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Author Topic: What to carry in the tool case when doing sound checks and setups.. Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-05-2004 11:26 PM                     Ummmm... I don't have a hearing trumpet...but.. I have a multicellular horn w/o the drivers from an old RCA speaker system.. maybe that'll work in place of the trumpet? Nando, I believe the laser kit I saw was the Voigt, to me it's price wasn't much different than a complete reverse scan kit. also never saw or heard about the Future Projection kit. I've been thinkering with laser diodes and compact modules but all I managed to do is burn a few of them and produce spots instead of lines Hello again Mark!  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-06-2004 01:47 AM                     Dolby's "Jiffy" Film costs about $300 (US). It's 8-10mins of a variety of sound tests and some picture tests. There are on-screen "cues" that tell you what to look/listen for. The Dolby film is great but I believe that a portable RTA is more of a priority for you at this particular point in time. Your partial reel may be just fine. I have the "Jiffy" film and I still use a discarded reel from an actual movie. When it comes to your test reel, try to use the same test material all the time. Get to know that soundtrack inside-out. I do not use trailers because they do not sound like movies. They are generally too loud and contain too many sound effects and not enough clean dialogue. Does your test reel have a decent dialogue passage with nice "average" voices (male and female)? Does it have good examples of stereo, surround and low-end effects? Does it include loud passages as well as quiet ones? What about music? Most importantly, do you know what it's supposed to sound like?  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-06-2004 07:00 PM                     Manny, you're right when you said that an RTA is a priority for me carrying a computer around isn't easy or fun,I'll be visitng a few pro audio stores in town to see if I can find anything. About the "test reel" I use,actually 2 of them in the case are made of: Half of a feature reel,from a war movie in one and an action movie on the other 3~4 traillers ,at least one of them being a kind of music clip and to finish the end credits of any other movie,one has orchestral music ( film score) and the other music from bands. The part of the war film is the best to test the system as it's a sequence that alterns between silence with low dialogue and then loud passages ( from bomb explosions) and panic voices. it also has the sonar effects in the surrounds since the scene is inside a submarine. all the dialoge has male voices tho. The same doesn't happen on the other reel as it's from a scene that occours inside a car at high speed with both male and female voices and the usual freeway noises in the surrounds plus other sounds and passages in it. (not going to mention here the film names btw..) And, yes I know what to expect in the auditorium when playing those reels, all the selected parts and traillers are material I ran when working as a projectionist for many times. and nope.. I didn't take the traillers nor the reel parts from the theatre I worked at I got them tru the right way ,asking for them,with a help of a friend who knew the right people for it When you contacted International Cinema Equipment ( ICECO) regarding the setup/test films you needed,did you do it by phone or email? I sent 'em an email about them and until now, no reply ..  |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 08-06-2004 07:42 PM                     Since no one has mentioned an Audio Spectrum Analyzer, I thought might as well,as I never travel without one on a sound job. they can be very handy in locating dead areas when used in conjunction along with Pink Noise.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-06-2004 08:02 PM                     I always use the terms "audio spectrum analyzer" and "real-time analyzer" (RTA) interchangeably. No problem if you haven't got female voices on your reel. If I had to choose, I would say that most mature male voices seem better suited than most female voices as far as testing the performance of a speaker during dialog playback. A segment of Martin Sheen's voice-over narration in "Apocalypse Now" would be in my "dream test reel." As for ICECO, I always call them up on the phone.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-06-2004 08:28 PM                     "Really cool people have the Ivie IE-33 " __________________________________________________ Actually that line above is supposed to read.... Really cool people have the THX R-2, or better yet the D-2 and keep the Ivie as a back up Mark  |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 08-06-2004 08:30 PM                     RTA!!! Durrr! It's ben a long week out in the heat Manny.  |  IP: Logged Luciano Brigite Master Film Handler Posts: 277 From: Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-06-2004 10:16 PM                     To me, RTA and audio spectrum analyser is the same equipment THX??? eeeewwwwww.. no,thanks.. I'm not going to spend money with something that has that name and does the same as any other equipment but costs 10 times more just because that sign.. Ok.. maybe the R2 has something else than the others,I can't say .. never saw one before.. but I'm not fond of anything that carries that three letters. ah.. bum.. looks like I'll have to pick up the phone and make an international call to ICECO.. uh oh.. me and my lousy pronounciation(sp?)  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-06-2004 11:06 PM                     Luciano, I don't really like those three letters that much either.... They've gotten to be pretty meaningless these days but the R-2 is worth every penny it costs. A purpose built analyzer like this is far more effective than most others would be. You could buy a new D-2 which does not carry the three letters. Its the replacement for the R-2. It costs half of what the R-2 did and is alot more portable than the R-2. www.acoustx.us Mark  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 08-07-2004 04:02 AM                        Whatever the merits of the R-2 or D-2 systems are, in Luciano's case it would certainly be an overkill. It appears as if most of the equipment in his cinemas isn't even "proper" cinema equipment, but adapted for cinema use. Since you already seem to have a desktop PC-based analyzer package, why don't you simply try to find a decent used notebook for the same setup? In addition to being much more protable than the desktop, you can also have all the manuals on the notebook, and you can run a software oscilloscope. This will not be suitable for digital A-chains, but it looks like you don't have a lot of these anyway. The drawback of software scopes is that the 2 traces often have a little phase error, so you need to test it against an analog scope to find out how much the phase error is. You can also use the notebook to play test signals which you can manufacture in an audio editor or record from a CD. You would have to calibrate your software for the notebook's sound card and also use an eq setting for the output as it is very unlikely that the sound card output is flat, but once you have done that, you are much more mobile than before. The rest of your equipment you can carry around in a flight case with rollers underneath and an extendable handle.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-07-2004 08:08 AM                     "Whatever the merits of the R-2 or D-2 systems are, in Luciano's case it would certainly be an overkill." Well, Like I always said.... You can do the job or you can do the job the right way...... With the D-2 being priced at $3495.00 U.S. its actually pretty inexpensive for a cinema type spectrum analyzer. Mark  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 08-07-2004 08:59 AM                        Yes, Mark, we all know you are the only one who does everything right. But this thread isn't about your greatness, but to give Luciano some helpful tips for expanding his toolkit. I gather from his posts that he has to be as mobile as possible since he doesn't have a car, and also that his budget isn't very big. Unless of course I have misunderstood this and Luciano tells us he will be happy to spend $3500 spontaneously. Like I said, it looks like a lot of the equipment he works with isn't even "real" cinema equipment, so the best he can do is to set it up somehow satisfyingly. For that he doesn't need the most advanced tools on the market, but he needs some cost effective clever solutions to make it a bit easier for him.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-07-2004 09:08 AM                     Michael, Geez man lighen up a bit and don't take things so seriously. I knew you would fall for the trap! The post was meant to tease you not suggest to him to buy one. Of course he's not goimng to run out and get one. Now I'll just bet that you were up all night just waiting for my post . Mark  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-07-2004 11:53 AM                     Mark, that was hilarious! (You got me there too, btw)  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 08-07-2004 12:03 PM                        He didn't get either you or me. He was completely serious, but my reply was simply too well formulated. Mark is never wrong about anything, and when he is cornered, it was just a joke. BTW, $3500 really isn't outrageously expensive, considering what analyzing systems used to cost. But if I had so much to spend on equipment, I would probably pass on the D-2 and get one of the USL screen lighting systems instead.  |  IP: Logged

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