Recording a Comms session?

[museav]

If you do record comms, I suggest that you make sure that everyone on the system knows it is being recorded. In most states it is illegal to record a private conversation without permission.

For broadcasters, it's a violation of federal law to record without notice.

There are many different situations and I believe it is a lot more complicated than this on both issues and one aspect is what defines a private communication. I think it would be very difficult to argue that a conversation on a 'party line' system that is a direct part of professional or school work would be private. Then there is that you are allowed to record any conversation in which you are a direct participant and do not need anyone else's permission. I also know that in areas such as elevators you simply need to identify that they may be recording, you do not need permission. I do agree that letting people know that they may be recorded is a good idea, but I seriously doubt their permission is relevant. If you are not sure, the best idea is to check with an attorney who works in these areas.

 

[Chris15]

Permission to record is one thing... Permission to the broadcast this via inclusion on a DVD would be a different can of worms entirely...

 

[tech2000]

3 or 4 hours before our last fall production I was re-organizing cables in our light booth and accidentally connected our intercom to the lobby speakers. Director and LD were talking over the headset and the volume was so loud that you could hear their conversation all the way across the school...really cool, but a complete accident!
Now we know how loud the ceiling speakers in the lobby are!

 

[Spiceboy]

To Get 2 Wire wet PL in to a Recorder or mixer you will need a 2 to 4 wire converter.

Something lke this should work for both Clearcom and RTS

http://www.clearcom.com/support/datasheet_pdfs/datasheets_party_line/Clear-Com_EF-701M_Datasheet.pdf

You can then wire from the 4 wire output to yor recorder or Mixer.

 

[renegadeblack]

I suspect that they don't need to contact an attorney, they just let everyone on their crew know that they'll be recorded. I too think they'll find rather quickly that it's a bad idea as if their shows are anything like ours, some... ahem... wise comments are made about the quality of the performances with some... ahem... colorful language. Something that I find to be quite interesting with our ClearComs is that there's a program line on the base station that allows us to input audio to be broadcast across the system.

Someone also mentioned that the coms are male on the wall... not in my theatre Some are male and some are female. Why? Beats the heck out of me!

 

[Hughesie]

I tried it (with the crew's permission) and apart from creating something you need to censor every 5 seconds its rather a pointless exercise.

 

[kiwitechgirl]

Something that I find to be quite interesting with our ClearComs is that there's a program line on the base station that allows us to input audio to be broadcast across the system.

Our TechPro comms are the same - we use it for stage feed so that SM and operator have the program feed coming straight into their ears. Obviously it's fully volume-adjustable so that you can balance program feed and being able to hear people, but it's very useful. We've also had a piece of kit built which has the comms hooked into the theatre Tannoy; B-circuit on the comms works normally, but when you press the B signal button, it breaks into the Tannoy so you can make calls through the theatre. Cleverly, it's completely independent of the Tannoy volume so even if the dressing room Tannoy is turned right down, calls still go through. It also has an output on it so that you can record comms simply by plugging an XLR into the box and then into whatever recording device you please; we've only used it once, on a show which had such a complex call we recorded comms so that the backup operator could rehearse the operation of the show by himself, and both the SM and operator hated having to record comms.

 

[Raktor]

I tried it (with the crew's permission) and apart from creating something you need to censor every 5 seconds its rather a pointless exercise.

Why should you have to censor standbys, gos and acknowledgments of standbys? That's essentially all that should be happening.

 

[Hughesie]

Why should you have to censor standbys, gos and acknowledgments of standbys? That's essentially all that should be happening.

If only

 

[Chris Chapman]

When a complex show is being called, it can be a thing of beauty to listen to the stanbys, warnings, go's, position acks, and clears. I wish I had recordings of some of our comm chatter on big shows. Not the boring shows where you would have to bleep out every other word, just the impressive ones.

 

[museav]

When a complex show is being called, it can be a thing of beauty to listen to the stanbys, warnings, go's, position acks, and clears. I wish I had recordings of some of our comm chatter on big shows. Not the boring shows where you would have to bleep out every other word, just the impressive ones.

I see that being the best use of any recording, to review in an attempt to improve communications or as an example of good communications.

 

[renegadeblack]

If only

Right? Our director tends to be on comms during the show and she sits front row which you can see from the coves. Whoever is in the cove can see her and lets us know when she is and isn't on comms

And for those of you who said that all that should be on the comms is cues, yeah, it is. But during intermission, we deem that we should be allowed to chatter. Also, during a rather boring show, when there aren't any cues, we just talk... when the comms are all working, if not, we hope that the spot operators can figure out the cues themselves or when their cue comes up that it magically starts working again (which seems to happen strangely often).

