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The StellaDAT II 4-track Portable DAT Recorder

(Originally published in Audio Media Magazine USA) Two oxymorons: Jumbo Shrimp. Perfect DAT. Well, oxymorons or not, I love jumbo shrimp and the Stelladat II is the closest thing to a perfect DAT recorder that we may ever see. The Stelladat II is the new evolution of the original Stelladat (now known as the Stelladat-I), […]

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Things You May Not Learn In Film School (but should)

[Editor’s note, Feb 2014: Written over 20 years ago now, many of the points below are obsolete, though fun to read. But some things never change] Never run. In short, running on the set is poor professional form for a sound department. While the enthusiasm may be impressive to the unseasoned, running tells those with […]

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Regional Sound Mixer Profiles: Volume Two!

Alan Sawyer (Virginia) Phil Arnold (Tennessee) Greg Linton (Georgia) Kevin Van Bakel (Kentucky) Alan Sawyer Alan Sawyer has 22 years experience as a sound mixer, and works mostly in the Richmond/Norfolk production market.  He says he likes “working around so many talented and gifted people on both sides of the camera”. Recently Alan did a […]

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Regional Sound Mixer Profiles: Volume One!

Peter Devlin (Florida) Mike Puckett (Mid-Atlantic) Jonathan Andrews (North Ohio) Gail Carroll-Coe (Michigan) Thomas Morrison (Tennessee) Jennifer Murphy (North Carolina) Mack Melson (Texas) Peter Devlin Based primarily in Florida, Peter Devlin has been a sound mixer for seventeen years.   He and his boomman, Kevin Cerchiai,  work primarily on the many feature films and TV movies […]

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A Brief History of Timecode (For synchronous sound recording)

In the beginning, for the timecode audio recordist anyway, there was the Nagra IV-S adapted for timecode. Eventually Nagra would have a timecode version of their own, affectionately (but unofficially) called the Nagra IV-STC. But theirs was not the first. The first viable commercial entry into this field was made by Coherent.  It consisted of […]

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The Sanken CSS-5 and the Rycote Four-Point Suspension

The Sanken CSS-5 Shotgun Stereo Mic can be successfully mounted in the new style Rycote “M-2” modular four point suspension as well as in the less recent non-modular Rycote four point suspension. There are several keys to the proper setup of the suspension for this microphone. First, a 25mm clip should be used on the […]

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The New VDB Boom Poles

For years the Van den Bergh "VdB" boom poles (fish poles) had been far better than any others for most situations.  It looked like boom pole technology had reached its pinnacle. OK, so they bent too much and sometimes broke when fully extended with a heavy mic fully rigged (like the 816), but that was […]

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Mixer Profile: Vilmars Zile

by Glen Trew August 20, 2001 It was the summer of 1976 when I was sent by the TV station where I worked in the engineering department, to rent a Nagra III recorder from a Nashville film production studio. I walked in, looked around, and thought, “What the heck is all this stuff?” (It was […]

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Mixer Profile: Peter Devlin

From Belfast, Northern Ireland, Peter Devlin has climbed purposefully, methodically, and patiently, to earn his place among the most respected and sought after feature film production sound mixers in the US. The story of his career should interest the most experienced and certainly inspire those beginning their trek. A career in Film production is unique […]

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