Chris Munro - on location with James Bond

Chris Munro is currently using a PD606 on the new James Bond film, currently filming at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. “Quantum of Solace”, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and directed by Marc Forster will be Chris’s fifth Bond movie having worked on Casino Royale, (for which he was awarded a BAFTA) Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.  Chris commented, “The Bond movies often use innovative techniques and new equipment.  It’s fitting that the Fostex recorders have been used on all my Bond movies so far and each new film has seen the use of a new product. On Tomorrow Never Dies the DV40 was used, The World Is Not Enough the PD6, Casino Royale used the DV824 / PD6 and now “Quantum Solace” will be the first to use the PD606 along with the DV824.”

Fostex researched the entire production process and gathered extensive user comments when designing the PD606. The machine now takes full size DVD discs for greater recording time and has been redesigned for simpler operation. Chris explained, “Despite what the name suggests, the PD606 is effectively an 8 track machine. Whilst it has 6 inputs, there are also 2 mix tracks available. In the same way that  the PD6 was design-based on the DV40 the PD606 is design-based on the DV824, an 8 track machine. What’s more, varying numbers of tracks can be recorded throughout a single disc and track configuration can be changed at will.  If only 2 or 4 tracks are required it doesn’t fill the others with blank space which is a real space and time bonus for editors.”  In addition to the PD606’s new design features this non-linear portable recorder also offers exceptional value for money and is even substantially cheaper than the PD6.

“Quantum Of Solace” will be filmed in many international locations and, whilst working abroad, reliable equipment is crucial, Chris explained, “Starting in the next few weeks I will be traveling to Panama, Peru, Chile, Austria and also Italy. I am confident in the PD606 and know the Fostex design quality won’t let me down. It’s so important to have a machine I can rely on when recording on location away from home.”

Jay Patterson, CAS

Jay Patterson's career in sound began in 1965 at age eleven, when he became professional voice talent in dramatic productions produced for CPB at WBGO-FM in Newark, New Jersey, and hasn't stopped since. As a media/electronic arts student, he attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs (Communications Studies Center), Ohio, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the State University at Buffalo (Center for Media Study).

His career in production began in 1978 at One Pass Video in San Francisco as a Video Technical Director / Field Engineer, but his love of sound led him to Production Mixing. Patterson's work in dramatic and corporate filmmaking have taken him around the world, recording tracks in Argentina, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico.

He has taught Production and Media Arts at Antioch College, SUNY Buffalo, the Bay Area Video Coalition, and UC Santa Cruz. After several hundred commercials, over a dozen indies, forty five Television Movies, and several episodic television shows, Patterson is currently finishing his sixth season of CBS's "Without A Trace" at Warner Bros.

Patterson received the Cinema Audio Society's 1997 Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing (Television Movie) for his work on "Death on Everest: Into Thin Air" shot on location in the Austrian Alps at 14,000 feet.

Jay is currently serving his second term as Vice President of IATSE Local 695.

Alan Chong

In the early 90s, Alan Chong took on the leading role in Production sound mixing during the pioneering stage of Singapore’s growing Film industry. He had made a winning mark with better-known regional and award-winning local feature films, 'Singapore Dreaming' and 'The Leap Years'.

Alan progressed to mix and provide to International feature films only to leave a track of meaningful projects that includes “House of Harmony”, “Love Under the Sign of The Dragon” and “Love in The Lion City” from Germany. He has mixed the triumphs of International films in the Cannes; Berlin & Sundance Film Festivals and the Hong Kong and Golden Horse Film Award-winners “Rice Rhapsody” and “One Last Dance”.

Alan’s most recent contributions to both the Local and International Film scene are films which include, “Untold Beauty”, “Carrot Cake Conversations” and “Kallang Roar”.

Alan continues to challenge and put in his relentless efforts in Singapore’s Film Industry.

Alan Chong’s Usage of Fostex’s PD606 and other Fostex products

It has been 4 years since I owned my first portable multi-tracks hard disk recorder. My choice was the trusty Fostex PD6. The transition from DAT to hard disk recording was pretty much effortless. Most of my works were carried out mostly cart based, with the occasional bag or car rig situation. With a recorder that gives me a 6 channel mixer function to work with, makes my job much easier whether it is on or off the cart. I added the Fostex FR2 for the “off the cart” ambience and sound effects recording, in addition, it serves as a reliable 2 tracks backup recorder. The PD6 was by my side throughout several Asian and European films, providing me with solid recording performance without fail.

