recording in Antarctica

[makoto]

Please help.
I am going to Antarctica to do sound on a documentary (solar eclipse in November), I Must have been crazy to say yes. But it sounds like a once in a lifetime chance, so......
What to use, what will survive the harsh environment. I will not use laptop with DAW setup, I will freeze my ass off on crashes. I need something small with extra battery backs. What do you think?
Thanks,
Makoto

[ExistanceMusic]

How much money do you have to spend?

If money is no problem, grab some pocket change and pick up one of these , You'll be hard pressed to find anything quite like it, but at 5k, might blow the budget.

[jon]

Or rent one. For location work, I'm no expert, but a Nagra is a Nagra!

[ExistanceMusic]

eeeeeeeexactly!

[DanV]

i hear those little dpa mics are great for these kinda insane applications.

[C.Lambrechts]

don't forget to dress warm ...

except for that ... Nagra is nagra ... like Jon said.

[3rdpath]

if you're in the l.a. area, i've found the guys at "Location Sound" very helpful.

i always rent my outside the studio stuff from them...if it's beyond the needs of my dap-1.

talk to frank @ 818-980-9891 or ( outside cali) 800-228-4429

[makoto]

Wow....Thanks so much for all the help!!
Does anybody know the operating range (temp.) of a hard drive?
And/or the effect of low temp's on tape? Batteries? The tamales?
Thanks again.
Makoto

[David R.]

Originally posted by makoto
Please help.
I am going to Antarctica to do sound on a documentary (solar eclipse in November),

What kind of sound does a solar eclipse make?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I'm no expert on this, but I would stay away from hard drives in extreme weather conditions. Hmmm, now that I think of it, a utility company had custom enclosures made for thier workers in the field, maybe something like that could survive.

[Frost]

Hard drives dont like super low temps (who can blame them, neither do I ). I would use something with a 1GB compact flash to record in such an extreme place. Get a couple of them and youve got 5 or 6 hours of record time. Batteries also like to remain charged in low temps, ie they last a long time but dont discharge much till they get warmer. Bring Extras. Dat tapes also dont like to get frozen and could be ruined. Have fun
Frost

[makoto]

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by David R
What kind of sound does a solar eclipse make?
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Good question, I'm gonna take a really good shotgun mic......

Sorry couldn't resist....
Makoto

[ExistanceMusic]

FYI, if you do go the Flash card option, Nagra (geez, I sound like a salesman here...) Also make a unit that used any sort of flashcards as recordable media, though it doesn't look as robust as the V.

[aardvark]

Originally posted by makoto
Please help.
I am going to Antarctica to do sound on a documentary (solar eclipse in November), I Must have been crazy to say yes. But it sounds like a once in a lifetime chance, so......
What to use, what will survive the harsh environment. I will not use laptop with DAW setup, I will freeze my ass off on crashes. I need something small with extra battery backs. What do you think?
Thanks,
Makoto

Are you in an enclosure ?

Will there be generator noises?

Cheers,
Aardvark

[loudist]

Get in touch with some of those serious Himalaya documentary cats... they should know the cold evironment tricks and the stuff to avoid.

November is spring time down there, must get up to 30 degrees f (thats shorts and tshirt weather for that place).

[e-cue]

I've never had this situation. My guessing would be pouches of silica gel and ziplock baggies to keep stuff dry would be helpful. If you shuffle between warm and cold environments, be careful of condensation building up. Be slow in moving temp to temp or I'm sure you'll get a lot of "dew" warnings as the tape sticks to the rotating metal headdrum. This INCLUDEDS CHANGING TAPE IN THE COLD.

I'm sure your batteries won't be as effective in cold climates like that. Pack extra if you can.

I highly, HIGHLY contacting someone in the elements.

http://www.nsf.gov/home/polar/start.htm

might be a good starting point. Again, I'm just guessing. I live in LA for god's sake.

