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Movies Forum Index » Movie Production (Sound) Forum » Zaxcom Update
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| Billy Sarokin |
 Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:42 pm |
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Over the last few months I've had many major software (and one
hardware) upgrades to all my Zaxcom equipment that essentially
'finish' the systems and bring them way past what was originally
advertised. I haven't had time to post incrementally so please excuse
what will probably be a lengthy post.
For those who don't know me, I'm a feature film mixer and my system is
almost entirely Zaxcom. I have 2 Deva 5's, 11 Zaxcom Digital
recording radios, a Cameo 2 mixer and a mini ZFR recorder. I bought
almost everything in the very early stages of their development and
without many of the advertised features. At the time, even in their
rudimentary stages, the gear was better than anything else available.
There were problems (pretty much all of which I've posted here), but
in spite of the issues, the gear still preformed way above my
expectations and made my job easier and my end product better. In the
years I've been using this gear my career has skyrocketed ((though,
lol, my salary has not). I can't say it was all do to the gear, but
it has made my cart lighter and faster and much more adaptable. With
this gear I've been able to pull out scenes I never would have been
able to achieve. Just the other day on 'Love Ranch' we were doing
freewheeling car scenes. Cameras were mounted on the hood while 2
actors drove the car, screeching to a stop and doing a 180, while
speaking the entire time. The last scene, where they do the 180 was
at magic hour. The sun was setting fast. I was in a follow van with
my Deva and receivers but there was no way to hide us when the hero
car did the 180, so the director screamed into the walkie to the
driver, and I'm softening the language considerably, ' bleep bleep
sound, I'll loop it, get that bleeping van out of there. So I had a
nice drive back to base camp. A half hour later when the hero car and
slightly apologetic director returned I grabbed the SD cards out of
the actors Zaxcom transmitters, popped them into a computer and burned
a fully timecoded dvd of all the audio for that scene. Couldn't have
done that, in that circumstance, without the Zaxcoms. Of course, in a
perfect world, if the shot had been planned and I had time, I could
have pre rigged the car with Lectors and a Fostex deck and let it free
wheel, But this day we were jumping back and forth between a process
trailer and freewheeling and very little was planned. The ability of
the Zaxcom radios to record is just phenomenal. There is nothing else
out there that can do that AND have incredible audio quality, long
battery life and superb range.
I bought 2 of the first generation radios in 2002. While the audio
quality and range was excellent, the transmitters left a lot to be
desired. The led display was hard to read and decipher, they would
get hot, and the batteries in the slim line units would lose
contacts. The receivers were excellent and I still use my 2 original
receivers. I still use the original transmitters on occasion, but the
2nd generation transmitters, the TRX 900 and 990 series are awesome.
These include the built in recorders and receivers for receiving ifb
return audio, time code, and control signals.
My boom guys use the 990 series transmitters. This one box powers the
mic, transmits the signal to me, has a built in headphone amp so they
can listen to their mic directly, receives return audio from the board
(my talk back and any other mic or mix the boom person wants to listen
to), it also receives time code and control signals so I can raise or
lower the gain of the transmitter and turn the recording on and off
from my board.
As with all Zaxcom gear it was a long time coming. When I first
bought the 900 series radios the ifb and recording features were
promises but were not implemented. Even without the extras I felt the
radios were worth the price of admission for their extraordinary
quality and range. Over the next 2 years the promised improvements
(and non-promised improvements) came regularly. The last few weeks
I've been downloading software from my pda phone and installing it in
the transmitters on set. The lastet version came on Friday. It
increases range another 5%. The recording up grade came over a year
ago, then the ifb. There was one big hardware change. Zaxcom wasn't
happy with the 900 mHz ifb performance, so they changed it out to a
2.4 gig system which meant having to replace a hardware board in the
transmitters. The 2.4 gig system performs beautifully. ONE CAVEAT.