Lately, I made a jump to the PD606. Complete with its new interface, mixer friendly layout, 8 tracks capabilities and multi-purpose functions, I am truly left with a good impression. The PD606 performed flawlessly throughout my recent film “Kallang Roar”, giving me 35 days of steady and dependable performance, not to mention with great help from Fostex Tech Support too. On top of all that, the added usability of the PD606 also works as my 5.1 ambience recorder. With a multi-channel link and single knob gain control on the linked channel, the PD606 makes 5.1 recording a breeze for me.

Noah Timan

Noah Timan began his production mixing career during the vibrant independent film scene of New York City during the early 1990s, when he mixed the independent successes "Raising Victor Vargas", "High Art", "Hamlet", and "Strangers With Candy".

Noah has gone on to mix and contribute to over 70 feature films, including "The Night Listener" (starring Robin Williams) and "Awake" (starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen), and provided mixing contributions to the Academy Award-winning films "Capote" and "The Bourne Ultimatum".

He recently mixed tracks for Wes Anderson's upcoming film "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" (starring George Clooney and Bill Murray), and his recent television projects include HBO's series "Flight of the Conchords" and Fox's "Canterbury's Law".

Noah has worked with such esteemed feature directors as Gus Van Sant, Mike Figgis, Nora Ephron, Michael Moore, and Spike Jonze, and is currently mixing Wes Craven's new film "25/8".

John Franco

As a busy 'sound for picture' mixer based in the Los Angeles area, John Franco gets first call to supervise sound recording on a variety of jobs, from mixing hundreds of national commercials to film and television shows to sports and special events.

So you can imagine with a reputation for delivering great sound under challenging circumstances, he gets a lot of interesting calls for work.  Recently, he was referred to just such a project.  The production company of Cavalia requested his expertise.  Cavalia is a dramatic equine centered world touring tent-show featuring visual effects, music, breathtaking acrobatics, skilled riders and rarely seen demonstrations of horse whispering.  It's similar to Cirque du Soleil, but with over thirty magnificent horses. The show would be recorded in Three Dimension High Definition Video and required sound that would be equal to the resulting dramatic 3-D big screen presentation. While the show’s music would be recorded in studio, they needed to record the live vocal and sound elements of each performance to later assemble with the music and 3-D HD video footage.

Franco recalls, "I had mixed a season of LA equestrian events for television culminating in the Olympic Equestrian Trials, so I had experience recording around horses.  I had also been retained as a consultant for LA's finest horse racetrack to design a microphone array to capture the sounds of the racing horses on the track, providing a trackside sound experience to patrons in the clubhouse."

"My recording gear would have to be dependable and responsive, so rather than recording to a Mac based computer system with a fire wire audio interface as I normally would, I decided to go with an all-in-one device. I chose the Fostex DV824 DVD Ram recorder as the centerpiece of my rig because of its highly stable UDF platform, on board Sempte time code and BWAV poly file format. It can record 8-tracks of up to 24bit and 48 Hz to high capacity12cm 5x DVD Ram media as well as the internal 40 gig. hard drive."

"The Fostex DV824 performed perfectly the entire shoot.  I never lost a take or had a problem with this machine. I trusted the DV824 alone to record every take and it all sounded great."

Ric Viers

Ric Viers, President of the post production studio’ "The Detroit Chop Shop."

Ric’s skill and mastery with recording sound effects has him authoring a book on sound effects that will illustrate his mastery of sound effects and the machine of his choice, the Fostex FR2.

Ric finds himself is various locations and temperature extremes and depends on the FR2.
"I've worked on over 100 professionally released sound effects libraries and I use Fostex FR-2s to capture all of the magic."

"DAT is dead. Hard Disk is here to stay. Without question, the Fostex FR-2 is the new standard for field recording."

"Unless God starts manufacturing location recorders, I'll never buy anything that isn't a Fostex."

"With over 100,000 sound effects under my belt, I've been there, done that, recorded it and sold it. The FR-2 is the best thing to happen to guys who don't have $15,000 stuffed in a drawer somewhere to spend on a great sounding recorder."

Danny Michael

"The DV824 and PD-6 have consistently given me a reliable finished product to hand in at the end of each shooting day."

