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sound and super 8mm


Eduardo Mayen

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can i record sound with a super 8mm camera? is there a place in the negative for a soundtrack?

 

Initially, Super 8 film was a silent medium. At some point there was a sound component, with a magnetic audio strip on the film. This form is rather forgotten. As far as I know, there is no new sound super 8 film made, and no processing available for sound super 8 film.

 

However, I'm not sure whether that means...

 

a) Super 8mm sound film is un-processable... perhaps it can be processed, but you'll get a return with no sound strip

 

b ) Sound Super 8mm cameras can use non-sound film and vise versa.

 

c) Super 8mm projectors can play sound film and vise versa.

 

As I said, I don't believe you can get new super 8mm film with a magnetic audio strip, part of the reason, I think, that you'll find seemingly cheap editing stations, sound super 8 cameras, etc. on ebay.

Edited by Andy Pabst
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Sound cartridges were discontinued ten years ago. Should you take a chance with old stock, processing is identical- the stripe isn't affected.

This presupposes you use a sound camera and have a sound projector for replay. Sound cameras will take silent cartridges but not vice-versa, as the sound cartridge is deeper.

Silent film can theoretically be striped after editing, but I don't think anyone offers the service anymore- environmental regulations apparently stopped manufacture of the stripe.

In any event the sound quality was always rather poor, and editing rather difficult because of the 18-frame displacement between sound and picture.

You might be better off forgetting about lip-sync and make up your track on computer and burn to CD, as I now do. Playing it in 'loose sync' with the picture works quite well- there's no more than a second or two of drift in a 10-minute film.

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can i record sound with a super 8mm camera? is there a place in the negative for a soundtrack?

 

 

Just record your audio via the standard dual system method. Use a flash recorder. Much easier and cheaper than seeking out sound film. As for sound prints. Check out this link, they make Super 8 prints from negative. If it is sound or not I dunno.

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What I do for sound, on my Canon 1014 xls, is the camera has an audio out jack "moni" as it's called. Run the output into a small field recorder. I use a Zoom H2. I can record WAV files at 24B 48K, great sound quality. For sync purposes you may want to shot at 24fps. When you pull the trigger to film, that activates the audio output of the camera.

Edited by jason duncan
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