Why do Pros Use Gear Like Zaxcom Recorders and Wireless?

[@BampFilm]

Always a pleasure to watch a video like this where he dude being interviewed knows his shit! No marketing crap just to straight to the point, gives you confidence in going with Zaxcom

[@curtisjudd]

+Anthony Brown I agree!

[@eastern05]

Boom op'ed for a feature last year where the sound mixer insisted on using Zaxcom. We were in the middle of the desert shooting one night and his whole mixer went down (probably due to the dust). He had to drive an hour back into to town to get his electrical tools and we were able to keep shooting just using record to micro SD functions of the bodypacks and the audio for the day turned out just fine. Obviously not an ideal situation but at least we didn't have to shut down the whole production for 2 hours. Great stuff.

[@curtisjudd]

+Kreigh Carter Thanks Kreigh - great to hear a real-life story where that saved that day!

[@randomgeocacher]

Very cool stuff. Transmitter that backup record, support for many transmitters, remote control transmitter were some of the most impressive features.

[@curtisjudd]

+randomgeocacher I agree. the backup recorder built into the wireless transmitters is very nice.

[@patronise]

Great explanation. Never used any Zaxcom gear but wondered what they offered. These are some seriously scifi features.

[@witnessnz]

Great Coverage of the stands at the show. thanks

[@IWTBFOY]

Woah, didn't realize that was Thomas Popp from Video Mantis I believe. He has an awesome sound tutorial online.

[@curtisjudd]

+Victor Nguyen Absolutely right, that is Thomas who put together Videomantis.com! Definitely worth a visit!

[@acapmedia]

At around 4:20 Thomas mentions that Audio Technica has wireless with recording options outside of the US, does anyone know which products he's talking about? I can't seem to find anything here in the UK that transmits wireless audio as well as records internally as a backup, which I thought was because Zaxcom had the patent worldwide. Zaxcom don't seem to have much presence here at all.

[@curtisjudd]

I think he is referring to the DR-10 recorders which do NOT transmit wirelessly. They are body pack recorders.

[@acapmedia]

Ah, the Tascam. That's a shame if so, I was really hoping there was another wireless transmitter with built-in recorder out there! Thanks for confirming though :)

[@VincentRozenberg]

I actually think he is referring to Audio Limited, a well known "professional" brand from the UK, doing recording in the transmitters with their new digital series. Due to the zaxcom patent they can not release their products in the US with the same firmware, thus if you buy it in the US this function is disabled.

[@ashleysinani4207]

He's talking about the Audio Ltd A10 (previously the 1010)

[@clarke.inverary]

+Curtis Judd Never clip never failed me its so good zoom have incorporated a similar technology into their devices. However if you are using good A/D converters, the clipped sound will still be usable in most cases and will add saturation. Great video.

[@curtisjudd]

Thanks Clarke.

[@humblepie9906]

I occasionally search the sound forums for answers, probably not the best place ,but i just do. I've read many heated discussions on this company ( Zaxcom ) and how they are the top of the line. Many others will say Sound Devices goes hand on hand with these guys. I'm no longer buying cameras( not at least this year), all my pennies and investment will go towards sound . I've searched many videos on youtube and vimeo. I've seen short films done on camcorders but recorded on high end sound equipment and because of its sound ( ofcourse editing has a lot to do with it ) it holds the movie very well and I'm still " immersed ". If one can save up for a 1200-2000 dollar camera, than I'm sure one can save up for a Zaxcom wireless recorder with a Lav mic compatible for it . Great video !

[@curtisjudd]

+Humble Pie I agree that it is a little funny that many of us think nothing of dropping $3000+ on new cameras every 1 - 3 years but are still recording with a $250 microphone straight into said cameras. :) Regarding Zaxcom vs Sound Devices, I don't think there is a clear winner. They both have their strong points.

[@humblepie9906]

+Curtis Judd I have a Sound Devices Mix Pre-D. Its an awesome tool , great pre-amps for a one man band! You should check that one out. I agree both companies are top notch.

