This clip includes direct live sound recorded on to an original K40 sound striped film shot this summer.
Take a close look at the end of this film and watch the little boy tapping his fingers on the pizza box. It is clearly audible and this part of the clip is repeated 3 times. A lot of wave noise near the camera is dominating. The outboard motor, a Honda Fourstroke!! produces very little engine noise. The distance to object is about 20 meters at this time. Cam sound settings are full auto, ALC on but not active at this recording
The cam is a Canon 1014 XL-S using the original BM-70 on-board mike.
The limiting factor is the sound system of the projector used, a BAUER T610 which produces a lot of hum, and noise. It is a little difficult to decide exactly how good of course without having the possibility to play back the clip on a Hi-Fi system and of course the last .mp4 conversion of the probably degrades the sound some too. Clip sound originally sampled at 48 kHz. Edited at 44.1 kHz.
Nice post.... I always thought that K40 sound quality got a bad rap. I shot about 30 rolls of K40 sound a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised with the results, in both ambient conditions and with directly miked interviews. The stock microphone on my Elmo 1012xls did a great job. Yeah, it's no Sennheiser with a Nagra, but that little sound stripe could do a great job. Sometime in the future when I get my sound footage transferred, I'll post some samples.
I also own a E1012 S-XL and are very satisfied with it too.
Very low mechanical noise and good mike & sound system.
I believe that many S8 cameras actually have good sound recording systems.
The 2 big factors I think (in any movie context) is cam noise and microphone quality.
Apart from that I think the projector sound system is THE weak point.
Too bad there are no more sound carts around. Hmm... Kodak?
The Bauer projectors actally show some hum, speciall the T600 and similar. Once I buyed one of them and returned it because of that hum. A technician confirmed me, that there is a bug in the printed amp board that is causing that hum. It can be slightly reduced by carefully adjusting the compensation coils.
The T610 and similar are MUCH better, but still show some noise & hum at max volume. Connecting to an external amp sometimes requires a sound coupler containig a small audio transformer to isolate the ground.
Very good sound reproducion and recording offers the Elmo GS1200MO. It´s a really outstanding mag sound, comparable with open reel recorders, much better than cassette tape, nearly no noise, no hum, brilliant and dynamic! Same with the Beaulieu projector.
Note, that the amount of tape noise distance is limited due to the physical magnetic behavior, depending on tape speed and equalization. Only a noise reduction system like Dolby could give better results.
Pedro
You are surely pinpointing the problem on the Bauer(s) Pedro. Too bad but I will look into that when I get time to. Maybe it is possible to "tap" the sound heads directly to an external HQ amp?
Tnx for the info.
Regarding the Elmo I know them well as it is the "main" projector in our local S8 club. I am not sure exactly which GS1200 model it is but it has got it all including optical sound. I think it is the top model.
I would like to get one, when I can afford it.
I think I have to get a Weberling soundstriper first?, or get Kodak soundcarts back. Currently I do not know which is the most difficult of the two.!
the sound head can be connected to any microfone input of any external equipment. You may loosen both screws that fix the head from upside and take off the head completly. Now you can detach the connection plug (4 pins). Making a similar connection plug or using a spare part cable, you can connect the sound head to any external input, without changing anything in the projector. My idea is always to be as less "invasive" as possible when dealing with vintage equipment.
There is no risk of disadjusting anything when taking off the Bauer sound head. Other than the Elmo.
Note that any tape playback need specific equalization depending on the tape speed. The equalization lifts the high range of the audio, in order to compensate that non-linear characteristic of any tape registration.
Pedro
Thanks for that info. I actually bought a couple of spare soundheads for the 610 and will modify one to to play with the mike input of a HQ amplifier. Nice that it is so simple to interchange the heads on the 610. Looking forward to record on to a HQ system to evaluate the "real" sound quality of my cams.
