Summer 2000 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

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( Rvcote Fctntm continued ) partit plays in our lives, and hopefully choose it as a career! The next speaker was Stephen Peus from Neuman Microphones, who to put a fine point on it, explained that to match the sensitivty of the ear, microphones have to be very special instruments indeed. I bet that the majority of us pull our favourite microphone out of the case at the start of the day and give no thought as to how precise the engineering is and how much research has gone into the materials used. The effectiveness of the human ear always leaves me in awe! After a welcome coffee break Jorg Wuttke, Schoeps' guru whom I am sure evervbodv has at least heard of. gave a talk about his favourite subject 'Windscreens for everybody'! Oh, how naive we all are! Stuff the microphone into a ball of foam and wind noise disappears. Well I know none of us actually do that do we? No, we all invest in Rycote baskets, windjammers et al, but how many of us realise the importance of removing the horrendously expensive foam windgag first? An enlightening and amusing talk to say the least! Last to take the stand was Jackie Green, Vice kesident of Product Development at Audio Technica. Jackie's chosen subject was one which interests us all, Radio Microphones, and not a windgag in site! Jackie's talk emphasised all our concerns with regard to the frequency licensing anangements, admittedly in the USA, but given the present climate of 'sell anything if you can raise cash' soon to hit our shores. In any case it's not a rare event for us to work in the states is it? We all know the problems that Radio Microphones present us with not least the strange birdies which come out of nowhere to ruin that perfect take! I have to tell everybody that life is going to get worse. Not just in the States but over here as well. Digital isn't the answer in fact it's part of the cause. Soon, maybe in the next couple of years, the lottery for frequencies which we have always regarded as our own will be put up for sale. These will go to the highest bidder (of course) and who is that, well by present indicators it will still be the Mobile Phone networks! They are ravenous for frequencies, and prepared to pay a kings ransom, witness the last round!And these networks use digital transmissions. The problem with a digital transmission is that there are NO gaps to put an analogue signal in,let alone a digital one. So no frequencies, no radio microphones, I have to say at this point in Jackie's talk, a little cheer went up from the clutch of Location Mixers that made up part of the audience. Sadly reality is with us all and we know that our job, like it or not, relies on radio microphones no matter how much we hate them. The truth is that unless someone listens to us and our cause, we won't be able to use them. Sad fact but true. Television and corporate events will come to a grinding halt as when that faithful Micron or Audio is plugged in all you get out is digital hash! We all know that government bodies should listen to minorities, and the entertainment industry is a minority in this game, but when money talks, only money listens. Jackie related the problems as they appear in the States, but we all know it's here in Europe as well. We all thought that Sony and Time Warnerwere big corporations but it seems in this garne they are tiddlers. Incidentally in the question time after Jackie's talk, these views were echoed by Rolf Meyer. At this point lunch was declared, and we adjourned to the restaurant where a sumptuous buffet had been laid on. After lunch we all assembled, this time chaired by Rycote's tame guru, Chris Wolf. Chris made the sensible suggestion that as the sun had now come round as was turning the room into an oven with all the windows wide open, we keep strictly to the timetable! This was the half of the day where location recording came to the front row, and Florian Camarer, a surround sound Recordist at ORF, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation to you and me, gave a fascinating talk on the problems of recording surround sound in the field. If it wasn't enough keeping quite in front of the microphones when trying to record a wildtrack Florian has it behind if you see what I mean. Tales from the Arctic and Antarctic abounded. Its so quiet you can hear a Polar Bear fart at 4OO metres, or so I'm told! Most of his problems came from other people's jackets rustling, usually because the person inside it was breathing! Jumping over moving ice flows may sound fun but carrying tens of kilograms worth thousands of pounds gives it another dimension. D Chris Wolf opens the allernoon session: from left - Florian Camarer (sound mixer, Austrian tsroadcasting ORF, Chris Wolf, Malcolm Johnson, Marc Ulano CAS (sound mixer US.,\) 6
