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Derek H

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Everything posted by Derek H

  1. Hey Dan, if getting 7.5V to the Boss model is all that's stopping you I would suggest looking in to building a voltage regulating power cable.. Would be easy enough with a few things from radioshack, or your fav electronics vendor. I did this for an mp3 recorder so I could power it off my bag dc system.
  2. good question Tom, I'm still waiting for zax to release an updated wireless manual so we can all get a better idea of how the QRX works. P.S. Zaxcom, please consider making unit-specific user manuals like most other manufacturers do. I really do not enjoy having one big manual with your entire RF product line up to have to skim through. P.S.S Anyone using the new LT transmitters regularly? Would love to hear feedback on those as well.
  3. Until there is a major incident I don't think it will happen.. The airlines can't afford to tell people that they have to leave their laptops, cellphones, cameras, etc at home.. As far as I know checking the devices would be the greater of two evils because if a fire starts in the hold you can't really access it in-flight to do anything about it. When I recently flew with gear the TSA security staff didn't even peek at my NP batteries to determine chemistry. I wouldn't worry too much about it.. yet
  4. I personally use one vertical and one horizontal. I read somewhere that in addition to putting more space between the antennas it may also be beneficial in receiving indirect or reflected signals which may not be vertically polarized by the time it hits the receiver. Haven't done any serious testing but like Glenn said it has never caused a problem. As I use my Zaxcom for hops only I rarely have any dropout issues as the distance between Tx and Rx is usually minimal.
  5. I also run into this problem since I use a Zaxcom system.. Even weaker line level than the lectro models.. Recently I've been working on shoots that use the Sony z7u camera (HDV) and find that I just can't hit -20 even with the camera levels controls all the way up.. I've come up with a few solutions: 1) Go in mic level.. This is the easy fix and to my ears doesn't sound much different, at least on the z7u, but could conceivably cause more problems (inducted noise, self noise, bad pre-amps, etc) 2) Go line level in to the camera set to mic level.. This one I'm not as comfortable with even though it seems to work. On the Sony z7u when set to mic level in you can specify "trim" for each channel via the menu(the choices are -18, -12, 0, +12, +18). I set the trim to -12 and then on the physical control I find I only need to use about 1/4 of the pot's travel to get the level up to -20dBFS. My thinking here is that by going in so hot to a padded mic input the noise problems that might otherwise crop up with mic level becomes insignificant. Would love to hear feedback from you folks on this one.. I do check the above method with full-scale tone to make sure my peaks will sound clean. I regularly use full-scale tone to calibrate things.. from Comteks, transmitters to camera, and camera inputs. I'm pretty confident in the results. Also, a question for Rob Lewis: Which Zaxcom transmitter do you use? Older black case or newer TRX? I have the older model and have also chosen to disable the limiter. The transmitter and receiver still indicate that limiting is occurring even though it's not which bugs me.. (3 dots on transmitter, checkerboard on receiver) Do you have the same issue?
