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Scott Smith

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Everything posted by Scott Smith

  1. The simple answer is yes. There are many mike pre's that share the same topology, but have very different components, as well as varying powering arrangements, which have a huge impact on the sound quality. (For example, a mic pre with +/- 12 volt rails will obviously have less headroom that a preamp fed from +/- 18 volt rails). I don't have a full schematic for the 744T and USBPRe2 mic preamps, but while they may share similar design concepts, I think that Jon may have upgraded the USB2 preamps a bit since the time the 744T was brought to market. At the very least, there have been quite a few advances in chip technology, (as well as some different packaging options). Attached is a rather interesting design by Studer from the early 1980's. --S Studer 961 Mic Preamp.pdf
  2. Big Bill Broonzy is THE MAN!! Thanks for mentioning this Jim. --S
  3. Damn Larry, only 43 years! What, you want to have a life now?! Congrats on a fabulous run, and for bringing us some incredible products over the years. -S "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  4. This is always a tough decision. If the director insists on having the actors overlap, I just make it a point to make him aware of how it will tie the editors hands, and mark the log as "overlaps ok'ed by director". I also ask the script supervisor to make a note as well. I always fight to at least get the dialogue clean in the CU's though. -S "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  5. The only place I know of is Advanced Recording Studios in Royal Oak. Haven't had any experience with them though. --Scott
  6. Wide spaced cardiods seem to work best (obviously not workable for dialogue pickup). Also did some wide spaced 3 channel L/C/R which worked quite nicely. Although I'm still a bit fan of M/S, I just haven't found it to be very effective for theatrical exhibition. -S "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  7. Haven't read Tim's article, but sadly, there is a lot of misunderstanding about MS mic techniques. Of course, the major advantage is the ability to change the pickup pattern after the recording has been done, but there can be a lot of issues if everyone is not on board all the way through post. I have had very good results with the technique in situations when I have control over the post process. However, things have not always gone well in situations where I haven't had luxury of following through. Just too many places for things to go wrong. I have also found that most coincident mic techniques don't translate very well to a theatrical environment, where the imaging tends to get lost (unless you are very close to the screen). We did a whole series of tests of various techniques years ago, which we listened to at dub stage B at the old Warner-Hollywood sound facility, and Zi must say that I was rather disappointed at the outcome. This is due in part to the distance of the viewer from the speakers, as well as problems related to the perforated screens. OTOH, I have been very pleased with coincident techniques for the small screen, where the viewer is closer to the speakers. -S "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  8. Very sad news about Percy Sledge. Always one of my favorites. Brought us some great music. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  9. A little late here. I had the pleasure of meeting Doug on s few occasions at AES meetings. Fascinating guy, always pushing the boundaries of sound recording. Still have quite a few of the albums he's mastered. Maybe not always the most interesting music, but certainly some of the best mastering I've ever heard. RIP. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  10. Also, just remembered that John Peluso had some cloth covered cable fabricated. Have only used the 5 conducter version on the Fisher though, which has worked out nicely. --S
  11. Sadly, the textile covered cables have become difficult to find. Fisher still carries a 3 conductor fabric sheathed cable (made by Lentz Cable, if I recall). It's a bit on the stiff side, but still better than almost any other cable I've found. It also has about the best braid shield of any of the older textile cables. I've wired a few poles with cloth cable over the years, but have found that it tends to get kind a bit mangled after awhile, and then jams up in the pole. Also doesn't last too long in wet situations . Was pretty quiet though. At one time, Shure Bros. made a two conducter cable (with a brown sheath), that was used on a few of their mics like the SM-5B. I seem to recall EV also had the same cable on the 667/668. I am kicking nyself for not buying more of it whan I had the chance... Neumann made a couple of pretty nifty cloth cables back in the 80's, which used a conductive plastic sheath, with the fabric over that. Very quiet in terms of any static noise induced into the shield by handling. I don't recall all the details but I think they made both a 3 conducter and 5 conducter version. Tried to convince them to do another run, but no dice . If someone wants to pony up to do a run of 10,000 feet or so, maybe they would re-consider, but I rather doubt it. There are some heavy-duty fabric covered cables that I've run across (made by Rapco and MXL, if I recall), but they are too large and too stiff for the purpose of isolating a mic. --Scott
  12. Lorenzo: Thanks for posting. I am certainly going to pass this along to the post team on "Chicago PD". However, our sound issues have more to do with shooting style and poor location choices than they do with workflow, Great work you're doing, and it's encouraging to see that good sound can be had on a series if the producers really want it to happen. -Scott "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  13. Great thread-thanks to all who have contributed. I hope this is a technique that can gain some traction, especially for driving shots. Any info that can be passed along will certainly be helpful in working with DP's and the producers-keep it coming! +1 on Tony Marra. Always happy to help, and an all around nice guy. --Scott
  14. I see the date on the letter from Shure is February 4th. Really a shame that we somehow didn't get more of a heads up on this, I'm sure there are many more individuals and companies that would comment on this if they were aware of what the impact is. Not even a mention on the Facebook FCC Part 74 Users group! (which I don't think has many followers anyway). --Scott
  15. Wow, nothing like getting a heads up on this! Larry, any chance that we might be able to get an extension on the comment period! "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  16. I know there were a few variations on the Nagra III. Would have to dig out an old price list to find out what they were. I do recall a BH designation, but don't know right off hand what it stood for. -Scott "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  17. Always loved that Harvey TC mod-especially the TC display. Nagra would have been well to have adopted a similar approach, but they had already gone down a very different road. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  18. +1 on David's comment. I think a lot of mixers may not even be aware of the problem. I was fortunate to spend time as a re-recording mixer early in my career, at a time when optical tracks were the standard release format. Any excess sibilance would become instantly apparent, especially if the track negative or print densities were wrong! De-eesing compressors were our friends. The tools we had back then were rather crude compared to what's available now, and I remember at least two occasions where the dialogue editor painstakingly razored the ss's on some nasty tracks. What a way to spend the day! -Scott "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  19. Yeah, am very surprised to hear that someone would be sending in tracks recorded that low, and not getting some instant grief from post. Hard to say what the exact issue could be without knowing more. The sibilance issue is always tough to deal with in production. In a studio situation, I would go with a large diaphragm mic, but they are rather difficult to use on anything except a Fisher (which I have in fact done). The show I'm doing right now has one actress who is extremely sibilant, and all we can do as fight for a close-up where I can use a different mike. Seldom get it though, so it just gets passed down the line for post to deal with[emoji19]. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  20. Love that little SM5-have one in my collection that I hope to restore some day.. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  21. Joseph: What a fabulous collection! As soon as I stop drooling all over my keyboard, I will try to come up with some interesting stories! I first laid hands on a Nagra III when I was about 12 years old, courtesy of a friend of my father who owned a rental business. Even at that young age, I was bowled over by the beauty of the engineering, and developed an instant fascination with it. Of course, it wasn't till many years later that I could truly appreciate the level of engineering talent that was brought to bear on the design, but it didn't matter, I was already hooked. I'm pleased to see that you have done such a fabulous job of putting together a collection. I hope I might get to see it up close some day. -Scott "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  22. Cinela works well, unless you are working in cold weather, in which case it gets very noisy, mostly due to the cable becoming very stiff. "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice fat recording". Harry Caul "The Conversation"
  23. Larry: Great product. Look forward to trying it out soon! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  24. No, but McAllen, Texas and Cherry Hill, New Jersey apparantely are big markets!
  25. I am working with Elias. PM me the contact info for the director, and I will hand it to him. -Scott
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