Fred Salles

If one channel works well then one way to rule out a preamp fault is to interchange them. It does not require too much practice but you must follow a good guide (unscrew the correct screws for instance.) The way you describe it could be the line amp. But that’s just guess. I am familiar with the inside of the 4.2 not much the one of the 4S but you should find Nagra schematics easily. Most electronic modules can be changed. What does it record on the tape? If I recall correctly on the 4.2 the signal goes from preamp to line amp for monitoring and line output AND simultaneously to the amp for the magnetic head (I forgot the name of the module) so you could hear nothing but still record correctly on the tape.

Hello, I guess the motorized faders are power hungry, but there must be just a peak of power draw when you change bank I suppose. You say you power it, do you mean from external dedicated battery Or the same battery as the rest from your power distributor? Can you tell us more about the power consumption of it. Thanks edit: I just saw your post about your cart so one big PSC battery (very nice by the way 👍🏾)

Fantastic! Thanks a lot for that! So it is the M+ that you have , not the X+?

Thanks for that. I did not know you could do without the 12v dc external input. I assume you mean that you do not use the motors of the fader, if that is the case how do you change bank? Could you try to measure the power drawn by the icon on your battery with that setup? That means 888 without it then with the icon plugged, then with the D2 as well? That would be very usefull as I have never found a real life situation report in the web on the current draw of the Icon solution on location. I also wonder if there is much difference in power consumption between the X+ and the M+, so if anyone using the M+ could chime in that would be great. Thanks a lot.

I understand that is the reason why we have active antennas with onboard gain booster.

I am not sure I understood you correctly. I am not aware yet about what the french tax system could do in my situation, except hopefully not demanding that I pay them VAT on a payement I did not receive. My company managing the gear is only subjected to VAT, no other taxes as it does not reach the minimum “income” to get taxable. Do you mean confronting the producer in person? you mean asking him to pay from his own pocket? I surely pressure him every month to get update but did not tackled it that way. Not sure about that.

Thanks, Production bankruptcy it is actually more complex than deadbeat producers. A production company not paying an invoice can be sued and forced to pay by law. Whereas in case of bankruptcy there is no more company to sue, and it is the french officials that manages whatever money is left in the account of the company. In case of embezzlement the CEO can be sent to jail but that does not mean the suppliers will see their money, at least not before decades! Besides, in my case as in many, they did not do anything dishonest, circonstances and « deadbeat » debtors pushed them out, to make it simple... Covid19 has and continues to do serious damage to independent film producers. Do you require the same for your own gear? (Invoice to be paid at or before pick up) For production companies that they know rental companies here usually ask for end of the month payment or payment on invoice issued after the shoot (possibly charging in case gear got missing or broken). So it is difficult for us technicians to ask producers to pay upfront or on pick up. But I have not tried yet and will probably always do from now on.

Yes, an equivalent to a signed purchase order, but that does not really change a thing in a context of bankruptcy. The french system forces priorities legally: whenever there’s money available first the salaries are paid, then all the taxes and social system contributions (and there is a long list). The suppliers come last.

Hello everyone. I invested quite a lot in new gear last year (SD888, Wisycom wireless, more Schoeps mikes, etc...), but, My first big invoice with this new gear, a full kit for a feature shot in October 2022 still has not been paid by the coproducer that employed me. This french production company, for which I did quite a bunch of gigs in the past so i trusted them, got bankrupt just as we came back from the shoot. They paid all salaries but, as often in that situation in France, the suppliers come last of the Lasts... Not sure if that invoice will ever be paid. It is the first time that ever happened to me and it had to occur when I am the one renting out the full gear. I have rented out my gear for documentaries for decades but feature films full gear was outsourced from rental companies till now. Appart for the financial and morale blows, I am wondering what I should have done to prevent this situation or make it less painful. Shall I ask for advanced paiement before the shoot from now on? Can you share about how you manage your finances regarding gear? Do you make sure that you save a « float » amount when you invest in case of unexpected drawback? Thanks

Appart from the brand related app (wingman & SD-remote for Sound Devices gear ; Wisycom, Lectrosonics and most pro wireless brands have now their own app to control some features of the transmitters and/or receivers ; Tentacle synch BT for their Time code boxes, etc...) I am also using an app to scan UHF band frequencies and coordinate the freq called TX Advance. It unfortunately runs only in Android machines, but I bought a second hand tablet and i am very happy with it, especially for scanning on locations during reccies without having to bring the actual RX/TX gear.

A cheap foam mattress will protect you and the mikes from the rain and absorb the shock of the drops falling on it, even in heavy rain, at least for a while until it is saturated. When saturated you can find protection and squeeze the water out of the mattress easily. it must not have a hight density and no cover sheet/fabric/plastic. A single size mattress is transportable for a short hike in the forest. With an assistant that would help.

linked worked fro me also. They say it is the Rycote microphone database they have put online. It seems the "production status" data is not up to date, far from it (MK6 schoeps still "in production" 😅) so they have just used the old data without doing much work on it. the search is also not very useful.

I have been a Windows user since forever, but I must admit that I agree with Olle: in term of noise the MacBooks pro are impressively quiet. Power consumption is also impressive especially since the M1 chip. I have not purchased one recent yet though so I cannot give a reference for certain but looking at spec it seems no PC beats can beat them.

Hey everyone, again I am back in Nairobi till April 2023. This time I have my gear for feature film as well (SD888+ Wisycom MTP60&mcr54, Schoeps mikes, etc...) Then back to France after that.

The user manual of MCR54 says power: 5-18 Vdc (2,5 watt max). So as JonG said, it will be perfectly fine with you vlock batteries, assuming your cabling is correct (Hirose pin 1 ground/V-, pin 4 V+). I have not tried to power with only 5v but would be curious to know if anyone has successfully powered their MCR54 with a 5v dc supply...