Jump to content

S Harber

Members
  • Posts

    373
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Everything posted by S Harber

  1. I use an Astron 14 amp dc power supply, they comme in a few sizes/thicknesses, that floats over 35aH battery in a pelican.(Take the air release valve off forever on this) Very cost effective and works like a charm. This is distributed to the back of the cart where it hits a few 4 pin xlrs on a rack panel. Then there are run to the cooper, the cantar, monitors and an ifb. There is also a run to the wireless section that fans out 8 ways rather than having individual runs. Venue is around the corner. Scott Harber
  2. I can definitely get word out of a lockit box but I've never heard of jamming it w/ tc and then having it output word in sync w/ the TC. I've only used it to output video sync in various styles. Is it helpful to jam TC and using the word out? Are there advantages? I've always run word as a seperate entity but I was just curious if there was some positive aspect to doing so. I can get word from many different sources, usually my mixer, there's no shortage of options there but my concerns are w/ word and TC syncing and their drift from each other if there is any. Scott Harber
  3. This is a spill over from another discussion but I was wondering where folks are taking their word clock from? I usually make my mixer, in this case an 01v96, the master and lock all the other machines, MOUT 828 MK2 to it as slaves. MLan is breaking this style of build as it requires the computer attached to be the word clock master. Here I am experimenting w/ Boomcorder via mLan and it doesn't seem to me that my powerbook would be the best source for sync but it is required to be the master in the world of mLan. Hopefully this will change. Darren Brisker has posted about running TC into a MOTU traveler and then having word sync/line up to that so that TC is bascially generating the master. My perception was that TC and video sync were pertinent to syncing to picture and word clock was a different and unrelated syncing clock used only to get all the digital audio participants to lock together. I've never locked word to anything but an A/D or a Big Ben type word clock that wasn't tied at all to TC. Never got any calls of some very long rolls but that doesn't mean that drift didn't happen. I'd love to hear how folks are setting things up and what did and didn't work. Scott Harber
  4. It is quite possible that those who have NOT experienced this semantic "mistake" coming form post production supervisors have not been involved in file based multi-track production recording as long as I have been. Regards, Jeff Wexler There it is. A serious lack of humbleness. I guess it is obvious that I don't use non-linear and therefore don't deal w/ post sups. who know NL/filebased systems. Wow, now I feel really bad. Gosh, a zealot calling me out. Scott Harber
  5. Do you use it w/ word back to your recorder? Scott Harber
  6. Hi All, Where I was initially heading was taking a jab at folks implying that Zaxcom invented multi-track recording and perpetuating the notion that the title should be "Zaxcom Operator". I just can't resist taking shots at the lack of humbleness and overstated self-importance that I read when I see posts about the Deva. There are some very cool things about the Deva but, in my world, there are much better solutions to recording audio sold from companies that have 1/8 the smoke and mirrors. I've never heard the term Deva files but maybe someday when we are only recording a backup on set and everything is sent via wifi or ? Zaxcom will be there telling me what's around the corner while not finishing their current product line. Scott Harber
  7. Darren, What I don't understand is how word, which in my understanding is much more accurate clocking-wise than TC, would want to take it's clock off of TC. Locking TC to video was always a pure camera/picture issue as they need to be in sync whereas audio files never needed to line up the tc with anything else (there are no fields etc.). My builds have always had TC tied to video sync and then word is treated as a seperate entity that clocks all digital audio together. Never had calls about drift in some very long long takes ie. 3 hours, but that doesn't mean drift didn't happen. I have a 828Mk2, which is a racked Traveler, and if I could get around the mLan clocking issues (the computer has to be the master) it seems it would work very well to have all things audio chase TC as a sync source. Are there folks out there who use a lockit box outputting word to sync up audio? It seems perfect for this. I've never thought about this approach but it seems worth pursuing. Scott Harber
  8. Where I come from, we call them BWFs. Or are you using the .Zax files? Scott Harber
  9. Interesting to see how Zaxcom invented multi-tracking. Always at the leading edge. Scott Harber
  10. So is the word clock comming from the Big Ben or the TC? The T/C isn't tied to the Big Ben so I really don't get how this works. If you are clocking off the TC then why use the Big Ben on some things and not others. Do you somehow loop the output of word on the traveler into the Big Ben and then regenerate word. Scott
  11. So do you roll around w/ a Big Ben? Does the traveler generate a decent TC? I have yet to see word clock generators w/ TC in or outs on them. Word clock and TC are different realms where as TC and Video sync/gen lock are related when it comes to syncing to other media and drift issues. Maybe I have a lot to learn but that is how I understand the boxes I plug in to work. Scott
  12. The rule of thumb is to have your A/D be the word clock master. This can be a mixer or mic pre's or an interface but usually whatever is at the head of the chain. The components that follow then slave to the master w/c. TC and word are unrelated to each other but both useful for syncing. Think of word clock as a kind of gearing for the audio devices to talk to each other at the right time and pace when they are in the digital realm. TC is for locking the end recording to picture. Word clock, be it from a mixer, mic pre or whatever has nothing to do with the clocking of the TC. Video sync/gen lock is something to think about in regards to TC and having the two locked in phase .This is what a lockit box does when jamming cameras or other video sources. This is very simplified verison of how these things work but word clock is for the digital audio only and doesn't carry over into syncing concerns for TC or picture. I would never use the TC generator from a piece of software ie. Digital Performer, and if I did I'd have to have sniffed a bunch of glue and be at least hard lined to whatever was using that TC. Even then I'd have to disconnect my phone to not hear about it from post. Scott Harber
