Notes from March 2009

Steenbeck ST-1 has landed

Today, a donation from Visual Products arrived. The donation comprised four Steenbeck ST-1 magnetic recorders. They are odd, mostly European machines. The Steenbeck service people I know in the states had never heard of the ST-1. Only Steenbeck (now in Holland) was able to provide information on these machines. According to Steenbeck, they are comparable to a Sondor or MWA mag recorder, both being high quality recorders in the European market. When Paul is here in May we'll work to dial in the machines. I'm curious to see how well they perform. They're certainly more practical in their design than a Magnasync, Multi-Track Magnetics, or Magna-Tech machine, so my fingers are crossed in hopes that the ST-1 will perform to high standards.

March 17, 2009  –  permalink

North Portland Secret Cinema

Last weekend I went to visit Dick, a local collector and ex-union projectionist who lives in North Portland. Dick was very welcoming despite having met for the first time. He presented me with his 35mm projection booth, and screened for me the first reel of The Hunt for Red October. It was hard to believe the horns and bass wolfers were driven by 30W amplifiers. Such efficiency caused me to reconsider our current sound reinforcement. It might be interesting to build something a little more custom, other than using an active speaker built more for DJs than cinema.

March 10, 2009  –  permalink