Dropped Frames with Loud Music

[Pete Wallington]

For those of you shooting live music or music videos with playback, how are you preventing drop frames when recording to the Red Drive?

On our first MV shoot this week we found the drive dropped hundreds of frames per take until we wrapped it in a tea towel to insulate it. It's not, however, the most elegant solution and the drive gets really hot, so it can't be safe.

Is the ET shockmount available yet? I can't see it on their website. Does anyone have a better technique that doesn't involve shelling out more of our hard-earned cash for new accessories?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

We had to switch to CF cards when shooting a pep rally at a high school, because the vibrations from all the screaming and cheering caused the RED hard drives to drop frames. Or you can try the RED RAM drive if you can get ahold of one.

 

[Matthew Verkler]

The ET shockmount IS available:

http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/show/v-dock

I have this for my drives and it works great at isolating bumps and vibrations being transmitted through the camera body, such as when shooting handheld or inside a moving vehicle. From your description, however, it seems like this mount may not help in your situation, as the shock may be coming through the air instead (you mentioned a tea towel as insulator worked). The bass in the music will be the culprit, as it carries the most penetrating shock energy.

As David said, CF cards or RED RAM when available is your best bet, or if you have two or more Red Drives, swap regularly to manage the heat. Or get the subwoofers turned down if the artist can bear it.

Matthew Verkler

 

[Martin Jäger]

... i had dropouts even when the band was quiet - the loud cheering was enough..

 

[Matthew Rogers]

Weird, we just shot a Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) concert and had no dropped frames. Two cameras handheld (one in front of a speaker much of the night), on handheld on stage, one on jib and one on a dolly towards the back. No dropped frames. We also did upclose shots during the rehearsal with no problems.

BTW, did you all have your drives more vertical or horizontal? I had all of the drives vertical if I remember correctly (might make a difference in the sound waves hitting the drive.)

Matthew

 

[NateWeaver]

The ET mount does even help with loud sounds, somewhat. It just ups the threshold needed to drop frames.

Covering the drive during takes with some sort fabric has in the past cured it for me, and I was careful to check drive temp with my fingers when removing the fabric...I never noticed an appreciable increase in temp.

I'm sure it could happen, but I think in regular use with regular room temps it's probably not a big deal.

 

[Alexis Hanawalt]

This is weird. The only time I've ever had dropped frames was when we were purposely jarring the camera. I've been on insanely loud music video shoots and it was no problem.

 

[David Birdy]

Use the SSD for no dropped frames!

Dave

 

[Joel Kaye]

I had dropped frames on a really loud scream from a woman. My RED drive is shock mounted and I never drop frames from jarring or handheld stuff. It's almost like a certain frequency causes it. Switched to CF cards but then the director decided to do the screams as a wild track so I can't be sure it would have fixed the issue, but I assume it would.

 

[Matthew Verkler]

Please strike my earlier comment about bass frequencies. Bass does cut through solid concrete, etc. much better than high frequencies, but it would seem that the Red Drives are affected by various frequencies. Good luck!