Rachel Cameron

Woa. What a situation to be in. I love LectroRM, and Freqfinder. Thanks James, +1 for getting nevo out of hot water like that. I'd be sweatin' it. And a mountain of thanks goes to all the industry innovators here who listen, consider, and attend to our professional requests, needs, and ideas at JWS. This is a suitably long list.

Thanks Jeff, for the historical look at the inception of May Day.

On 4/4/2017 at 11:52 AM, JBond said:

Hi Rachel - don’t feel you loss something.  If it was all beat up you were probably better off.  I was pretty disappointed at first with my phone booth.  When I saw it out in the field of antiques for sale it looked great. Brimfield - anybody hear of it?  It happens 3 times a year in Brimfield Mass.  I noticed the booth right away from a distance.  Close up it looked pretty good too. 

Once I brought the phone booth home and in the garage, I started cleaning it up. It’s an all glass booth. Under the dirt and grime I noticed that all of the aluminum rails were all scratched up vertically where apparently the antique dealer would slide it in and out of his truck laying down from show to show.  Researching the booth, I found it’s a 1964 Bell systems booth and it came in other custom colors other than the anodized bare aluminum that I was used too. Once scratched, you cannot just re anodize the bare aluminum to make it look like new.  If it was scratched and marked from ordinary use I would have left it alone but once cleaned it was all heavily scratched at close inspection. I should have inspected it more closely. 

My desire to have the phone booth I knew as a kid got the better of me.   So I took it all apart and had it powder coated in dark bronze.  It came out beautiful inside and out,  a hard tough low luster professional finish.  It goes together and comes apart like an erector set - everything just slides together and a few screws hold the four sides together. It has a built in cooling fan which was an option back in the day.

Putting all the now like-new individually wrapped pieces from the painter together, the old glass looked terrible, all vertically scratched like the rails were and every little mark stuck out like a sore thumb. This type of full length vertical scratches would never happen in normal use.  So I had all the glass panels remade except for the door apparently he would slide it on and off his truck on all the other sides without a care.  Ouch, being so pissed off I spent so much on getting the booth ready to be put inside my house, I didn’t want to spend anymore money to get the phone for it . The booth was now like new but without a phone.  So it sat without the phone for 6 years.  So maybe it wasn’t a missed opportunity for you, instead it could have been a godsend you didn’t bring it home.

I always planned to get a dummy mannequin to set up in the booth and take pictures using the different covert recorders I have. My wife said I’m the dummy and said I can step into the booth and she’d take a picture for free. 

So there you have it, the story of my 2k Phone booth, before the phone!!!

 

On 4/4/2017 at 5:19 PM, Richie Egan said:

Hey there - I just wanted to chime in and say thanks for this thread, I just bought a Nagra 4.2 for some field recording and this thread has been amazing. All your information, no matter how small is really important and opens doors for a newbie like me. Respect. Richie.

+1. So true, and welcome to the board, Richie.

So noir. Jealous that you have a phone booth. I've wanted one for years. At my film school, some kid dragged one to the sculpture area for some art project. After the critique, it stayed there for a year or two, sort of in the way..but too heavy to just move. It was a bit beat up,  and needed a little work, but I could have had that thing just for asking. Lost opportunities.

It's always a good idea to go with a local fixer, if the production can arrange it.

On 3/26/2017 at 6:24 PM, RyanDoesSound said:

Zoom F8

Beautiful pictures..still envious. How's the F8 holding up in the extreme temps?

On 3/25/2017 at 1:23 AM, RyanDoesSound said:

10,000 ft in the Rockies shooting an indie period feature.

I love this thread. Very nice Ryan. I love the Rockies. So much history is preserved out there. Nice going. What's the kit you're using?

3 hours ago, kfairlee said:

It's pretty immediate. You point the laser in the tree and they all flock away. They said that the green laser pointer actually helped keep them out of downtown permanently. I think it helps shape boundaries. 

