As a backup for when things go wrong, I usually try to keep a small
soldering iron and solder material in my recording kit while trekking in
the tropics. I also now carry some extra connectors for power sources
and mic cabling, like the 5-pin XLR needed for my stereo mic -- just in
case. However, everything extra tends to add up piece by piece in
weight, which is a concern when one is backpacking into to a remote
location for a week with food and camping gear too.
Like Tim mentioned, my problems have mostly been wires coming loose from
wear and tear, although I had an olive-sided Ridley sea turtle snap a
mic cord in half one evening (the result looked like garden shears had
done the job) on the beach during a small arribada of 1000-1500.
Although finding a power source to solder with may involve hiking out to
civilization or having to run a remote research station's noisy
generator for a while (if one has such a luxury), it may be more
feasible than having to drive or fly back to some bigger town or city
for cables that there were not spares for... or worse case -- having to
have some custom cables made and shipped to you... ..lol (thanks Dan
Dugan once again for coming through for me on that tall order a handful
of years back!).
~Jeff
Tim Nielsen wrote:
>I've found that it's not even sudden cable failure, if you're using=20
>your cables a lot, a connection can fail, you can accidentally get it=20
>snagged and the wires will pull off the connector. I guess I somewhat=20
>lied when I said I carried an exact spare for each cable. But I do=20
>carry spares of any 'special' cables that I can rig something in=20
>place of. My Schoeps MS rig goes into a single 5-Pin XLR in the=20
>handle of the zepplin. Then I run a single cable to my rig, then=20
>break it back out there. Makes for really nice hand-holding. So I=20
>know that I'd better at least have a spare way to break-out from the=20
>5-pin back to 3. Then I could run two XLR cables if need be right=20
>into the recorder.
>
>So really just have some kind of a backup plan to keep recording if=20
>any of your cables goes down.
>
>Tim
>
>On Oct 12, 2005, at 8:16 AM, esandhaus wrote:
>
>=20
>
>>After reading Tim's post, I found myself trying to think of various
>>events that could lead to sudden cable failure....then I read your
>>post, Oryoki. I think your story of the garden shears will forever
>>stick in my mind. It's a funny story to hear but I'm sure it was
>>less-than-funny when it happened =3D)
>>
>>-Estelle
>>
>>--- In "oryoki2000" <> wrot=
e:
>>=20=20=20
>>
>>>Tim Nielsen wrote:
>>>
>>>=20=20=20=20=20
>>>
>>>>...I always keep spares in the car for all my various cables...
>>>>=20=20=20=20=20=20=20
>>>>
>>>This reminds me of an incident on a recording trip
>>>in Brazil. We were trying to record antbirds along a
>>>forest trail. My companion was using a pair of
>>>garden shears to clip back some leaves at the edge of
>>>the trail to get a better look into the interior of
>>>the forest. Clip clip clip clip SNIP, and suddenly
>>>his mic cable was hanging in two pieces! Fortunately
>>>we had a spare cable in the car. Many bad words were
>>>uttered that day.
>>>
>>>--oryoki
>>>=20=20=20=20=20
>>>
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