George Tarrant

Early 80's got a package deal..Nagra IV-L....Sennheiser 415T with no rycote...Sennheiser 815T with a rycote...Beyer DT48 headphones and 3 Sony ECM 50 hardwire lavs and a bloop slate and a QM preamp for the Nagra that supplied 12T to one input of recorder...and a box of various XLR and Nagra Sync cables all for $3600.00. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

Thanks Vas. I think the Rycote Baseball is quite similar to what I'm using now...more of an interior use but would work for light wind in an exterior situation. Wasn't aware of the Cinela Leonard 20 which certainly looks to be a good alternative. Have you used the Cinela with the swivel attached?

I have been using a fur ball wind gag that I got from Rick Patton in Vancouver (RIP Rick) a number of years ago. It's a combo of fur and foam and pops directly over the CMC much like a regular pop filter. This rig works well for fast interior moves and is ok for outside use with winds up to say 10 mph. I'd like to be able to use a similar rig with better wind protection and am looking at the Rycote Baby Ball Gag but have a few questions. Is this rig still usable when the GVC swivel is added between capsule and pre amp as in will the gag interfere with the mount and does it fit securely on the actual swivel? Will it still provide good protection in winds 20-30 mph? I have a couple of exterior sets where the swivel is necessary (under front porch of house ) and interior barn with open doors and relativley low ceiling. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I had a similar issue with my original 2 block venue a couple of years ago. Turned out to be a combination of a power supply issue and old firmware. Something was wonky internally on the venues power supply. I think a return to the mothership is in order.

What a bummer! Tyler provided exceptional service and some great advice for many years and we usually had some laughs over the phone. All in all a huge loss for Trew Toronto. Tyler you will be missed and I hope your new endeavor works out well for you!!

Like Glen I have also found that a small rubber O ring on the 742 cone makes a huge difference when mounting the Tx on the business end of the pole. It takes out all the play in the cone and makes a very secure connection. You do have to make sure you listen for the " click " when the cone hits home. I also use an offset on the mic and it lines up and stays put even with really violent moves by my boom op. As for the cases mentioned here I find all of them to be somewhat lacking. We usually wrap the unit in plastic sandwich wrap...which can be a hassle when making a quick battery change but does provide some degree of protection for weather.

Another terrible loss. I first saw the Eagles in the fall of 1971 before the 1st album was released although I believe the single Take it Easy had been out for a couple of months. The show was a triple bill with Eagles opening, followed by KISS...who were also brand new and the headliner was Jethro Tull on their Aqualung tour. It was a really amazing show. I remember how the crowd really took to the young Eagles group. Everyone had a lighter lit up when they played Take it Easy and many were singing along. Very fond memories indeed.

Great review of the " slim"thanks Jeff. I have not had the chance to hear one as there is no rental house near me where I can try one and as far as I know none of the local mixers in my area have any slims or any other DPA's for that matter. I have the usual assortment...Cos 11's B6 and Countryman EMW but think it's time for some DPA's. The biggest thing holding me back was the size of the other types of DPA lavs but now with the slim, I have no excuse...other than the Canadian Dollar exchange rate...ouch! Experienced ears like yours tell me what I need to know and that is the value of JW Sound. Think I'll just bite the bullet and get a couple of Slims. Is there any talk of making assorted colors for the button hole mount...as that is the only issue I can see with this rig.

Sorry for your loss Jeff. Condolences to you and your family. I just watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest last night...brilliant!

Here's a Nagra story you may find interesting. The 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary and the year before them we were shooting a lot of commercials at the Olympic venues. Working on the Bobsled/Luge track I hopped in a 4 man sled with the Canadian Mens Bobsled team. We did a couple of runs from the junior start without incident and then decided to make some runs from the top. I had been using a 4.2 Nagra for the Junior start runs with no problem but when we went from the top...a very different story. The big circular section of the run called the "Krizal" if memory serves correctly...pulls about 6 G's of force. After we got to the bottom I played back the take and there were spots on the tape that we really wonky to say the least. Turns out that the G force was so great that it was actually pulling the tape off the heads of the recorder in a sporadic way. Same thing with a nose mounted Arri 3 Camera. The 1st AC opened the door of the camera to check the gate and when he did so the film was just jammed into the threading mechanism and spilled out like a Jack in the Box...totally unusable. If I remember correctly the Camera was overcranked...adding to the problem. The next take Camera ran at sync speed..24FPS and I switched to my IV-S Nagra and everything worked. I think the IV-S with the head protector made the difference by keeping the tape in contact with the head stack. On the third run from the top a stills camera was mounted to the sled...the photograper was 2nd man in the sled and I was 3rd man. When we hit the Krizal section the still camera snapped off of its mount...the threaded piece simply broke because of the G force...and the brakeman ( 4th guy in the sled ) reached out and grabbed the camera with one hand, managing to save it!

