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Nagra Stories Sound-men won’t ever tell


JBond

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Wondering if anyone knows whether SN units with a second jack (in addition to the headphone jack) located next to the start/stop lever were a specific version or an aftermarket mod by some users. I can't seem to find any information about this jack as it is not featured on the majority of units I have seen out there. Do you happen to know anything about this option and it's purpose?

There is a photo from JBond's earlier post (second photo of post 376) depicting an SN red text unit that has the second jack located near the white nylon guide roller and the start/stop button trigger.

I have reviewed an SN manual online but have had no luck figuring out what this is.

Anyone know?

Chris 

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I think (without actually having access to a SNST) that it is just a hole with an internal threading, possibly for an accessory. I have found a picture of a partially disassembled SNST where the mysterious hole is shown:

 

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nagra-snst-circuit-boards-nagra-snst-spy-recorder-35920311.html

 

On that image, the inside part behind the hole looks identical to the parts behind two screw holes in the connectors, where they are used for fastening the male connector or accessory. My guess is that the Kudelski people of some reason put an extra fastening option on the SNST, in addition to the two connector locking screw holes. But that is just speculation...

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Dela, I believe the jack that Tunes is talking about is not on the SNST, even though the SNST is in the picture,  Its the jack on my red 1973 SNS. Tunes asked me and I didn't know what the jack was for. 

I just took the board off and the jack is wired to the proprietary SN  microphone input. I assume this is so you can use a normal 1/8 microphone jack that was found on a pen or watch microphone. 

 

MyLplvN.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/27/2018 at 4:15 PM, JBond said:

Dela, I believe the jack that Tunes is talking about is not on the SNST, even though the SNST is in the picture,  Its the jack on my red 1973 SNS. Tunes asked me and I didn't know what the jack was for. 

I just took the board off and the jack is wired to the proprietary SN  microphone input. I assume this is so you can use a normal 1/8 microphone jack that was found on a pen or watch microphone. 

 

MyLplvN.jpg

Gorgeous. 

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It is "gorgeous" the way Nagra designed the famous SN recorder with seven removable plug in modules, each held in by only a couple of small brass screws.

The one shot hastily taken picture, with parts of it out of focus is disappointing. 

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Were SN recorders as robust at their larger family members such as the 4.2 and IV-S? They are such an exquisite masterpiece. 

 

Regarding the photo's above are the jacks standard banana plug, not ever seen or touched one is impossible to tell.

 

Were these ever used by sound men for film recording? 

 

Did Nagra ever create a Nagramaster stereo SNST or SNST-R?

 

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2 hours ago, MarkC said:

Were SN recorders as robust at their larger family members such as the 4.2 and IV-S? They are such an exquisite masterpiece. 

 

Regarding the photo's above are the jacks standard banana plug, not ever seen or touched one is impossible to tell.

 

Were these ever used by sound men for film recording? 

 

Did Nagra ever create a Nagramaster stereo SNST or SNST-R?

 

--they sure seem to be

--This sound man used them a good deal back in the day.  Life-savers, esp in the days of wonky wireless mics, and also for impossible plant-mic situations.

--DK

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Hi Philip,

 

So if you used them to record just one voice I assume you then had to sync the track to another before you even put it to image. In a conversational piece two or more individually recorded tracks must have been pretty technical. Did you have a guide track to line up pauses/breaths etc? I assume the SN was not timecode of course.

 

Cheers

MarkC

 

 

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Actually there is a link between Nagra IS, me and Procol Harum: One of my DR Nagra IS recorders are from the collection of Anton Stormlund, who owns a large collection of Hammond organs. On a tour of Denmark, procol Harum (or rather: One of the incarnations of it)  visited his exhibition and tested his instruments, including his huge theatre organ. It is indeed a small world...

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Good work noticing that detail, MarceauFilm

 

I wonder why he looks like he rewinding the Nagra II, as she holds the microphone in front of the person talking into it. 

It would be the other larger crank on the side to windup the motor. Messed up that interview. 

 

I'll bet that was just a pose for the picture, everyone just acted like they were doing something.

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Joseph I found and copied the first and fourth of those photos myself last week! The first two relate to the 1000m bathyscope descent which Stefan himself took part in - as a documentarist. The last is actually Jean Thevenot (centre) I think offering Stefan Kudelski (right) the prize of Chasseurs de Sons - Hunter of Sound.

 

I will get back soon with more info - I had a week with friends in France who presented me with some wonderful Nagra info.

 

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22 hours ago, MarceauFilm said:

I flipped through an album dedicated to the history of the festival in Cannes. I noticed an interesting photo. The reporter still works on the Nagra II in 1959!

acannes.jpg

acannes2.jpg

 

Great photos! Some of the very few I’ve ever seen. With the Nagra II in use!

 

-Scott

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  • 2 weeks later...

Its too bad they don’t have someone who knows the history of Nagra and would take the time to produce a short film with the correct information.