2.4 gig does not have as good a range as the UHF radio sysytems. For
instance, if I was getting 600' range from the transmitter to the cart
I was only getting 300' back to the transmitter via the IFB. The
solution was to add a common and inexpensive 2.4 gig amplifier to my
sound cart. Now both systems are equal. My boom person can be
hundreds of feet away and we can hear each other perfectly AND I can
still control his gain and monitor his recording status. The 2.4 gig
ifb transmitter on my cart has no ill effects on receiving the UHF
radio signal from the boom, the actors body mics or my 2 remaining
analog UHF rf mics.
While the IFB preforms beautifully the interface is a little
ungainly. The display is tiny and it uses pressure sensitive buttins
that do not always respond, so when adjusting gain for instance, you
have to monitor the display for confirmation that the gain has been
raised or lowered. Hopefully at some point it will have a remote
interface so the ifb unit can be buried deep in the cart with only the
interface at your hands. Perhaps even a (gulp... Roberto...)
bluetooth interface? (Unless the 2.4 gig transmission will interfere
with the blue tooth). The IFB needs numerous cable attachments, so it
is difficult to place (Power, TC In, Audio In, Antenna, and TC out if
you are looping through). Once set up though it is a unique and
invaluable device. It gives you full control of your transmitters
from hundreds of feet away. The only feature you can't control is
changing the transmitter frequency. Hopefully this will be a future
addition. It would be very handy! (Howy? Glenn?)
One of the latest upgrades fixed a time code problem. My current film
is shooting HD24P with the Genesis cameras. At first post wanted me
to run 29.97 and everything was fine, but after a few weeks they
decided they wanted 23.976. The Deva was happy with that but there
was a bug in the IFB at that frame rate which took a few weeks to
find. I'm happy to say the 23.976 is working accross the board in my
Deva, IFB, ZFR and all the receiving transmitters.
I'm hopung at some point, since the IFB is transmitting time code,
that Zaxcom will come out with a tiny stand
alone tc receiver/generator to attach to slates or to the 24 P cameras
so we never have to jam. It can also double as a Comtek since the IFB
is alread transmitting program audio too. And then if they make a
dual channel IFB so one channel can be general program audio for
everyone and channel 2 a private line to the boom crew....
As I said in a post in 2002, because these radios are software based
they will only keep getting better and better. They are. And while
they are past everything that was promised they are continuing to
improve as more users come on line and make suggestions. One in
point... When I first started using the recording feature I asked if
there was any way for the transmitter to confirm it was recording. A
few days later Zaxcom emailed new software. My receivers now display
an 'S' (stop) or 'R' (recording) next to the transmitters battery
level display. And as Howy has continued to improve the digital
algorhithms the range has continually improved. They also recently
added a noise reduction feature. I haven't used it (except for
playing). It does seem to cut back self noise of the B6's by more
than 12 db. I think it was developed for a specific client, but
Zaxcom liked it and included it as a standard feature. Nice.
My wish list for the radios? Not many. I hope at some point they can
extend the useable band range from 30 mHz to 50 mHz. The bigger the
band we're dealing with the better the chance for finding useable
frequencies. And the 990's need a way to secure the sd card. They do
pop out on occasion. The 900's had that problem but Zaxcom redesigned
the case and solved it. The 990's will need a similar fix. And there
was a hardware problem. The final power amp in the transmitters was
susceptible to static. It was never an issue in New York, but when I
was working in the drier climate of New Mexico I experienced the odd
failure. It was pretty rare, but Zaxcom now uses a new chip. I've
only had it replaced in 2 of my units, but as they go into the shop
over time they will replace them all (and of course it is now standard
issue). Not much else. They withstand incredible abuse. One of mine
looks like it was run over by a locomotive. No idea what the actor
did to it, but it's still working fine.
The 2 main surprises... my favorite features are the ability to
control gain remotely. When actors go from screaming to whispering I
can make adjustments from hundreds of feet away without having to
bother the talent. The 2nd is the ease in re-freq'ing many units on
the fly. There are no inter-mod isses with the Zaxcoms, so I don't
need a computer program. All I have to do is keep each radio a
minimum of 500K apart. Zaxcom recommends 600KHz but I've often gone
to 500 with no ill effects.