  6. I recently (2 weeks ago) flew with gear and can report what worked for me. First off I think it helps to keep things stripped down. Have enough back up items to cover your ass but don't be excessive. For example I packed my breakaway cable in case I had a problem with my hops, instead of bringing a second set of hops.. I highly recommend carrying-on essential equipment. Every airline will misplace luggage now and then, and in my experience overweight/size items seem to have more problems than regular luggage. I carried on everything I would need for a few days of shooting except the boom pole (have not tried carrying-on a boom pole, assuming TSA won't allow it, could be wrong). I accomplished this by carrying-on my over the shoulder rig completely built (becomes your personal bag) and by putting the rest of what I determined essential in a Pelican 1510 case (designed to be the max size that still fits in the overhead bins, and it does.. ). This combo seems to get through security fairly easily and is a breeze to lug around. Usually TSA will open up the pelican for a look and to swab for explosive residue and put it through the analyzer. Occasionally they've asked me to remove a few items so that the X-Ray will produce a clearer image. I have not been questioned about anything beyond that, though the expression on the face of the person monitoring the x-ray screen is priceless and is not to be missed! Some notes on the process: - I remove all antennas and avoid talk about radio or wireless gear (as per a suggestion from an older thread on this forum that advised to just refer to everything as a microphone..), though I have not been asked specifics about any of the gear. - Make sure to put all your tweakers and multi-tools in your check luggage, they will not pass. - When boarding the plane various airline staff will try to persuade you into checking the pelican 1510 case just before you board because they don't believe it will fit in the overhead.. don't listen to them, it fits like a glove. Even on small planes. - If you don't have a boompole case you can usually find room inside the tripod case for a pole or two. - I don't think lithium batteries become an issue unless you have very high capacity units. Like dionic 160s. I'm still using NiMH NP's but I don't think they ever looked at them close enough to determine anything about them. The only comment regarding batteries I ever heard was that its a good idea to remove them from the bag/case before sending it through the x-ray because the x-ray can't penetrate them sometimes.. potentially concealing whatever is under it. That said I don't start dismantling anything until they ask and usually they don't. Airports I've been through recently with the above method: Chicago - O'hare, Seattle -SEATAC, Portland - PDX, Austin TX Good luck!
  7. Question for Eric, How would you terminate the mixer end of the starquad? Split up the shield and use shrink to make a Y or would you bring both channels into an XLR and then patch in another piece of cable inside the XLR shell?
  8. Vin - I have not noticed any significant bleed with the remote audio set cans I own. You would really have to be close to the mics and have it up full blast I would imagine.
  9. welcome to the club! Do your new friend a favor and go down to home depot with a $5 bill in hand and buy one of these bad boys: http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/72/72088507-9cda-4807-960a-3b3d27e893c4_300.jpg With the change you can still get a hot dog on the way out! Best storage container ever for this little guy. It will get crushed eventually without something like this.
  10. That's a good question.. why are they out of phase? Interesting that two sounds out of phase but isolated in each ear has phase issues.. too bad the auditory nerve doesn't have a polarity reverse switch! My personal fave cheapie headset: Sony MDR-210LP : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/428245-REG/Sony_MDR210LP_MDR_210LP_Ultra_Lightweight_Stereo.html#accessories $7 at B&H!! Also commonly found at big box stores (bestbuy, target, etc.. for about 9.99). Good minimalist look, nice flexible headband, high quality feel overall, comfy ear cups and foam, and a cable that exits one side instead of both. Only con is that they have the usual stereo plug at the end. But mono pins are cheap so you could retrofit them if needed.
  11. I still think a momentary button would be easier to use (and more fun?)
  12. Very cool short! My current computer is a little too lame to play it smoothly unfortunately.. I highly recomend you, and anyone else here with an interest check out this short experimental doc titled Tune In which is also about HAMS. Amazing analog space-age feel to the soundtrack. Filmed on 16mm. http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/showcase/assets/showcase_items/tune_in (that may just be a trailer for it.. the full duration is around 15minutes, if you can find it it's worth checking out) I saw this at a local short film night event and it was my favorite film of the night (helps being a sound nerd).
  13. By modular I meant have the output/s not be just a cable coming out of the box but some kind of jack so that you can make whatever cable you want to output to whatever.. I like the idea of having two outputs despite the KISS mantra.. You never know how it might come in handy and I can't imagine 1 additional 1/8" jack complicates things too much.
  14. - humor appreciated! I think this is a great idea to bring back as a product. I've been thinking of cobbling together a bloop slate myself for awhile now.. even bought a simple oscillator and LED VU meter kits from canakit to use as the building blocks but haven't had the time to really get at it.. Some ideas: - Modular connections: to allow the audio output to use cables with a variety of terminating connectors.. I was planning on using the link-in/mix-in on my 302 and 552 (TA3 and TA5 connectors respectively). I can also see it being useful to be able to output the bloop tone to a radio transmitter to be able to put it on the camera's guide track directly. More than one output may be useful in that case. - Silent when not in use. To be able to inject the bloop into the mix-in it would have to be dead quiet when not in use. Completely out of the signal chain when the momentary is not pushed would be best. ..Often won't be able to sacrifice a mixer input just for the bloop so the mix-in may be the best bet. - 12V DC input: to power from a BDS or similar system - Modular light connection: I can think of situations where it may be advantageous to remote the LED (or whatever lighting element is used) to a location other than on the box itself. On the harness strap for example.. or even the end of a boom pole. - Make it small. Too many things in the bag already. - TC reader? Curious to see what others come up with for a modern bloop slate.
