Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Advice on choosing a recorder thats best for a specific movie score

« on: April 14, 2009, 03:36:14 PM »

Hi guys. Thanks very much for your feedback so far. I should have been more precise about exactly what my roll is in the production and exactly what I am trying to achieve.

I believe they are shooting on super 16, but last I heard they are trying to find the extra to go 35mm. There will (hopefully) be a cinema release. Its a dark thriller, slightly arty, but the plot is actually fairly coherent. Imagine if The Sixth Sense had been directed by David Lynch, except there's something spooky going on with tape recordings.

I am primarily the composer, but I am in charge of the entire post production sound procedure.

The location sound will be recorded digitally (that was agreed very early in pre production) and I have every confidence in the recordist's and his gear.

The scoring process will begin at my studio with a DAW sketch mostly using Vienna Symphonic Library. I have budgeted to digitally record a small string section (maybe 16-20 players) to picture at a pro studio using a conductor. Once the bulk of the score is recorded, I plan to blend it with the VSL instruments and record any additional instruments such as guitar and drums at my studio. I will also be in charge of foley and sfx, which will also be recorded at my studio.

The final mixdown to 5.1 will happen at a different studio and to my knowledge they have no analogue toys and even if they did, any dramatic enhancement would have been done by that stage.

The story is crying out for a memorable soundtrack. I plan to start with a beautifully recorded string section and then, at times, really go to town with creative production techniques. This experimentation will definitely involve processing the audio by recording to and from tape. Sometimes it will be sections of dialogue, other times individual instruments, other times atmos, foley or sfx, but it will almost certainly be carried out by me. I've already got a few nice toys here, but tape is definitely a missing ingredient that I feel I should have at my disposal.

Thanks again - I really welcome as much feedback as possible.

2

General Discussion / Advice on choosing a recorder thats best for a specific movie score

« on: April 14, 2009, 08:03:29 AM »

Hi all, first post here and I'm looking for some advice on finding a recorder (or recorders) that would be suitable for a particular project that I am about to embark upon.

I'm a composer and musician working from my own studio in London and I've been commissioned to provide a soundtrack for a low budget movie where sound and analogue recording are key elements of plot. I can't reveal too much at this stage but even the title of the movie is regarding audio and throughout the movie one of the central themes concerns analogue recordings to tape and a crime that is solved using the tapes.

I don't want the soundtrack to come across as low-fi or hissy, dirty or badly recorded, but I do want to give the movie a sprinkling of that classic character, which is synonymous with analogue tape. At some moments in the movie I want this character to be really obvious and exaggerated, but at others times I want it to be extremely subtle.

Its been some time since I last used tape during my days at university when I experimented with Uhers and multitracks; by the time I graduated digital had taken over. I don't have any tape recorders here at my studio (I'm all DAW, using Lavry A/D D/A) and hence I am in search of a reel to reel recorder or maybe even a few different devices. Unfortunately I don't have much of a budget and want to limit myself to less than ?2000 for any tape related investments.

The Nagra 4.2 and 4-S are top of my research list at the moment; their size is convenient for the limited space that studio can allocate and they are renowned for their reliability. My only concerns with these units is that the line I/O is unbalanced and that these machines are not known for their 'saturation' but rather for their clean and transparent recording. Also, seeing as much of my recordings will be done in mono, would I get a 'thicker' sound recording to the mono 4.2 rather than 4-S, or is that just splitting hairs?

The Studer A820 half inch 2 track would be a dream purchase, but is no doubt out of my price range, as is the A80 I'd imagine. How does the A810 compare to A820 and how does it compare to the Nagras in its range of ability to go from clean to saturated?

Finally, I would very much appreciate any advice anyone can offer not only regarding the best recorder for my needs but also what brands of tape, recording speeds, tape width, level of wow and flutter, anything that might help create the most distinct tape sound possible.

Thanks in advance.