ProSound Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 http://blog.rfvenue.com/vintage-vega-wireless-ads-from-1975/ Way before my time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 In 1976 I rented a "Professional II", the one and only wireless system available for rent in Eugene, OR at the time. The PA company who owned it really didn't want to rent it to me (since they had exactly one of them), but I told them (correctly) that it was going to be used by an elderly former city official who would be seated the whole time she had it on. We shot her PSA with, get ready, the Akai 1/4" video tape system that was owned by my college film teacher, since the only other portable color video gear in that part of Oregon at the time was owned by the TV stations and they wouldn't rent to us. I didn't think the Vega sounded ultra great, but that was by far not the biggest issue with that shoot. Several years later in SF we used an earlier tube-type Vega (not shown here) one day when we ran out of my regular wirelesses, at that time a mix of Vega 66/77bs and Swintek Mk IIIs. It kind of worked. I used my Vega 66s for many years, until the Lectro 185s came along. The Vegas were pretty terrible in a bag (the front pouch of a Nagra, actually. 4 9v batts per RX!) Ah, nostalgia! philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Doh, I can remember being a production assistant on commercials where we were using Vega wireless in Tampa circa 1975-1976. They were total pains in the ass, and we had to have a guy "shadow" the talent with a receiver about 10-15 feet away due to range issues. And I think they burned through batteries very quickly. Not sure which one it was, but I know some of the late-1970s Altman pictures were recorded in multi-track with racks and racks of multiple Vega wireless going to 24-track timecode recorders. I'm astonished they could get all that stuff working 30-35 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 The "air" was WAY WAY clearer then, which was good since all those old wireless units were fixed frequency--you paid your money, you took your chances. And we did traveling shows, multiple cities, features as well as docs with them! It's just what everybody did, you fired them up and hoped for the best. Some days--yes--RX "walk alongs", multiple antennas via passive combiner boxes, custom switch-boxes to switch between one (giant) LPA to another as the talent walked by an RF barrier. And all that for lousy mic pres, terrible companders and noisy TX, plus all the usual lav-mic wardrobe etc etc crap…. Good times! Some things about production sound really HAVE improved! philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al mcguire Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Who misses having to rig a 12"+ antenna rigged with a rubber band and a safety pin to whatever you could pin it to ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Who misses having to rig a 12"+ antenna rigged with a rubber band and a safety pin to whatever you could pin it to ? I remember that. Total pain in the ass. Plus there were plenty of days that I would get only 5 to 10 feet of range. Boy we have come a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Not sure which one it was, but I know some of the late-1970s Altman pictures were recorded in multi-track with racks and racks of multiple Vega wireless going to 24-track timecode recorders. I'm astonished they could get all that stuff working 30-35 years ago. Altman started experimenting with multi-track and wireless on everybody on the movie "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" in 1971. The whole system went through several different configurations under Jim Webb, Bob Gravenor and John Pritchett. Jim Webb did use Vega wireless at first but later settled on Artechs which were a variant of early Audio, Ltd. wireless built by Ivan Kruglak (Coherent Communications). Custom mixing panels built by Jack Cashin based on Stevenson Interface mixing console, later a custom mixing panel designed by Jim Webb and Jack (Jim Webb tried to market the four or five of them they built). The recorders were Stephens Electronics "portable" DC powered 8 track model (and I believe timecode was never implemented --- syncing all those tracks was done the old way, clap slate, mag transfers, syncing to picture on the bench, etc.). When Bob Gravenor took over from Jim Webb, Bob was a big fan of Micron wireless so I'm pretty sure that's what they used for the movies that Bob mixed. Not sure what John Pritchett used. I know I'm leaving out a British sound mixer who did at least two of Altman's movies. Who misses having to rig a 12"+ antenna rigged with a rubber band and a safety pin to whatever you could pin it to ? Standard part of our "kit" were those little rubber bands and safety pins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 And if you wanted to use the full size (and much better than the helical "rubber duck") 1/4-wave antennas on the RX, you now had an 18-inch steel rod sticking up out of your front pouch! philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 +1 to Philip! I remember using an early Sennheiser wireless receiver that had a telescoping antenna, like a car antenna, that fully extended was I believe about 36" in length. Those we're the good old days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lezynski Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 I'm starting to feel like this~~~~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 We are OLD, it is true, but not THAT old. Pictured below is the sound mixer on one of my father's earliest movies, "Five Bold Women" shot in 1959. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 That's great history, Jeff! What were they using back then? Sony ECM50s? I'm just wincing at how difficult 1971 lavs would be to hide and make quiet on costumes in that era... