Re: Question on taped narrations

[P3D Dave Williams <daverw@xxxxxxxxx>]

>I would like to be able to tape narrated presentations with music and a cue
>for slide changes.  While I do appreciate a spontaneous presentation, taped
>presentations have some advantages, one of which is that you can ship them
>and have someone else do the show.  (Also, I don't really like my voice so
>I can have a better voice narrate and spare the audience of my Greek accent!)
>
>Question:  What is the minimum amount of equipment that will let me do the
>job for a reasonable cost?
>
>Thank you for any and all input!!! -- George Themelis


George,

        I have done a number of 2d slide/sound presentations for churches in
my area, but the technique would no doubt work with a stereo setup as well.
You need a unit to syncronize your projector remote to a tape deck.  The one
I used belonged to the church I attended at the time.  It was a small
dissolve unit that hooked up two projectors and a sound source.  The brand
name escapes me at the moment, but there are a number of these units on the
used market (due to the increase in video presentations) and they are all
pretty standard.  
        I recorded the sound track first.  This is important.  I recorded
narration, music and live sounds on separate tapes for best control, then
mixed it all down to my sound track which I put on one tape channel, using
the church's sound system.  Then I timed the sound track to determine how
many slide changes I would need and where to put them.  Then I edited the
slides to fit.  The dissolve unit let me do this manually and record the
sync pulses as I went onto the other track of the tape. You switch the sound
cable from the record jack to the play jack, and let it go.  Perfect slide
syncronization and sound. You could feed the sound, of course, into the
sound system you were using. You can sync one projector or two with a
variable disolve on this unit.  Other units have more controls, up to the
big rigs with computer control and multi media capability.  
        Some units, and some tape recorders, let the pulse sound bleed
through onto the music track.  I used a reel to reel for the master, then
duped it onto cassette.  With the sound channel fed through a mixer and
sound system, the pulses were completely inaudible.
        Hope this helps.

Dave        


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