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Blog officially closed, more next year we hope, thanks


Craig_Turner
aka
UK_Force

Sifting through the sands

Well .... finally back at home. Gone from 35 degrees C, to 15 degrees C .... sunshine to rain ... but that's Scotland for you. Sitting now waiting on the hard drive to arrive, been organising all the photos and video ... and planning a last little blog.

But what is there to say ? Sofad seems to have pretty much said it all (a picture speaks a thousand words, and a video even more ) ! Well I suppose I can leave with the heartfelt thanks that all of us feel, towards everyone down in Dorset who made our trip go smoothly. Most of all ... miss all you guys already, it was great to meet each other in the flesh.

Stan, Stu and Craig ... you are a top geezers, thanks so much for arranging and putting space aside for us. Craig especially ... there was no end of behind the scenes management that so many forget. Well we won't.

To all the engineers down at Bovington ... thanks so much for being patient with us getting in your way, and for driving those beasts for us. Hope you had as much fun as we did.

To Mick, thanks so much for the lend of the Zoom ... it was totally invaluable, and stunningly good for such an unobtrusive bit of kit. We captured stuff with that which would have been impossible otherwise (like 2 soldiers arguing how to close the breach on the Cr2 main gun ... there will be an outakes reel !).

Sid, cheers for a long long stretch in the hot sun (someone buy him a drink !) ... and helping us through our busiest day. Despite the Jack hammer , the concrete saw and the genny ... we made it through !

Thanks to Mark from BIA, for hanging out with us and showing us VBS and generally just making the trip a fun laugh. Was great to meet you, and look forward to further ventures.

And everyone else who made this trip possible, a big thanks.

And last and not least ... thanks to our team. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed at our professionalism, on day 1 morning 1 we had already clicked and the first listen back was very impressive. By the end of the week we were flying through the recordings like a well oiled machine. A testament to everyone's skill and ability.

So finally .... I leave you with a parting video, and some photos. Enjoy. Because we sure as hell did.

[R-DEV] Twisted Helix

This is it...

5 Days

50 hours

6 Developer + Tom + Mark from BIA

countless helpers and door openers (stu, thnx alot again, mate ;) )

10 different Microphones

120 meter Mic leads

several meters of Power extension leads

1 Bench + 2 Chairs

lots of tubes of suncream

6 Traffic cones

5 Mic Stands

several cycling Helicopters

a barking dog

1 Van

20 Vehicles

80 GB of recorded Data

.....lots of fun! :)

Sunday, 18th

[R-DEV]Jaymz and me arriving at Wool Trainstatation

[R-DEV]Drav, Tom, [R-DEV]Twisted Helix, [R-DEV]UK_Force, [R-DEV]Jaymz visiting the recording location

Monday, 19th

Tom, [R-DEV]UK_Force, [R-DEV]Jaymz, Mark Lacey from BIA, [R-DEV]Drav after building up the recording installation

[R-DEV]Jaymz, Mark Lacey, [R-DEV]Drav, [R-DEV]UK_Force waiting for the first vehicle...

... the FV510 Warrior (all videos can be viewed in HD! :) )

the scottish pikeman :)

spending the evening at the sgt. mess

Thuesday, 20th

Drav at the lookout

and here they come

all those clouds at the hill in the background are responsible for some wasted hours..

my setup up the range for the ambient recording that never happend this day ;)

the two challys waiting for the clouds to push along. the white dot in the middle is our van with the crew setting the mic´s up for the planned close up recording, 1km down the range.

the FV432 is beeing captured

recording the FV432 on a ride

the Trojan is a real monster!

[R-DEV]Twisted Helix and his very helpful mobile recorder

[R-DEV]Jaymz is waiting for the background noise to die away

the mighty two mobile recordists sitting on top of the monster

highlight of the day: the nightfiring exercise

those youtube vids seem to be darker then the original recording, whyever...

Wednesday, 21th

stu, drav, jaymz, uk_force, tom, twisted and mark discussing the setup down the range

my setup again for the next try.. ;)

the two Challenger 2 waiting up the range with the generator engine running

setup for the CR2 engine recording

uk_force is staying on the hatches to keep them closed for the right internal sound :)

call Mulder and Scully, ive found a rubber circle...

the devs visiting Lullworth cove

beautiful place...

...also in a panorama picture

stu gave us the opportunity to record all the quieter parts of the chally at Lullworth Camp in almost perfect silence, except a f*****g dog and some sheeps in the background.. ;)

stu is driving the tank for us :)

Thursday, 22th

on top of an AS-90 to place a mic

my view while recording the AS-90

the AS-90 is leaving and we recording the depart

the next one is coming in

a walk around the setup for the MLRS engine recording

uk_force is leaving... ;)

special smoke launchers? not needed! ;)

Friday, 23th

HET incoming

[R-DEV]strima is driving the jackal away...

