wbrisett

I'm curious, would you take this out to the field? I could see using one in a studio, auditorium, or even outdoors to do surround sound environmental recordings, but I'm not sure based on what I know about the SoundField line that I would try to use one at a car rally. The mic seems like it's a bit too susceptible to damage in the field for that. Maybe I'm over paranoid??? Wayne

This has been a sore point for me. I have found that using the Tenergy brand works better, but it's still not perfect. I end up banging the receiver on the end of my hand to get them out. It seems after a few recharges and insertions into the receiver, things seem to be easier. However, this does still seem to be a bit of an issue (even after they removed the SN sticker from inside the side wall of the battery compartment). Wayne

I keep a PDA pen in my bag, but I always forget to grab it, so I just stick to my finger. The only time this really is a problem is when I'm trying to enter metadata when I'm using the recorder over the shoulder. Wayne

I suppose that's the rub. When I bought my Deva IV, it had the four pots, but no way to control the other four channels other than the input channel trims. I discussed this with Glenn and he promised to come up with a way to control the other channels. About two months later, a firmware update was released and soft faders were introduced. Having the ability to change and add features by simply redesigning the software and screens I find an advantage. However, you're absolutely right, what happens if the screen fails? Although I don't know a single instance where the screen itself failed, usually it's something else. Ironically I do almost every non-musical event over the shoulder with the Deva and find it works quite well in this environment, although there are a few things that are a bit tough (metadata for example). Both of these recorders obviously do a wonderful job or we wouldn't have people debating them on RAMPS and other places, but they work differently. Kind of the Mac vs. PC thing. Both can do the same job, just differently. Wayne

Only because I have a wood shop in my garage (and I had the extra red oak laying around from a dresser I was working on). I had two spot mics, those went in the back of the performance area where the bass pans were. Wayne

Thanks Crew, I realized that few people here know what I do in the recording world other than work on indie projects and commercials, so I thought I would post a picture from Tuesday and since I just finished mixing the project this morning, a sample. When recording on the Deva, I set all the level so that I get the loudest recording without using the limiter or compressor. Fortunately for this concert, I setup on Monday at the theatre and they went through a rehearsal, which allowed me to gauge where to set the levels. This is not normal. Typically, it's a total fly by the seat of your pants deal and there are no retakes. Sound checks are basically useless I've found because the FOH engineer on amplified shows always cranks up the volume come show time. In post, I assign the decca tree to hard L, 50/50, hard R. Each channel is assigned to a mic and put on a sub-bus where I further control all three levels, plus insert compression, EQ, etc. as needed. For this show I also had a set of Earthworks SR-30 cards in ORTF configuration on the tree. Likewise, these are assigned to Hard L and Hard R and then to a different sub-bus. In a lot of cases, that's all I need. However, the lead pans were drowning out the bass pans, so I setup two additional Earthworks SR-30 cards in the back of the performance area (where the bass pans are located). These got assigned hard L and R in post and then to yet another sub-bus. Then the fun begins. In my post production area, I simply monitor the recording and keep tweaking the levels until I'm happy with them. I will sometimes change/ride levels from song to song. However, this typically is only done with acoustical/orchestral shows. Amplified shows are already so well limited that once you set the levels, you rarely have to touch them again. I so much would have loved to work in NY or LA during the 50's when all the orchestras were making those wonderful recordings on Decca Trees. A lot of those Living Stereo recordings made back then are still the measuring stick for recordings and we've added loads of new mics, techniques, and software to try to reach where there were 50+ years ago. Wayne

I have and tried the K-TEK mount (non-special release) and I wasn't happy with the handling noise, so I had to be extra careful with the 8040. I just received the Sennheiser shock mount designed for the 8000 series, but I don't any video/film gigs (but do have music gigs lined up until Tuesday). I'll try next week to test out the Sennheiser mount and see what my impression is of that mount. Wayne

Jeff: Here is a 16-bit WAV file instead of the MP3... http://homepage.mac.com/wayneb/bacchanale.wav

As some of you know, I do a lot of music (or use to do a lot of music, seems that most of the old promoters have called it quits). When I record classical or acoustic music, I like to use a decca tree. This is one I made out of red oak. I used oak because it's sturdy, yet fairly light. I use a single stand that has two 40lbs bags at the base to keep it stable. I use metal shanks that I have drilled and tapped, so I can use knobs with screws for quickly assembling the rig. It does dip a bit at the far edge, but in two years worth of use, it has never fallen or broken (which makes me happy since there are usually about $5,000 worth of mics sitting on top of the bar. (large image attached) For this steel drum performance on Tuesday, I ran seven mics into the Deva (3 Earthworks QTC-40 mics, and 4 Earthworks SR-30 mics). Here is a sample (Bacchanale): http://homepage.mac.com/wayneb/fest2_1.mp3 Wayne