  13. Hi Darren, The clocking of mLan is defintely an issue. Having the computer as a W/C master, which mLan needs via the 01v, is definitely not the best situation. I haven't had any dropouts yet but I am in the testing mode at this point w/ mLan and Boomcorder. I still have the Motu interface to work w/ via ADAT/FW if things get bad. I'd love to see Yamaha resolve this and go to to the standard of the A/D being the W/C master. Reading posts on various mLan sites makes me think that Yamaha is slowly backing out of the mLan venture. Hopefully this is just a rumor but... til then I'm testing and geekin. Scott Harber
  14. Hi Adam, I am running a Yamaha 01V96 with an MLan card that goes directly into a powerbook to boomcorder. Also there's a MOTU 828Mk2 that converts the ADAT to analog for more outs.(A shortcoming of the 01v). These analog outs go to video decks. It works well. A bit geeky for most but I like the setup for this project. You definitely need a mixer between yourself and the interface or you are going to be mixing on the RF receivers-seriouslyNG. Scott Harber
  15. Hi Larry, I think if you jump the tip and sleeve off the insert you will have a simple unbalanced pre-fader low line level out. The circuit is not broken as long as the tip and sleeve are completing the circuit. Solder your 1/4" tip and sleeve together and then run that to pin 2 of your XLR to get your hot pre-fader out. Connect the ground of the 1/4" to the pin 1 and pin 3 of the xlr or d-sub pinout and you are off to the races. I do think the output is a bit low from the insert point (-10 or less?) for line level as the Cooper seems to have another gain stage later that then raises the stereo out to +4. I have done this before and it came in as a very low line level or a somewhat hot mic level. Scott Harber
  16. The project I finished Sunday was a feature shot HD at 24/48.048 stamped at 48k at 29.97 NDF. They wanted to record in pull-up so as to avoid a sample rate conversion later on. I jammed lockits for the Varicam settings which I think were 29.97NDF as well. The test disc files I delivered all were at 24 Bit 29.97 NDF TC The test files were; 1-48K 2-47.572 3-48.048K 4-47.572K 5-48.048 stamped 48k 6-47.572K stamped 48k These were all BWF-M and I didn't need to send them a daily mix disc as I put an IFB on camera for a daily mix and there was no telecine. The DVD-R! (argh! post still on OS9) went in with a mix and iso tracks on the same disc. But I did deliver a test BWF-P mix track to test if they so wanted. I can't remember doing anything other than 30NDF or 29.97NDF on any non-linear recorders. There have been ideas and changes to pull-up and those sample rate issues usually at 48K but I always let the smart guys who have to deal w/ my recordings tell me what to do. There are differences in how to jam the various HD cams but those settings have been sorted out as well and I refer to pdfs of the settings to set lockits for the correct TC/sync to jam the cams for the project. Scott Harber
  17. Hi Douglas, After I got a PD6 I found that having a test disc in every various format of tracking, sample rate, TC etc. helped immensely.I made a few copies of this disc and in it went for the post super to see what flavor they wanted. This didn't take much time or discussion and they appreciated my intents and concerns. It took about an hour to initially do this and worked for a couple of years. No great investment. Now I have a Cantar and there are many more options so I made a newer version of the test disc and they come and pick it up a week or so prior and the next day they can let me know what switches to flip. No big thing. It's worth knowing in a very positive way that they will have no-one to blame but themselves for thier choices. Email correspondence is also a great way to substantiate what decisions post makes. We don't sit down and hash out what works for them after a long debate. They decide what is best for them and they have to live with it. If I decide and it doesn't work things will get grim and I will feel behind the 8 ball for the rest of the show, particularly if something else doesn't work well. Spend an hour, make a test disc w/ every format you can think of and then your large task is done. This I consider part of my prep as it takes about 20 minutes total to put a disc out for a PA and the phone call or email to get translated into switch changing on the recorder. Scott Harber
  18. Hi Larry, The only 29.97NDF I've done has been to straight video or to cross jam 23.98 to 29NDF FOR HD. I'd re-ask just to make sure and then it's on the post supervisor to own that decision. They may have their reasons and I don't think anyone would take issue with a querry of "are you sure about that" when an unusual request is made. Scott Harber
  19. Hi Ron, After finishing the last few projects I've found thqat the necessity for me to have this conversation about how the files get delivered and doing various tests to test the work flow has made me work closer w/ post. This has been a good thing as there is less of a Us/Them mentality happening and we are now "in this together". There are still big hoops to jump through but the pre-production clarifications and conversations have been nothing but good and I now have been humbled and am willing to set the swwitches however the post super likes. I am absolved of how things "should have been done" and we do talk a lot and I like that rather than have our calls be of the confrontational variety. The past 2 projects were still using Mac OS9 so the DVD-Ram aspect didn't work for them which sucked as I had to burn DVD-R discs at various points of the day. Not so smooth but those were the limitations they had. One was HD for projection and one was for TV. Pull-up and sample rate convertion issues arose. If the conversations hadn't happened prior to shooting I would have not done all I could to help them and potentially been verbally thrashed in the post suites without being there to defend myself. Now it's us (me, the post-super, and those that follow them on the same team). Maybe I'm naive in this but I like working this way and I'm definitely learning how they do things, whether I agree w/ them or not is irrelevent, and I realize that I can't just impose my gear/style/file type on those that follow. Scott Harber
×
×
  • Create New...