[Frameworks] Maurer optical sound recorder

[Pip Chodorov]

Hi Alex,

We have a Maurer in Paris that we got from Jud Yalkut in Ohio. We 
were able to make it work fine, except that the speed is determined 
by the current, and in Paris that's 50hz instead of 60 - it ran slow 
and we were in the processing of configuring a solution when we came 
across another sound camera in Belgium, so we're using that one now.

In fact, making your own optical track is not difficult but you have 
to do a lot of tests with sine wave recordings, printing, developing 
and checking it with an oscilloscope. Technically it is quite tricky 
to get it perfect, especially if your developing is not standardized, 
ie if you hand develop, or if the chemicals are not always 
replenished exactly. Fortunately, it is not as hard to make an 
optical negative as it is to print the positive film with sound - 
there you have to do many tests with the right filters so the track 
is perfectly black and white, and develop the film so the image looks 
right and the track has just the right density. This can be very long 
and frustrating and in the end a professional lab will always have 
better results. At L'Abominable we have made a couple of films with 
sound but they are not perfect. We are still working on it. And the 
people working on it are great technicians - I myself am not working 
on this at all. But I have been following the results and seeing 
their tests and it is a long arduous process just to get a good 
healthy sine tone.

- Pip Chodorov




At 15:57 -0500 11/12/10, Alex Lake wrote:
>Hello all--
>
>I found a Maurer optical sound recorder on Craigslist.  I went and
>looked at it today and it seems to power on, motors spin.  The lamp is
>dead.  I didn't take it today because it was heavier than I thought it
>would be and didn't want to take it on the train.
>
>Does anyone know anything about these?  If it doesn't work, does
>anyone know how repairable they are?
>
>I have until Tuesday to decide if I want to take it or not.  Making my
>own optical tracks would cut down my film costs, but I don't want to
>take this thing home if it's just going to be an incredibly heavy
>paperweight.
>
>Best,
>Alex
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