Wireless microphone transmitters that are also timecode audio recorders and players? Yes! Not only are the Zaxcom digital wireless the closest sounding to a hardwire in the industry, but the transmitters are also high quality recorders. As the available RF spectrum becomes smaller and less reliable, the recording feature becomes even more attractive. This new system from Zaxcom is such an enormous achievement in wireless microphone technology that it may take a moment to soak in.

Image that you have four actors with Zaxcom TRX900 transmitters. During a scene, due to any number of possibilities all wireless are subject to (an actor goes out of range or whatever…) transmitter signal loss. So few words are lost. Important words. The director’s favorite words for the entire production. The director hears the dropout, turns toward you and asks, “Do we have that line?” Until now, the answer would always have been “No”. But with a Zaxcom wireless remote control, you playback the recording – not on your main recorder but from the transmitters with a wireless remote control – to verify that the line was recorded properly on the transmitter. Then, the audio can be re-recorded onto your main recorder. Or, even better, the file can be transferred, complete with timecode and metadata with character’s name, onto DVD, CD, or DVD-RAM and turned in with dailies.

The TRX-900 series ordered with the “IFB Option” allows the talent to listen with the same transmitter they are talking through. It also allows a wireless boom operator to monitor wirelessly from the mixer. Hard to imagine, but consider the traditional scenario of having a wireless transmitter for the microphone and a separate IFB receiver for monitoring or taking cues. The Zaxcom system allows this to be done with a single bodypack.

When ordered with the recording option, each TRX900 can be jammed with external timecode. When used in conjunction with the IFB900 transmitter, the TRX900 can receive external timecode wirelessly (“continuous jam”), simplifying the chore of jam-syncing multiple TRX900s. The IFB900 transmitter is also the wireless remote for playing/recording the TRX900s.

Each TRX900 can become a stereo transmitter with the addition of the small “stereo adapter”. This is an ideal system for 2-channel wireless “camera hop”, and replaces the Zaxcom Stereo Line that has been so successful for this use. The new system accepts balanced line level signals on standard TA-5 connectors, without the need for pads. The stereo adapter also accepts external 12VDC from bag powering systems such as the popular BDS from Remote Audio.

How useful is all of this magic in the real world? As it turns out, very useful. Early users of the system began reporting numerous occasions that the recording ability of the TRX900 either prevented looping or prevented having to shoot a scene again.