  15. Damien, I don't see why you can't send a mono guide track and a TC track to the 5D with the appropriate cable. Whatever you end up doing please post back here with the results! Best, -d
  16. Thanks for the link, I like that AA holder.. I have a AA case that holds 8 with a flip up lid, as well as a few other variants. This works great for a few but I'm wondering about storage for 30-40+ AA's that fits well in a run bag or diddy bag
  17. Hi, Regarding AA batteries.. any reason not to store them loose in a bag? I tend to put what I need for a week (maybe 20-30count) in a small zippered pencil bag and call it a day.. never had a leak or combustion or anything like that. I guess I figured due to the axial design of AA battery the odds of the contacts coming together in a way that would be hazardous was slim to none.. 9volts get special attention towards the terminals, I've had them start to heat up in my pocket before.. lesson learned.. Do I need to treat AA's the same way?
  18. Yikes, hang in there friend! At least 1x sound dept. member was not on that list!
  19. P.S. That wire gauge looks a little heavy to fit into the micro-sized Hirose 4-pin solder cups.. let us know how that goes.. or if you have a workaround.
  20. would love to see a line drawing of this.. I was on the war path to making one of these as well (though much simpler.. no regulator or switches aside for a single master) but ran out of time before a gig and ended up buying a battery bud. A nice box but not enough outputs generally (I see they have a new version out with 5 outputs) I understand the desire to keep it small if it's meant to power a bag rig.. not a lot of free real estate usually. I'm curious why you decided to go with a linear regulator over a more efficient switching regulator? Because of noise concerns? Did you put a master switch before the regulator to avoid slowly draining the battery? (not sure how much of a factor that is.. but linear regulators drop the voltage by burning it off in the form of heat? So wouldn't this represent a constant battery drain if connected?)
  21. Looks like you may not have enough pins? I count 8 required to send and return 2 balanced signals, not including the common ground so really you'll need 9? Try a Hirose 10 pin maybe? While we're on it, I always wondered if there is any situation where you do not want to use a common ground in a cable like this? Would it be smart to have separate grounds for the sends and the returns? Good luck!
  22. Chalk another for boom pole touching.. nothing raises blood pressure faster.. Once I was booming a semi-complicated steady cam shot and apparently either the director or camera op stopped the scene because they heard some HVAC noise or something (that was being effectively rejected by the choice of mic and filters..) and before I even knew what was going on the camera op reached up, grabbed the pole, and started twisting it this way and that and said something like "I've seen good boom ops find a noise in like 2 seconds this way!" I almost tore his head off! He sort of apologized later, repeating again he was just trying to find the noise source. I asked him what he would think if I did something like that with his rig.. he seemed to get it then. I guess this story brings up two problems; boom touching, and over-achieving listeners who don't defer to the mixer's ears..
  23. .. been following this epic time code quagmire! I have a question: So are they are finding that things are noticeably slipping out of sync even though they are using the clap sticks to sync with?
  24. is the pg58 just a cheaper version of the SM58?
  25. I hear you Rich, I realize it's a compromise in ethics, but I decided to go for it anyway. The situation was such that we had a lot of little kids (75-100) running around us and I didn't want to clothesline anyone. This info was not given to me in advance, nor could it really have been entirely anticipated. The producer did not demand I bring the hops out for free, they were OK with going with the break away and that's what we did for the rest of the shoot. Just a judgment call I made. In my mind it does not give them permission to hire me and expect gear for free from now on. I do see what you're saying though and will remember it. -d
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