[@curtisjudd]

+Humble Pie Yes, the Mix Pre-D is great! Good way to improve one's existing recorder.

[@EliHolland]

As an event videographer for weddings and bar mitzvahs etc, do you recommend going all out and getting something like a zaxcom or sound devices, or do you just recommend a more consumer item like a zoom or tascam?

[@curtisjudd]

+twealve dread That probably depends on the budget. For most weddings and bar mitzvahs, the budget just would not justify the expense. Also, a very important factor is whether there are problems that you have not been able to solve with the current gear that could potentially be solved with Zaxcom's products. Perhaps if you're doing higher budget weddings and events on a regular basis there is justification. But in my experience, there are very few of us in that situation.

[@lukelikeslakes]

I cant quite afford Zaxcom wireless but have still been wishing for the capability to record my lavs on-body in addition to transmitting via UHF. I've got some small bodypack-type 32bit recorders by zoom (F2's) with a TRS input and output. For test-sake, I connected my lavs into the recorder packs and output the recorders into my Sennheiser G3 transmitters. Of course the recorders sounded great but there was a noticeable drop in sound quality coming through the transmitters when compared to recordings without the f2 preceding them in line. So, my natural next inclination is to bypass the zoom f2, which leaves me with some questions for you. Is there anyone that you know who sells a microdot to TRS cable splitter? Or has anyone here made one? If I were to make a splitter, should I expect to experience 50% loss in volume at each TRS connector? As you might imagine, I'm fairly green so any knowledge shared would be knowledge appreciated. Thanks!

[@curtisjudd]

I don't know of any microdot cable splitters. Might be best to contact Gotham Sound or Trew Audio. Their technicians may be able to point you in the right direction or possibly make a custom splitter.

[@lukelikeslakes]

@@curtisjudd thanks, Curtis!

[@alkevinzmedia]

Incredible pieces of kits. Wonder why some of these mid Pro level recorders don't have dual A/D converters in them. However I ask myself if when you use a dual recording system does the setup between your DSLR or camera and your audio recorder technically have a dual A/D converter? Thus can non clipping audio be possible setting the volumes correctly ? I think I might have just confuse myself in this one lol .

[@curtisjudd]

I would guess that cost is the main reason you don't see more of this. And also Zaxcom may have a patent on the technology. When you send the audio from your recorder to DSLR, you are likely bypassing the A/D converter in the recorder so you are back to using a single A/D, in this case, the one in the camera.

[@alkevinzmedia]

Curtis Judd Thank You Curtis! needed some clarification on that hehe.

[@omnesilere]

Curtis Judd correct, Zaxcom has a patent for their dual A/D converters. Wrong on the second point though, the audio chain you used to a DSLR would go mic>pre-amp>a/d (or two)>audio track (still digital if not recorded/used)>d/a>line level (or select mic level)>(camera pre-amp if mic level)>camera a/d>camera audio track embedded in the digital video. The camera pre-amp is to be avoided; so go line level when possible. The cameras a/d converter may be inferior but they haven't been a serious problem since the mid 90s per noise and interpolation, as I understand it, so long as your levels are healthy and not clipping of course.

[@omnesilere]

Curtis Judd if you get a camera with AES digital audio input you can totally go mic>pre>dual a/d>camera track, staying digital.

[@curtisjudd]

Good info, thanks for that!

[@IslandFilmMaker]

Zaxcom, awesome line. Very nice stuff if you're looking at Pro audio.

[@panda57976]

This looks like very good quality and gives pro results but afraid to ask the price, good interview.

