will be experts on site. For your consideration: 1) Will there be potential for damage to audio gear if talent is wearing a SMQV transmitter with Sanken COS-11 microphone while in the Farraday cage and while lightning is flowing around the cage? Could, possibly, components within the wireless or the microphone experience damaging inducted current or high voltage static charge -- even though the lightning would not be flowing through the talent's space within the cage? 2) If the answer to 1) is "no" and wireless may function as normal and transmit under lightning conditions, will a lightning-effective Farraday Cage prevent 100-watt 600 mhz FM broadcast signal from reaching a receiver outside the Farraday Cage within 75 feet of the transmitter? 3) If answer to (2 is that signal will be received through the Farraday Cage, will the FM broadcast signal itself be effected significantly by the lightning bolts in the room? The wireless receiver may be in the same room as the lightning as it passes through the air from the tesla coil to its target in the room. 4) Are there any safety issues that need attention regarding the talent wearing a metal piece of audio equipment while in a Farraday Cage? 5) Does anyone here have any suggestions for additional issues I should resolve prior to the lightning strike? There is a scout prior to shooting, so the answers to these questions can be determined empirically in advance of the shoot -- would anyone like to volunteer a wireless for the experiment? rphenix

I have for testing a US model Wisy 42 receiver. The companding menu on this receiver includes: ENC 1.2 ENR 1.2 EVO AL SR SEN ENC Wis ENR Wis Previous contributors imply that SEN and ENR are both Hy-Dyn Plus, while others disagree. Can we get a clarification of all these Expander modes? What is SR? When tested with Lectro 400 transmitters in modes #1 through 6, none sound good and level is very low.

<<You may be rolling all the time, but what do they think about you hitting record again to start a new file with every new interviewee?>> YES, YES, ALWAYS. <<As part of the interview, does director ask people to state and spell their names?>> RARELY --WILL REQUEST THIS.

Good ideas. I'm starting to get the right attitude here. Thanks all, more later.