[Avid-L2] Re: Way back machine... quiz for the 'early adopters' over 50...

I never used them but there were punch tape machines and probably 8 inch floppy units that would record every edit edl style. Perhaps that was a later addition I was on the ECS90s & 103s when I was at UCLA in 1981. I actually installed the edit bays as a student worker. Yeah the cruise control button was awesome it could maintain whatever shuttle speed you were doing when you pressed it.

--- In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, John Hollands <johnhollands@...> wrote:
>
>
> I remember well the ECS-90 and <gasp> the *103* which had Cruise on the
> joystick. Oh my Lordy!
>
> The trick back then was preview a couple of times then write down the
> timecode numbers (conveniently displayed in status monitor) while the
> decks were cueing and pre-rolling into the edit. ('Recall' if you missed it)
>
> Once we wrote these points (at least 3 of them) we would need to "talk
> out" for online. There was no data recording system of any kind. Sure
> there were eight-inch floppies or punch tape, but they weren't for the
> likes of off-line, no siree, THEY were to dump the final on-line EDL
> onto. Pure hubris, thinking of that for off-line.
>
> No, we had to say out loud "Reel 22, set in 1 25 06 set out 1 28 12"
> with "trim in split audio 1 20" and the on-line Editor dutifully typed
> all those numbers. On a 1-hour drama, these sessions took 8 to 9 hours
> for assembly, with another 4 to 5 hours for supers, credits, bumpers,
> integrations etc. There also wasn't any fixed Record side numbers. We
> never knew where the action would start due to different saga-sells and
> titles. However today I'd get it all typed in and ripple.
>
> We also had to calculate the "shift-Mark_Reset" values, saying
> "Recorder: shift-Mark_Reset, set-in 1 02 03 04..." where we picked up on
> the record side. If we backed up one second and fourteen frames for a
> split edit we had better bloody-well KNOW that exactly. "Trim_In minus
> 114, Set_In...".
>
> We soon learned to call code in pairs, hard to write but sort of "set_in
> 1........ 06.......05.....04" with the numbers close together SAID
> together. Da-da, da-da, da-da Easier to visualise and type than just a
> string of numbers.
>
> Add in the already tired offline-Editor plus their croaking voice after
> a while and swirl with irascible on-line Editor barking out corrections
> or calling durations (to check), making a big deal of pal-pairing errors
> and insisting we know exactly how many seconds he was to dissolve.
> "Can we preview the dissolve?" "No. Wimps preview. Ya want one second or
> two seconds?" n"Er...ummm...". "Righto, I'll make it two since you don't
> know"
>
> Couldn't easily go back to change anything either since these were 2"
> tapes on Quad machines. Unless the same tape went back on the same Quad
> machine and all four heads were lined up exactly the same...
>
> Hard to believe we won awards for this shit.
>
> Hard to believe we didn't punch out the online smug bastards. (Some were
> OK).
>
> Hard to believe we didn't all turn to substance abuse... oh wait.
>

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