RED Camera

[Brad Harper]

I need a quick primer on the RED. I've got a short this weekend and then a feature starting next week. The owner/operator has the TA3 adaptor cables and told me it operated at 23.98. I will be recording primary sound to DAT and sending reference to camera. I also have an Ambient Color Lockit box if I need it.

[Scott Lynam]

Here's quick. DAT at 29.97. NL recorders, either 23.97 or 29.97. Check with edit. Jam any time battery changes or leave lockit on camera. Download manual after finding out build of camera and age of audio board. Search internet. Use slate. Have a good shoot.

[Jim Mansen]

I did a low budget feature with two Red Cameras on the show. We definitely needed lock-it boxes. I was recording on the 744t but sent a cue track to the cameras with Lectro 211s powered from the camera, and cabled into the the TA-3 audio input. Ample room for velcro for reciever. Yes, we did everything at 23.97. The build number does make a difference. Be careful of audio setting changes after power down or battery changes on some of the older builds. The download of the right Red build # information is not just a good idea is it mandatory. Things are better than they used to be.

Jim Mansen

[Mikolaj Kaczmarczyk]

not nice, many settings reset after power down of red... I've heard that TC can drift or reset on red after power down too. I will shoot on red next month and I'm thinking how to do it. Do you think that recording sound on red is good idea? I was thinking about recording backup on my deva II and real sound on red (it's 48kHz 24 bit). I was thinking about TC also, I want to use deva as master clock and jam red to external tc either by wire or wireless. We will shoot 25fps.

[Petr Cechak]

Hi Mikolaj,

Why do you want to use Red if you have a Deva? I am now working on a film which was shot on Red and the sound was recorded to Sound Devices (used for sound post) and straight to RED. The thing is - Red (or at least the one we had for shooting) does not even have meters to set audio level. The editor used the sound from Red in the editing room (even I asked them 10 times do they sync the sound from SD) and the OMF I got later was of no use. Fortunately it was easy to conform the audio to the one from SD. Use Deva as your master and Red as a guide only ;)

[Mikolaj Kaczmarczyk]

That's important news. I just dug through manual and found that red have peak meters, maybe there is possibility to bring them on screen, but there were no info about that in manual ;-) I will use deva as master recorder and red for guide tracks then. Are there some issues with TC?

"The RED ONE™ includes four channels of analog audio input processing, Peak Level meter,
headphone monitor and 2-channel balanced analog audio output. Audio is digitized at 24-bit
depth and 48KHz and recorded in synchronization with video and timecode to the attached
media. Digital audio is also embedded in the HDMI, Preview and Program HD-SDI outputs. "

- from red manual

[Mikolaj Kaczmarczyk]

I had red one on commercial last week. It's all true about metering, it differs in every build, if you don't know where -18dBFS is in every build you have a problem... I was listening to sound after shots. I've recorded it few dB below norm, but it's always better than overload, I had deva as primary recorder anyway. Weird thing, audio from red does not sound like 24/48, it's sounds worse. Anyone have similar impression? Or maybe there was monitor problem in editor room?

[Christian Holm]

I am on a shoot here in sweden using 744 and red.
No production sound on camera (as long as the customer is ok with that)
Editing people have a tendency to get eager... no time to synk :D
Lock-it on the camera using 744 as master.
Works perfect!

I would try not to record to red if possible.

As u say there is big diffreces in the camera builds.

[Steve Foy]

I tend to agree, the few Red shoots I have done I have always treated it like film and used the 744 as the primary sound source. I also had issues syncing TimeCode to the Red, so again made the 744 the Master and jammed TC to a Deneke Slate for good measure.
I live in hope that the audio side of Red will improve over time but for the moment I am way too suspicious of this technology to lay my reputation on the line for it.
There is a Red users group that may be of assistance: http://reduser.net/forum/index.php
Steve