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Yes, ECM-50s were the mainstay as far as I remember, until the Mini-Mic was produced (by Ivan Kruglak). The Mini-Mic was the first lav to use the really tiny capsule, similar to what came to be used in Trams and Sonotrim. They were not really well made, sorry to say, and quite an odd configuration physically. I will dig out my old Artech wireless sets and the Mini-Mics I use to use with them and take some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 In 1976 I rented a "Professional II", the one and only wireless system available for rent in Eugene, OR at the time. The PA company who owned it really didn't want to rent it to me (since they had exactly one of them), but I told them (correctly) that it was going to be used by an elderly former city official who would be seated the whole time she had it on. We shot her PSA with, get ready, the Akai 1/4" video tape system that was owned by my college film teacher, since the only other portable color video gear in that part of Oregon at the time was owned by the TV stations and they wouldn't rent to us. I didn't think the Vega sounded ultra great, but that was by far not the biggest issue with that shoot. Several years later in SF we used an earlier tube-type Vega (not shown here) one day when we ran out of my regular wirelesses, at that time a mix of Vega 66/77bs and Swintek Mk IIIs. It kind of worked. I used my Vega 66s for many years, until the Lectro 185s came along. The Vegas were pretty terrible in a bag (the front pouch of a Nagra, actually. 4 9v batts per RX!) Ah, nostalgia! philp My first wireless were the Vega 66/77. I had two of them with Tram mics. The four nine volt batteries were a pain so I built an outboard battery pack that held the equivalent voltage in C cell batteries. I could get two to three long days before changing batteries. I sold them off after two years of use and the new owner used them for at least another ten years. I'd put the receivers on the floor within fifteen feet of the talent and run the xlrs back to the mixer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 I think that the lavs in use when that pic from Jeff's dad's movie was made were the old dynamic types, RCA BK6b (still have one) or Shure 571 (still in use as the TB mic to my VO room). They hung from a lanyard around the talent's neck, hiding them was a serious challenge. I recall the ECM50 as being fairly new in the early '70s, and was a HUGE improvement. I still have a pair of those somewhere too, although I'm sure they are dead--I recall having to change out capsules every few years on those because they would mysteriously crap out eventually. I went to TRAMs as soon as I could--so much easier to deal with than the ECM 50s. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrd456 Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 In the mid 70's, I borrowed Bill Nelsons Swintek Wireless [terrible] then Bruce Bisance sold me some Micron Wireless.The Microns were by far superior---better range,better freg. response,less noise.They sounded better than the lectro VHF's when they came out.The limiter in the Microns could handle a car door slam,without crapping out.I was doing a lot of car commercials at the time.But,I bought a Lectro Quad box within 3 months----You could only use three Microns safely together at a time. J.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traut Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I love the whip antenna strapped to the guy's head! Bruce is one of the smartest, kindest men I know. He gave me a lot of invaluable advice when I was a green horn. In the mid 70's, I borrowed Bill Nelsons Swintek Wireless [terrible] then Bruce Bisance sold me some Micron Wireless.The Microns were by far superior---better range,better freg. response,less noise.They sounded better than the lectro VHF's when they came out.The limiter in the Microns could handle a car door slam,without crapping out.I was doing a lot of car commercials at the time.But,I bought a Lectro Quad box within 3 months----You could only use three Microns safely together at a time. J.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Our Swinteks gave us good service but only because we gave THEM constant service--they got out of adjustment very easily somehow. I spent a lot of time on 101 between SF and Sunnyvale taking my Swinteks back to the factory to be retuned. The Vega VHFs held a tune a bit better, but both the TX and the RX were much bigger than Swintek's; the Swintek TX was only a little bigger than a 2-battery Lectro SM series and their RX had much better battery life. The Lectro 185s were a huge jump in all aspects--size, weight, sound, range and reliability. Microns were just too expensive for us then. I nearly bought Audio Limited wireless, esp that cool "2-in-1" VHF RX, but had a slow patch workwise and couldn't come up with the $ and so got another few years out of the Vegas. I was not sorry to see those go, finally. p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlw Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 That stuff pre-dates me by (ahem...) a few years... The first wireless system I used in the early '90s was also a Vega: an R42A receiver and, not sure of the handheld model but it had a Sure 87 electret condenser element. Looked just like this system in the photo and was probably made in the mid-1980s. Actually, the range was quite good! And, if everything was tweaked properly, it sounded fairly decent as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tourtelot Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 Resurrecting a very old thread but looking to ID the RF that MJ is using in this photo. Any answers? D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlw Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 ^ certainly looks like a Vega transmitter, and the mic element/head looks similar to many Vega units from over a long period (this same head appeared on their model 54 from more than a decade earlier) and is likely a dynamic mic element. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tourtelot Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 Ah, good start. I think it might be a model 63. https://reverb.com/item/42216401-vega-pro-model-63-vintage-diversity-receiver-handheld-vocal-microphone-1196-good-working-cond D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlw Posted June 8, 2023 Report Share Posted June 8, 2023 14 hours ago, tourtelot said: Ah, good start. I think it might be a model 63. https://reverb.com/item/42216401-vega-pro-model-63-vintage-diversity-receiver-handheld-vocal-microphone-1196-good-working-cond D. Yes - looks like the transmitter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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