Edwardo Santiago

I've been using the O1V 96v2 on the cart for almost 5 years and I'd love to keep using it. USB I/O is a nice addition giving extra routing capabilities, etc. But I'd personally like to see an upgraded preamp allowing for higher dynamic range. Currently the O1V is passing gain at 105dB dynamic range, while most high end location sound gear offers preamps rated between 115-120dB. The extra headroom helps for those annoying "whisper whisper, LOUD LOUD" scenes we all hate, plus it certainly makes a difference with sound quality. When we mix with our yamaha panels giving us "110dB typ. DA Converter (STEREO OUT) / 105dB typ. AD+DA (to STEREO OUT) @fs=48kHz / 105dB typ. AD+DA (to STEREO OUT) @fs=96kHz (specifications off yamaha website)", we're working with 105dB of input gain that is clean, but compared to other location specific panels and location recorders with control surfaces, we're between 10-15dB short of the best possible performance. I've been thankful to be able to make it work for this long, with moments of cringing from time to time, but I would like to be able to raise the bar a bit while keeping the flexibility of the O1V. What do you guys think? E. Santiago

I was worried about this issue when I first put the XL-DVD Ram in my bag (without Sound Devices XL-1394), but I haven't had a problem with noise being induced into the recorder or on the record files. I no longer use the DVD Ram as a primary real time recorder, but I'm sure the day will come when I need to, and I'm not worried about noise as much as I am about problem files. I would like to have a CF Card Extender, so I can have my CF Card readily available for transfers when a client has no way to read DVD Ram. At this point I unplug the XL-DVD Ram and connect the 744T to a computer for transfers, but that's the rare case. I usually hand off DVD Ram and my day is done. Now, if I can find a CF Card Extender (that has a housing for the CF Card instead of a small exposed PC board) and a short right angle Firewire splitter...? Well, have fun making sound for movies,

As you all can see, Lectrosonics receivers are placed right on top of my 744T. It's been this way for a year and I haven't yet had problems with RF spray or any other issue relating to the receivers being so close to the recorder.

A few months ago I placed a Sound Devices XL-DVD Ram in my bag for a show that I knew was going to need me to have film breaks ready every afternoon, then start shooting right away. Fortunately it was a 2nd Unit gig, so I didn't need more than the 4 channels of my 744T to record FX, explosions, screams, etc. Having the DVD Ram drive in my bag worked so well I haven't yet taken it out the bag. During the show I was able to record to Internal HD (160G PATA), CF (4G), and DVD Ram (4.7G), all in real time. I set up the 744T to create daily folders and I would reformat the CF Card every morning, so the CF card would mirror the DVD Ram each day; or each sound roll when I had a film break. If I needed to go back three weeks to a certain day of shooting to check a file for post, it was always on my shoulders on the internal HD to check on. *And If I needed to replace a corrupted file on the DVD Ram I would retrieve it from the CF Card*. *Explained*: There was a slight failure rate on the DVD Ram when recording in a an upright position, but because of the time I had in between setups I was able to check the files on the DVD Ram and replace corrupted files from the CF if needed, before I handed out discs. I noticed that the DVD Ram would cause a corrupted file at a rate of around 1 out of every 25 files recorded. When Viewing your files on the DVD Ram, a corrupted file will show as "Unrecognizable". Upon finding an Unrecognizable File, I would just delete it, then Copy the same file from the CF card to the DVD Ram and everything was perfect for post. Since then I've been recording to Internal HD and CF only, then copying to DVD Ram from CF in between setups, just to save the time of checking for Unrecognizable Files. So far it's worked out well. I did notice that after three months of repeated real time recording in an upright position, the XL-DVD Ram started telling me it didn't like it too much, So it's reserved predominantly for copying files on the fly rather than real time Recording. But It will record in real time if I really need it to. Just as long as I don't do it all day. I found some short right angle 6 Pin Firewire cables that keep the XL-DVD Ram nice and low in the bag so it sits at the same level of my 744T and 442; real nice...

Yeah the sound was terrible, but I think I heard him say $200.00 for HD transmission up to 100 or more feet. At least that sounded good.