[@curtisjudd]

+john erwin as you might expect, Zaxcom gear is not priced for no/low budget filmmakers because their products solve the types of problems experienced on productions with a substantial budget. But some day you might work on one of those productions and even if you don't, you now understand which problems this level of gear can help solve. 😀

[@wbrock001]

Each of their wireless channels is about $3000 ($1750 for stereo receiver and $1500 per transmitter, so ~$4750 for two channels), the maxx mixer/recorder is $2995, plus about $1000 for a built in camera hop transmitter (you still need the receiver though ~$1750 to go into the camera), the Nomad runs about $4K to $5K depending on channels and zaxnet (which is their automation/remote control/timecode transmission system). Its really sweet because from the mixer you can actually put transmitters into standby to save power, change gain, record, etc. Some of their receivers can even sync timecode with cameras and other devices. But if you don't have one of their mixers that supports zaxnet, you can buy the IFB with zaxnet to give you the same remote control ability.

[@curtisjudd]

Ok, now I see you already viewed this. Please ignore my previous response. :)

[@Mile26point2films]

Curtis as always great video, I am so impressed with everything Zaxcom produces. Is there anyway they can pay you, to use their stuff, haha?

[@curtisjudd]

Haha! Thanks Alejandro! It would probably be better to just buy it. Then everyone wins!

[@AlFooteIII]

Great piece! Thanks.

[@curtisjudd]

+Al Foote III Thanks Al.

[@gabriel101x]

So is neverclip like Tascam's dual recording feature where you can record extra tracks at a lower gain?

[@curtisjudd]

+gabriel101x sort of but somewhat automated. With Zaxcom's app, you can have it automatically include the non-clipped audio into the .wav file so you don't have to do quite as much post work to salvage the overdriven passages. Neverclip also drops in a metadata marker to indicate where the neverclip kicked in so you can review those passages.

[@wbrock001]

He also said you can set an attenuation from 6 to 24 db when neverclip is used. Also their pre-amps seem to have the lowest THD+noise at around .0015 vs other brands.

[@curtisjudd]

Good points, thanks for that!

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

Hi. I was hoping you can help me. My friend and I started a podcast some time ago. However, we are not in the same country so we’re doing it over the internet with Skype calls. Honestly, until now the quality was surprisingly decent but the recorder we were using had an updating and is causing the computer to crash. I was hoping you could help me figure out what I need to record it to an external recorder. I have the Tascam DR-60D2, we have decent mics and decent cables. I also have the Focusrite Scarlett. I imagine I will need a mixer? If so, what are my cheapest smallest options? And finally… how do I do it? How do I recorder the skype call to the Tascam? I will appreciate your help because we’re kind of stuck and I can’t find anything on google which explains how to do that.

[@curtisjudd]

For podcasting and Skype and all that sort of thing, I highly recommend you talk with my friend Ray Ortega at the Podcaster's Studio. He knows how to do all of this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6aXaHmbp8ernMU Good luck!

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

Unrelated question... In one of our recordings one of the guys probably used his headphones too high and some of it was recorded when he's not speaking. is there a way to cut anything above 35db in audition? or something like that?

[@curtisjudd]

Yes, the dynamics effect in Audition has a preset for noise gates which you could use for this. You'll need to adjust it so that the cutoff starts at -35 or wherever you need it for that particular audio. Good luck!

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

thank you. do you have general settings for it where it doesn't affect the voice but takes away some of the shallow breathing and noise?

[@curtisjudd]

+BravingTheOutDoors no specific settings, I would just play the clip and experiment with moving the cutoff point until it sounds best.

[@fredericsidler]

Very, very interesting. Didn't know them. Thank you for sharing.

[@curtisjudd]

+Frédéric Sidler You're welcome!

[@veegee1974]

Oh... that's for the big dogs! Great info @Curtis Judd.👍🏾

[@curtisjudd]

Haha, yes, thanks!

[@VideoMantisEducation]

I go to get some refreshers online today about neverclip and floating points, etc for a live thing and you are talking to me?!? LORD help me! 😂 Hope you are well.

[@curtisjudd]

Hahaha! Thanks Thomas! Hope things are good for you, too.

[@TomasVillegas]

That's some amazing gear.

[@curtisjudd]

+Tomas Villegas Nice gear, for sure.

[@lumaryclass3761]

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