 

[NickJones]

Just a few things,
You shouldn't run it into the mixer. As it will be a seperate Audio Track for the DVD,

Secondly; and probably more importantly, who do you expect to watch this? In high school shows people don't care what happens behind the scenes, if they did, then they would be doing the show. Coms chatter can be interesting, but only for tech people. My first show I ever did I did with Raktor & Loki, it was High School Musical, I got into the songs a bit and singing and dancing may/may not have happened in the booth. Some of it through coms. Nothing like a sing along, (getting off topic a bit here,) I got a message from someone who was standing in the wings saying people on stage could see us. If there is interesting coms chatter, then you won't be allowed to put it on the DVD. I was at a mates place today, we found his old video camera, and rememberd the last time it was used was years ago on the same show. We used it to tape some behind the scenes stuff. And during one part, a cake got thrown at him. On another part features anther mate trying to drink 2l of Coke at once. That can be a lot more interesting than hearing people talk about the curtain going up and down. We have an upcoming production, and again, we will make a video of rehearsals, and all the cool stuff that happens in them, then we will stick all that on the DVD. Also if you are in a HS situation, where it is all done volinatarily then people watch it and think, well that looks like fun, making minions easier to find.
Nick

 

[willbb123]

I would listen to it if it was a special feature. Probably not anyone else.
I too have done high school musical. There may of been alot of dancing going on in the booth.
The last concert I did it's probably better that no one will hear what was said again. So many things happened wrong (artists fault, showed up an hour late past go, very drunk). I normally don't swear, but after this show I apologised to the other people on headset.

 

[NickJones]

I would listen to it if it was a special feature. Probably not anyone else.
I too have done high school musical. There may of been alot of dancing going on in the booth.
The last concert I did it's probably better that no one will hear what was said again. So many things happened wrong (artists fault, showed up an hour late past go, very drunk). I normally don't swear, but after this show I apologised to the other people on headset.

Yeah, my point exactly, you and I would, but if this was a HS show, we would both be involved in it anyway. General public wouldn't. No dancing? I hated the movie, but I have to say, it kinda grew on me. Now I want to kill everyone involved in any of the HSM moves, but that's beside the point. I don't really think coms should be used to have a general conversation, but talking about the show ect, I have no problem with, but views are often discused on coms. And not all are nice, I don't necissarily agree that coms chatter should be Standing By, Acknowledgment of Standing By, and Go's. Shows can get boring. I did one at Christmas time, I didn't bother writing cues as I just submasterd most of it, and I pushed up the subbie, and went and had a chat with my spot operator. So if you did go with the recording idea, it would either be boring as anything, or filled with jucy gosip that would offend people.
Nick

 

[willbb123]

Yeah, my point exactly, you and I would, but if this was a HS show, we would both be involved in it anyway. General public wouldn't. No dancing? I hated the movie, but I have to say, it kinda grew on me. Now I want to kill everyone involved in any of the HSM moves, but that's beside the point. I don't really think coms should be used to have a general conversation, but talking about the show ect, I have no problem with, but views are often discused on coms. And not all are nice, I don't necissarily agree that coms chatter should be Standing By, Acknowledgment of Standing By, and Go's. Shows can get boring. I did one at Christmas time, I didn't bother writing cues as I just submasterd most of it, and I pushed up the subbie, and went and had a chat with my spot operator. So if you did go with the recording idea, it would either be boring as anything, or filled with jucy gosip that would offend people.
Nick

Thinking about it more, I'd be more interested in just hearing the LD and other crew talking about why they did what they did.

 

[Andy_Leviss]

For those who want to make a safe adapter to do this:

http://bestaudio.com/_private/downloads/Audio_only_adapter.pdf

or, for a simpler version, if you have an IL-19 or two around to use:
http://bestaudio.com/_private/downloads/Simple_Audio_only.pdf

[Correction to my earlier post. I had mentioned that, in a pinch, you can use a pin 2 lift to record ClearCom. This is technically true, but ONLY if nobody presses the call button. The call button dumps 24V onto the audio line, hence the need for the caps. I shouldn't post tech stuff at 4am!]

--Andy

 

[NickJones]

Cheers Andy,
Will definitely use this if need to record a Coms Sessison.

Thinking about it more, I'd be more interested in just hearing the LD and other crew talking about why they did what they did.

I have seen one or two shows recently, I always judge how good a show is depending on how sore my neck is after the show. If I spent the show checking out and IDing every piece of tech gear in the venue, I know it has been a lame show. But should I not even notice this, then it's been a good show.
I'm LDing a show that goes on in two weeks, and its awful. We should get rid of the costumes section on here and replace it with "Super Lame Shows We Have Done" anyway, back on track, the show is really really bad. I seriously think more pressure is put on the tech's should it be a lame play. I should make an iPhone App for broadcasting the comms chatter. I just got the SDK from Apple. Could be a fun project.
Nick

 

[Hughesie]

Nick, as valid as your point maybe i'd be very careful with how much you publiclly bag a show. Controlbooth is a very high ranking (google seo wise) site and you never know who might be watching.

Just my 2 cents and something i learnt personally.

 

[NickJones]

Nick, as valid as your point maybe i'd be very careful with how much you publiclly bag a show. Controlbooth is a very high ranking (google seo wise) site and you never know who might be watching.

Just my 2 cents and something i learnt personally.

Yeah, I'm surprised how much this site comes up when I Google stuff. The production we are doing doesn't even come up on Google. And I chose not to mention the name of the show. I would post a song on here just to show how epicly lame it is. But that would break copyright.
The director is the only person involved in the show, that thinks its any good. I'm not sure if I want my name on the program. Don't want to put my name to the program.
Nick