Cabling

It's true. I simply do have have a decent way to create an input list. What I really need is a cable list. I feel as though I need some XLRF to 1/4"TRSM 18" cables. But I'm not sure now am I?

So in order to make a mess of this blog, I'm trying to figure out what cables need to be in the rack. Good times, amiright?
These are the inputs to the Tascam US 2000. We already know how to patch into the associated preamps.

5. Low tom -- short XLR ✓
6. Hi tom -- short XLR ✓
7. Greg guitar -- patches directly into front via XLR ✓
8. Lily Bass -- patches directly into front via TRS ✓
9. Kick close -- short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Lindell)
10. Snare -- short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Lindell)
11. OH L -- short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Neve A)
12. OH R short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Neve A)
13. Distant kick short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Neve A)
14. Drew guitar short XLR F to 1/4" TRS M (from Neve A)

I think this means that eventually I'm going to need at least four more XLRF to TRSM cables. And maybe a half-dozen short XLR cables. 

Input channels

♠ 1U rack Neve outputs to 11 and 12 on XLR bay to 13 and 14 on Tascam
    Distant kick and Drew guitar
____________________________________________________________________
1. Lindell pair (inputs 7 and 8 inputs on XLR bay) and outs to inputs 9 and 10 on Tascam
    Kick and snare microphones
2. Neve (inputs 9 and 10 on XLR bay) outputs 11 12 on Tascam
    Ear Trumpet Labs overhead microphones
3. Tascam A/D converter
4. XLR patchbay
5. 1U Power

Here's an input list:
5. Low tom
6. Hi tom
7. Greg guitar
8. Lily Bass
9. Kick close
10. Snare
11. OH L
12. OH R
13. Distant kick
14. Drew guitar
We only need 10 inputs until we add cello, flute, a second bass, and vocals.

Workstations Anywhere

So my Titanus computer died. It's 14 months or so old. I called Titanus, told 'em it was dead and the guy was like "Well, it's got a 2-year warrantee and it sounds like you just need a new power supply. How about I send you a new power supply? I'll even upgrade it."
Holy cats. Yes.
So I installed the new power supply (they sent it overnight via Amazon) and the computer works fine. If the guys at Titanus saw how sloppy I did the wiring they might be outraged. But it works.
Being without that workstation for a week concerned me though. Made me anxious. Makes me feel like I need another high-end workstation. Maybe I need a heavy-duty laptop?

Robin Kurtz in Earthkiller.

Trying to look further into Adobe Anywhere it seems that it simply isn't practical for a small shop. To which I say "bleh". I would switch over to Premiere in a heartbeat if we could actually use Adobe Anywhere and set up licenses on editors' laptops and suchwise. But we can't. So we don't.

 ♠

Lastwise, an essay in Forbes about why the DVD isn't going away.  What I should do is write a post titled something like Why the movie business sucks and why it isn't all that bad as a business.

Activated

Blogger has been awfully buggy lately. There was that thing where it kept whining about not having a blog title as soon as you started a new post. Then sometimes it just decides to not actually allow you to have a bandcamp link (the first few tries you make to publish one.) Anyway, I'm (almost) done with complaining about that.

Saw Annie Activator at Otto's Shrunken Head the other night. I had a mai tai. For the first half of the drink I was all like "this drink isn't very strong at all."

Then, instantly, I was plastered. Furthermore later on in the evening Ethan then bought me some other tiki concoction which actually glowed a radioactive green. Just because he thought it was funny. I took a bus home.
Also, Ethan lent us his Fatman compressor. The manual for it is here. I had a devil of a time finding it because I kept googling "HHB Fatman manual" and that only led me to links talking about how the compressor has a manual setting on it. Ha-rumph.
So, in a way, I'm sort of pleased that the Aphex preamp is dead only because it means that there's one fewer things for me to deal with.
That being said, cabling is something I do have to deal with and I haven't done anything about it yet. The Tascam US-2000 actually has 14 analog inputs. This pleaseth a Drew. The only thing is that my laptop can't really handle the ASIO drivers at low-latency without causing errors. I'm working on that.
In any case, we'll try the Fatman on the bass. We just need to keep the very high-amplitude stuff (slapping) from breaking up the rest of the analog chain (our monitors).

A 6U rack just might not really work for the recording setup.
1. Lindell
2. Neve A
3. Neve B
4. A/D box (Tascam US-2000
5. 1U Power strip
6. Input XLR patchbay strip

See? There's no room for connectors for the monitor system or the computer in that setup. If we keep one of the Neves in a separate rack we might be able to make the whole thing work. I have to figure out the way that stuff gets in through the input XLR patchbay though.

You know you love it when I share my notes out loud to the universe.

Well That Could Be. Too.

C'mon. Jalopy. I haven't even been there and yet still I know it's the most awesome music venue.

