As most of you know, using DAT for playback is easy and does not require the use of complicated synchronisers. In fact, one or two people use a DAT Walkman without any problems. But I use my expensive Fostex PD2 for playback because location of the playback point is accurate and extremely quick, especially when using time code for reference points.
Towards the end of last year I worked on a series of music programmes for TV which were edited on a Sony 9000 on-line editing suite. Apparently it took approximately 2 to 3 minutes to synchronise each take. At £140 per hour that could cost a lot of money per programme so we decided I should use my Fostex PD2 DAT recorder to playback a timecoded audio playback cassette which was a copy of the Music Master Recording. It was timecoded identically to the Master Recording.
During playback a feed from the timecode output of the PD2 (a three pin XLR male socket) is fed to the timecode input on the Betacam (well some of us have to work with video!!) with the Betacam timecode selector switch set to Free Run so that the camera timecode will slave to that recorded on the music DAT cassette.
When the music is played back from the same point for more than one take, the timecode will obviously be exactly the same at each point in the music. Because the same timecode could be repeated many times it is necessary to help the editor identify each take. This can be done with both a visual ident, using a clapper board at the beginning of each take (even video editors appreciate these), and also by altering the setting of the Betacam User Bits. Unfortunately there is no way of altering the user bits from the PD2 because they are taken from the pre-recorded cassette track. During editing, the user bits can be used to identify each take automatically whilst the timecode is used as a reference for picture editing.
When recording the action, it is important to allow at least a 10 second run-up of both the camera and the playback DAT recorder. There are two reasons for this. During recording of the picture when the camera first reads the timecode from the DAT recorder there is a picture frame roll which lasts for about 1 sec whilst the long run up time gives the editing machine a little time to lock to the picture time code. The Fostex PD2 also needs just under five seconds of timecode to locate to any given time code point.
So what is to be gained from using this system? Between two and three minutes is saved on synching each take to the master sound track thereby reducing the overall editing time. By referring to the timecode, all the takes can be intercut without even listening to the music and once the final picture is complete its timecode should match that of the master sound track with perfect synchronisation of both image and sound (here we assume that the artistes were good at miming).
Even if a timecoded playback cassette is not provided, should a second DAT recorder be available (we all have a back-up machine don't we? - even a DAT Walkman) it is worth making a timecoded copy on the PD2 for playback because editing time can be saved.
So the higher cost of hiring a Fostex PD2, compared to that of a DAT Walkman, is more than recovered by the reduction in editing time/costs and I certainly feel more like a professional when using the PD2 than if I were to use a Walkman.
Incidentally the Fostex saved the day during post production because the beginning of one of the musical items on the Master Audio DAT cassette clipped when it was played back through any of the Sony 7050 Studio DAT recorders used for editing. There was no fault with the 7050 DAT recorders! Fortunately it would playback perfectly on the Fostex PD2. I discovered that the sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz on the blank space immediately preceding the music on the Master suddenly changed to 48 kHz on the very first note of the music. No one is able to tell me how that happened!
Though we haven't tried it, there would appear to be no reason why this system cannot save time when editing off-line on Avid or Lightworks editing systems.