Every several years, sound freelancers must reinvest in the latest recording technology so they can arrive on set with the kind of equipment package a production wants.

For years, recording on 1/4′ tape was the industry standard, but now dat (digital audio tape) is usually used, for both its quality and its efficiency in synchronization. Quarter-inch offers a half-hour of tape per roll (recording at 7 1/2′ per second), whereas dat tapes can record up to two hours. dats therefore cut down on the time of rewinding, checking, and changing tapes in the sync process.

‘In machine room time, which goes for close to $300 an hour, that’s a large savings,’ says Urmas Rosin, who primarily uses a Fostex PD4 dat recorder.

Rosin believes the advent of digital recording will revolutionize the film business just as it has the music industry.

‘For the longest time it was just the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and the Eagles,’ he says. ‘Now you have such a huge cross-section of music because people can afford to go out and buy these little systems that they can make in their basement. And I think that’s going to happen in the film business, too, in video and sound, because the new generation of filmmakers don’t have to go to a super-duper post-production facility. They’ll go and do it on their own Media 100 at home.’

Rosin foresees dat machines lasting another two to three years, until the industry shifts towards pc cards.

‘If you have the proper Sonic Solutions program on your computer and a pc card slot, you can bring your laptop to a lab and synchronize rushes off it.’

Rosin is optimistic about these technological advances, adding, ‘The digital realm has opened up new possibilities, and it’s only going to get better.’