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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Logic Pro vs Field Recorder

The clock's crystal on a firewire interface is not nearly as accurate as on a good field recorder. The longer your takes the more drift you will get from your laptop. Drift = bad. There are many reasons why a good field recorder is expensive, not the least of which is the clock's accuracy.

If you're shooting on a RED why would you not also go the extra mile and get good audio? You may has well just grab your favorite VHS camera and shoot with that if you're going to plan on bad audio.
 
Matthew Freed said:
The clock's crystal on a firewire interface is not nearly as accurate as on a good field recorder. The longer your takes the more drift you will get from your laptop. Drift = bad. There are many reasons why a good field recorder is expensive, not the least of which is the clock's accuracy.

If you're shooting on a RED why would you not also go the extra mile and get good audio? You may has well just grab your favorite VHS camera and shoot with that if you're going to plan on bad audio.
Click to expand...

A little stuck in our ways maybe Matthew? Had a bad experience with a laptop in the field? The longer your takes are the more drift you will get?
How long a scene are you shooting that you would get that kind of drift, Days?

Matthew, you are correct in a device like a 744T is a great piece of gear.
But you do realize that laptops have been a major part of location sound for some time now. In some situations a laptop is a must have on set, just like it is for the Red One camera. And as far as the firewire interfaces you spoke so poorly of, many of them now take a sync input, or generate time code.
There are more than a few people out there running their Cooper straight into the laptop for primary or backup with time code embedded in the file.
And as far as drift, I have not had an issue in the last 4 years of laptop use on set.

All the Best!

Dave
 
I too agree that computers are becoming more common on set and when set up correctly, can perform very well. First off, though, for cart situations only obviously. Logic is not the program being used, or should I say, not the best tool for the job. Most mixers that are rocking computer based primary or backup recorders are running Boomrecorder or Metacorder. Timecode can be stable with the right interface. Given the choice, though, I'd rather use my field recorder in most any situation. If the job is going to last more than a couple of weeks and I have a fairly large / complex technical need, I might consider breaking out the computer and a nice large control surface to control something like a Metric Halo ULN8 (with LTC TC input), in conjunction with my field recorder.
 
I'm not a sound guy, I'm a DP, but I have to tell you of a recent shoot I was on where we were recording a live show that lasted 1 1/2 hours. The audio guy was recording straight into a laptop. We have been doing it this way for 6 years with no problems. Well, 3 weeks ago when the show was over, the sound guy hit "escape" to stop the recording process and the computer gave him an error message. He tried to save the session to the hard drive and it wouldn't allow him to. After trying everything we could think of to work around the issue, we admitted defeat, restarted the computer, and did a test recording immediately. It recorded and saved to disk with no problem. Unexplainable. But our show audio was gone. Just one of those computer things. Luckily we always record a backup to the camera, but now everything is mixed down to 2 channels, as opposed to 14. I HIGHLY recommend recording to a field recorder.
 
Word. I like computers, I think it is great what they can do, but I don't want to be that dick who has to explain why something like that happened. Only as a backup to or being backed up by a field recorder, even if it is a little $250 jobbie recording a 2 track. Generally best to use a real analog mixer so if the computer freezes, it doesn't also freeze your audio interface that you are using as a mixer (as appealing as that is). Redundancy, redundancy...
 
USed Sound Devices 402T

USed Sound Devices 402T

A used Sound Devices 702T is not that expensive, will last functionally forever, will not be obsolete for a long time (devices might get smaller, battery life longer, but the recording quality is likely going to be overkill for a long time). Resale value is solid. And its such a rock solid, pleasure to use, flexible device.

Then buy a good used high end mic. The combo of the two will last a long time and you can focus on other gear decisions. Just get it over with.
 
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