Hello, I love the idea of placing a compact flash adapter into the hard drive compartment. Power consumption is the most important thing to me. I've been burning through my batteries pretty quickly lately. Other than power I'm happy with the results of my 744T. I replaced the original 40G PATA HD for a 160G PATA HD last year for a grand total of $60.00 + tax, and It works really well. I've mixed a few large projects since the switch and I'm glad I had the large capacity of the 160G, but as I said, my batteries go quickly when working out of a bag. On the cart I don't worry about power. The CF adapter looks like a great idea, and it seems that the cost is less than a SSD. It's certainly more durable than a standard hard drive, and write speeds are not a real issue, but I don't think there are CF cards available above 32G. I personally need a larger capacity for some jobs. I wonder what the difference in power consumption is between a PATA, SSD, and a CF adapter. I'll have to read through the Sound Devices website to see if they have any information. In any case, thanks for the post and the great pictures. Have fun making sound for movies,

What I thought was funny was that the shooter was the editor. He told me that all the extra info (Timecode, slate smack, sound report, etc...) was only going to slow him down in post. I was confused but I gave in, and fortunately I haven't been called about the audio files. After his camera assistant and I were unsuccessful in convincing him of the benefits of "all the extra info" the first couple hours of day one, we gave him what he wanted. The camera assist and I have worked on features together before, and we realized our opinion was not important to the shooter, whom we've never worked with before. At least I had the camera assist attempting to smacking slates for a while...Just as long as the check shows and clears! Always a treat to hear from Senator Michaels. Have a good day gentlemen,

Greg, Thank you for your reply. I was hoping to set up a mac mini soon for my metacorder rig using a Mimo monitor. I'm glad you read the thread and posted the information about Xenarc. It's always nice to read the advice of others in the field. Thank you,

[Lots of my clients sync w/o Pluraleyes. If there is a clear start mark, a ref track on the camera and good notes a manual sync can be be faster then Pluraleyes (with which you have to check all the files anyhow). ] I'm glad to hear that syncing without timecode, smacking a slate, or using plural eyes is normal. I got worried when the camera op didn't want any reference other than the scratch track. He didn't even want me to take notes on my sound report. I like to help post as much as possible, but I'm sure this guy has a good way to bring it all together. He was not as worried about it as I was.

I forgot to mention that when I work along side the Canon cameras I provide a scratch track only when requested, but I ALWAYS record to my 744T and provide a Denecke Timecode Slate for syncing purposes. Phil Perkins mentioned Plural Eyes as a means for syncing the 744T files to the scratch track on the camera in Final Cut, which is the usual case here as well. But then there are other situations also. I mixed a corporate gig just over a week ago where the camera op/picture editor neither wanted my timecode slate nor did he use plural eyes. He was planning on syncing my 744T files some other way, who knows? I sent him a mono scratch and gave him 744T files on DVD Ram at the end of the day. Just as long as the check shows and clears... Have fun, E. Santiago

Hello, For the past year I've worked a number of shoots on the 1D, 5D, & 7D, all with pretty good sound results by sending a mono scratch track to the camera via either a Lectrosonics IFB or Comtek receiver. I always record to a 744T in my bag, but the camera files have always sounded fine (with the camera receiving a dual mono feed off the receiver via an 1/8th inch to 1/8th inch cable). I just setup a two channel rig for DSLR with two separate Sennheiser G3 Tx/Rx units, where the Tx's send L/R from my bag and the Rx's send signal into the camera via an 1/8th inch stereo Y cable I made. Here is how the cable is pinned: 1. Left channel Rx_1/8th inch male connector Tip soldered to Tip of DSLR 1/8th inch input connector 2. Right channel Rx_1/8th inch male connector Tip soldered to Ring of DSLR 1/8th inch input connector 3. Left/Right channel Rx_1/8th inch male connectors shields soldered to shield of DSLR 1/8th inch input connector The Canon cameras have the ability to record two separate channels if they're fed the two signals to the proper connection of the 1/8th inch input (Tip=Left_Ring=Right). The 1D & 7D supposedly have an automatic input gain structure (**Your only option for audio setup is the 'Audio On' feature in the video or movie menu; Make sure your Tx/Rx's are not set too hot**), while the 5D has the ability to allow for setting input gain (use tone from your mixer) via a gain menu (**After selecting the Audio On feature in the video or movie menu**). I forget how to find the menu on the 5D, but I've been able to set up tone with this menu 3 or 4 times this last year on the 5D and the results were great. The menu does not have a unit gain position so I set tone between 2/3 to 3/4 toward the right of the input meter level (lucky guess). Well, I hope this helps. Have fun making sound for movies, E. Santiago