I've been using an AD 149 for the last 15 years. A very solid and reliable piece of equipment that I really love.

I had a similar problem with my 742 after a battery change. All of a sudden after the new batts were in it decided that it was a 900 series Tx. Called Zaxcom and got the secret menu reset code and voila. Apparently the 900 series is digital only. When this happened the Phantom Power menu dissapeared...which was my first clue that something was wrong. See if the Phantom Power menu is there...if it is you probably need to return to the mothership for a tweek.

I've been enjoying JWS much more since I blocked Senator at the beginning of the new year. It got to the point I just couldn't take it anymore. Every time I saw GREEN I started to see RED. Granted some of his posts are helpful but they are few and far between and his constant need to "police" this site is way over the top. Out of sight...out of mind.

+1 RPSharman. Getting tone is always a problem on set these days. I've found that many directors are approachable to the idea of not calling " cut " immediately and letting things roll for a few more seconds. Sometimes the camera dept gets on board and continues to roll as well or sometimes they quietly cut camera....either way you usually end up with some useable tone and everyone is happy . I always note these nuggets on the sound report and have scripty make a note as well.

Thanks for the review Bash. Unfortunate that your test day wasn't a bit more of a " howler " in terms of wind. Please keep us posted and let us know when a windy day test happens. Glad to hear the build quality is so good...I've always thought Rycote makes a good product and have been using their stuff for over 30 years.

Thanks for the clarification Glen. I was on the Trew website yesterday and saw that all Zaxcom gear was no longer available in Canada and was wondering what was going on. Hope this gets rectified ASAP.

Hey Simon at Rycote tech support. Thanks for the reply about production on the Cyclone. Im really excited about this product and can't wait to try one out. And yes. sadly the Senator did feel the need to edit his comment. DOUBLE SHAME !!

Once again Senator a totally useless reply. Thanks for nothing as usual.

Just wondering if anyone has had a chance to use the new Rycote Cyclone blimp. Looks like an amazing design. I'm often working in very windy conditions...30 to 50 MPH is not uncommon.The regular rycotes can sometimes handle this type of extreme but I've found over the years there is a definite limit as to how effective they can be. In these types of situations I've put a foam windshield on the mic inside the blimp...one or perhaps two " soft socks " over the blimp and then the furry job over that and usually some tape around the area where the pole attaches to try and seal up that opening.

Thanks Jason I'll try that later. Just on my way out for the evening.

Jason, I had read the thread about the A/B button and tried it yesterday...nothing.

Matthais I tried a different antenna yesterday whilst troubleshooting as I have a few spares but I guess it could be related to the loose antenna port although it seems to hit home properly when screwed back in and yes Jack we are running the latest software.

Late yesterday my 742 started doing some really weird things. Unit was powered down for a battery change and when booted back up was receiving audio at the transmitter but not at the receiver. The receiver green light wouldn't come up yet the RF meter was pinned as was the battery meter. Power cycled both units again and when the TRX re-booted it was not receiving audio and the QRX 200 receiver was still getting RF and no green light. Started going thru the 742 menus and immediately noticed that the 48V Phantom option was gone completely...thus perhaps explaining no audio from my 48V mic. Tried a dynamic on it and still nothing. All other menu and extended menu options are set correctly. I'm using the QRX 200 in dual mode/analog and the 742 is on the A chan and I have a TRXLA2 on the B chan and it's all fine. I'm thinking it could be a software issue because of the Phantom option missing. Even tried switching the A chan to the B chan freq with the same results...which would mean it's the 742 that's at fault. Also having an issue with the antenna mount on the plug on. Almost every time you go to remove the antenna from the unit the the coupler wants to come out with it. I'm not cranking it on there...only finger tight. Wondering if this is happening to anyone else's 742 and if a bit of lock tight is the "right thing"or am I creating a problem by doing so? I'd really like to get the 742 up and running before Monday's call time Senator so hold back on the " call the manufacturer" stuff thanks. Wondering if anyone else has had a similar thing happen.

After more messing around I've found the LA2 "normal" level is around 20 ish and the 742 around 30 ish and yes the tone line up is the way to go. Got the newest firmware installed today on QRX & 742 and LA2 and the range improved and the RF interference problem with the Sanken CS3E is completley gone...mounted at the mic end of the pole.

Greg, The first cable I had when I got my Fusion 12 was wired for the cam return option and was indeed very funky and caused me some brain strain. I guess it's still not ideal but I think post can live with 3 or 4 db drop from mix track. It certainly could become an issue on a whisper type scene but should be fine for most " normal dialogue. " I had a call from post last year on my series and they felt the 9-12 iso's were a bit low on a couple of scenes. When I played back at my end the mix tracks were okay because I was pushing the fader.(..which of course did nothing to the direct out iso's.) instead of upping my mixer trim pot. Lesson learned!