And the Deva.... there have been 3 main changes over the past year
(possibly longer... it takes me a while before I get a chance to
upgrade the recorder software). One is variable partitions. No more
artificial 4 gig limits. Each partition can be as long or short as
necessary. Other recorders already had this. I'm glad it was
implemented on the Deva... which leads to the next. Simultaneous
recording. Deva now writes to the internal hard drive and either an
external hard drive or the internal/external DVD/RAM simultaneously.
When I hit STOP after the last take at the end of a long day my DVD is
instantly ready. I can also copy an entire hard drive to a fire wire
drive with one click. Previously I had to copy a segment at a time.
Lastly, they just added a sound report file to the DVD. I haven't
installed this newest software yet, so I can't speak much about it.
From what I've heard post seems happy. AFIK there is only one feature
that was advertised but is not yet available. Simultaneous recording
and playback. I don't know if it will ever appear. I've heard
rumours yes and no.
As much as I like them, I will be selling my Devas soon to buy the
Deva 16 and the Mix 12. I'll miss the great display on the Cameo, but
I've pretty much stretched the Cameo to the limit and need more inputs
and more tracks. If anyone wants to buy a used Deva 5 drop me an
email (I'll keep the Cameo thank you).
Sorry for the length.
Billy Sarokin |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:53 pm |
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Jeeze... that was a long post. One other note though. One thing to
keep in mind if you use the recording radio system is a method to
organize your SD cards. It's easy to be lulled into a false sense of
security since everything has an SD card. But they Loop Record which
means after the card is full it begins overwriting the data at the
beginning. A 2 gig card holds something like 12 hours but you should
keep 3 - 5 cards for each transmitter or ZFR and rotate them every
day. I've had 2 instances where post wanted something off a card but
didn't tell me for days by which time the card had been over
written.
My 2 centavos
Billy |
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| wildt®ax |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:35 am |
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Billy Sarokin schrieb:
At the time, even in their
Quote: rudimentary stages, the gear was better than anything else available.
To give this post a second perspective let me mention a few things
that are still behind some of the other recorders although one might
think they could b easily changes by a software update. I noticed
these on a recent shoot where I used a deva 4 a cantar at the same
time:
1) The deva still doesn´t remember the track-names per take. Example:
When you change the track names from one setup to a nother without
burning the previous setup to DVD the deva will name ALL the
previously reorded takes with the same track names you gave the last
recorded take. This means you are forced to burn to dvd before
changing the track names otherwise you will end up with all the same
track names when you burn at the end of the day.
I´ve had some films in post where the recordist didn´t know this
(beause I think it´s not mentioned anywhere) and EVERY take was
mislabeled except for the last one of the day. At the moment the track
names seem to be some kind of static global setting wich doesn´t make
sense to me at all.
2) The deva does not update the meta-data of an already recorded take
on the secondary medium. (DVD-RAM or external drive). So you have to
re-transfer your audio after you have edited the meta-data. The 744T
doesn´t do this either but it also costs only a third or less than a
deva and I see no reason why this couldn´t be improved by an update.
3) the display needs to brighten up. In bright sunlight it´s kind of
readable but I had some situations where I couldn´t read it without
finding a shadow or making my own using my hand. Has this improved o
the new machines?
4) The analog limiters are not usable IMO in terms of sound quality
but that´s a question of taste I guess.
Hope this can be fixed till I use the machine the next time.
frank. |
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| wildt®ax |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:35 am |
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Billy Sarokin schrieb:
At the time, even in their
Quote: rudimentary stages, the gear was better than anything else available.
To give this post a second perspective let me mention a few things
that are still behind some of the other recorders although one might
think they could b easily changes by a software update. I noticed
these on a recent shoot where I used a deva 4 a cantar at the same
time:
1) The deva still doesn´t remember the track-names per take. Example:
When you change the track names from one setup to a nother without
burning the previous setup to DVD the deva will name ALL the
previously reorded takes with the same track names you gave the last
recorded take. This means you are forced to burn to dvd before
changing the track names otherwise you will end up with all the same
track names when you burn at the end of the day.
