miker71

“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”

Love this thread! I'd like to think this one isn't playback, it's my favourite 'impromptu' backstage performance (WARNING - contains repeated f*bomb!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKprKZHYfl0

Uncabled here, was taught that way (a few twists cable is secure). I'd probably buy a pole with an ergonomic recorder built-in Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Given the constraints, I've always been impressed with iOS audio compared to the competition in the same category (I suppose that could be Tom Holman's influence?) Anyway, with the Lightning connector being all digital audio, we're now seeing digital mics from the likes of Apogee, IK and Rode. IK also has a Lightning pre-amp that supplies phantom power to a XLR mic. All these products cost less than £200 each, so that probably says something about the A/D conversion. But given the law of diminishing returns and the economies of scale this is a category that I suspect will grow over time (at least until iOS and/or Lightning becomes obsolete - 10 years perhaps?). As someone who used to lug a Nagra 4.2 and Sennheiser 415T on a pole in full Rycote blimp and somehow manage to fill in a sound report too, this iOS stuff looks enticing for play time.

I agree. I take little at face value. Especially when sources are unknown and popular media puts its own opinion in your mind without any critical thought whatsoever. This could just as easily be completely staged controlled VFX shot with greenscreen directed by Michael Bay to promote his mates logistics company. Or it could be real. The only thing I know is that - as it stands - I do not know the truth and I do not trust popular media to do enough digging to get to the truth. The truth is rarely popular.

Just finished watching the Soundtracker doco - my ten bucks well spent. Good to know I'm not the only one obsessed with "reality" ... although both Gordon and the doco do both demonstrate faking (or, er, designing their own) reality - Gordon directing the horn blowing, and, I never heard a 722 make those clunky operating sounds before! :-) And just to add although I am very happy with my OKM II recordings, I see Luhd PM01 mics as looking like more robust in the field - definitely intend to get a pair to try. http://www.luhd-mics.com/store/p16/PM-01Binaural.html

Not to derail too far from original H2n topic, but I found Nagra's technical data on two of their clip on mics in http://www.nagraaudio.com/doc_en/NagraNews_26.pdf (blue band omni / green band stereo cardioid)

So my H2n arrived today. I've had a play, and been able to subjectively compare it to my Nagra Ares M red band. In short, if the H2n wasn't so plastic-y (a bit's already fallen off) and low-build quality "feel" (subjective I know) then I would like it a lot more. As it is, it sounds good although not very transparent in the conditions I've tested it in so far (all interior) - sounds a little muddy. I don't think the H2n is very rugged. But it is very inexpensive and sounds great for the price. Its mics have lower self-noise than the Ares M red band mic, but strangely I still prefer the Ares clarity and transparency. Maybe I need to do some blind testing. The H2n is incredibly versatile, on paper. I just get the feeling that out of the studio, out in the field, I'd get let down. For example, it booted up once and didn't register the SD card. A bit of plastic has already fallen off. I've only owned it for a few hours and it's not been outside yet. Is it really worth paying 10 (yes ten) times more in the UK for the Nagra SD? (~£100 for the H2n, ~£1000 for the Nagra SD with a clip-on mic) http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2162876395001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABgvZvL1E~,1bFySu7FCi8rp86jMsciqS_9ptKEpKqU&bctid=2435426904001 What price rugged reliability? I'm pretty sold on the Nagra SD having watched/heard the above BH demo. (and the fact the Ares M is still fully functional after almost a decade). Perhaps I just have a good credit rating. I also found some more technical info on the clip-on green mic, in one of the old Nagra brochures, er, now I've lost it. I guess the clip on mics are adequate. IIRC rear rejection was ~12dB and frequency response flat enough (not as flat as the blue band omni which looked almost ruler flat). Why on earth would I want a recorder with unbalanced minijack connectors anyway? Binaural discretion. It's fascinating (to me). XLR is so ... 20th century! ;-)

The H2n is certainly popular on freesound.org http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=h2n What I consider a nice demo of the Nagra SD (not sure what mic, I would suspect green band) at - but you'll have to skip to around the 05:35 mark to hear it because until then it's onboard cam audio. Compare and contrast! (no contest!)