...and the Springer to the recording place

the Husky with his space doors.. ;)

the Mastiff 2 is entering the location

the end, he´s done... ;)

c ya next time

[R-DEV]sofad

Job Done ...........

7 Days earlier, the team where working their way down to Bovington via Train, plane and automobile, and now they are all back home, having completed what was an epic Project.

It seems like yesterday I picked them up and got them settled into the Camp, and here I am now sat at home working on our next future project !!

I think I can honestly say on behalf of all the team, true freindships where formed during the week, and a "Team" was formed, that worked together incredibly well throughout the week.

I will miss the irish tones of Jaymz on his Megaphone "This is the Warthog start/stop/idle ....action"
I am sure over the coming days the team will be blogging a large summary of their experiences during the time they where here, and I am sure they will be an interesting read for you all.

I am incredibly proud of our team, and always knew things like this would happen, we have created the perfect starting block now for realitystudios.com, and I am sure you will see a lot more of this in the future.
My thanks to everyone I worked with during the week, with a special mention to Stu Paterson @ Lulworth, [R-DEV]strima, our own MA, and driver at Warminster, all the Civilian Drivers at Bovington, Stan up at LTF, Mark Lacey from BIA who entertained us all with VBS2 on Thursday evening and all my other "contacts" that I worked with to set this up.
So for me, my final Blog - but for the team still more Blogs to come, so stay tuned in for some great stories.

Thanks to everyone who followed the blogs, and also to the whole of the PR Community who continue to inspire us as a team.








[R-DEV]UK_Force

back at home. :)

what an amazing week.

the final update, including pics, vids and more samples will follow (hopefully) tomorrow. :)

5 Days, 20 UK Vehicles ...... A team of tired PR Developers

Well, thats it the recording is now over. The title really says it all I suppose, we have covered far more than excpected. With a few phone calls, and backhanders like always we managed to get exactly what was required and more.

[R-DEV]sofad had his dream today, as there was lots of TRUCKS for him to record, including the HET as seen in the picture, the CST, Foden, MAN truck etc.

[R-DEV]Jaymz, carried on his weeks fetish of all things with a manual traverse cupolla, and spent some time in the top of the Mastiff.

[R-DEV]Twisted Helix spent the day explaining how things sound, using his own expressions to do so, which entertained us all. We where joined also be [R-DEV]strima today as our Driver, as this man is trained on the lot, and even showed us all the "horns" of each vehicle (HET and CST win by a mile) !!

So overall a productive week, but now we have collected the sounds, its time for the Project Reality Sound Dept, to really start work with what will be long hours sat at the computer in post production.
The weather was kind all week, as I had booked it, and therefore it ran like clockwork like the whole week.

Check out sofads, and Jaymz's T-Shirt Tans from the back of the "mobile studio" !! A bit of sun for the Dev's prior to being locked back away at their PC's ....lol. You wouldn't believe it was throwing it down with rain on the 1 1/2 hour drive up to Warminster.
So with things drawing to a close now, and the week wrapping up, I thought it would be fitting for them to relax a little now, and phoned a pal at the Tank Muesum for a few free tickets, so they can relax and wander around there prior to taking them to the train station.

I am sure the guys will have more detailed Blogs for you guys over the next few days, so stay tuned.


Mark Lacey (BIA) [R-DEV]Twisted Helix, [R-DEV]sofad, [R-DEV]Jaymz, checking the Coyote prior to placing the Mic's out.







[R-DEV]sofad, finding out how big the Mastiff really is !!!













Springer ..... note the vehicles lined up ready for us













[R-DEV]Twisted Helix, Ready to record the CST












[R-DEV]Jaymz "Never mind the trucks, check my ride out"













Husky, High RPM = LOUD, comes with Star wars doors as standard !!










Quotes Of the Day:

[R-DEV]Twisted Helix

"Where my lighter gone now?"

[R-DEV]Twisted Helix

"Just record this tssccchhh tssccchhh sound sofad"


[R-DEV]Jaymz

"Oooohhh .... Manual Traverse"

[R-DEV]Jaymz

"ACTION"

[R-DEV]sofad

"PUT ZE MIC THERE ROB"

"Sheisser"










[R-DEV]UK_Force

listen...

just a small samplefile for you to have an idea what a challenger 2 sounds like when driving by at slow speed.

http://www.box.net/shared/76ve0u8954

(make shure to raise your volume to the max... ;) )

cheers

[R-DEV]sofad

Recording Document : Done

The entire recording plan we had for each vehicle we knew would be available has now been completed. So besides a few sounds, such as the MLRS turret traversing (which we couldn't get because it didn't work on the driver training variant we had), we're doing very well. Tomorrow, we're ceasing the opportunity to record a lot of the newer vehicles held at Warminster. We'll have the pleasure of meeting our newest MA, [R-DEV]Strima, who will also be our driver for the day.