I´ve had some films in post where the recordist didn´t know this
(beause I think it´s not mentioned anywhere) and EVERY take was
mislabeled except for the last one of the day. At the moment the track
names seem to be some kind of static global setting wich doesn´t make
sense to me at all.
2) The deva does not update the meta-data of an already recorded take
on the secondary medium. (DVD-RAM or external drive). So you have to
re-transfer your audio after you have edited the meta-data. The 744T
doesn´t do this either but it also costs only a third or less than a
deva and I see no reason why this couldn´t be improved by an update.
3) the display needs to brighten up. In bright sunlight it´s kind of
readable but I had some situations where I couldn´t read it without
finding a shadow or making my own using my hand. Has this improved o
the new machines?
4) The analog limiters are not usable IMO in terms of sound quality
but that´s a question of taste I guess.
Hope this can be fixed till I use the machine the next time.
frank. |
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| Ron Scelza |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:57 am |
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Dear Billy, Etal,
In the way that Bill has so eloquently elaborated, I couldn't agree
more with what Billy feels about Zaxcom and applaud the hard work of
Howy and Glenn to make my life easier and give me more confidence on
the set..
As a Zaxcom user - Mix 12, "The ultimate wireless 900" with stereo
adaptors, Deva V...
Starting with software upgrade 5.17. The 900 offers a menu option to
loop record or to end the recording when the SD card is full...
<SNIP> <Billy Wrote :< But they Loop Record which means after the
card is full it begins overwriting the data at the beginning.>
The main reason for this post is to offer another option to users of
the Zaxcom 900 in the event they have not yet purchased the IFB... ...
I am currently working on a RED camera production "Librarian 3"... This
took a lot of time and research from "Coffey Sound" and me to find the
potential pits -- We found them and slayed that dragon! In speaking
with the Editor --- All is good...
Configuration: Zaxcom 900 wireless stereo adapter camera hops two RED
cameras - and two XD cameras (non time code)... Sennheiser Evolution
for wireless camera monitoring:
Boom op-- Zaxcom 900 stereo adaptor wireless:
Smooth and solid...
PS... We had a RED Tech on the set for a few days.... If the RED camera
FAN is set correctly it will turn off and not come back on until after
the RED stops recording.. (Software setting on RED must be correct)...
Sincerely
Ron Scelza C.A.S. |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:30 am |
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On Mar 9, 6:35 am, wildt®ax <wildtraxs...@gmx.de> wrote:
Quote: To give this post a second perspective let me mention a few things
that are still behind some of the other recorders although one might
think they could b easily changes by a software update. I noticed
these on a recent shoot where I used a deva 4 a cantar at the same
time:
2) The deva does not update the meta-data of an already recorded take
on the secondary medium. (DVD-RAM or external drive). So you have to
re-transfer your audio after you have edited the meta-data.
I'm sure Frank is correct about the track names. I haven't used that
feature since on fast paced shoots iI find it too much trouble to keep
up with naming and renaming 10 tracks. It's easier to just jot track
assignments down in the reports. As for editing meta data, Frank is
correct too. If you change meta data after a take begins you have to
go back and re-mirror the secondary drive. While the change is
instantaneous on the internal hard drive, if the secondary has already
been written with the incorrect data it must be re-written.
Quote: 3) the display needs to brighten up. In bright sunlight it´s kind of
readable but I had some situations where I couldn´t read it without
finding a shadow or making my own using my hand. Has this improved o
the new machines?
I only find it unreadable if I'm wearing polarized sun glasses.
Though speaking of the display there is one improvement needed. It
needs either a flip down protective cover and/or a screen lock
function. A few times while working over the shoulder either I
touched the display or a cable fell on it and changed a setting. That
should be an easy fix.
Quote: 4) The analog limiters are not usable IMO in terms of sound quality
but that´s a question of taste I guess.
I like the Deva limiters but I do not like the radio mic digital
limiters. They'll start to 'motor boat' in certain circumstances, so
I keep them turned off. A fix has been promised but hasn't been
delivered yet.
