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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 :)

Two new pro sound recorders announced: Zaxcom Nova ($5K)& Sound Devices Scorpio ($9K)

Sound Devices Scorpio - NAB 2019




By Curtis Judd Audio




As part of our coverage of the Nation Association of Broadcaster’s show in Las Vegas in April 2019, we talked with Paul Isaacs at Sound Devices about their new flagship mixer/recorder called Scorpio. This is a device which is aimed at larger budget, very demanding productions where lots of inputs and lots of outputs are required.

Please consider my sound for video classes available over at http://school.learnlightandsound.com

Gear discussed and used to record this episode:

Sound Devices Scorpio
B&H: https://bhpho.to/2Uy4qDv

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
B&H: https://bhpho.to/2JB7W5V

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 OIS Lens
B&H: https://bhpho.to/2i6s2gv

Electrovoice RE50L Dynamic Interview Microphone
B&H: https://bhpho.to/2IRcEkq

Sound Devices 633 Mixer/Recorder
DVeStore: http://www.dvestore.com/guy-says-gear...

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd

Music Copyright 2017 by TVAC. Used with permission
 
David Peterson said:
A relevant blog post for those interested in the new Zoom F6, that gives a bit of an overview of the current Sonosax preamp design which incorporates post (dual) ADC gain and has an option to record 32bit files...
Click to expand...
Note that Glenn Sanders of Zaxcom claims he has a patent on using dual A/D-D/A chips for wider dynamic range, and he's looking very carefully at this now. I personally think 32-bit dynamic range is insane, because (again) you'd be talking 192dB of dynamic range, which will blow out your hearing and basically kill you within seconds. Even if you use all 24 bits -- which is much wider than anybody could stand to listen to in a theater -- you'd be hitting 144dB. OSHA notes that a jet taking off from 200 feet away is 130dB. 140dB is the threshold of pain. They won't legally allow workers to be exposed to 100dB sound levels for 2 hours a day. And you can capture very close to 100dB with 16-bit files.

Good articles on audio bit-depth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

And OSHA sound levels:

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/noisehearingconservation/loud.html

Check out the specs on any super high-end microphone as to what their self-noise levels are and what modern preamps can really reproduce. (And I don't mean the $10 mics stuck on the end of a Zoom.) There are $10,000 mic preamps that I think will struggle to get 100dB out of most conventional condensor microphones. And what world has volume levels that quiet? Even the best quiet studio in the world can't get below about 20dB (and that would probably be air conditioning or background noise rumbling).

So I think a lot of this conjecture about theoretical bit-depths and dynamic range limits are meaningless in the real world. Nobody's going to be able to mix it for release for theaters or home video or cable or anything else. And in fact if you did hit 150-160-170dB levels for the public, you'd be shut down by the FDA and other government safety authorities. Trust me, 100dB sustained peaks in a theater is plenty loud. The audience winds up looking like this guy:

sddefault.jpg
 
We like HDR audio partly due to a lack of competence on our side... we understand it is not really useful as the mics can’t deliver the range but we like being able to set stuff up once and only concentrate on mic position and not blowing the mic.. the mixer we leave alone...

So we invested in zaxcom kit because we are not really audio people... the combination of zax HDR audio ‘neverclip’ and TX that records all day long independent of mix based record reasured us.... with zaxcom nomad zax TX we also have redundant recording.. and also mixer back up record and also redundant power.... real belt and braces approach!

the slight irony is Zaxcom stuff is not exactly intuitive;-(
 
Michael Lindsay said:
We like HDR audio partly due to a lack of competence on our side... we understand it is not really useful as the mics can’t deliver the range but we like being able to set stuff up once and only concentrate on mic position and not blowing the mic.. the mixer we leave alone...

So we invested in zaxcom kit because we are not really audio people... the combination of zax HDR audio ‘neverclip’ and TX that records all day long independent of mix based record reasured us.... with zaxcom nomad zax TX we also have redundant recording.. and also mixer back up record and also redundant power.... real belt and braces approach!

the slight irony is Zaxcom stuff is not exactly intuitive;-(
Click to expand...

You could also buy the M2D2 preamp that has 135db DR wich you can plug into your DSLR/DSMC2 minijack input or the R4+ if you need a recorder. Best sound in the industry and you'll never clip ;-)

Pat
 
Marc Wielage said:
Note that Glenn Sanders of Zaxcom claims he has a patent on using dual A/D-D/A chips for wider dynamic range, and he's looking very carefully at this now. ]
Click to expand...


The good thing for the non-US world is that the patent is only valid in the US territory. Kodak used dual AD in the 80's.

Dual AD will become the norm in the rest of the audioworld.

Pat
 
Patrick Tresch said:
The good thing for the non-US world is that the patent is only valid in the US territory. Kodak used dual AD in the 80's. Dual AD will become the norm in the rest of the audioworld.
Click to expand...
It's hard to say. I think normal 24-bit audio is more than enough to record almost any location in the world. The problem is if the microphone actually distorts in the preamp itself, and that's an issue. I know of sets where they actually use 2 mics on certain actors, one set at a level -10dB lower, just in case they scream or otherwise overload it. And the microphone itself can overload in some cases, and there's no easy way of solving that except to sue a clip-correction algorithm in iZotope RX or similar software to try to smooth out the square wave.

Again, the real problem is dealing with this stuff in post.
 
