Roger Slater

Mine stopped working some weeks ago and I have not changed any settings on my computer (Mac Mini) Roger

Except for the time in Norway, with a singer miming to camera, as the second of two trains a day passed in the back of shot, I let go the pinch wheel of the Nagra, not having noticed that the little fast forward switch had been knocked to the right.......The Director as I recall, took his hat and gloves off, threw them down in the snow and jumped up and down on them. I had to buy a lot of drinks in the bar that night.... Roger

And it's gone again.....

It's back! Thanks Jeff. Regards Roger

I have tried all the usual stuff, log out and in, clear cache, clear cookies etc. It's the same whether I use Firefox or Safari. It does make checking the board a lot more laborious, as it was so easy to follow the topics that are of interest. It does seem a known issue with Simple Machine users: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=277823.0 Regards Roger

Hi Jeff, When I log on , I normally click straight to the 'Show New Posts Since last visit' link, where there always 10 or so at least. The last few days there have been none. Is no-one posting, or is there an issue? Best Regards Roger Slater Malvern UK

I have never quite followed the logic of the 'marijuana as a gateway drug' argument. On that basis, everyone who enjoys a glass of merlot with dinner would end up in a back alley drinking lighter fluid. I suppose that if the only sources of supply are the same illegal people who deal in the heavier stuff, there is the possibility. Remove that connection and you reduce the danger? Or just read David Crosby's autobiography... Roger

And I thought things were tough over this side of the pond.........

We have had this so called 'War on Drugs' for about 30 years. Billions of dollars have been spent, many thousands of lives lost and presently drugs are more widespread, stronger and cheaper than ever. The worldwide drug economy is worth more than the combined GDPs of the European Union. Time for an alternative? The problem is that politicians fail to learn from history, whether it is in Middle East policy or drug and alcohol policy. Alcohol prohibition failed in the US in the 20s, what is different now? You cannot legislate away demand. Back in the 60s in the UK, heroin was legal. There were a few thousand registered addicts, who got their supply legally on prescription. Then some politicians decided to make it illegal and here we are now. Also there are huge vested interests like the DEA and other government agencies, not to mention the mob and cartels, who would be out of a job if it was legalised.

Happy Birthday Robert. I am coming over from the UK for a 2 week trip tomorrow and will also be visiting Memphis, then down through the Delta to New Orleans,across to Austin and back up to Dallas/FW. All recommendations gratefully received. Regards Roger Slater AMPS Malvern UK

Ahh, the forks you come to on life's road........I only ever wanted to work either in Motor Racing or Film/TV/Rock and Roll. In 1969 I had the choice of doing a degree in Automobile Engineering at Chelsea College on London's Kings Road, with the aim of becoming a race engineer, or a job with the BBC in Sound. I took the latter, worked there for 24 years and have been freelance for the last 16. I have had a wonderful life, met some great people in this business and travelled around the world.I still love the job we do and the worldwide community evinced by this message board.I also had a 12 year parallel career as a Flight Instructor, until Commander Coronary took my medical away. Still dream about being in that Rock and Roll band though.. Roger

Vin, I use Sennheiser 300 IEM and originally used the 2 frequency system you describe, although with separate antennas. I have recently changed to using the stereo inputs of my transmitter, with left input fed with a mix feed from my Sonosax mixer with override of the desk mike to talk to Director/ Scripty and the right input fed from an output of the DEVA so I can use the DEVA slate mike to talk privately to my boom operators. The IEM receivers are balanced fully left or right respectively using the 'Stereo Focus' mode and we just mark up each receiver for 'Sound' or 'General' use. Regards Roger

Here's another: Roger Slater Malvern UK (44) 1684-565897 www.rogerslater.com

"The movie business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

Anyone else done the 'wasp in the Rycote' gag?

A few years back when my excellent boom operator, Jason Devlin first started with us as a trainee assistant, I was bemoaning one day that the entire camera department and sparks seemed to be dressed in free Arri, Panavision and Kodak tee shirts and we never got anything similar. The next day he came in with these for us.....

Zaxcom have come up with this to compete:

Yes it's Simon

Q:How many Line Producers does it take to change a light bulb? A: Five, but we only have the budget for two.. Roger

Well guys I have only been mixing for 25 years so maybe I dont know enough, but yes we work without cans for the boom operator and somehow manage to achieve some excellent sound. A friend of mine has 2 Academy Awards and his boom op doesnt wear cans. Another friend had an Oscar nomination and has worked with Kubrick, Woody Allen, Milos Forman and Robert Altman and his boom doesnt use them either. There are many approaches to this craft of ours and most of them work, but to hear what is very much the norm over here described in these posts as 'ridiculous' and 'just stupid' seems a little disrespectful. Because you cannot imagine working in a particular way, doesn't make it wrong. I believe it is common in the Netherlands for the Mixer to operate the boom and the assistant to sit at the cart and record. I could not imagine doing it that way myself (what stand up all day?...), but it works for them. We are not all a bunch of bumbling amateurs over this side of the Atlantic.. From a comms point of view, I agree it helps and we often use a small wireless earpiece or a walkie when I am a distance away from camera. This feels a bit like those discussions where people tell you that you can only judge sound quality on speakers, so you should never do any EQ or filtering , 'because you are only listening on cans'. Jeff, thanks again for this excellent site. It is a great resource. Regards Roger "Good,Quick,Cheap.Pick any two.."

On a recent film, we had a Lexus on a rig and I used a Sanken CUB01 stuck in the centre of the 'radio/satnav' LCD display screen in the middle of the dash panel. Two actors in the front seats, two cameras on the insert car, great results. Audio 2020 back to the cab, Audio rack off 12V into DEVA. I always use radio link in this situation for the reasons everyone else has given-speed of rig and derig, lack of cables to hide and be guillotined by the tow hitch..... I used open mikes for years, rigged on magic arms, but there always used to be some sort of rigid frame under the front seats to fix to. Modern cars are just a sea of floppy gray plastic. Regards Roger S Malvern UK "Good, Quick, Cheap. Pick any two.."

I don't know about songs, but when we are about to do a retake for an operating problem, I find " Sorry we have to go again, there was a jerk on the camera" winds them up nicely.... Regards Roger

I use Audition on a Thinkpad. Last winter on an exterior night shoot, it was so cold that ice formed on the screen, yet it performed faultlessly. On one shoot I had a backing track delivered that was in a key that was too high for the actor to sing to. There was a moment of production panic, as the composer had gone on vacation. I lowered the pitch and put it back in tempo, using Audition, in about 45seconds. Try that on the good old NAGRA...... Regards Roger Slater AMPS Malvern UK

Here it is in the current incarnation with DEVA II replacing NAGRA V

Hi Jeff, Congratulations on the site and greetings from over the pond. I am a member of AMPS in the UK and a Production Sound mixer based in Malvern in Worcestershire. I will post a picture of my cart when I figure out how. I am keen to get a copy of your fathers 'Who Needs Sleep' documentary, but it only seems to be available in Region 1(USA) DVD format. Best Regards Roger