In the Vast Iteration is a City Samanas record. Well. Maybe. It may be a Diatomaceous Earth album. In any case, Greg has somehow been saddled with the responsibility of arranging the elements of this album into a single song -- like "Roundabout" or Pink Floyd's "Echoes". Ha! 
Might this also be a part of The Imaginary Opera? Well, that could be. Too.

Tom Tom Notes

So I'll admit it. I failed. I tried a 3-microphone setup on drums. And I just couldn't quite get the sound I've been looking for all this time.
The only things I know about recording drums are what Eric Rachel at Trax East has told me. One thing he pointed out is that recording toms and making them sound good is relatively easy. And to rely on the overheads and room mics.
We're not using room mics because the room isn't that awesome sounding anyway. But just putting microphones on the toms makes mixing the drums so much vastly easier because I'm not over-compressing everything just to get the toms to sing. Instead the cymbals can sit where they need to (most of their sound comes from the overheads) and the toms will go boom when they're played.
This is an improvised rehearsal. There were some songs or song-like things which some of us knew but others didn't. All the mixes were done on my laptop with an archaic version of Samplitude. This is because my main mixing computer lost its power supply and I'm waiting on the new supply to show up. So we're using the Tascam US-2000. The overheads are a pair of very sweet-sounding Ear Trumpet Labs mics going into Neve 1272 preamps.
There's a "distance" kick mic which is a RODE NT1 feeding a 1272.
The bass goes direct into the US-2000's DI input. The guitars are both recorded with SM58's. Mine goes into the last channel of my 1272. Greg's (in this recording at least) is preamped with the Tascam's internal preamps. Which sound surprisingly good.
The snare goes through an Equation Audio hypercardioid. And then it hits a Lindell 500-series preamp.
There's no close kick-drum mic on this recording. That'll be different next time. Also, my listening to the mix makes me want to do, er, things with the drum sound. And before we go and release an album with this material I want to actually mix it -- bring some instruments up and down rather than just setting the faders and letting it run all the way out.

Shower Scene

Although principal photography on Android Masquerade is complete we knew we had to get this one shot of Kate coming out of the shower.

First I had to prep the gun. It looks roughly the way it did when Joe put his red-dot scope on it. But the caps had to be taped in the "up" position (which they don't really do). This closeup makes the contraption look awfully ersatz, but we didn't photograph it such that you should really notice or care. I think.

Yes. It's not in the script. I just thought it would be amusing if her character were hiding in the shower -- with the shower on -- fully dressed and carrying a gun.

I want credit here. Hottest day of the year so far and the lead actor gets to stand in a shower where she can control the temperature. It seems like every other time we're shooting on hot days we get the "Oh for continuity you have to wear this winter coat/be slathered in body paint".

Because it amused me. It still amuses me.

I'm glad that you can't see my reflection in this shot. But you can see the mask hanging on the wall.

I also got some very gratuitous closeups at high-speed of water dripping off the muzzle of the gun. Click through to embiggen a little selection of that. I am enjoying my ability to shoot high-speed again now that we're using a GH3.

Cat In The Machine

Today was cat in the Machine day. We seldom have a set cat. But today kitty came out to make sure we were all on schedule.

Where exactly is craft services on this show?

You know I'm on golden time from the minute you pet me, right?

How do you know when a grip dies? He drops his doughnut. Ha!

I shall lurk like a vulture.

I think you should do more cats-in-prison pictures. There's a huge untapped market for those.

Invaded Their Home With Myself

We recorded a new Diatomaceous Earth rehearsal.

This was the first experiment with close-miking the toms and snare (and, theoretically, the kick). I had been under the impression that everyone hated the way I'd been recording the drums so I went to all this trouble to set up a system where the drums could be recorded a tad more conventionally. As it turns out, apparently the other band members claim happiness with the drum sound up until now.
To which I say "feh".


So. Some things.
The Equation Audio kick drum microphone was DOA. But we slapped a pair of mics on the toms and one on the snare. We continued to use the distant "kick drum microphone" which is a Rode NT1 about a meter from the front of the kit.
The other thing that happened was that the Aphex dual-channel microphone preamp which we were using on Greg's guitar and Lily's bass pretty much just crapped out. The signal just faded in and out and started crackling and so we gave up. Instead we used inputs 7 and 8 on the Tascam US-2000. The preamps on the Tascam sound pretty good actually.
One issue is that we'd got very used to the soft limiting on the Aphex and in order to give Lily the headroom she needs on her Schecter bass we have to turn the preamp down pretty low and then turn up the monitor output on our headphone system. Which does make the whole thing noisier to listen to.
Next week we hope to use Ethan's compressor as a limiter on the bass just to control the "funk". And that will help us keep the levels up a bit.
Me? I'm under the impression that the close mic of the toms and the snare does in fact help betterize things. Not in the manner that I was thinking though. We have bleed through all the mics like crazy. And sometimes the cymbals sound pretty good on the off-axis tom and snare mics. I know. It's weird. I believe the mixes you hear above have pretty heavily compressed toms and snare (and maybe even kick) but the overheads are left wide open without much (or possibly any) processing.
The effect of the snare drum mic is that we put a bit of plate reverb on that channel but it's not super-duper loud in the mix. Most of the snare sound (I think) is coming from those overheads and the "kick drum mic". Right? I know.
+++++ 
If you want to know anything about Afton, here's a view. I mean, the concert business is rough anyway. I'm not really one of those "the musicians deserve to get paid" folks just because, it seems impractical. As long as the sound mixer is paid it's all right with me.