Academy Award Nominee. Recent films includes The Departed, The Stepford Wives, School of Rock, 8 Mile, Changing Lanes, Hannibal.

Art Rochester

"As far as the DV 824s are concerned, the machines are great. These two machines work in a master - slave configuration. As the information is typed into the master machine, it is automatically duplicated on the slave machine(s). It is seamless and much faster than the PD6, which has been assigned to an "over-the-shoulder" bag for those occasional guerilla sequences and camera car rigs."

An award winner and Oscar nominee with some notable credits to his name. This rig will next be used on "Déjà Vu" in New Orleans.

Art's Cart with 2 x sync'd DV824.

Bob Dreebin

"I have used  products from  Fostex  for many years, for many different  reasons. I own, and use Fostex professional  recorders because I  depend on them for my livelihood  and reputation. In our business, the equipment must work,  first  and foremost. In the many years I have been using my Fostex PD-4, and as of late the Fostex PD-6 with the EX-12 4.7GB DVD-RAM drive and Hard drive, I have never been left explaining to anyone why my gear was not working. To me that  matters.

Before I buy any gear I do a few things,  First, I  research the company, then  I research  the gear itself  and it's reputation in the field by other prominent   users. After I have completed those steps I then research the competition.

When all is said and done, the Fostex gear always comes out on top, by a long shot. Issues such as Build quality and reputation, operational  controls, ruggedness, overall dependability, the ability to contact  technicians or  company  specialists, and finally in the event my Fostex gear is not working  to spec (something I have thankfully  never experienced) the ability to have it repaired in a timely  fashion, by many qualified facilities. Compare this, to one shop, three thousand  miles away, and, a time frame of three weeks or more for completion. Not  to mention  costly insurance and  shipping!.... Not in my world...

With all the shipping, loading, unloading, dust, dirt, moisture, freezing tempters, vibration and hundreds of other demands we as mixers place on our gear, I am constantly impressed by the simple fact that I can count on my gear to power-up and work as promised every time I turn on my power switches.

As for my Fostex gear, I preferred the PD-6 to the 824 only because of the ever changing configurations we as Commercial and film mixers are constantly exposed to. I figured the PD-6 was best suited for my particular needs. That being said, all the different situations we run into during a given day of recording.. Sound cart, process trailer, doc style etc. screamed decks from the Fostex lineup. The PD-6 with the EX 12, the FR-2 and now the newest kid to the block, the Fostex 606. The current configuration on my cart now is one of running the PD-6 with the EX-12, and the FR-2 on standby for any run and gun or over the shoulder work. My current PD-6 works so well, and always has, that the switch to the new 606 will have to wait a few more months... But I can't wait.. The new 606 is such a great machine with so many improvements, I really look forward to it's imminent purchase.

I also love  being able to save my days work on the large EX-12 Hard drive..... Great peace of mind... Nice piece of equipment.

I am very, very happy with the operation of  all my Fostex products, and the way I am treated by the staff there. I look forward  to many more years of  friendly  service and trouble free use of their equipment."


Bob Dreebin is a Los Angeles  based commercial sound mixer, responsible  for  the sound  recording  on  hundreds of  National  Commercial  Spots, Feature films, Documentaries,  Music  Videos and  other  projects World wide since 1983.

Jim Hawkins

"I've been using my PD-6 for two and a half years now, and it's the most dependable machine I've had since I left analog tape, and the non linear format and additional tracks allow me to do things I could never do with that old analog machine."

Recent Films: Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, Angel from Montgomery, Drumline.

Howard London

Famed Sony ADR* Mixer, Howard London has chosen the DV824 as his replacement for the studio's DAT machines in his renovation of their Feature recording stage. London states, the DV824 files can be archived easily to their back up drives.

A standard format session can go for 3 hours., the machine acts like a partition-less 3 hour DAT reel. Reel numbers and metadata are embedded in the recorded files.

The files are easily loaded into our Pro Tools/ Avid environments and are Mac and PC compatible. Media can be any combination of CD-R DVD-R or DVD RAM. Files can also be transferred via an FTP
server site. The DV824 has streamlined our workflow.

*ADR = Automated Dialog Replacement

London has recorded ADR for many major feature releases including: Passion of the Christ, The Legend of Zorro,The Da Vinci Code, Spider Man and Spider Man 2, among others.