David, Thank you for the post. I'll have to be careful then. Well, there's always some thing new to learn. In this case I'd either have to be very good about setting scene/take names properly before recording/mirroring, or take time in between setups after recording to make any changes to files before copying (just so I don't have to wait for a long copy process at the end of a sound roll). A little more juggling on set, but this is show business. It's still better than what I used to do. I still think this software is amazing. Thank you, E. Santiago

I forgot to mention that if you happen to quit Metacorder while shooting (Location moves, Lunch, by mistake {some of us}, etc.), you will have to re-start the mirror function by selecting "Start Folder Mirror" in the "Mirror" Menu after your next record cycle. This will re-initiate the automatic copying process when pressing "Standby" or "False Start". Yummy! E. Santiago

Ok, I've figured out the Mirror function of Metacorder. Here are some notes on how to make it work perfectly for handing off full Metacorder disks in seconds at film break and wrap: If you have a DVD Ram Drive plugged into your system: 1. Load a new DVD Ram into the drive. After 20-30 seconds a warning (With Red Stop Sign) will pop up saying, "Disk Insertion; The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer". Select "Initialize" and Disk Utility will open. 2. When Disk Utility opens select your DVD-RAM drive, then "Erase" (Top Center). You'll notice 2 selections; "Volume Format:" (With a pulldown menu to it's right) & "Name:" (With a text window to it's right). Select "MS-DOS" at the bottom of the pull down window to the right of "Volume Format:", then name it whatever your sound roll will be, to the right of "Name" (You have limited characters, so make it brief). 3. Select "Erase..." at the bottom right corner of the Disk Utility window. Then "Erase" again in the pop up window that appears. After a short while You'll notice that a new disk appears on the left just below your DVD-RAM drive in the Disk Utility directory containing the name of your sound roll. 4. AFTER you Format & name your disk THEN launch Metacorder (Metacorder will not recognize the disk unless you launch Metacorder after the disk has been formatted and named). 5. Once Metacorder is launched select the "Mirror" Menu (Top Right). In the Mirror Menu you can now select your newly formatted DVD-RAM disk in the pull down menu under "Background Mirror" (Top Left of Mirror Menu). Now's where the fun starts... 6. Now you can stripe & tone, Record your intro/tone, or what ever you say on your sound roll at the beginning a new record disk. After your first recording into Metacorder go back to the "Mirror" menu and select "Start Folder Mirror" to the right of the pull down menu where you selected your newly formatted DVD-RAM (Top Right of Mirror Menu). You'll instantly notice the "Mirror Idle." message on the bottom left of the "Mirror" Menu change into a message saying "Copying File...". This starts the triggering function for your mirror disk. From this point on your mirror disk will automatically start the copying process every time you press "Standby" or "False Start" while recording. I learned that you can have your mirror disk open on the desktop at all times by selecting "GOTO FOLDER" at the bottom left of the "SndRoll" Menu, then navigating to your DVD-RAM disk and selecting the sound roll folder. This allows you to constantly keep track of what you record to your mirror disk while mixing your best sound roll ever. This also helps to change scene & take names in your mirror disk on the fly, just incase your script supervisor changes their mind on what to call the take while "ROLL SOUND" is screamed at you (but that rarely happens right?!!!) Well, I'm excited about the features of Metacorder and I'm hoping to optimize my setup to avoid any unforeseen glitches in the software/hardware combo. But for now I'm very pleased and very glad I invested in this crazy software. As camera op Phil Pfeiffer says, "It's Mind Blowing!!!" Have fun making movies. E. Santiago

Thanks guys, The system looks promising so far. I can now finish a thread I started four months ago when I first put it together. I hadn't routed the mLAN Network or finalized the wiring when I got called to be utility and boom on a couple shows lasting 4 months. I was hoping to have time to figure it all out, but like almost everything in this business, time got crunched and figuring out came at the last minute. Hope one day we can meet and talk shop. Have fun today,