In Austin we have this bird that kinda of looks like a crow but smaller called a Grackle. At sundown they all flock to the trees of large parking lots. I've seen the fake bird scarecrow thing and heard the birdcall but those birds really don't care. The only thing I've seen work is the green laser pointer. 

I don't have one but it's been on my mind. I often resort to the apple box method which isn't as effective. 

Bronzed Grackles are in Florida by the boatload..and that green laser idea sounds intriguing. If I was a Grackle, I wouldn't like either I guess..

21 minutes ago, Jason A said:

Curious why that has such an affect and if it is specie specific. Time to contact some bird nerds!

I'd love to know what they say.

1 hour ago, kfairlee said:

I use to work in downtown Austin. The city paid 2 people to walk around with 2 x 4's slapping them together and pointing green laser pointers at the birds steering them away from trees. Use two pancakes or apple boxes. 

How effective was this? Did it work? 

+1. The flick method works good for me too. I always hit the iron cradle or a vice. But oftentimes, cleaning a pc board or overflowing solder cups is another issue. And I forgot to mention: the Soldapult is serviceable too. Unscrew it. Wipe it out. Coat everything inside with petroleum jelly. It's ready to go again. When I got the two I have, they were $12, so they went up some since then. 

14 minutes ago, daniel said:

No recommendations for a li-on powered iron? Ideally with temperature control. I've had AA powered and was not impressed. I've had a gas powered and really like the lack of cable. I see USB powered is an option and gives us something in the field but these are not cordless.

d r

These new Lithium Ion powered irons are really convenient. Both ends get hot enough to melt 63/37.

All kidding aside. I've used many 110v powered irons. No matter which you settle on, I've found that best ones are the ones with a temperature control. Some have arbitrary numbers on the temp dial. Others go by Fahrenheit. 

 A good desoldering pump is also a wonderfully handy tool to have. This Edsyn Soldapult is by far, the best I've used, because of its available volume, and the $20 pricetag.

First thing I'd check is how the ECM-77b is supposed to be biased for the mic it's connected to.

Edits: There also seems to be a phantom power requirement for the Sony.

A quick look at the specs of the SMQV yields: Fixed 5 V at up to 5 mA; selectable 2 V or 4 V servo bias for any electret lavaliere.  

Interesting that it worked before. 

Until the real electro-brains arrive, I'd bet it's somewhere around those. : \

It's nice to see you here Don, welcome from Florida! We've heard so many great things about you.

The board just got better (again).

You have too much fun Philip. Is that a pair of 81s on that Piano?

On 2/1/2017 at 9:03 PM, Robert Bluemke said:

Check this one off the bucket list, got to record J Mascis jamming for the day.

Unreal. Way to go Robert. One of my favs.

You have to post a picture for us now, at least. 

On March 11, 2017 at 10:02 PM, John Blankenship said:

If you go to NAB this year, take the connector with you and see what the Neutrik folks say.  I wonder if it's possible when that particular insert was fabricated it met with more heat than it should have.

That sounds like a good idea. 

No mention of sound whatsoever. Pass me the hot poker. To me, this is just a bunch of pretentious fluff. It's the most annoying conversation I've had to sit through. Listen to them rationalize. Argh. Rant over. 

https://indiefilmhustle.com/mumblecore/

Edit: I stand corrected; It was named by a sound person. Either Eric Masunga or Randall Good, likely being a bit sarcastic and frustrated.

2 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

CALL the editor (not email or text) and heads-up them.  If they are really up against it and you solved a big BG noise issue for them then they'll be very grateful for both the NR-ed tracks AND the in-person info about where and what they are.

About half of the time, the editor is standing somewhere nearby. Yep. If I can, I give them the cans (show them the report, which tracks, etc) and explain the mess we're currently in with that noisy __________ over there. Then I'll jump between the isos with the headphone selector and watch their expression. Makes me new friends.

I just wish they were in higher places. 