I just picked up a Nagra Ares M (yes the old one with only 1GB internal flash memory, USB 1.0 transfer speeds) - but it sounds great to my ear (red and blue band mics). I have shouted and shouted and shouted at it very closely and I have neither managed to overload the mic capsules nor clip a recording (with the AGC engaged). From what I gather it has 24bit input but steps down to 16bit. It's a pity there is still so little info on the new ATS/Nagra devices - basic stuff such as mic polar patterns. Makes me mourn again, a little. I have a H2n on order, I'm quite curious about it and don't have a dealer nearby. I recently returned a Yellowtec iXm with hypercardioid head because I believe (hope!) it was faulty. Sounded like a nasty electronic computer interference noise all over the recording noise-floor, horrible! Waiting to get a replacement. The default iXm config is not so good with plosives at close range which is also a pity (but can be overcome easily with a little forethought of course).

I'm from a generation who grew up watching Top Gun, The Last Boy Scout, and True Romance whilst in my late teens and early twenties. Enemy Of The State remains one of my favourite films and I often revisit it. It's hard to imagine what could have made him decide to leave in such a manner. Very sad news.

times like this i miss good old audio perspective in relation to mic pickup pattern and picture framing, especially if you are doing PSC. i've been looking at a lot of early Direct Cinema, seeing the recordist handholding directly the shaft of 815T (hmmm, or would that be a 805T) ... hearing about the sync issues on "Primary" because reliable tape transport did not exist outside of some huge rig that was logistically impractical on run-and-gun style. half a century later and is it any easier?!

I owned a 416T a while back, and subsequently the RSM-191 which I believe shares some characteristics with the KMR 81i (not sure if it shares some of the exact same components). What struck me about the Neumann compared to the 416T was how "isolated" and warm it could make things sound, almost like you're in a soundbooth. The Neumann also handled off-mic and reflections with more grace than the 416T, ie the frequency response is more uniform when mildly off-mic. There's a reason Sennheiser bought Neumann ....

yup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Cut_Pro "Randy Ubillos created the first three versions of Adobe Premiere, the first popular digital video editing application.[7] Before version 5 was released, Ubillos' group was hired byMacromedia to create KeyGrip, built from the ground up as a more professional video-editing program based on Apple QuickTime. Macromedia could not release the product without causing its partner Truevision some issues with Microsoft, as KeyGrip was, in part, based on technology from Microsoft licensed to Truevision and then in turn to Macromedia. The terms of the IP licensing deal stated that it was not to be used in conjunction with QuickTime. Thus, Macromedia was forced to keep the product off the market until a solution could be found. At the same time, the company decided to focus more on applications that would support the web, so they sought to find a buyer for their non-web applications, including KeyGrip; which, by 1998, was renamed Final Cut."

With Sean Hoare dead (the original whistleblower) we will always be missing his view of the truth. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14199171 The police who investigated Sean's death say they found nothing suspicious. "Dog and pony show" comes to mind.

I like how some obsolete tech finds it ways into movies as something else - my frame of reference here being old photography flash handles which I've never seen first hand, which became the basis for light sabre handles in Star Wars. http://www.light-sabers.net/lightsaber-luke-props-origin01.html I also wonder how many years will need to pass before the digital "orange and blue" movie look of today is regarded as dated and cliché, or revered as much as the old "warm organic look of film" is today. Actually, I don't need to wonder too much, since a curator of the V&A has already catalogued how long fashion cycles take to affect perception of taste. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Laver#Laver.27s_Law I think that cycle can apply to a lot of things. Although the modem dial-up tones didn't need to wait 150 years to become "beautiful" .... ... but did have to be slowed down.