This picture shows a Nagra II; the Nagra I never had a meter or direct center hold down reel nuts.  This picture does not belong in the film at all because they never mention the Nagra II, why show it as a Nagra I
But here it's showed in all its glory as his prized invention, the Nagra I

 

 
fHpSIYr.jpg
 
These next two pictures do show the Nagra I, all they had to do was not show the Nagra II,   especially showing it first like they did!
I guess they feel no one would know the difference, so it doesn’t matter which picture they use. Or they consider the Nagra I or II are the first Nagra's ever made?

 
npV7YxO.jpg
 
F81XbPF.jpg
 
Same here below in this next picture and caption, it doesn't matter if it's correct or not who would know the difference? Just run with it.
 
 
1mChjlB.jpg 
 
Can we believe anything since the obvious miss representation that seems to show up in any story written about Nagra past and present day?
 
 
The Nagra SN went to the moon In the Apollo mission but not in 1969, they confuse the first moon landing date with the SN going to the moon, kind of misleading. 
 
 
xpzlk4Z.jpg
 
 
 
The Apollo Program 1963-1972
They landed on the moon 2 times in 1971 and two times in 1972  I would suspect the SN went to the moon after it was developed not before. 
 
The real story is here on post ; #373  you can believe it or not.
 
 
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With it's obvious mistakes it is still nice to see any kind of promo clip showing historic photos of Kudelski and Nagra. Better this than none.

 

18 hours ago, JBond said:

They landed on the moon 2 times in 1971 and two times in 1972  I would suspect the SN went to the moon after it was developed not before. 

 

And here's a hint: While visiting Warsaw for the first time after the war in 1971, Kudelski was asked in radio interview if it's true that his tape recorders are aboard US space ships. He denied. So Nagra SN could went to the moon in 1972 after it's development.

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9 hours ago, Lermontov said:

With it's obvious mistakes it is still nice to see any kind of promo clip showing historic photos of Kudelski and Nagra. Better this than none.

(Better this than none) That may be Nagra's thinking also. They probably know 99% would never know.  Or it was just an oversight. 

 

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This showed up on my facebook page 4 minutes ago.

 

 

You're seeing posts from NAGRA AUDIO first.

The first portable recorder in the world - built by Stefan Kudelski - released in 1951
Rare interview of Auguste Piccard by Stefan Kudelski.

 

https://www.facebook.com/nagraaudio/videos/1943547572356096/

Looks like Nagra set that story straight, now, no misunderstanding what the Nagra I is.

Also added some new information,  only 10 - 12 units made. 

Very nice.

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Nagra posted a series of YouTube videos about their recorders in its museum on their Facebook page. 

These videos seem to clear up some long unanswered questions.  

 

Here is the one on the famous Nagra SN stating Kennedy asked for it “for the US Army” but not released until the end of the 60’s

 

So - the end of the sixties means not in the sixties and certainly not in 1965...

In other words Dec1970 or 1971

 

Sounds like something you may have read before on

“Jwsound Nagra stories”.😎

 

 

 

 

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On 1/29/2015 at 2:22 AM, Jeff Wexler said:

I will be happy to get some stories together for you. In terms of what was used on any given movie, I can give you some guidelines: the first model of Nagra that was used on a motion picture would be the Nagra III (the Nagra I and II never made it to the movie world). The Nagra did come into general usage on feature films until around 1964. It is safe to say that any movie done from 1965 to 1989 would have used some model of Nagra. The year 1989 is significant because that was the year that I used a DAT machine to record production sound on a motion picture --- no one else had tried this relatively new format but I gave it a go on "The War of the Roses." Many, many movies were recorded using the Nagra well into the 1990s even as DAT became a very common format.

 

I owned and used just about every model of Nagra except for the Nagra I, II, and the Nagra-D. I owned a Nagra III, Nagra 4L, Nagra 4.2, Nagra SN, Nagra-IS, Nagra 4S, Nagra 4STC. Also used a Stellavox on 2 documentaries (but never owned one).

 

Hi Jeff!

 

I read this article of you because I also worked with a Nagra 4.2L when I started and I loved it.

So I started reading these posts here and found this info that, If I got it well, you were the first guy here to use a DAT recorder on a feature film back in 1989.

The interesting thing is that here in Brazil we started using DATs to record in the second semester of 1984!

There were six soundman - me included - from Rio de Janeiro that came to US in 1984 to shoot FIFA's Official Film of 1994 Soccer World Cup.

Before I came I sold my Nagra 4.2 to my assistant in Rio, and arranged with producers to arrive in LA a few days earlier to buy new equipment for this shoot. 

I went to Location Sound and bought with Jose Gonzales a PSC M4 mixer and a Sony TCD-D10 DAT recorder.

My colleagues also bought Sony's DATs, a bigger model, not the TCD-D10 one. 

I recorded the whole 1994 World Cup with this set up, and when we came back to Rio all of us kept using our super new DATs in docs and features!

But I never realized we did this some 4 or 5 years before you did it here! 

Interesting!

 

Tony Muricy

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