James Arnold

There are a few threads on here I've browsed on recording sound whilst at sea with surfers and the like - but I have much simpler requirements with a shoot in the SeaLion pen of a zoo. Talent and expert are not going in the water (intentionally anyway) but the presenter will wear a wetsuit for warmth and 'just in case'. I'll hopefully be slinging my 2020 TXs into a couple of Aquapacs. Never having wired a wetsuit I wondered what the problems are in terms of sound quality. Couple of guys I work with have said that they've always found it to be problematic and resorted to exterior placement to avoid a 'muffled' effect. What say you? I only have Sankens and Trams to play with on this - my new B6's aren't yet terminated...

I totally agree - footage looks AWFUL on movement, though this could be the processing involved in cutting it and then getting it online.

Thanks guys! Looks like the original blue Pegz-2 for me then! Can't say I like the new black look terribly much. The blue takes the edge off the day-glo orange in my view... Still, most important is the practicality, which is why I'm ditching my old huge Portabrace. Oleg I no longer smoke, but certainly a few years back that would have been of prime consideration ; ) I seem to recall strolling about at a Motor Expo with a small ashtray affixed to my bag...

Hello folks. Petrol now seem to be stocking the new Deca range of audio bags. As I'm in the market for a new bag and was planning on a Pegz-2 or 3, I wondered if anybody is using the new stuff yet and if there are any advantages over the originals. It's pretty hard to tell from the website photos. Kind regards James

Would you mind sharing that location/company? I've bought it off TV and film retailers here in the UK for what struck me as hugely inflated prices...

I don't think I'm being particularily unclear if you have been following the conversation. Perhaps you object to the term 'less reliable'. Robert has been blunt enough to suggest that both the 552 and the 788 limiters 'suck'. This is possibly not a terribly analytical assessment of their function, and no doubt open to personal taste, but it isn't the first time I have heard rumbles of discontent about the 552 limiters and as someone who would otherwise be keen to make the jump to Sound Devices it concerns me slightly. Again, I consider SQN limiters to be astonishingly good and would rather not have to work with anything that might be viewed as less capable in that department. In the interests of full disclosure I have yet to sit down and properly demo either device.

That really, really disappoints me. I'm a long time SQN user and would remain so, but for the wealth of options that the 552 offers - not least the built in backup recorder. The one thing preventing me swapping is my lasting love of SQNs limiters which I've always found to be exceptionally transparent and solid. I even preferred them to the much more flexible ones in the 442. The idea that the 552 and 788 have a less reliable sysytem in place fills me full of woe...

I have a similar tale to others on here: Working on a long prison documentary here in the the UK, I was filming with the Deputy Governor of the institution who was - unusually - not only female, but young (just turned 30) and rather attractive. Her habit of striding around the wings in sharp suits and killer heels had made her somewhat infamous throughout the place. However, her most distictive attribute was her considerably large bosom. To be fair - they were huge. Any day filming with her would involve me having to rummage about in her vast cleavage to secure the mic; all of which she put up with very well (except when a rycote sticky applied directly to her skin removed some fake tan leaving a little patch of white!). One afternoon found us shooting a series of prisoner disciplinaries down in the segregation unit. As befits the situation of prisoners meeting The Govenor in a smallish room, there were quite a few officers present for security. Unfortunately for me, half-way through proceedings her mic cable broke, necessitating a complete re-mic in situ. Very aware of the amused and perhaps slightly jealous gazes of the other men present, I awkwardly began threading out the damaged microphone and replacing it. As I completed my task with the final inevitable hands-on dive between her heaving boobage, she looked over the top of my head to her subordinates and loudly announced: "Yes, James has a very intimate relationship with my tits!" My face would have burned through plate steel at this point. I never quite lived it down for the rest of the three month shoot - I was always The Guy Who Plays About With The Deps Knockers....

I can't comment first hand, but as a UK soundy, audio collegues of mine have told me painfull tales of the brief, flirting period in UK television when stereo recording for dialogue was considered a possibilty. The UKs most popular soap opera Eastenders - made by the BBC - gave it a try for a while, but ran into huge stereo image problems when trying to swing the microphones during dialogue scenes. As far as I know it has been relegated back to ambience and FX across the industry now. I imagine there are visitors to this board who were actually there... ; )

Personally I don't think any of those videos make convincing argument refuting man-made climate change. Sorry. Bob Carter is a man of some dubious scientific repution, not helped by his association with the IPA who, amongst other 'conspiracies', protest against such things as the problems of passive smoking. The 'great doc' is also similarly flawed and has been so caught up in the mire surrounding the selective nature of it's construction (and the filmmakers previous notoriety) that it is an entirely unreliable source. I'm not against rational disussion on the topic (there is indeed to much hyperbole slung about) but this simply isn't it.

This post is a little old, so forgive my comment, but I'm not entirely sure how this mans predicament should be somehow unique to the NHS. Incompetents are everywhere. Our health service is in part a bloated, miss-managed mess, but it does tend to cure folks most of the time : and for free. It's fixed me up nicely on several occasions. We still have the option of private health care as well. Also, as a UK citizen myself, I am well placed to suggest that quoting anything printed in The Daily Mail is not the way forward if you seek to be the voice of either reason or logic.

Is it me or have Scott Farrs posts all vanished? I was intrigued to see how other people felt about some of the issues he was finding with the 552. Oh well...

I'd love to sit in on more post. I seem to spend half my life aggravating producers about sound issues that seem to vanish on the broadcast of the final show: but hey, I like to get it right.

I would suggest the voice of 'Mother' from the film Alien..."You have 4 minutes to reach minimum safe distance..."

I'd like to have seen the variable limiter possibilities a la the 788T implemeted on the 552, if only so I could set the attack and release times to my beloved SQNs. (0.5ms attack and 100ms release, as opposed to 1ms attack and 500ms release). I haven't had a chance to actually hear how much of a difference this makes in the real world though...

As a northern based UK sound recordist (and not so far from Stoke-on-Trent!) I can assure you that the arcticle is more accurate than you can imagine : )

One of my friends and collegues reports exactly this problem (with the 442). He remains unimpressed with the response from Sound Devices (that the problem is non-existent).

Slightly off topic, but I'm suprised that people were still using the Wendt. The SQN 5 has been out for several years and absolutely flattens the X5 hands down. Maybe an export price thing?

Any chance of borrowing/begging an SQN 5? As an long time SQN user, about the only bonus the 5 series offers over the 442 is being able to keep that 5th channel free for a boom when using four radios etc with no extra weight gain. Although I do prefer the limiters as well...