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Scott Smith

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Everything posted by Scott Smith

  1. And I still have the manual for the Magna-Tech 4000 “portable” mag film recorder, which has one of the best written user guides for the novice transfer operator that I’ve seen (printed on a dot matrix printer). I will scan and post it one of these days. I think we still have the recorder with that giant foam-lined case as well (Jeff will remember that I’m sure!😊) ! It served us well on many a film when transfers and dailies were synced on location. It sure beat hauling around the RCA mag recorder we used prior to that (a great machine, but a beast to pack and ship!) Along with a Ampex AG-440-C recorder and Magna-Tech 92C synchronizer. (How is it that I can remember this shit but can’t recall what I did two days ago?) -Scott
  2. The prospect of someone with deep pockets that could step in is intriguing. You would think that there would be enough tech people in the Bay Area that understand how vital a facility like this is to the area. Hell, George Lucas could pay for it out of petty cash! And while he of course has his own facility, a town like San Francisco needs more than one film dubbing operation, and also needs a creative center that brings related businesses and individuals together. -Scott
  3. Aw man, this is truly sad to hear. A huge chunk of music history bites the dust... I’m assuming the tape library has already been moved. It was home to an amazing collection of recordings. -S
  4. I have a couple of copies of that book-will have to take a closer look at the “Crime and Punishment” photo. An apt description of working in the realm of optical sound back in the day! Silver bromide crystals in the developer were only just a small sampling of all the issues that could come up. Even assuming that your track was properly exposed, in focus, and not over-modulated, there were still lab issues to deal with like processing gamma, printer slip, and cross-mod distortion. The original Western Electric manuals have at least 50 pages devoted to stringing and calibrating the light valve. Given the rudimentary equipment those guys dealt with, it’s amazing that it worked at all. (Not to mention that, prior to 1951 or so, you also risked torching yourself due to the nitrate base film!) And yeah, you had to know what the hell you were doing as a recordist. A very unforgiving medium for sure. -Scott
  5. Have used the MM-1 a few times when we’ve had long cable runs to a Fisher boom. Also for ribbon mics when used as practicables. Nicely designed preamp. Keep a couple handy on the truck. -Scott
  6. Loved those machines. Built like a tank. The real plus was the 5000 foot reel capacity. Never ran one at 7.5 IPS though! -S
  7. I used to route a couple of channels from the board into the LA-3 limiters, with the outputs patched to nothing. When the producer wanted “more” of something, I would just crank the threshold on the limiter so that there was around 10 dB of limiting. Just seeing the needle move usually made them happy.
  8. I have experienced similar issues, which I believe are inherent to the reliability of the connection to the recorder. Has happened with 664 and 668. Has occurred with both IPad mini’s and IPhones 5 & 6. -Scott
  9. Great photos! Some of the very few I’ve ever seen. With the Nagra II in use! -Scott
  10. Another example of what happens when marketing takes precedence over engineering. This never would have happened when Kudelski was at the helm. Too bad they didn’t include some of the accessories like the BM-II mixer, SLO synchronizer, etc. -Scott
  11. Can’t speak to Dubai, but didn’t have too much of a problem traveling to Saudi Arabia. Did not take too much gear onboard though, just the recorder and a couple of mics. Checked the rest. -Scott Scott D. Smith CAS “I don’t care what they’re talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording” Harry Caul “The Conversation” 1974
  12. Mike: i have one, but you will need to be patient, as we are doing very long days. I’m sure Trew and LSC would one too. Not much to those things! -Scott
  13. For example, the AES inputs on the early versions of the Deva IV/V NEVER worked! -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  14. You don’t make mention of the camera or follow focus system being used, We had issues with the focus and zoom lense systems on some Arri Alexa’s. The 1st AC sourced some softer gears to replace the hard gears that came stock with the system. It didn’t entirely solve the problem, but made a big difference. -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  15. Years ago, I did a music project that was simulcast over NPR. We recorded all the music on multi-track, and all the dialogue M/S. It worked very successfully, but I supervised the entire project from the beginning to the end, (including being at the broadcast head-end when the show aired). Had I not been able to do the show from beginning to end, I would probably wouldn’t have handed off the M/S tracks to just anyone though. I was very pleased with how the show turned out, but it was of those rare shoots where things generally worked in our favor. -Scott quote post="342771" timestamp="1515532873" name="johngooch" userid="89"] PBS here in states tried to follow suit as well. It was not successful... had to record separate M/S tracks. .. so you ended up choosing to create a mono mix that included your wires and the M channel... it got weird pretty quick. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  16. As Constantin and others point out, you won’t end up with M/S, or and kind of stereo. If you want s stereo perspective, I would do an M/S mic system on the camera, and maybe a second M/S mic or spaced array on a boom. Have done many projects using M/S, coincident mics, and spaced arrays. All have their pro’s and con’s. -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  17. I have found some devices that go into a bizarre “sleep mode” when powered off. You would think that there would be no power at all, and no emissions, but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. Not sure if the G3 system is one of these (I have never used one), but might be worth talking to Sennheiser ((assuming you can find somebody there these days that actually knows engineering details). -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  18. The one person that has ever worked on the III recorders I own besides myself is unfortunately no longer with us. He did do a motor repair once for me (bearings), but I sadly don't know the details. I do know you need the magnetic shunt. The only other issue I can think of is that if you remove the encoder wheel, it will probably need to be re-balanced. Have no idea how that would be done. My guess is the factory had a special test bed to do dynamic balancing. Might want to let an expert attempt this one[emoji846]. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  19. And then there was the old Masonic Temple stage in Detroit I worked at in the early Seventies that still had some D.C. outlets on the stage. Unmarked, naturally. Found out the hard way... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  20. David: I assume you mean 220 volt? 120 volt is standard in most cities (at least on theory-reality is a bit different!) -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  21. Marc: This is sad news indeed. Thank you for posting the obit from Deadline. I hadn't talked to David in some time, and had no idea he was suffering from pancreatic cancer. His book is one of the best I've ever seen in regards to the craft of sound editing. The industry has lost a great teacher. -Scott
  22. Damn, was really hoping to make it this year. One week later and I could have done it! Maybe next year... -Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  23. Have still been using the Gary Woods quick-disconnects (with a couple of modifications). Have both mono and stereo versions. Still my favorite, wish he'd bring them back. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  24. For most ambient recording, I have used either ORTF spacing with cardiods, and sometimes going wider than that, especially for theatrical releases, where the wider differential between the signals plays well in the surrounds. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  25. I happened to hear this at a demonstration that was done at an Association for Recorded Sound Collections conference a few years ago. Pretty cool stuff. Amazing the hoops the jumped through to reproduce those etchings. -S Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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