Thoughts on pots...

[Peter Richardson]

i thought I'd start a thread where members of the Red community could put forth their ideas for addressing the Red's lack of pots. The most obvious solution is to use a sound recordist, but assuming this isnt a possibility, some other solution will be necessary for those run and gun scenarios.

One idea I had, keeping in mind that I've not received my Red and have only been in front of a working model a few times, would be to use some of the user-assignable buttons on the back of the camera in conjunction with the menu joystick to control sound. For example, a push of one of these user buttons could bring up the four audio channels. Another push of the button would cycle you through each channel. The level of each channel could be controlled by moving the joystick up or down. One could cancel out of the menu by depressing the joystick, etc.

This is just one idea and I'm sure there are better ones out there, so let's hear them!

Assuming the phantom power hiss gets resolved, and there aren't fan noise issues when running the Red all day with a camera-mounted mic, the only major audio issue, for now, that I can see for the doc and EFP crowd is the lack of pots. Thankfully, due to the modularity of the camera, and the creativity of its engineers and those on this forum, perhaps we can come up with a solution to this problem as well. Anyway, everyone please chime in with your ideas.

Peter

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

The mysterious supergrip is supposed to include some programmable buttons, and I would think it a convenient place to locate sound controls for single operator situations.

[10s]

Dear RED, please put pots on the camera.

It's frustrating to see camera mfgs screw up designs. Forgetting easily accessible audio gain dials is a really big screw-up, so they must have had some good reasons, but so far I can't tell what they'd be. Maybe they designed the body first and now are trying to stuff it and don't have enough room, I don't know but, good design requires form to follow function.

I dream of a simple functioning camera that is easy to use and delivers superior image & sound in a robust form that will hold up under physically demanding conditions at a reasonable price.

RED is almost there, just an inch or two more, and they'll cross the finish line. Go Jannard!

[Fergus Meiklejohn]

That's a good idea Peter. I wonder if there are enough user assignable buttons on the camera. They seem to all be assigned to switching between visual aids: histograms, false colour etc

[zak forrest]

The joystick thing sounds like a nightmare. You shouldnt have to enter any specific mode before being able to use the joystick for audio pots. And that would only control one channel at a time.

There should be a USB device that is a tiny box with some pots on it, just stick it into the side of the RED ONE and you have four dedicated pots. The kind that you press in and they stay inside so you can't turn them accidentally.
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I wish the RECORD button on the camera was SILENT. It makes a click noise. All other video cameras I have used the record button FELT GOOD to press it, almost like you are PUSHING AIR out of the camera, and people never heard the button being pressed. I have already been in two situations where I tried pushing the button on the sly but the person heard me hit the button and it kind of ruined what was happening.

[Kevin Halverson]

There should be a USB device that is a tiny box with some pots on it, just stick it into the side of the RED ONE and you have four dedicated pots. The kind that you press in and they stay inside so you can't turn them accidentally.

What other 'features' would you like to see on this box? Possibilities include:

Individual channel clipping indicators
Numeric display of each channels mic pre gain
Status of the mic / line selection for each channel
Channel safe / record for each channel

I would love to get some ideas as to what people would like to have on such a device.

[Shawn Nelson]

Hey Peter!
Have you ever used a Sound Devices mixer? I own the 1-channel MM1 and the 3 to 2 channel SD302. If you only wanted one on-camera mic, the MM1 would probably work nicely. A MixPre could be a nice solution for 2-channel work.

[zak forrest]

What other 'features' would you like to see on this box? Possibilities include:

Individual channel clipping indicators
Numeric display of each channels mic pre gain
Status of the mic / line selection for each channel
Channel safe / record for each channel

I would love to get some ideas as to what people would like to have on such a device.

all that stuff seems like a good idea to me =]

the smaller the better though you know? i would personally be happy if some corners were cut to make the thing smaller. but im sure most pro sound guys would want it slightly bigger if it meant that it would include all the bells and whistles.. maybe make two different ones. a "mini" and a "pro" or something. maybe the mini would only be four pots with leds on the front of them that change from green/yellow/orange/red or something and thats all i would probably need. tiny box with four tiny knobs, the knobs flash differnt colors to let you know where you are at. i just thought of this as i was writing this, im sure it could be a lot better, just a random suggestion...