Pushing projects past 2018
6:11 AM
More coming up and thank you for staying with us. For enquiries, please contact +6738288020. Thank you.
The production units are substantially better than where we started with the Beta units. Based on the feedback we had from Beta testing we made several important changes. Here are some highlights: - New WiFi Radio – we ended up opting for a more expensive, harder to find, but well worth it WiFi Radio with longer range,and practically no frame drops. 3rd party testers said “90% better video quality at long range”. If you liked the last one, you’ll be blown away.
- Lemo power connectors - the terminal block was a wimpy mistake.
- More compact antenna – less obtrusive, same performance.
- Analog Audio input – for those using external mics, that does not embed in HDMI/HD-SDI. Embedded still fully supported.
- Audio / Video / Power cable repositioned – to all be on one side
- Several software updates to make WiFi more stable, and video dropouts far less.
- Simplified Web UI and s/w configuration – my mother in law got it working.
- Reduced latency - independent testers pegged it at 5 frames. iPad app still in process, so mobile Safari still has several seconds buffering.
- Anti-Rotation lock – on hot shoe mount
- Many other tweaks we would love to share with you.
Lead time is around 10 days right now, until we sell out of existing stock. Please order now to avoid disappointment, we will only get stock again in 6-8 weeks.
To all the Beta testers : thanks for your valuable inputs so far, if you haven’t yet, you need to complete the online results form.
Welcome to The Cube™ Revolution !
blue leader, out !
We used a Sennheiser MKH416 for the boom and a couple of Lectrosonics 400 series wireless systems paired with a Countryman B6 lav and a Lectrosonics lav, I believe it was an M152. Everything went through a Sound Devices 442 mixer into a Sound Devices 702t recorder.
So yeah, we used Kino Flo's for both the security office and in the taxi cab. For the exterior lot of the warehouse we used a 2k (and 2 650W's for the rooftop shot of the truck). For the gas station, we just rocked that as-is pretty much!
Pena Patriot 2010
9:23 AM
Writings of a patriot OR the patriot's pen - a story of a young man, learning about life from a novelist, whose life is shattered with the death of his wife. Together, they both learn about love, sacrifice and life.
The drama was written in commemoration of the 26th National Day Celebration of Brunei. Usually TV dramas, broadcasted in RTB for the occasion, revolves around the military spirit, community spirit which translates to the same drama stereotypes. So MMQ engaged Mr. Hj. Mokhtar to write a drama that focuses on specific characters and themes rather than have blatant nationalistic messages in an obvious manner.
Due to constraints in terms of time and creative differences with RTB, the drama will be done to the best of what MMQ can offer, considering limitations in terms of budget and time.
The drama will be broadcasted on RTB Channels on the 23rd of February 2010.
Written by Hj. Mahathir Hj. Mokhtar for MMQ Mediaworks Brunei.
Production and post production in process.
Recording Sound separately..
4:05 PM
The article below comes from DXNMedia at Clubsnap.
I guess for most people, as long as there is sound, they're happy, but if we're to be anal about our sound quality, we should be more aware of how our audio signal path flows.
Both method of recordings are valid solutions, but I would think that Videoman's solution is a better one.....Firstly, his Sound Devices 302's microphone pre-amps is a lot cleaner than the H4n. By using line level signal to feed into the H2 recorder, he's definitely getting a cleaner audio signal into the H2. As such, he could probably record a much 'clearer' audio with lesser noise and hiss in his recordings at a much lower level (better Signal to Noise ratios).
If we are to use the H4n's internal mic preamps to drive the shotgun/lav mics, I dare to say that the noise level in the recording will definitely be higher as opposed to using a line-level input into the H4n (Tested, proven & learnt from our mistakes).
Personally, I have a few workflows to suit most of our client's needs for 5D/7D's audio recording.
Option #1:
Super simple, low-quality requirements setup.
Using a Beachtek DXA-5D, we just record directly into the 5D/7D...
Drawbacks of this is that we cannot accurately monitor input signal, mic preamps of the Beachtek is noisy, if not worse than H4n solutions......
Benefit of this is that we save precious time syncing audio in post...but we'll only recommend this if clients really, really have no budget.
Option #2:
Simple & no fuss, 2 channel recording setup...Similar solution to using H4n, but instead of using H4n with rather noisy mic preamps, we use Fostex FR2LE CF recorder or another high res 1 bit audio recorder.
