[Dtb-talk] Production of DAISY DTBs - Narrator remote controls

[Tim Gillett]

David,
 
Since nobody else responded, here's a belated reply.

 The problem is by no means new but with a two person operation there should be no need for the Narrator
 to have any control over the recorder's functions.
Part of  the Monitor's role is to free up the Narrator from the burden of recorder control so the Narrator can 
focus on the complexities of the narration undistracted.

Here's a bit of local history to perhaps explain this:

 When I arrived on staff at ABWA in the mid 80's I was puzzled by the presence of 
Narrator Remote Control units in all recording studios, but I soon learned why they had been installed.

The existing Studer Revox tape machines were of the 3 head professional type, 
allowing the monitor/audio producer to actually listen to the tape playback a half second after it had been recorded, to
confirm the recording had gone down to tape properly. A desirable professional feature.

The problem was that for the Narrator to also hear this slightly delayed version of their own voice would have been
 extremely offputting and led to all sorts of  narrating stumbles and even hilarious bloopers. 

My predecessor should have installed extra  automatic switching circuitry
 of the correct undelayed  voice to the Narrator's headphones
 whenever the Narrator was recording, and to automatically switch the signal back to "playback"
whenever listening to previously recorded material. 
When I arrived on staff, since this facility had never been installed, it had been pointless even to provide
 the Narrator with headphones as the time delayed voice would have caused the above comical problems.
Narrators narrated without hearing any of their narration either live or in playback!

In lieu of the correct switching circuitry, my predecessor  had  purchased and installed in all studios Remote Control Units.
The editing process went like this: When the Narrator made a mistake, the Monitor took over, erased the mistake
 and cued the tape back to the end of the last good sentence. The recorder's tape was now stopped.
 The Monitor then informed the Narrator
 which sentence to begin from (as the Narrator having no headphones was flying blind and couldnt hear the tape playback).
 The Narrator then pressed "record" on the remote and the recording continued. To mask the "click' of the Remote button press,
my predecessor had installed a slight delay in the turn on of the microphone until the click had gone.

So by the time I arrived, the habit of Narrators starting and pausing the recorder was already deeply entrenched, 
and for the technical reason that Narrators had no headphone facility. And they had no headphone facility
 because of the technical reason that 
it wouldnt have worked anyway  given the lack of the correct automatic switching circuitry.

The habit had also extended to Narrators also pausing the recorder at page turns, a poor practice as it led to
sub standard edits.

As soon as I could, I designed and installed the correct automatic circuits in the tape machines, and then installed 
headphone facilities for all Narrators. Now Narrators could hear themselves at all phases of production and significantly, 
proper professional "preroll editing" could be used, which sounds much more convincing than static edits previously used.

Unfortunately once people are given something they tend to regard it as a "right". 
So while Narrators now, finally, had headphones, correctly switched automatically so they didnt have to do anything extra, Narrators 
clung to the old ways of controlling the recorder even though there was now no need to do so.
They clung to the Remote even though the Remote was only a poor second best to the real thing which was being able to hear 
their own voice live and in playback through their own headphones. 
In spite of my trying repeatedly to explain this to staff and Narrators, the practice persisted and I eventually just gave up in frustration.
 
 
The practice persisted for many right through the transition to digital recording. Ironically, when they discovered it, some
 Narrators also warmed to the automatic "preroll" function in Cubase (it's also in many other similar digital recording programs)
 even though they had shunned the "preroll" function which the Monitor could have been doing for the past 20 years in analog! 

So while by the late 80's, Monitor initiated "preroll" was available, it wasnt generally used
 until digital preroll became available only a year or so ago. The same people who had shunned preroll for 20 years now demanded 
its retention in automatic form. They demanded it because it was the only silent way for a Narrator controlled edit
 of professional standard.
 But Narrators hadnt needed to control the edit at all for over 20 years!  Their own Monitor could have done it for them.

So there you have it.

Yes in a solo Narrator operation, automatic preroll is a great and irreplaceable tool, giving potentially professional results.
 As you say, in lieu of that they alternatives are silent switches, delayed mic turn on etc. Even a foot operated switch 
can be used as its distance from the mic and its being shaded by the desk or bench can make it virtually inaudible. 

But with a two person operation, Monitor initiated preroll edits are fine, as any "click'" of the Monitor's Record button is inaudible
 due to the monitor being in the sound isolated control booth, out of range of the Narrator's mic. 
This has been professional assemble editing practice ever since magnetic tape recording started over 60 years ago. 

Any competent Narrator/ Monitor team should be able to use manual preroll editing, with the Monitor using the record button to "punch in". 
It requires some practice to get the timing right and inevitably some mistakes are made.
 But the great beauty of digital is that even if you do make a mistake by accidentally erasing part of the previous Narration,
 you can retrieve it perfectly and not lose anything, even after multiple editing mistakes. In analog there was no such leeway.

Hope this helps.

Tim Gillett
Audio/Electronics Technician
Perth, Western Australia