The Immoral Mr Teas

Jeff, that’s brilliant. My friend had a similar “claim to fame” (or her dad at least) that Jimi Hendrix threw up over his drum kit. Nick, as a failed / gave up piper, I hope that everyone here appreciates the skill involved in recording those beasts even in easier circumstances ... Jez

Does this mean, “no longer the choice between blue/grey and brown/orange” (yippee!) or, ”only a choice between blue/grey and brown/orange” (hmm, no change then ...) J x

Vata / Elias, welcome and the best of luck. Jon’s first point is the best advice - try your best to get yourself known by local crew (actually any crew, not just mixers - if folks like you and appreciate your aim, you will hopefully be helped along the way). Most (perhaps all) of us have started by being humble, focused and determined, and owe a lot to the people who have recognised our promise and either supported us along the way or taken us on and taught us directly. Aside from that folks with strong (or existing) unions should understand that Greece is not in the same battle that the US currently might be in. I started nearly thirty years ago and already at that stage UK unions had been broken to nothing and the BBC were making lifetime employees redundant and hiring them back on revolving 3 month contracts. And that was the ‘job for life’ BBC we dreamed of working for ... Posting here was a good first move. Second move is getting to know the local professionals. The third move is staying power - with the profession and here with us! Jez

Hey fair enough - Obviously it is a requirement in the wider sense of what is expected (and asked for), didn’t mean to really challenge the obvious point made. And of course for some time we’ve now got higher resolution unusable tracks from the Avid, not just the 16 bit beautifully eq-ed, beautifully panned, beautifully levelled guide crap OMF of old! (Just a joke! Well, hopefully!) Seriously, whilst higher resolution and higher bit rates etc have been catered for within much of the post environment for quite some time I cannot really guess whether required/expected tracks will suddenly jump to a higher echelon, either through workflow, consumer standardisation (like 18 and 20 bit disappearing into 24) or some yet unexpected fashion. But it all happened before so I wouldn’t be surprised. We’ll just have the choice of “good” 192k64bit and rubbish 192/64 or whatever ... and we’ll still be upconverting from 44/16! Ha ha - just don’t make the fatal error of using the main audio! - BTW, the UK broadcast industry has happily been bobbling away at 48 along with the rest of Europe for the last few decades but now by “popular authority” it has been decided to change to 52, “come what may- and bugger the workflow”! So, I suggest anything is possible - and the worst is always probable.

Hi Neumann, if it has to be portable I would wholeheartedly go for the Nagra IV-S ! If you wanted something more modern, still quite sexy (though a little less class), perhaps the Nagra 7. Beyond that, it depends what you want it to do, what you want to spend and how big you are looking for ... although I have a possibly unfounded idea you want to connect it to an RSM 190 ?? Tascam for small, Zoom F4/8 series or Mixpre for medium (similar to original Fostex LE) budget, possibly secondhand SD 7 series if extra professional features are advantageous (word clock and digital IO). Or Sonosax, Nagra, etc up the scale ... Not too certain of secondhand or import possibilities in Leeds however compared to US and elsewhere (though we are still, gasp, technically elsewhere until the end of the month ...). A Zoom F4 might be the better value, SD MP6 Series 2 a happy buy ... ? Jez, writing from Durham, Europe

... yet Avid Protools (and everything else sound) can ... so my guess is, “who knows”? In post I had never even thought of 24bit as a requirement, but an obvious convenience since we’re (or were) editing in 48/24 ... there’s still an awful lot that gets converted (old sfx, hi-def sfx, off the cuff adr, weird gadget recordings and director’s special wishes). Also, 40 bit, 32 float, 64 bit have been around a long time in systems. For production recording, if it happens (before another significant change) it would I guess be as a result of some decent workflow standard cropping up between prod and post. Even then, post these days can juggle stuff it never used to be able to. Jez

I generally like the sound of a decent microphone when and if it has been placed in the spot which will give the result of a lovely representation of the object sound. On a film set (or on AV stuff generally) getting the mic in the best place for sound rather than picture / storytelling is not always or often going to happen. In a studio we have much more leeway. I prefer the sound of a 4060 to a 4071 but that boost has its place. I like the sound of the 4060 and it is a lav. I also prefer (for all the reasons discussed many times) the sound of a well placed boom, but appreciate the ‘other tool’ ... But in the end Boom ME up too - and “Submit Reply” with my apologies for keeping this going!!

