8mm Forum: First successful track dubbing

»	8mm Forum » 8mm Forum » First successful track dubbing

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: First successful track dubbing

Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004

posted August 06, 2005 11:59 AM

Woohoo! I finally took some time off my schedule to try my hands at re-recording a soundtrack.

As I am more into extracts and digests than into features, I selected a "cut-down of a cut-down" of "Once Upon a Time in the West", a 7 minutes piece that I got from our very own Andreas some months ago (the reel is the final confrontation/revelation between Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson). Problem: it was in German...

The actual dubbing took a very short time and was successful after two attempts. The editing took a little longer, but the method proved to be quite reliable.

For all of you who are into technical stuff, my set-up is:
- GS1200 (totally refurbished by Ugo)
- P1008GS-Q crystal sync control (from Pedro)
- Ambico telecine converter
- Canon camcorder
- Apple Mac G5 (2x2.7ghz with 4gb ram and Nvidia video card)
- Handbrake ripping software
- Imovie editing software (+ Quicktime Pro)

Picture taken during test run, this is why you don't see the recording red LEDs lit

I first digitized the extract, running at 25fps, with my camcorder then transfered the film to my computer and saved it in Imovie.

Then, I ripped the original movie from the French DVD. I use the "Handbrake" software as it creates a self-contained Quicktime film. Other rippers usually save everything that's on a dvd, meaning that - sometimes - the soundtrack you want isn't attached to the video file but is saved as a separate file.

Then with Quicktime Pro, I isolated the 18 minutes of footage that covered all of the scenes included in the S8 extract and exported this into Imovie.

Then, using the digitized extract as a template, I edited each shot imported from the DVD, checking frame by frame so both the template and the new edited version run perfectly in sync, bringing the 18 minutes down to 7. A couple of close-ups of the actors were tough as some of the widescreen shots, when reframed to 4/3 in super 8, were looking the same.

While re-recording from the Mac to the GS, I only had to press very briefly the "slow" button on the back of the projector twice to keep the machine in sync resulting in a very brief wow but during quiet scenes with no dialogues.

I'm quite happy with the result and I want to end with a few acknowledgements:
- Ugo: the GS records perfectly.
- Pedro: your sync box works great.
- Paul A: thank you for encouraging me to venture on the re-recording path.
- Andreas: I still have a bunch of films to redub. It's a pleasure doing business with you.

And many thanks to the members of this forum. I read all questions and answers posted here about the recording issues before giving it a try... [Wink]

JMT

--------------------
The Grindcave Cinema Website