The Immoral Mr Teas

In the short but wonderful window of '63 to '65 many Skatalites tracks were recorded I believe around a single mic and to me it's an awesome noise. Fluctuating line up of who was around out of the potential members, but generally any or all from, Drum kit (featuring the flying cymbals of Lloyd Knibbs), upright bass, piano, trombone, alto sax, flute, 1-2 tenor sax, 1-2 trumpet. Balance Energy and Performance on every disc - I was lucky and honoured to be introduced to the aforementioned Knibbs, bassist Lloyd Brevitt and alto player Lester Sterling several years back. Jez

I've PM'd you Philip with a couple of leads and contacts but I'll just stick this one here for everyone's benefit and future knowledge - another prod company and supposedly rental house, although there's not much info on their website at the moment: R&D or RND Workshop - Redefine New Dimension www.rndwshop.com

What are the dimensions of the IS? I wouldn't be surprised if bags by Portabrace or my KT Systems ones were a snug fit ... about the same size as a PD6 or a PDR2000? Or you could just get a posh one made by Kortwich?? Many years back when I flew back from Beijing with my IVS my pal picking me up at the airport offered immediately to help me carry the Nagra just because it was such a stylish thing. He's a fireman but I'm sure he still complained about the weight after a few minutes though ha ha.

I would imagine it would be of great value to anyone able to attend. Whatever one's recording situation. Jez

It's perhaps apt that I'm watching the kimono making process on BBC4 (Made in Japan ep 2) whilst watching videos of a Nagra 2 and a dentist's chair! I feel it's safe to assume you are not familiar with the (animated) films of Harry Smith, more famous perhaps for his Anthology of American Folk Music? They are well worth looking for. His 1960s film Heaven and Earth Magic has the protagonist (? ...) ascend to Heaven in such a dentist chair. I once had the chance to 'walk away' with a large 'arc' surgery light that the hospital next door were about to chuck in a skip. My brother DID pick up all the old telephones and put them in his bag - he actually hoped the police would stop us and ask what 'we had there' to which his reply would be, "sacks o' phones"!

Oh you could have done worse! When all the iDevices have burnt up all the lithium from Planet Earth we'll be wishing we hung onto our wind up recorders! That is a beautiful machine. My SJ is actually pretty basic without either the MKH or BK amplifiers (so I actually have two BK adapters and a BK preamp which I keep thinking I should sell) - my options to record onto it are 1: via the IV-S with leads (awkward) 2: external BK unit line in (for instrumentation) 3: (mono only as yet) via a David Lane Nagra preamp (a little beauty, I discovered it's pin allocation allowed it to be a preamp for the SJ) 4: line in from my Sound Devices 302. In practice though I would only record onto the SJ if I was looking at a 10x speed change upwards - ie recording at 1.5 ips to playback at 15ips. The 10x speed change (in the analogue domain) is why I love the SJ - and the 100x either way when cabled to the IV-S. Which is why I probably couldn't part with the SJ. I love the size ('Stellavox') of the IS ... did it record 15ips though or max 7.5 like the E? I also wouldn't part with my Sony Pro, too many happy recording memories, although I grant it is not an SNS! Jez

Tried Salon (my ex) or Cinerent? Not sure of others these days but there may well be conference/PA companies that might be more suited than the cinema folks, but try them first. There may also be options in Shenzhen/Guangzhou if a fixer could do the border stuff. Let me know how you get on since I could also chase up some friends (at Star etc) if need be. My friend used to do exclusively conference work in HK but that was 20 years ago. Conference companies might be more likely - although in fact HK is a pretty small audio world as people and stuff is concerned. What's the timing to sort it out? If you're dealing with the public spaces like the Conference Centre it would be well worth getting in contact with the tech support there initially to find out what they have already as well as possibilities of bringing new stuff in. Jez Adamson

Paying attention: I hadn't heard of the ISS until you posted the beautiful picture. I was actually about to reply to your recent previous post on "if I could keep". Well, I have the IV-S and the IV-SJ and I can't really choose between them, but I might actually push for the SJ for fx use - although I think of my IV-S/IV-SJ with banana-din cable as a single unit (for 1-100/ 100-1 analogue speed changes). I lost my QSJ? Or B? speed changer which made it an even more incredible tool - but I'll replace that eventually. As I said, I was going to reply in the wider sense 'if I could have only one' I was going to plump for the TI - I was well familiar with the T from working in dubbing studios but later discovered the TI. Now since I'm reminded of the wider options what would it be? A Nagra I? A prototype SN? An ISS? Happy to own two. Rachel, your IS looks gorgeous! Dela, what a collection - thank you for the new pics! And the info. Jez

Constantin and John, re lav wiring - good to know why it sometimes crops up, cheers!