Dave Macmillan

"I've owned all three of Fostex DVD recorders since their inauguration. They are all a pleasure to use, and I have had very few problems with any of them. The D824 is my primary recorder, and its ease of use and reliability have been superb, not a single glitch. The PD-6 is particularly versatile, in that it is perfect for insert car work, or run and gun light weight ppackage recording, where you can use it as a 5 discreet channel mike mixer with a single track mono mix. Again it has been practically trouble free."

Winner of 3 Oscars. Movies include: Speed, Apollo 13, 13 going on 30, Little Black Book, The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Ring Two, Bewitched.

Charles Maynes

Charles Maynes is a sound effect editor/designer. His works include "The Great Raid" (Sound Effects Editor/ Designer),
"Spider Man" (Sound Designer), "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)" (sound designer), "Against the Ropes (2004)" (sound effects editor), "Twister (1996)" (foley editor /sound effects designer / sound effects editor), etc. In addition, Charles also worked on two of the biggest hits of 2006: "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Flags of our Fathers"

"The Fostex FR2 has been a great asset for the work I do- I have enjoyed it's sound and durability every since it came out (I have #41 a very early model in the production run)."

"For recording sound effects It is a fantastic tool that I use regularly and depend on. The limiters on it give me a very big sound, and the convenience of working on memory cards allow me to move files quickly on location and to post."

Alan and Linda Murphy

Alan Beyer

Recent films: Maid in Manhattan, The Honeymooners, A Beautiful Mind, The Pink Panther, Blow, NYPD Blue. (TV). Alan was the first to use DVD with his DVD 40 on a film. He now uses a DV824 and PD6.

Kim Ornitz

"When I realized that I would have to make the switch from the RDAT format to non-linear disc recording, I was faced with few choices at the time. I could either go the Zaxcom route via their Deva machines, or I could stay with Fostex, a product line I have been using since they first brought out the PD-2 DAT Machine a long time ago. There were not too many
choices, as there are now. It was Zaxcom or Fostex. I chose Fostex's PD-6 because the machine was ergonomically friendly, and setup so that owners of previous Fostex DAT machines would be able to "adapt" quite easily to this new technology.
I have had a PD 6 since February of 2003. I have done many features in America using the machine as well as a feature in India and a feature in the Bahamas. Both those locations were filled with severe weather, foreign transport and at times a grueling schedule. My PD-6 never had a problem. I have done episodic television with its long hours and wear and tear on the machine and again, my PD-6 never had a problem. I have been running a backup DAT machine since I got the PD-6, but I am at the point where I feel the machine is stable enough too not warrant a backup anymore. I record onto a hard drive and mirror onto a DVD. I am of the
thought that in a sense that DVD is my backup. I hope the day never comes, but the PD-6 might go down. At that point I would bring out either another PD-6 or a DAT machine until I could resolve the problem with the PD-6. The most I would lose would be one take, and to me that is an acceptable margin of error. Some might say that this is a risky way to record a film, but those people haven't worked with a Fostex PD-6 in all the locations I have.
The software upgrades have solved a lot of issues that were small flaws in the machine, and they are issued as needed by the feedback of mixers from the field, not some executive that is out of the loop of a film shoot. The unit is portable, has up to six tracks with full mixing capabilities allowing me to throw the unit over the shoulder or into an insert car as needed. I have never gotten a call from post telling me that there is a problem with a disc. I am only told how easy an assembly is to put together, and that makes me very happy and proud.
I have not gotten any free T-Shirts or Hats for writing down my thoughts about the PD-6. I have gotten a lot of gratification from its use."

Recent films: After the Sunset, Legally Blond 2, Red Dragon, Rush Hour 2, 2 Days in the Valley, TV hit show Medium.

Paul Brincat – sound recordist - using a PD-6 on Star Wars III in Australia

From the tropical jungle to the desert wastelands of Tatooine, 30-year veteran and award-winning sound recordist Paul Brincat has enjoyed a career that has led him to all corners of the globe.
Read the full Audio Technology Magazine article here
Reproduced by kind permission of AudioTechnology Magazine, PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353, Australia..

BRIAN LAURENCE SOUND: PD-6 in Botswana

"It all worked perfectly, under reasonably extreme conditions of heat, dust and bumpy vehicle tracks. The ability to ‘pre-record’ was great for nature recording, where you can wait hours for a single lion roar – it takes some getting used to, recording from ten seconds before you push record!"

Read the full story