Interestingly Florian's wish list includes a Deva with at least 2 more tracks. I second that! Malcolm Johnson, the retired head of BBC Television OB's, gave a resume of his life at the Beeb warts and all! Very amusing anecdotes with much laughter. Following on from Florian's experiences with surround sound recording, Tim White, of IMAX Recording fame, related some of his nightmares starting with, as he described it, a 1960 Diesel Peugeot starting in the morning and never warming up, and that's the IMAX camera!!! tn his early days he strapped rwo HHB DAT machines togefher, added radio microphones, a Soundfield microphone, and jumped into a helicopter - that was his portable rig! On Tim's next IMAX feature, Deva comes into play. Like Florian, Tim has a wish list which contains a 6 track Deva. One factor that he has to contend with is the fact that the camera IS king, no question. So it's a tribute to Tim that so much original dialogue was used on his last feature, some 4OVo. Llst up was Mark Ulano whose career spans a couple of decades, and is interspersed with such notables as Stuart Little, Jackie Brown, Austin Powers and of course Titanic for which he won an Oscar. The most reassuring thing is that no matter what you are working on, the problems are the same the world over! On Titanic for instance, Mark wasn't the first choice, his call came when the Mexican sound crew walked off the set! He had no idea what Titanic was going fo be about, and arrived when they were shooting a playback scene and the playbick operator was not having a GOOD day. He recalls that he got up to go to the aid of the playback operator and arrived seconds before Jim Cameron, who quickly appraised what Mark was about, turned on his heals and went back to the comfort of his director's chair. A,s Mark says he must have done something right! The shoot went on for another nine months with some takes involving the submerging of the set and a reset taking six hours.Now you don't call "Ready when you are Mr DeMille" after that shot! Radiomicrophones featured heavily in Mark's line up for Titanic, especially for the booms. The sheer size of the set and the dangerof cables made this choice inevitable. Bearing in mind what was said earlier about frequencies, shoots like Titanic would be in jeapody. Mark's concerns were all too obvious. I remarked at the start that it's a mad world we live in. This forum poured a little sanity on that. When there are people in our industry who devote so much time, effort and resources finding solutions to the varied problems that are manifesily conquerable but are of our own making, it's a pure delight to be associated with a company that has spent time and effort conquering a natural phonomina - WIND! Well done Vivienne and Robin for a very enjoyable and worthwhile weekend. There may not be anotherfor quite a time. I hope the wait willnot be too long. IAN RICHARDSON ,n" u",on., s. ...e & ndu5ry "u,",,.'&,'-?',rr III NATIONAL MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHY. FIIil TELEVISION PICTUREVTLLE . BRADFORO Ihe Nlt ona f'l!5eum of Phoiography F lnr & fe evrs on ,s par t of the Netronal i'iuscrir of Srrcncc & lndustry NOISEGATE - An Immersive Re- Synthesis Of Audio And Video. Members, especially those in the north, may get some fun out of a visit to this exhibition at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford between 28 July and 10 September. Designed by Kurt Hentschiager and Ulf t angheinrich, who specialise in aural and visual environments using a technique of 'synthetic granulation' (signal processing), the exhibition creates audio-visual environments that bombard spectators with sounds and images. Drawn through a darkened corridor towards mysterious sounds and flickering lights, visitors to Noisegate are immersed in a multimedia environment. Six immense video projections, each a storey high, are suspended in a dark, cavernous space and the gallery filled with a bombardment of discordantly rhythmic, gutwrenching sounds of pure intensity. Let spectators tre warned! For further information, please contact Emma Burrows at the NMPFT onol2742Q33I7. or Email eburrows @ nmsi.ac.uk. THtr BRADFORD COMPLEX While on the subject of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, AMPS' members, especially those in the north, should know that it's notjust a centre for exhibits and exhibitions. Regular programmes of films old and new are run throughout the year in the Pictureville and Cubby Broccoli Cinemas. There is the IMAX Cinema where all the larest IMAX films are screened, and there are regular performances of the restored originil threeprojector Cinerama production with stereo sound,Iftis is C inerama. For sustenance and refreshment there's the Intermi ssion CafeiRestaurant, open from Tuesdays to Sundays, 10.00 - 5.30, quality cuisine at affordable prices; also the Pictureville Cafe/Bar, open daily,5-9 pm, informal surroundings to enjoy pre-show drinks, meet friends orjust relax. lnterested? Then if you live in West Yorkshire you can receive theirmonthly programme brochure free. Call them on O12742A33fi.If you live elsewhere, the brochure will cost f3.50. Look them up on www.nmpft.org.uk.
Page 1 and 2: t'- The Newsletter of the Associati
Page 3 and 4: PRO TOOLS DEMO FORAMPS MEMBERS Many
Page 5: RYCOTE'S International Sound Forum
Page 9 and 10: The main difficulty then was the po
Page 11 and 12: LETTING OFF STEAM AMPS Meeting at T
Page 13 and 14: THE PINEWOOD STORY The Autltorised
Page 15 and 16: ROBIN CLARKE MUSIC EDITOR 1932 - 2O

Summer 2000 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

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