Nagra is a generic term referring to any of the series of professional audio recorders produced by Kudelski S.A., based in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland. Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne is a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district and a suburb of Lausanne. ...

Nagra III

Nagra-brand tape recorders were the de-facto standard sound recording systems for motion picture and single-camera television production from the 1960s until the 1990s. Their physical appearance, with the single transport selector and large reel-to-reel tape deck are still the stereotypical image most people have of a professional tape recorder. A Nagra recorder prominently appears in the 1981 movie Diva, which features an opera fan making bootleg tapes of his favorite opera singer; another Nagra (a Nagra III) features in the 1981 John Travolta film Blow Out about a freelance sound effects engineer. The word "nagra" comes from Stefan Kudelski's mother tongue (Polish) and stands for "[it] will record". Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Look up De facto in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... A single camera setup is the name given to the filming procedure used to film motion pictures. ... A reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630), typical of those which were once common audiophile objects. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Diva is a film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix of 1981. ... Blow Out is a 1981 film by Brian DePalma starring John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effect technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget horror film, accidentally captures audio evidence of the possible assassination of the Pennsylvania governor who was planning to run for... Stefan Kudelski is a Polish audio engineer, famous for creating the top quality Nagra series of professional audio recorders. ...

The analogue Nagra recorders have a reputation for extreme ruggedness and reliability, essentially being the "Swiss watch" of audio tape recorders. Their cases are highly durable, and every component, from the transport rollers to the gain pots have the feel of excellent engineering. The feature that gave Nagra the edge in quality and film use was Stefan Kudelski's development of the Neo-Pilottone system, where synchronization data could be recorded on the tape in the middle of the audio track, but without crosstalk onto the program recording. The original meaning of the term potentiometer, which is still in use, is an apparatus used to measure the potential (or voltage) in a circuit by tapping off a portion of a known voltage from a resistive slide wire and comparing it with the unknown voltage by means of a... Stefan Kudelski is a Polish audio engineer, famous for creating the top quality Nagra series of professional audio recorders. ... Pilottone and the related neo-pilottone are special synchronization signals recorded by analog audio recorders designed for use in motion picture production. ... Synchronization is a problem in timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. ... In telecommunication, the term crosstalk (XT) has the following meanings: 1. ...

Nagra recorders are identified by their model number, which indicate their technological generation and features:

• NAGRA I - The very first prototype with clockwork motor and miniature tubes, appearing in 1951. Two of them were sold to Radio Genève.
• NAGRA II - The first production model, miniature tubes equipped, clockwork motor, appearing in 1953
• NAGRA II CI - The second generation fitted with printboards replacing chassis wiring, appearing in 1955
• Nagra III NP - The first Nagra usable for film work, first appearing in 1962
• Nagra IV-L - Monaural, featuring two microphone inputs and a built in audio limiter. Introduced in 1968.
• Nagra 4.2 - Same as the IV-L, but added powering for microphones and built-in equalizers. Introduced in 1972. In the '80s one could upgrade a 4.2 to record SMPTE timecode.
• Nagra IV-S - Stereo Nagra, recording two track stereo. It had dual level pots, limiters, and equalizer presets. It was introduced in 1971. Originally it was available with a pilottone crystal, and then in 1984, with timecode support. With timecode support an IV-S became a Nagra IV-STC

In addition to these field recorders, Kudelski S.A. produced a studio recorder called the Nagra T-Audio, designed mainly for use in telecines for transferring dailies. All of the above machines use 1/4" tape. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers or SMPTE (pronounced simptee or sometimes sumptee) is a US professional association of engineers. ... SMPTE timecode is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. ... The original meaning of the term potentiometer, which is still in use, is an apparatus used to measure the potential (or voltage) in a circuit by tapping off a portion of a known voltage from a resistive slide wire and comparing it with the unknown voltage by means of a... For information about computer bandwidth management, see Equalization (computing). ... Pilottone and the related neo-pilottone are special synchronization signals recorded by analog audio recorders designed for use in motion picture production. ... SMPTE timecode is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. ... SMPTE timecode is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. ... It has been suggested that multiple sections of 24p be merged into this article or section. ...