Exactly like that, although if you can get / find a cloth-cabled one you might like it even more ... that’s what I have for my two working 805s ... (I also have a completely dead 805 and another which was briefly working fine until I decided it was a spare and took it apart to try making a three quarters length barrel! ... ) Of course, the benefit here is that it is a boom / zeppelin short cable which is desirable anyway, not an extra length to the actual mic body.

Thanks for the write-up Alex. The only internally cabled boom I ever had I ended up pulling the cable out of (which I still use as a boom cable!) ... I know that it is possible to Do It Yourself but I kind of wish that I could easily buy cable lengths that were partially coiled with LONG straight ends (and preferably a wider coil for external use). Still, it was obvious that spaced sponge grommets along an internal boom cable should probably be a decent solution. By the way, I bought a Rode Micro Pro boom which I hoped would work as a solid ‘extra top length’ section (I mean just one of the three sections) for a travel pole. Sadly, whilst it works great as designed it was too ‘rattley’ atop my favourite old faithful short Canford pole - I would be curious if anyone has tried the same with other poles as it would provide a substantial occasional extension for travel poles. Cheers, Jez

Actually I’ve never used an MKH 435 but just judging from what Werther has said I presume it is the same capsule/electronics ‘guts’ (or at least very similar) to the MKH 416 (or 415 or even 406) in a body that creates a cardioid or hyper-cardioid pattern. It might be just the very ‘sound’ you’re looking for, so might be worth looking for one on eBay or consignment... Covering up the slots in front of the capsule of a 416 will render it somewhat like a cardioid with a tube in front of it. Covering also the slots behind the capsule will make it back into a curiously focused omni. Neither would sound great across its frequency range. I’ve never taken apart an MKH 416 but I have mutilated an MKH 805 ... and as such I found out that the ACTUAL interference tube was not the fancy upper slots (in the case of the old 805) but a series of holes along the top. No idea how interference tubes have changed or advanced over the years ... Viscount, I would follow Werther’s suggestion I think and have a listen to the 435 if you can find one. Best, Jez

As far as I recall it was (probably) just an application rather than a system as such. Just a digital feed that allowed data rather than audio to be put to a dat tape ... and it most likely followed all the existing archiving formats (DLT etc) in time - just being a cheap “this will do it” alternative. It just needed a digital in into a dat recorder. It screamed in at full scale so best not to monitor! I now remember I have some of my personal stuff archived such. From Akai DD8? Not too sure how I could retrieve it though the actual audio (rather than the auxiliary data) should be simple enough. Jez

Rick has pretty much said it in brief. Word clock is a sync device - and is used EXTENSIVELY in post to sync several machines together. As Rick says, time code is not a provider of sync but, reliant on machines being synced, is a reference. A digital feed (AES3, AES42, SPDIF etc) has an embedded sync which can be used to sync machines together. Word clock however is simpler (being only the sync) and thus more foolproof if you are dealing with multiple units (in post this will be a dedicated Master unit and several Slaves). Hard to really elaborate beyond that ... look for a general write up on sync (post 1980?). Word clock on (eg) Sound Devices 7 series machines was put there for a good reason - to ensure a trouble free connection - even though clocking through AES would work well enough (albeit losing 2 channels). Jez

Regarding archiving - the last few threads (my fault!) - I have a vague memory of actually archiving to DAT back in the early/mid nineties ... called something like D-DAT perhaps (for data). That said, I don’t remember any of my post houses using it as a main thing. We in post having the same shit with DAT as our fellows in the field! We did use the (also cartridge based) DLT (short for for Dave Lee Travis, a BBC World Service DJ who kept the pop beacon alight for the short lived democratic renaissance of Burma). DLT seemed to work, at least I haven’t heard the bad stories. Beyond that, however, recording to open reel digital, and archiving to open reel digital, seem to be still accepted as trustworthy, and the latter preferred to disk or even solid state. Been a while since I talked to a data archivist though! Jez

Still used (and reliably) in archiving tho, Crew? (Certainly not DAT however! ...) J

Oball activity toy - cheers Dan - photos of mine on a stereo bar with 8040s on a previous post (last page) work great! best, Jez

Well so far I have only looked at the pictures (but it is after all essentially a visual industry - !@#?) but my desire for a nice pair of vintage DT48s has now been superseded by “anything made from wood”! Can’t, ahem, sound much worse than my sonies I expect ... ! Cheers, Jez