For tonight, we're going to take it easy and head back over to Lulworth for some simulation fun ;)

[R-Dev]Jaymz

keine zeit, keine zeit... // time's scarce

hier geht es wirklich von einem event zum naechsten...
Gestern haben wir die Aufnahmen fuer den Challenger 2 MBT fertiggestellt und am Vormittag hatten wir dann doch noch die moeglichkeit bei den Schiessuebungen einer Challenger 2 crew dabeizusein. Ich war mit meinem setup am Anfang der Range geblieben um die Ambient sounds von dort aus aufzunehmen. Der Tank stand ca 1 km von diesem Punkt entfernt und trotzdem war der Schusssound an meinem Standort immernoch unglaublich intensiv.
Heute waren der AS90 Artilleriepanzer und der MLRS Missle Launcher an der Reihe. Nachher statten wir noch der hier ansaessigen Mediaabteilung einen Besuch ab um deren Arbeit kennen zu lernen, aber auch um unsere bisherigen Aufnahmen von hier vorzufuehren.
Heute gibt es leider keine Bilder, weil ich gerade an einem Prepaid-Internetcomputer hier im Camp sitze, der keinerlei USB verbindungen zulaesst.
Von Sonntag an, wenn ich wieder zu Hause bin, wird es jede Menge Videos, Fotos und Soundsamples unserer Aufnahmen geben. Falls das hier uebhaupt gewuenscht wird...
Sagt mir doch bitte in einem Comment zu meinem post, gerne auch in Deutsch, ob der geneigte Mitleser uebhaupt an weiteren Fotos und Videos interessiert ist.. ;)

bis zum naechsten Update

cheers

[R-DEV]sofad

//

We're really constantly going from one event to another around here
Yesterday we finished the recordings with the Challenger 2 MBT and in the morning we had the opportunity to experience a shooting exercise of a Challenger 2 crew. I stayed at one end of the range with my setup to record the ambient sounds from there. The tank was about 1 km away from that point and yet the noise of the shots was still incredibly intense at my location.
Today we recorded the AS90 artillery tank and the MLRS missile launcher. Later we visited the local media department to get to know their work, but also to present our recordings so far.
Today there's no pictures sadly, because I'm sitting at a prepaid-internet computer here in the camp, which doesnt allow any USB connections.
From sunday on, when I'm back home again, there will be alot of videos, photos and sound samples from the trip. That is, IF any of you guys want to see those, let me know in the comments, can also be in German :)

see you next update

cheers

Translated by Spec_Operator and [R-CON]creepin

Yo, just got back from Bovington, the others have given a pretty good rundown of whats been happening, so I'm just going to add whats been missing, pictures! The British Army does a lot of things well, but unfortunately fast free internet doesen't seem to be one of them. So until the rest of the guys get back into the real world, heres whats been happening. This is the Warrior we recorded first.




[R-DEV]Sofads Central Command. All the static mics were controlled from here, such as those in the picture above. Although this required power to run, and took a little longer to set up, virtually unlimited space and up to 8 stereo tracks meant it was well worth it. Sofad is a super chilled guy who is doing a great job and I'm confident we'll have got some good recordings from this setup.



Next we move onto our mobile recordist, the mysterious developer [NO-TAG]Tom. Born 'Reg Johnson' in 1978 he escaped a federal penitentiary after being wrongfully mistaken for convicted killer Ian Huntley. Today, still wanted by the government, he survives as a sonic bounty hunter, capturing anything that revs, roars, explodes or self destructs. If you have a problem, and no one else can help, he wont either, but he might record it.

Last but most certainly not least, we have [R-DEV]Jaymz and [R-DEV]Twisted Helix. Jaymz was in charge of the running of the recording. Through a large megaphone, his soothing Irish lilt graced the start of every take, on every microphone, all day, every day. You will be hearing it very soon. He also kept the notes, kept the driver happy and informed (one of the most important bits) as well as setting up mics, getting on the boom and recording inside the vehicles. He is also very slow at eating, and due to the standard military half hour being insufficient for his extensive ruminations, has yet to finish a whole meal. However, he is a top guy so I'll let him off. [R-DEV]Twisted Helix, huge excitable Scot, says fuck a lot, runs around a lot when excited, all round excellent guy. Once everything else was set up, his main task was running the Zoom mobile recorder (in the above photo)) making sure it got everywhere it needed to be, be it the inside of a Trojan, or to record a challenger crew arguing about how to put a round in the barrel. Priceless. Expect a lot more good stuff from him later in the week.



This is the night fire exercise that we recorded the 30mm cannon on. It was incredibly wet and windy, so Tom and Rob were unleashed with their mobile recorders and lurked about in the dark looking for tight sonic angles. After everyone finished recording I chucked the camera on one of their tripods and managed to get this picture in the gale.



Finally, this is a lucky picture I got of the Challenger 2 firing its main gun this morning. Yes, it is really loud....

[R-DEV]Drav