8mm Forum: Sound on my ST 600

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Topic: Sound on my ST 600

Ernie Zahn
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Greenwich, CT, USA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted July 23, 2013 09:53 PM

Hey all. I've noticed a slight over modulating from time to time on soundtracks and I realized that I've never done anything to maintain the projector thus far. Is there something I should be doing to maintain good sound? Clean sound heads or something?

Also is this projector stereo? There's a switch that has a "1+2" on it but a played something with my headphones and it was only playing on one side.

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Check out the trailer for my feature length Spaghetti-style Western:

Six and Bisti

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Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013

posted July 24, 2013 01:16 AM

The sound heads should be demagnetazed (I am not sure of the spelling) from time to time.

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Dominique

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted July 24, 2013 05:43 AM

Look at the sound heads. If they have brown residue on them, that's iron oxide from the magnetic tracks.

Clean the heads with Isopropyl Alcohol, applying gently with a cotton bud.

The projector is not stereo.

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Maurice

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 24, 2013 06:10 AM

Is the overmodulation something like the sound of the film passing through the gate? It could be the famous Super-8 chatter. There is only so much you can do about it though.

Clean everything in the film path regularly anyway: whatever is lurking in there can do nasty things to your prints.

I think ST600M is a twin track machine, but the reason you only hear one channel through your 'phones is it's a monaural jack so only one channel is connected. It lacks the second contact to hook up the other channel.

Radio Shack has a little adapter that will fix this:

Adapter

(Still isn't stereo, but it sounds much better.)

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Ernie Zahn
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Greenwich, CT, USA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted July 24, 2013 07:42 AM

Great! Thank you for all the feedback.

Steve, the over modulating is like a crunching sound with certain sounds get loud. The signal gets too hot in other words. Its not that dreaded clawing sound thankfully. I ran it through my 5.1 amp and it all sounded okay.

In regards to the mono output, does that mean that both channels are put out as a mono track or am I missing half the sound when I play stereo prints?

If the stereo is completely there as a mono track then I'm OK with that. But if I'm missing 50% of the sound then I might want to upgrade.

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Check out the trailer for my feature length Spaghetti-style Western:

Six and Bisti

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 24, 2013 08:05 AM

The "crunching" sounds like you are overdriving something (clipping) or maybe your internal speaker is shot.

If my ST-1200HD is any guide, you have three choices with that switch, one track, both tracks and the other track.

If you flip it to the middle position so that both LEDs are lit, you are getting both tracks united into the monaural output. Otherwise it's one or the other.

Even with a real stereo print, it's often hard to tell. Every so often you get one with extreme stereo seperation and it just sounds very wrong! If you had an actor in each channel you could only hear one of them talk, for example.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Ernie Zahn
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Greenwich, CT, USA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted July 24, 2013 08:15 AM

OK sounds good on the stereo bit. I will look into the clipped sound issue. I was fiddling with the volume as I was playing a print so maybe that's all it was. I'm going to try and keep the sound a bit low and control volume from my AV receiver.

Thanks again!

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Check out the trailer for my feature length Spaghetti-style Western:

Six and Bisti

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 24, 2013 10:11 AM

That's a good idea.

When I first started putting my sound through the stereo I ran with the amp volume set low and turned up the volume on the projector: it was distorted and sounded really awful.

Then I set the volume on the projector to what it would normally be through the internal speaker and cranked the amp instead: much better.

Now I run with the amp volume knob at a constant setting and control the volume with the projector. Just as well: the amp is about 30 feet away from the screen and a pain to commute back to for a slight adjustment.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Jon Addams
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 638
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Apr 2007

posted July 24, 2013 07:17 PM

Hi Ernie,

The Elmo ST-600 is not a stereo projector. It is a 2-track machine.

This unique 2-track system provides the following possibilities:

The Super 8mm Sound movie film has coated magnetic stripes on both sides of the film. The sound that is recorded on pre-recorded film or that is recorded by sound cameras is recorded on Track 1(opposite the film's perforations), the wider track. The narrow track (alongside the perforations), is the so-called "balance track" or track 2, which is coated for keeping the balance with Track 1.

Twin Track projectors, such as this one, make it possible to record or playback on both tracks, hence the name "Twin Track System."

This system was also made to monitor recording sound and playback sound on the other track at the same time which makes it even easier to record and edit sound and film.

Although not a stereo projector, the ST-600 can be used with an external (auxiliary) amplifier and speaker system. This then allows you to use the projector as a pre-amp and your stereo system as the main amplifier. With the proper connection, one can create a stereo effect. That is track 1 will be amplified through one channel and track 2 through the other channel.

Jon

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