Thanks for the orig brochure, and great to hear Jeff’s testimonial. Although not in the same daily ballgame as the rest of the postees and growing up with really the HHB as the only pro option I had access to, I had memories of the alternatives generally being less bulletproof - the PD2 and the “desirable” Stelladat. Actually got through my (admittedly small amount of) experience with the HHB on and off over the years without trouble. My one major DAT catastrophe (no backup, but miraculously it all turned out ok since nothing on that tape was needed on selected takes!) was with a mini sony in a cave ... and I don’t actually now remember if the tape flipped in machine or afterwards in post. I did however have this tape unravelled on a huge sheet of cartridge paper trying to mend the chaos as cleanly as I could - tho it never ‘error corrected’ like an X80 tape would ... and I never trusted the format again, although in theory I still don’t know if it is down to transport, tape, recording system, replay system or error correction ability (after all I had early assistant experience with DASH, X80 and the Betamax PCM things). Still, I would probably choose DAT over ADAT ha ha! Cheers! Jez

Jay, if it's still troubling you, I'd do what you probably want to do all along - do a strong balanced mono mix and bleed sound to the left and right. If it's really 96% I would even force that other 4% into a (consider it temporary, but do it as good as possible) mono "best" signal. There is absolutely no reason to 'show off' the stereo to the detriment of balance and storytelling. Still, the imperative thing is of course to run all this by the director, it's their choice after all. But you know it's a case of storytelling: many of my favourite films were mixed in mono, though some in different aspects of stereo, some had a great story, great performances, some cool costumes, nice hats or ties (Cassevetes, Sinatra), sets I wished were my house ... (But secretly you probably have already realised my end gameplan: BACK TO MONO! heh heh) Best, and enjoy (hopefully the vintage mono is of excellent quality), Jez (What WOULD turn me off would be wild abandon of aspect ratio but we've been there!)

Couldn’t find Dan’s orig posts or links but I will chase him up if he doesn’t reply before. Anyway, a few pics of a near-ortf setup ....

Left, portside, red. Right, starboard, green. As per the Nagra IV-S as the easiest to find example. Or stereo PPM meters. Yep, that was it! BTW, my friend Daniel Rosen gave me two blimp like toys for Christmas, with grommets which happen to fit both my MKH 40 and 8040s, which were dirt cheap. He wrote about it (either in DIY or Equipment) sometime since then. I've used them with success both with nylon girls socks and windjammer and will try to find the link for Dan's original source. Like my Babyball, I had to cover the rest of the 8040 body with some cycle handlebar foam to cut wind across the mic body. What I would really like to see some 3D-er have a go at would be a large blimp for a multichannel rig, accommodating at the least an IRT quad and preferably slightly bigger to handle variable 5.0 etc rigs ... obviously the second step would be to construct the inside suspension (though that for me could still use existing K&M and Rycote parts ... albeit not commercially). Actually wouldn't mind Rycote or others coming up with such themselves, if they could keep it to a non-specialist price ... Still interested what you come up with, pro's and cons, and especially if you look to develop it along multichannel lines. Best, Jez

... And stop waiting for the 8030 ... ?!

Janik, have these photos been flipped somewhere down the line or are you being deliberately perverse with your channel markings? Jez

Hey Philip, good for both of them. I will try to check it out here. Thank you! Jez Adamson

Well, after the mix of a friend's short in Paris a couple of years ago we were invited to a themed party, the theme being "Great Gatsby" or the like. Being similar in build (or so I thought) to my producer I tried to squeeze into her "flapper" dress but alas it wasn't to be - I did however manage to get my butt into a more flexible number. So, the three of us - myself (sound editor), director and producer, get to the party, actually around the corner from where I used to live (in an attic...) in Boulevard Courcelles, Ferraris and Lambourginis parked outside, it's a posh area. Obviously we were the only three who bothered to turn up dressed up, and as the only man in a dress I made an immediate friend with a chap who's opening line was, "Do you like Fassbinder?" Jez

Yosuke, welcome! And I am glad that Jan was quick to reply. I would say that cold calling is probably quite normal for many of us and as such quite a welcome route. We all did it (and really still do) so we are accepting of other brave souls! BTW did some shoots at Shinjuku a few years back when my friend was directing. You've made the first move (here). Absolutely just make the effort to make friends in the industry where you are. I cannot imagine any other way! Best, Jez