Whack a Letter

Teen Getaway is another cool Alabama band. Dig this review.
+++++
But you're asking yourself: how are you going to arrange the preamps and A/D converters in order to record Diatomaceous Earth?
I know. I know you're asking this. I will try to help.

US-2000 input -- Source              -- Preamp used
1.                                                 --  Tascam preamp 1
2.                                                  -- Tascam preamp 2
3.                         Low tom mic --     Tascam preamp 3
4.                         Hi tom mic --         Tascam preamp 4
5.
6
7.                         Greg guitar    --       Aphex preamp L
8.                         Bass DI --              Aphex preamp R
9.                         Kick close mic        Lindell L
10.                        Snare close mic      Lindell R
11.                        Drum OH L            Neve 1
12.                        Drum OH R           Neve 2
13.                        Kick distant mic     Neve 3
14.                        Drew guitar            Neve 4
15.
16.

Rubber Shoulder Kilt Scope

Aaron Schillinger grooved me to the movie Rubber, which looks simply off the hook.

Eventually I'm going to need one of these Letus shoulder-mounts in order to be able to go from sticks to shoulder-mount quickly, aren't I? Yes. I'm sure I will.
There are a lot of working kilts out there in the world.
I may need to get a red-dot scope. Eergh. It's just for one dang shot but it has to match the scope which... which we don't know where is.

The Future of the Machine

Over the last 6 years (I actually went back into my Google Documents and checked old spreadsheets) every time I do a calculation of the realistic minimum amount of money a company needs in receivables each year just to stay afloat sustainably the number is... $250,000.
A quarter of a million dollars.

So we have to push way up there. We have to do a better job in the details of our art department (see photo above). More grit, more grime. Oddly we can mass-produce those sorts of details. We will.
And we have to produce much, much more. One day we might be able to see more than that from "catalog" sales but right now we're targeting 8 movies in a year. This year we've been on track to shoot three pictures. That's cool but I bet we could get up to 4. 2014 however, that's gotta be 8.
And sure, there will be some repurposed and re-used sets or set pieces. But we'll go to every effort to make them not obvious.
And that's that.

Mars Needs Producers

We put an ad on Craigslist today.

Production/Producer Intern for Film (no pay) (TriBeCa)

What we're looking for ideally is someone who wants to produce movies. We are a micro-studio in New York which makes science fiction no-budget movies. Right now we make two movies a year but we're in the process of ramping up production.

Our blog (NSFW) is at blog.pandoramachine.com and links to trailers are on the upper left hand side. We also have a fairly extensive wiki at www.pandoramachine.com/wiki

Time commitment: anywhere from 4 hours/week to whatever you want to do really.
Some work would need to be done in our office, you can also work from home on many parts of projects.

The producer intern can do a variety of things depending on their skill sets and interests including:
Breaking down and scheduling shoots
Overseeing post - production (or even picture editing)
Making sure elements are prepped for delivery
Making sure contracts, etc., are all in order
Help with casting

And so on.

We're looking for someone who is capable and competent and interested in producing and has free time in which to do it.

Contact me for more information.

• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
• Compensation: no pay

Posting ID: 3908143654

Posted: 2013-07-01, 8:09PM EDT

Falling, Hats, Arrows

Jeremy over at All For Gun discusses the ballistics of different ammunition. Which is a subject on the Interwebs which is typically a shouting match of malarkey. Jeremy is, however, exceptionally clear.
One thing which confuses people is the fact that all bullets "drop" at the same speed. Just because an object is going really fast doesn't mean it does not fall at the same rate as (say) an apple.
The confusion is that bullets are usually shot upwards slightly and so they spend some of their travel going against gravity, until they determine at some time that they will go ahead and start falling down at the prescribed 32 feet/s/s. Unless they're European bullets in which case they fall at 9.75 meters/s/s or thereabouts.*
+++++

The hats of Copper. I've been trying to find out what that short top hat was called. Now I know.
+++++
Arrowhead: Signal is an Australian short which is begging for funds to be a feature. The production design looks nice.
Via.
*UPDATE: my dad would like to point out that the bullet is always falling and that indeed if you drew an imaginary plane along the barrel of the gun you'd see that the bullet is essentially falling from the plane at the prescribed rate (although not quite because it doesn't work out that way trigonometrically.) My dad also pointed out today that the University he went to has changed hands so many times that his graduate degree is now from NYU, but that's an entirely separate subject.