Both recording units have very clean mic preamps to drive the microphones.
Option #3:
Parallel recording into 5D or 7D.
Together with option #1 & #2, we add a Beachtek DXA-5D for parallel recording into the 5D/7D.
Different from option #1 is that we run a direct line signal into the Beachtek from our recorders with top-end mic preamps. If audio signal is clean enough in the .mov file, we save a whole lot of time from syncing. If not, we have a high resolution audio file as backup.
Option #4:
When more mic inputs are needed, we add a mixer to the chain.
4 channel field mixer, line input into our recorders and parallel output into the 5D/7D.
Option #5:
Most troublesome setup for recording up to 8 individual audio tracks.
Using our multitrack field recorder, we can record 8 independent audio tracks, do a mixdown stereo output into the 5D/7D for sync.
Of course, there are better and more top-end setups from other professional location sound recordists, but given today's budget for production, it's hard for us to justify investing in audio recorders or audio recording solutions that can cost even more than a Sony EX3 camera....
Having said all that, it's also not just about having top end hardware & equipment....one of the key factors other than having good equipment is always the skills and knowledge in mic placement and mic selections to do the audio recording job.....very much like how we change lenses & position the cameras to suit different framing and shot sizes.
If you've reached that kind of level of sound recording requirements, it's best to hire the pros for their services.
I guess for most people, as long as there is sound, they're happy, but if we're to be anal about our sound quality, we should be more aware of how our audio signal path flows.
Both method of recordings are valid solutions, but I would think that Videoman's solution is a better one.....Firstly, his Sound Devices 302's microphone pre-amps is a lot cleaner than the H4n. By using line level signal to feed into the H2 recorder, he's definitely getting a cleaner audio signal into the H2. As such, he could probably record a much 'clearer' audio with lesser noise and hiss in his recordings at a much lower level (better Signal to Noise ratios).
If we are to use the H4n's internal mic preamps to drive the shotgun/lav mics, I dare to say that the noise level in the recording will definitely be higher as opposed to using a line-level input into the H4n (Tested, proven & learnt from our mistakes).
Personally, I have a few workflows to suit most of our client's needs for 5D/7D's audio recording.
Option #1:
Super simple, low-quality requirements setup.
Using a Beachtek DXA-5D, we just record directly into the 5D/7D...
Drawbacks of this is that we cannot accurately monitor input signal, mic preamps of the Beachtek is noisy, if not worse than H4n solutions......
Benefit of this is that we save precious time syncing audio in post...but we'll only recommend this if clients really, really have no budget.
Option #2:
Simple & no fuss, 2 channel recording setup...Similar solution to using H4n, but instead of using H4n with rather noisy mic preamps, we use Fostex FR2LE CF recorder or another high res 1 bit audio recorder.
Both recording units have very clean mic preamps to drive the microphones.
Option #3:
Parallel recording into 5D or 7D.
Together with option #1 & #2, we add a Beachtek DXA-5D for parallel recording into the 5D/7D.
Different from option #1 is that we run a direct line signal into the Beachtek from our recorders with top-end mic preamps. If audio signal is clean enough in the .mov file, we save a whole lot of time from syncing. If not, we have a high resolution audio file as backup.
Option #4:
When more mic inputs are needed, we add a mixer to the chain.
4 channel field mixer, line input into our recorders and parallel output into the 5D/7D.
Option #5:
Most troublesome setup for recording up to 8 individual audio tracks.
Using our multitrack field recorder, we can record 8 independent audio tracks, do a mixdown stereo output into the 5D/7D for sync.
Of course, there are better and more top-end setups from other professional location sound recordists, but given today's budget for production, it's hard for us to justify investing in audio recorders or audio recording solutions that can cost even more than a Sony EX3 camera....
Having said all that, it's also not just about having top end hardware & equipment....one of the key factors other than having good equipment is always the skills and knowledge in mic placement and mic selections to do the audio recording job.....very much like how we change lenses & position the cameras to suit different framing and shot sizes.
If you've reached that kind of level of sound recording requirements, it's best to hire the pros for their services.
Location Recce Jan 2010
8:21 AM
Knowing limitations in Brunei, we are now proceeding with two concurrent RTB projects requiring location recce.
Will update soon.