Billy |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:19 am |
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| What does "motorboat" mean? ..in terms of limiters;) |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:01 pm |
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Most of the time I know right away when I need to go to the card if I
get an rf hit on dialog. Doesn't happen much but when it does I'll
jot down the approx tc number and after the scene (or even at the end
of the day) I'll play back the offending bit from the sd card and
create a new 'take' on the DVD. If it's an entire scene that needs to
be copied then I'll pull the card and pop it inot a computer and burn
a new dvd of that scene. The key is to identify everything VERY well
so post knows what it is and where to find it.
Billy
Quote: One question in regards to the SD cards.
1. Do you just store it as b/u on a hd somewhere.
2. Turn it into post. Thus having to burn 1-4+ dvds per day (ouch)
3. Just burn it if you deem it necessary?
Thanks,
Ian |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:03 pm |
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On Mar 9, 3:19 pm, richreillym...@gmail.com wrote:
Quote: What does "motorboat" mean? ..in terms of limiters;)
It sounds bad whatever it is! It sounds like the voice goes into
overload and the limiter is turning on and off rapidly to try to
correct it. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:15 pm |
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On Mar 9, 6:03 pm, Billy Sarokin <bigm...@verizon.net> wrote:
Quote: On Mar 9, 3:19 pm, richreillym...@gmail.com wrote:
What does "motorboat" mean? ..in terms of limiters;)
It sounds bad whatever it is! It sounds like the voice goes into
overload and the limiter is turning on and off rapidly to try to
correct it.
I was wondering because I recently dealt with a Sennheiser 100 eng
setup and heard some strange handling of sibilance at the end of
sentences..kind of a farty noise as it trailed off. Pardon the
technical language. I have never heard this with lectros. |
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| Soundhaspriority |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:09 pm |
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<richreillymail@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:86ed5443-f0d1-4771-a9f7-ebe058c22361@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
Quote: What does "motorboat" mean? ..in terms of limiters;)
It's a general term for the sound made by an oscillating automatic gain
control circuit, that sounds remarkably like a low rpm marine engine
(put-put-put...). It was a very common problem back in the vacuum tube era.
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511 |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:25 pm |
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On Mar 9, 8:15 pm, richreillym...@gmail.com wrote:
Quote: I was wondering because I recently dealt with a Sennheiser 100 eng
setup and heard some strange handling of sibilance at the end of
sentences..kind of a farty noise as it trailed off. Pardon the
technical language. I have never heard this with lectros.
That sounds like companding artifacts, though with my Audio Ltds it
sounded more like sand on a drum head. Not to belabor a point, but
it's a non issue with the digital radios. No companding. |
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| Tom Soda |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:44 pm |
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Quote: I like the Deva limiters but I do not like the radio mic digital
limiters. They'll start to 'motor boat' in certain circumstances, so
I keep them turned off. A fix has been promised but hasn't been
delivered yet.
Billy
I have been using the limiters in my units, and have definitely heard
what you are both talking about. If I turn the limiters off, where do
you think a good place to start the gain at would be? I'm afraid to go
to hot without the limiters engaged!
~Thomas |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:51 pm |
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Quote: I have been using the limiters in my units, and have definitely heard
what you are both talking about. If I turn the limiters off, where do
you think a good place to start the gain at would be? I'm afraid to go
to hot without the limiters engaged!
~Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Can't say because it depends on too many variables. I mostly use red
band (-10) B6's and I usually start with the gain set and between 8-12
and go from there. I haven't had any overload issues and I've been
caught by surprise a few times. I believe there is a built in analog
limiter in the mic pre (not positive). The ifb makes tweaking easy
once I have an idea of how the scene will be played. Hopefully a few
more posts on the subject will kick the fix up a few notches on Howy's
master list.
Best,
Billy Sarokin |
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| Billy Sarokin |
| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 am |
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Another nice new feature. You can record on one partition and copy a
different one to the DVD or FW drive. Comes in handy when post wants
something re-copied or the format changed. You don't have to interrupt
your current work flow. You can continue recording into your current
folder with your current specs while telling DEVA to change the folder
and specs for the mirror drive. |
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