[atticus]

Maybe this would work. They say that a full featured recorder is under $1k. Good luck!

http://www.core-sound.com/HighResRecorderNews.html

[loudist]

I want, I want!!!

Why? because its too damn cool!

BUT... not proven in harsh evironments and the 'bulletproof' factor is not known.

I still suggest that you contact an experienced in extreme conditions audio documentatian for the absolute bulletproof setup... if you don't get the audio, you have failed. No one want to know why.

[ozraves]

I've got a bud who works for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). I'll email him and tell him about this thread. He might be able to help you or put you in touch with someone.

Steve
www.mojopie.com

[makoto]

First off, I would like to thank you all so very much for your thoughtful and educated post's. There really is quite a wealth of knowledge and good will here in the land of slutz!!

This project will be based from a main camp, however we will be out from this camp for 4-6 hours or as long as equipment and staff can handle. There is the option of storage for the equipment in both controlled (heated) and natural environments. Max # of mic's -4-, duration of trip 26 days. We will also be based in Chile prior to leaving for base so I guess extreme's on both end's of the spectrum. I would prefer 2 types of recording media, there is no 2nd chance and I don't want to be left behind.

Again, many thanks for all, I wish you could all go along for the trip.

Sincerely,
Makoto

Going from to back to and then home

[C.Lambrechts]

Originally posted by makoto
Again, many thanks for all, I wish you could all go along for the trip.

I'm the kind that likes it warm ... get's cold easy and get all winy and complaining when it does. You wouldn't want me around ...

Besides ... there's digital camera's and you can post your adventures when you get back ... would be great

[drundall]

Hey congrats on the gig. It will be a major event in your life. Post some pics of the eclipse when you're done.

[Gregg Sartiano]

If there is internet capability at the base, perhaps you could email some of the sound files back to yourself (or somebody in a warmer climate!) so you don't have to worry about transporting the tracking all the way back to civilization.

[Ruphus]

Originally posted by atticus
Maybe this would work. They say that a full featured recorder is under $1k. Good luck!

http://www.core-sound.com/HighResRecorderNews.html

Hey! That seems a NICE piece of gear!
Thanks a bunch for the link!

I´ve been thinking about alternative / mobile recorder since a while. Had almost bought masterlink ( good that I didn´t as they are out with 40 gigs now at same price ) for recording in same room - without computer noise -, and had been pondering whether to get a minidisk recorder also for eventual environmental takes.

Now that thing looks very interesting.
Have yet to read all the details, but so far it looks like one could get the recorder with a 2 gig card ( for 1 hour at 96k or more time at lower rates ) for 650 bucks ... ok, and an AC adapter and a card reader for the PC ( anybody knows what that costs? ) and have a nice little digital recorder.
About double the price of a mindisc I believe, but without moving parts.
Could get me their cute little pre & con later for outside recordings.

Whatcha thinking about that dang?

Ruphus

[Ruphus]

I understand it better now.

PDAudio-CF can be mounted in PDA hosts that run Windows CE/PocketPC 2002/PocketPC 2003 or Linux (such as HP/Compaq's iPAQ), or used with laptop and desktop computers running Linux, Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

[maskedman72]

id say ask drew mazurek,he recorded GWAR and they record all their albums in antarctica.

[Berolzheimer]

I think the compact flash idea is a good one, eliminate moving parts that can freeze up. I also agree that you should record on another media as a backup.

I actually recorded a solar eclipse once, about 3 years ago in northern France. I didn't really think I'd get anything but I'd heard that animals get strangely quiet during eclipses, so I put my dat recorder in a wooded area near the hilltop that I was observing from. It was unfortunatey very cloudy, so I don't think the critters noticed much. I was able to see it intermittently, and I did see the shadow of the eclipse approaching over the countryside, which was cool. The recording just sounds like an OK recording of a wooded area in the french countryside, nothing special.

Check your PMs for some more advice.

[Berolzheimer]

Oh Sh#t, I just realized this thread is over a year old. Hey Makoto, how'd the recording go?