I thought the backlash against FCPX was overblown ... until I used FCPX for 30 minutes. In my opinion it's Sony Vegas meets SoundTrack Pro - unfortunately what it shares with STP is instability - it crashed at least half a dozen times in that half hour whilst I was mucking around with video generators and titles (no actual footage to edit). I quite like the direction (I was always a sucker for Vegas back when it was maintained by Sonic Foundry) but for professional use a program needs to be rock solid and dependable. I can't cut FCPX any slack, it aint a professional tool - and it really disappoints me to say that. Give it six months to a year and maybe those bugs will be squashed. I certainly hope so.

Lion and FCPX look like necessary stages in Apple evolution to go to touchscreen as an optional primary method of input. If I can cut digital reels with my hands and fingers directly on the screen, I expect I'd love it over button pressing factory 3-point editing (though that is probably my own nostalgia induced bias from hand editing film back in the day). FCPX isn't there yet and it it could be another 10 years. From what I gather, even FCP poster boy Murch is back on his Avid after Cold Mountain. Things seem to happen in waves. Some wash over you, but others can carry you away no matter how much you may be fighting the undercurrents. In the meantime, what's wrong with OMF in Avid and FCP7 etc that necessitates a jump to FCPX 1.0 ?? What were people expecting from a version 1.0 Apple product?

Me in Oxford yesterday

I owned the AT a couple of years back, it was great value back then but think the price has increased significantly. I also had a used 191 which is unquestionably a great sounding mic, but somewhat quaint connectors and a relatively bulky external matrixer are its downsides (I ended up having to sell it to keep something else afloat - held it's value pretty well). Currently I got a 418-S at a bargain price. To my ear it's more cinematic sounding than the AT (I have been conditioned by the 416 throughout the '70s no doubt) and yes the side capsules are a little noisy but generally so are the environments I am recording. The AT is also pretty light IIRC, the 191 and 418 not so much. Personally I am addicted to M/S in a convenient form factor and like all addicts cannot not be reasoned with. Now, will FCPX deal with M/S (the 191 has been around since 1989, Blumlein Pair theory since the 1930s) - FCP7 can't even do a phase reversal. Check out http://www.soundhack.com/freeware.php +matrix AU/VST - can go to and from M-S to L-R.

you can apply sound editing knowledge to any applicable software application. i've made three feature length movies within FCP - yes, to keep it cheap. the results are of course quite cheap. i guess it depends what sector of the media the students will end up working in, or, if they are just looking for a foundation in which case "know what is possible, not necessarily how it is possible". most of the creatives i know couldn't care less what software they are using so long as it is easy to use. if it's not easy to use (and this is the 21st century remember so why is software not easy to use?) then the work is outsourced to a technical person who will usually complain a lot.

Garage Band on iPad should allow you to set regions and slice and dice at will? Assuming it will let you import a wav or mp3. There are also other DAW style apps.

Although my original iPad is no slouch, I'm waiting to hear how much RAM iPad2 has before I finally decide. The iPad has replaced my laptop and I do all heavy lifting on a desktop machine with a big screen. Rumours are 512MB RAM on iPad which I would find a little disappointing. 1GB or more and I will probably jump all over it. I actually find I use iWork quite a bit with photos etc, plus have a few Safari pages open. With the current 256MB (and likely 512MB) the iPad starts junking some of the Safari tabs and reloads them next time you switch to Safari - VERY annoying if you've been in the middle of a long forum post because relaoding the page loses whatever you were typing.

Finishing up post on low budget UK indie flick "The Fix: Incident". Gearing up for some short-form work in March - just got hold of a Nagra LB for that purpose so a bit of play time in the mean time is in order. I'm also looking at local opportunities to record acoustic performances unobtrusively (ie with field kit) since I need some zen in my life. This may or may not provide. Next year doing production sound on another low budget UK feature flick, as yet untitled.

Electrical Characteristics Frequency Response 20Hz - 18kHz Output Sensitivity 12.0mV/Pa Max SPL 134dB - 1.0% THD Self Noise (CCIR) 18dB Self Noise (DIN/IEC) 12dB-A Output Impedance 30 Recommended Load 1.0 k Powering Phantom 48 only Supply Current (from microphone-data.com)