There are projects I'll work on for nothing. However, I have to believe in the project. I also wouldn't do it over more than 3 days. Mainly because I have bills to pay as well and while I love to help people learn, there comes a point when I simply can't do it for more than a couple of days. If the project goes longer than a week, then they probably have some money. If they don't then they generally won't get anybody with any real experience or equipment. I love the art of making movies. However, their does come a time when you have to turn things down because of the lack of money. Wayne

There is a lot of truth in that. This past weekend, I gave an on-location audio class here in Austin. One of the issues I touched on was money. I did this because I haven't ever talked about the money aspect of the audio industry and because there were several local producers and directors there who wanted a better overview of audio. They all agreed that while they really wanted top notch audio, it usually wasn't in the budget. So, this simply reinforced in my mind how it's really more about money than product. Wayne

I turned down an indie film that is shooting next month along the south Texas, Mexico border. I found out that they plan on using a Red for that film (yet wouldn't pay squat for the crew, go figure). That time of year, in that part of the country is going to be very interesting, temperatures will already be in the high 90's to 100's. It will be interesting to see how well that production does with the Red in those conditions. Wayne

I've never run the gear, but the receivers are suppose to be able to be run at 14.4 VDC. You might want to give Zaxcom a quick call though and verify it with them since you plan on running at this voltage for the duration of the shoot. Wayne

You know I think part of the increase is in fact Vista. You have a very hard time today buying a computer without Vista installed on it and nearly everybody I know who has Vista hates it. I suspect this has more than a few people looking at the landscape to see what other options there are out there. Wayne

Said another way, "here's Dell's spin on it" A buddy of mine is the IT guy at a major company, he also use to work for Dell. He has mentioned multiple times that their lack of quality in parts in particular keeps him well employed with almost all of the PC failures in the company coming from failed parts on the system. My experience with a Dell has mirrored his, which begs the question, do we really want strict control on the variation of parts? Seems that maybe something else might be in order. With the MacBook Air, it would be interesting to see what Apple's return rate with the SSD technology is currently. Wayne

I bought one last year and I've used it twice. It's not bad, but I find it a bit hard to deal with at times too... I think it's just the operator though. Wayne

Thanks Glen. My concern was with the teflon tape which means even less surface than a dab of locktite is covering the connector. Wayne

I wouldn't do that. Remember that the threads are part of the circuit, you have to have some contact and with the SMA connectors being so small, there isn't a lot of space for contact to begin with. Wayne

With the weak dollar, it will be interesting to see what the final pricing ends up being. Somehow I don't think the current price reflects the dollar. ... don't get me started. ;-) Wayne

Is it just me, or does Nagra seem to be lagging way behind the other players in this field these days? Wayne

Anybody know who that is? I thought it might be Simon Bishop, but I'm not sure. Also, I'm not sure that's a 5.8, kind of hard to tell from the photo angle. Wayne

Thanks everyone for the comments. I guess my shock was him assuming I understood HOW to stripe a tape using his camera (a Sony I had never worked with before)... I'm still not convinced that he understands the details of the camera because the 'B' camera operator was able to show me how to get to the menu where I actually have dB's marked on the audio bars, where as the 'A' camera op, told me "it is what it is with these smaller cameras." ... hmmm, right. I don't mind helping out, but expecting me to know how to use his camera I thought was a bit much. In my mind it would be like me asking him to format a DVD-RAM disc in my DEVA. But all is well and today he did his own striping, which he almost had to because he had more time than I did as I had to jump between Camera 'A' and Camera 'B' for various interviews. Wayne

bars and tone. I'm use to giving tone and letting the camera op do the actual recording and then I verify that we're setup, but usually it's a team effort sort of thing, where I give them tone and make sure the camera is setup to receive line in on the XLRS and my tone levels match his camera. Wayne

I'm working on a very small production for the next couple of days where we're doing interviews and some recording of seminars. The DP/Camera Op is somebody I've never worked with before, but he asked me what I thought was a pretty strange thing yesterday. He asked if I had striped his tape. I had never been asked by anybody to ever stripe their tape for them. He mentioned that was always the sound person's job. Now, granted I haven't done a lot of TV work, but is this normal? Do some of you have to stripe the tape for the camera op? He had a Sony HD camera that I hadn't ever worked with, how in the world do you deal with knowing where all the stuff is on a camera when there are so many cameras out there now (like we don't have a hard enough time knowing all the stuff on our equipment)? Wayne

During a discussion with a local computer repair person, I was told that he was find it harder and harder to find IDE 2.5 hard drives. Looking online, I see what he means. I'm thinking about buying a couple of drives and stashing them away. Has anybody else using a hard drive recorder (Deva, Cantar, SD744/722) thought about doing this? Wayne