Michael Lindsay said:
the slight irony is Zaxcom stuff is not exactly intuitive;-(
Click to expand...

hahaha! Yeah Zaxcom is both tougher to fvck up (thanks to neverclip and TX recording) but is also easier to fvck up if you sound op is new to Zaxcom! Even experienced mixers can face quite the steep learning curve if they're new to Zaxcom
 
Marc Wielage said:
It's hard to say. I think normal 24-bit audio is more than enough to record almost any location in the world.
Click to expand...

I agree, as hundreds/thousands of movies over the years recorded in 24bits have proven.

Marc Wielage said:
The problem is if the microphone actually distorts in the preamp itself, and that's an issue.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what the Zoom F6 is doing! This should be good news for us?

Marc Wielage said:
I know of sets where they actually use 2 mics on certain actors, one set at a level -10dB lower, just in case they scream or otherwise overload it.
Click to expand...

This feature that F6 has will be even more useful on transmitters than on the recorder.
Although as Zoom is not a wireless manufacturer, we might not see this any time soon, and Zaxcom will remain our only option.
 
David Peterson said:
hahaha! Yeah Zaxcom is both tougher to fvck up (thanks to neverclip and TX recording) but is also easier to fvck up if you sound op is new to Zaxcom! Even experienced mixers can face quite the steep learning curve if they're new to Zaxcom
Click to expand...

Zaxcom is definitely the Red and Sound Devices the ARRI from this point of view...;-)

Ps Antother similarity is that Red has some very very key patents that stop ARRI and Sony ... just like Zaxcom.
 
Michael Lindsay said:
Zaxcom is definitely the Red and Sound Devices the ARRI from this point of view...;-)

Ps Antother similarity is that Red has some very very key patents that stop ARRI and Sony ... just like Zaxcom.
Click to expand...

I quite like that analogy! Although like all analogies it is not perfect (for instance maybe you should say Aaton is more like ARRI than Sound Devices is? But then again that isn't exactly accurate either).

However there certainly are lot of the good/bad you'd think about RED which could be applied to Zaxcom as well.
 
Michael Lindsay said:
Zaxcom is definitely the Red and Sound Devices the ARRI from this point of view...;-)

Ps Antother similarity is that Red has some very very key patents that stop ARRI and Sony ... just like Zaxcom.
Click to expand...

I dissagree. Zaxcom isn't as customer friendly than RED. Our RED ONE got a credit of 17500 to upgrade to an Epic.

Companies still can buy patents like Atomos wich uses compressed RAW. Apple has Prores and also sell it. Arri have a bunch of patents. They could buy the module patent. They also buy the other companies IP by making them work for them or devolp tools for them. Small HD 7 cine is a good example and there are a lot of others. I wonder how much SmallHD has to pay their SDK? Arri never did a big LCD touch to operate and control the image. Red didn't patent this one though ;-)

But like my friend says : In the US you could even patent the wheel!

Pat
 
Patrick Tresch said:
I dissagree. Zaxcom isn't as customer friendly than RED.
Click to expand...


Have you had a bad experience with Zaxcom? As Zaxcom appears to give great customer service as well, people speak highly of them, and the Zaxcom founder is one of the more active participants on JWSoundGroup
 
David Peterson said:
Have you had a bad experience with Zaxcom? As Zaxcom appears to give great customer service as well, people speak highly of them, and the Zaxcom founder is one of the more active participants on JWSoundGroup
Click to expand...
The customer support from Zaxcom is terrific. I once had a problem with a Deva on a Friday night before a shoot and left a message on their voicemail around 5PM Pacific time (8PM in New Jersey), not assuming I'd get a response until the next day (if that). An hour later I got a personal call from Glenn Sanders, who talked me through a solution. I have great respect for anybody who would do that.

Sound Devices and Lectrosonics are also both very good, and I've had good experiences with both of them. It also helps to have good relationships with local pro sound vendors, so if you run into an emergency, they'll get you a loaner and otherwise get you up and running in mission-critical situations.
 
Sound Devices Scorpio Audio Recorder



By Personal View



Interview with Matt Brodnick from Sound Devices about latest and most featured audio recorder from Sound Devices. While still featuring same high quality preamps and phantom power on each inpiut they now move to total inputs increase route. Scorpion features 32 Dante and AES inputs and 16 mic preamps and 12 analog inputs total. Recorder is far from cheap being close to $9000 and intended for large sets or music applications.
 
NAB 2019: Sound Devices Scorpio



By WavReport Editor



Paul Isaacs from Sound Devices gives us a sweeping overview of their new flagship recorder: Scorpio!
 
Is Scorpio the future of a new Sound Devices Eco system?




By Michael Wynne




At the annual Trew Audio BBQ and mixer swap in Atlanta, GA we had the pleasure of getting a hands on demo of the newly launched Sound Devices Scorpio and ICON controller from lead product designer Paul Isaacs. Hear some initial feedback from a couple Atlanta sound mixers and get some insight directly from Paul on what could possibly be the future of a new Sound Devices Eco System with the power of it's FPGJA processors and the pure flexibility of it's design and future implementation possibilities.
 
Using the Icon Platform M+ with the Scorpio: Overview and Initial Setup




By Sound Devices





Join us as we walk through connection and initial setup of the Icon Platform M+ to the Scorpio.





Using the Icon Platform M+ with the Scorpio: Transport Controls





By Sound Devices



Today we're going to dive in to the transport controls on the Icon Platform M+, optimized to work with Scorpio.
 
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