I would trade 3mm for approx 150 euros / dollars, even trade an extra 50 dollars for a dc in, with the guts, Chris. Maybe it wasn't worth the extras though. As has been said, we now have these options because a separate market might pay for it. Still, another 200 us bucks for a hirose input starts putting things into a different territory than those who might be aiming for a first recorder? Jez

Ryan, as Jose says, we now generally take the isos, select the boom as the master track, and sync the lav isos to the (main) boom. Whatever phase problems might be there are not important in post - but obviously might be still important enough for trouble with dailies etc. De Juan and Constantin: It's true that VERY OFTEN the isos are (beyond the general distance-phase) also 180 degree off. Maybe not for me 90% of the time but certainly often. For me maybe 10% but that's often enough. Not quite sure why, and it's I guess a workflow or equipment thing but there you go. One percent of the time you have a real bugger of an iso that will not sync in any way easily - maybe that's our job?! j x

I also recorded (on location) many effects and atmos for it, not with Simon but with the post team headed by Nick Adams, and the mix was done in New York. I had quite a hefty lot of equipment (and an assistant) but I didn't take or use my Nagra on this one! Sadly, being in China/Tibet by the time the film got into the later stages of post in NYC I wasn't around to fight for my credit, and appallingly came back to find I'd been missed off - albeit in the company of several other Sound One and otherwise excellent sound crew. I might point out that Simon had to deal with the (sound wise) rather awful 007 Stage for much of the dialogue work, but still pulled off a good job. I'm sure I could answer some questions on the post front if any came. All the best, Jez

Hmm, Richard, interesting ... for two MKH805 (t's) that have lost their 'oomph' (sensitivity and low freq). ... Sure it might just be a component thing for two fifty year old mics ... Cheers, Jez

And happy with an OP designed for input to a DSLR camera. Different shit i would say to the MM or indeed the Zax units. J x

More so than the classic Nagra unit (OK thirty years on and the TX RX...) THAT bugger was expensive too! Jez

I must admit I haven't followed recent software updates or the like - tho' I would agree that a 'simple' mode if it doesn't exist already where the knobs simply control the gain for recording (with no mixing going on anywhere) would be what half the users (half of the time) would want? With complete ganging control (and eventually ganging with offset) obviously ...

You kidding? They built targets into each of the speakers ... Asking for trouble! Jez

And also now Adam West. Both terrific popular actors and figures with great sense of humour and overall filmmakers. Respect to The Saint, Bond, and Batman! J x

I'll also chirp in and say thanks - a nice personal tribute to Richard Portman I was happy to read and a useful review on sound report apps. J

In certain cases of recording ambiences or ambient musical setups in MS or MSM I might well decide to go the other way with the mid capsule and try a wide cardioid for the front. On the other hand, whilst lovely to have in the arsenal, it's probably less useful in a wide sense than a cardioid or hyper - I don't own one for instance. Sennheiser, Schoeps and DPA all do models. The 8040 cardioid can also be considered quite 'tight' in its cardioid pattern to bear in mind if going the Sennheiser path (which I also would be happy recommending for nature recording for their excellent performance in awful conditions). So the long and short is I'd recommend any of the MKH 80 or the upgrade model, 40, 50, 8090, 8040 or 8050!? Sorry! The two variable models, whilst substantially pricier, gives you the choices to vary your setup. The others really are making up your own mind. If you were to be recording film dialogue on top I would recommend having the 50/8050 hyper as it's such a good mic to have, but I can't make the choice of 'narrow vs wide' for you! Best, Jez

I haven't regretted any mic purchase - they all work fine, just get them close enough and point them in the right direction. J x

You mean no one apart from me here has Pope JP's album? Not quite the same technical class as 'Sesame St Fever' but a pleasant enough listen between Boredoms, Ruins, Rammstein and Robin Gibb's other albums. When the hell did they start that? When Cartier Bresson died? F@&£@&£ tragic!

Hi, M... perhaps the only 'perfect' M mic in an MS setup in terms of phase would be another figure of 8 facing forward - which is 'Blumlein' in a 'forward-sideways' configuration (the basis of ambisonics by the way). It depends to a great extent what you're recording: why choose a cardioid against a hyper - and why you want to record MS / MSM in the first place. What are you intending to record and for what end (deliverable) purpose ? For most here using MS (though that might change with VR) they will be shooting documentary where the central mono image is important and the S-side is candy, so catching the on-axis sound is the important thing. So you choose the preferable mic for the 'important' sound. Music is different - but I assume you are talking film. Let us know. Jez My MSM by the way is two 8040s front and back and a Schoeps MK6 with a Cut 1 generally, but the front mic is the variable. Your best bet might well be to rent and try out ... ?

Hmm, as far as I'm concerned, I have always been a filmmaker who happens to have been lucky enough to move into a technical area I enjoy doing - whilst making films. Not quite sure what Mark was alluding to. I'm also proud to be a sound engineer who specialises in film!

Maybe on the window that's "The Legend Lives On...." in Urdu ? Perhaps it's Parminder's car? J