14 minutes ago, Philip Perkins said:

As a postie, mostly on docs, I come down on the side if wanting the location soundie to concentrate on getting really clean, fat, undistorted tracks that tell the story and are well organized and logged, as opposed to going down a location NR etc rabbit hole.  I vote for that kind of thing really only getting deployed in very special circumstances, as in live-stream or no-post projects.  Getting extra treated vs untreated versions of the same audio is kind of an opportunity for an audio screw-up during picture cutting (since often they can't even keep lav vs boom straight thru a scene) vs. what they will end up exporting, despite best efforts at sound reports etc..  In other words, please weigh the real upside to doing this treatment vs the extra work and possible confusion it will cause in post, and don't make it part of a standard operating procedure etc...

This is really an issue, worrying which track is going to end up in the mix. It's so difficult to make enough notes and recommendations to post on which is the track to use here or there. Worse, some of the jobs I do have 'not much post at all' or no RRM (at least I doubt it). At this point I would offer the DNS-2. But yeah Philip..rabbit hole for sure. All this has to be so carefully considered.

Above all, I make sure to give post both tracks with bold warnings to please listen keenly to tracks 1 and 4 (dirty and DNS'd). 

Great idea, cstauffer. Please chime in, posties. Lets hear from anyone with opinions or experience here.

Thanks for such salient input guys. And Vin, the METCAL is darn impressive. Great advice on tinning the tip before power down. I've been wiping it off on the sponge, leaving it open to the local elements.

My daily driver is the WES51, but I've had to repair it and tweak it a few times. I took it apart yesterday seeking a faulty connection.

And besides help with tinning (the solder actually runs uphill by capillary action on the stranded stock), the flux in the tub makes a wonderful little bath for the tip. I melt a little pool of it, then sponge the tip shiny clean. It then drinks the Kester, and it's raring to go.

I've the right solder, I just wondered if the flux I use is proper, or perhaps corrosive...or if it matters (EG: Ammonium Chloride or Zinc Chloride?). It seems to collect any slag and leave it in the tub, because over the years, I noted that it gets darker and darker..sometimes I look closely and notice slag particulate in it. That's exactly where I want it. Not in my joints.

And +1 Sound Intuition.

Question for the solder brains: For what we do, is it prudent to use the little tub of flux?

It's Zinc Chloride and recommended for copper, but they mention other applications, like sweating copper fittings. EG: Mitee Soldering Paste is one. The other is Dutch Boy Tinning Flux. Another is an old Radio Shack Rosin Solder Paste. That one's in a tube, and recommended for electronics. All three of them have made the solder flow so nicely, I never questioned it. The Tinning Flux mentions "for use with any Lead-Free Solder". But I use 63/37, eh...which has Lead.

The joints I make are never less than pretty, shiny and succinct, but I wonder...

Okay. Running my soldering iron at 720 degrees (the usual setting), I only had to hold the iron to the cup approximately 20 seconds before it slipped pin 1 (pic 2).  I checked it again on pin 2. Bubbling nylon coming out of the cup side of the insert at 23 seconds.

But look at the first pic. Discolored somehow, yet no sign of melted nylon. Still a mystery. 

Before the test (pic 2), I was ready to increase the temperature to X (much higher), but there was no point in that.

Still baffled, and we may never know. 

Makes me want to run some heat tests on them.

That was my first thought. But the connector shows no sign of heat, otherwise. You'd figure, to discolor the pin would take such heat, that even a Neutrik connector might melt and slip the pins. It was crappy three conductor Mogami cable (with silk stranding in the copper) on the offending character (and a few others), Star Quad on the rest of them, but I can't see THAT as a cause. Baffling. There were fifteen or twenty XLR's (m and f) in this rack. Others show tarnish but not that 'rainbow' effect like extreme heat does to some metals. And the solder joints were all very nice, I.E. a pro installer made them up. This might even baffle a metallurgist. Go figure  : /