NAGRA V records complete film dialogue in 24-bit

The NAGRA V location hard drive recorder has been used to record dialogue at full 24-bit resolution throughout the entire production process of the new Matthew Vaughn directed feature, 'Layer Cake'; apparently, the first time this has ever been done.
The Ska Films produced gangster feature was recorded by production sound mixer Simon Hayes: "When Matthew approached me about recording Layer Cake, he made it very clear that he wanted to capture the original performances without resorting to ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) or the use of compressors and limiters.
"I knew that 24-bit would help to capture the subtleties and huge dynamic swings. The clarity and headroom of the mic amps on my NAGRA V and its 24-bit capability made it ideal for the job. The important thing then became ensuring that the original audio quality was preserved all the way down the line."
The sound design team, Danny Sheehan and Matt Collinge at Phaze UK, – who Hayes previously worked with on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch - were enthusiastic and the 24-bit specification was agreed soon after receiving confirmation from Chris Burden, dubbing mixer at De Lane Lea, that their AMS Neve DFC2 dubbing console was 24-bit ready. "The team also realised at that point that keeping dialogue entirely in the 24-bit domain was probably a world first," confirmed Hayes.
NAGRA’s assemble timecode was subsequently used as the film’s master and, once the edit decision list was finalised, all relevant audio was downloaded in seconds to the dialogue editor’s ProTools system (also 24-bit) from the NAGRA V’s 40 GB removable hard drive. The film is now at the final mix stage and Hayes reports that Chris Burden is "particularly pleased with the flexibility and sound quality that the 24-bit dynamic range gives him in the dub."
Designed primarily for film, television and video location recording applications, the NAGRA V employs Linear 24-bit recording technology at 44.1kHz or 48kHz (88.2, 96kHz option) and stores audio data in post-production ready, Broadcast Wave format.
The NAGRA V records on 2.5 inch IDE hard disk drives, as used in all laptop computers and are mounted in an easily removable drawer.
These are available at ever increasing data storage capacities and, even with a 60 Gb drive, provides a maximum 44.1 kHz stereo recording time of up to 60 hours (30 hours at 96 kHz).
The drives can be directly connected to computers or DAWs, delivering instant access to recorded material without costly and time-consuming transfers.
For further information visit www.nagra.com.
(SP)