Kudelski SA have also produces a series of miniaturised reel-to-reel recorders using 1/8" tape. These machines are referred to as SN (for Série Noire) and production was originally ordered by President Kennedy for the American secret services. JFK redirects here. ...

The SN range comprises the following models:

• Nagra SNN - monaural, full-track, main tape speed of 3-3/4 ips
• Nagra SNS - monaural, half-track, main tape speed of 15/16 ips (multiplying the recording length at the expense of the dynamic range and high-frequency response)
• Nagra SNST - stereo, intended more for security service "two microphones to record two different people talking" usage than hi-fi usage due to technical limitations
• Nagra SNST-R - full hi-fi stereo

The Nagra IV-STC was the standard until the mid-1990s, when DAT recorders became reliable enough to use in the field. In response, Kudelski produced two digital recorders to compete: 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Digital audio tape can also refer to a compact cassette with digital storage. ...

• Nagra D - 4-channel PCM digital audio recorder. Instead of recording to the DAT format, the D used a digital reel-to-reel format. This, combined with its heavy weight made it somewhat unpopular with many production sound mixers, but year after year many great-sounding films were completed with Nagra Ds (and the newer 24-bit/96 kHz Nagra DII). Despite some popularity in the late 1990s, the Nagra D and DII are a rarity on U.S. films as of the mid-2000s.

• Nagra V - 2-channel PCM digital audio recorder, 24-bit/96 kHz, removable hard drive based recorder with timecode support. Has the additional benefits of being very light, and producing files easily processed by non-linear editing systems. Originally released with the Orb removable hard drive system, which proved to be unreliable. Unlike the analog Nagras, the Nagra V digital recorders have not been adopted as readily for the motion picture and TV industries, which mostly use competing digital multi-track machines such as the Aaton Cantar, the Fostex PD-6, and the Zaxcom Deva (as of the mid-2000s).

Aside from its line of motion picture sound recorders, Kudelski S.A. originally produced and continues to produce high-quality recorders for electronic news gathering, radio, and music recording. The ARES-PII hand-held recorder for journalists, and the Universal digital recorder, the ARES-BB, both introduced in 2004, are state-of-the-art digital recorders recording to compact flash PC cards. They offer USB file download and can record both linear PCM or MPEG compressed audio. Nagra's main business in the 2000s has diversified into digital security encrypting systems, including cable TV and satellite descrambling systems and other high-tech components, while audio occupies a smaller side of their manufacturing. PCM is an initialism which can have different meanings: Phase Change Material Pulse-code modulation, a way to digitally encode signals representing sound and their video counterparts Potential Cancer Marker Communist Party of Mexico Plug Compatible Manufacturer Power-train control module, a computer in a car which controls the car... The production sound mixer is the member of a film crew responsible for recording all sound on set during the photography of a motion picture. ... PCM is an initialism which can have different meanings: Phase Change Material Pulse-code modulation, a way to digitally encode signals representing sound and their video counterparts Potential Cancer Marker Communist Party of Mexico Plug Compatible Manufacturer Power-train control module, a computer in a car which controls the car... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... SMPTE timecode is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. ... Note: Please see National Latin Examination for the standardized test that is also abbreviated NLE. A non-linear editing system (abbreviated NLE) is a video editing or audio editing system that can perform random access on the source material. ... Aaton is a motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France. ... Fostex is a Japanese manufacturer of loudspeakers and professional audio equipment. ... In 1974, Joseph Flaherty, then vice-president at CBS Inc. ... Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier Music is an art form that involves organized sounds and silence. ...

External links

• Nagra Audio specifications page for the SNST-R