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Digital camera to record settings? [message #161860]

Tue, 06 June 2006 18:12

RichR
Messages: 20
Registered: December 2005
Location: Long Island, NY

Member

Hi,
I've always seen mastering engineers complaining about the time they have to spend writing the settings of their outboard gears for recall purposes.

Did any of you guys think about using a digital camera to take pictures of your gears and save them in the same project folder. That way, you should be able to recall the settings by looking at these pictures.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who thought about that. Maybe it's already being practiced by some of you or just too difficult to implement...

Lata!

Richard R.

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #161861 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Tue, 06 June 2006 18:19

David Glasser
Messages: 374
Registered: April 2004

Active Member

RichR wrote on Tue, 06 June 2006 17:12

Hi,

Did any of you guys think about using a digital camera to take pictures of your gears and save them in the same project folder. That way, you should be able to recall the settings by looking at these pictures.

I do this, but only for projects where there is way too much stuff to write down - typically surround projects w/ lots of analog gear and console settings to document; stereo projects are real quick to log w/ paper & pencil.

David Glasser
Airshow Mastering
Boulder, CO

dave@airshowmastering.com
www.airshowmastering.com

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #161911 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Tue, 06 June 2006 20:08

jtr
Messages: 294
Registered: May 2005
Location: Eugene Oregon

Active Member

I've done this as an experiment, I've tried preprinted "gear blanks", spreadsheets, etc.
I keep coming back to the old yellow lined pad- later I scan it in and save the pdf with my sequoia session backup files. I may try a word processor to save paper-

I can see where the camera would be useful for surround (as David mentions) but for stereo I didn't find any significant time saved.
Usually I use the camera for taking photos of me posing with lifesize cutouts of famous musicians....for when I finally put up a web site.

Jim Rusby
http://Rusbymastering.com

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #161993 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Wed, 07 June 2006 02:30

TotalSonic
Messages: 3607
Registered: May 2004
Location: Brooklyn, New York

Platinum Member

Call me old skool - but to me it just seems a lot more pain in the a to have to archive all those jpegs than to just stuff the couple of sheets of paper in the clients file folder (along with things like copies of the invoices, received instructions, packing list, etc.),

And if we weren't looking busy writing during the load ins - heaven forbid we'd actually have to pay attention the clients as they were gabbing at us! Very Happy

Best regards,
Steve Berson

http://www.totalsonicmastering.com
http://www.invertmusic.org
http://www.warlockasylum.info

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #161995 is a reply to message #161993 ]

Wed, 07 June 2006 02:34

jackthebear
Messages: 574
Registered: February 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Gold Member

Nothing like the old writing stick.....

Tony "Jack the Bear" Mantz
Glorified Tape Copy Boy and
Audio Janitor
Deluxe Mastering
Melbourne, Australia
<a href="http://www.deluxemastering.com">deluxemastering,com</a>
+61 419234100

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #162003 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Wed, 07 June 2006 03:56

Jerry Tubb
Messages: 2643
Registered: March 2005
Location: Austin, Texas

Platinum Member

Sounds like an interesting idea, digital pics... I'd probably have trouble reading the settings from the photos, of course you could zoom in, that would help.

But to echo the other cats, just collating and labelling the pics would take more time than just jotting down a few settings.

Years ago used to write down nearly all the parameters, but these days a page or two of semi-legible scribbling seems to do the trick!

Now with a really picky client, Murphy's Law dictates that they'll wanna remix & make changes, so more careful notes are made.

Even if the notes are lost, can listen to the previous master, follow instincts and get it close, or maybe better.

Still got years of mastering notes, guess we should get a new intern to scan those to PDF files, make coffee, give back massages, take out the trash, clean the latrines, and degauss the MRLs : )

Just rambling on...

Terra Nova Mastering
http://albumcredits.com/pro/jerrytubb
Celebrating 20 years of Mastering!

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #162010 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Wed, 07 June 2006 04:22

Luke Fellingham
Messages: 124
Registered: May 2005
Location: UK

Active Member

I use a camera for recall and it works for me. Maybe I could write stuff down as quickly but I'm sure I couldn't do it any quicker. Of course there's no wasted paper either.

Luke Fellingham

Luna Sound Mastering
http://www.myspace.com/lukefellingham

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #162226 is a reply to message #162010 ]

Wed, 07 June 2006 22:48

jtr
Messages: 294
Registered: May 2005
Location: Eugene Oregon

Active Member

Luke Fellingham wrote on Wed, 07 June 2006 02:22

I use a camera for recall and it works for me. Maybe I could write stuff down as quickly but I'm sure I couldn't do it any quicker. Of course there's no wasted paper either.

Paper is only wasted if you discard it without using it Smile

I share your sentiments though on reducing paper use. If a camera works for you- great! Maybe I should give it another try. I just recently tried out Googles' Picasa program for organizing photos- it works surprisingly well. Free too.

Jim Rusby
http://Rusbymastering.com

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Re: Digital camera to record settings? [message #162229 is a reply to message #161860 ]

Thu, 08 June 2006 00:06

Bob Boyd
Messages: 1133
Registered: December 2004
Location: Houston

Platinum Member

I use Microsoft Excel as a grid of boxes that I document settings into. I done it for years and it works great. All of those files just get put in a folder called "settings". Simple and easy.

Just make sure you turn off Microsoft's autoformatting. Nothing's better than seeing "1/2" turning into "January 2".

I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with paper.

Bob Boyd
ambientdigital, Houston

http://ambientdigital.com
http://myspace.com/ambientdigital

Twitter: @bobboyd

Look, I know it's mean. But sometimes the end justifies the mean.

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