Advanced Two-Projector Program Techniques

Two-projector slide programs can be quite dramatic and exciting. To achieve a truly professional presentation, slides must arrive on the screen with pinpoint precision, remaining for the exact amount of time needed to complete the commentary. The volume of the background music must be raised and lowered in flawless accordance with the presence or absence of the narration. However, all this does not come easily, as anyone who has edited tape knows.

Starting at the point just after the slides have been selected and a master script has been prepared, I'll describe how I assemble the elements of a slide presentation without sacrificing either ease or convenience, using some state-of-the-art equipment. The context will be a program that combines both narrated and non-narrated slides.

A Note on the Audio Equipment

My studio audio equipment consists of a two-track tape cassette deck, capable of dubbing from one tape to another, a CD player, and an amplifier with speaker. This is ordinary, off-the-shelf and reasonably inexpensive equipment. However, added to this is a multitrack recorder connected to a pair of inexpensive, amplified speakers, the kind used in desktop computer systems. For those of you not familiar with multitrack recorders, it is essentially a tape deck with a mixer that records four separate tracks on one side of the tape. (The unit I use is a Tascam Portastudio 424 MK II, but less expensive units are made by Fostex, Yamaha, and Tascam as well.)

A Note on the Dissolve Unit: I use a Klad "Magician" dissolve unit. It and others of its kind take an approach entirely different from conventional dissolve units, such as those available in the well-known Arion and Entre lines. The latter record their instructions (such as the length of a dissolve, the length of time the slide is to remain on the screen, etc.) directly on the tape. With the Magician, the only thing recorded on tape is a time code and, once recorded, it never has to be touched again. Its program instructions are computer-generated and stored internally. Therefore it is much easier than with conventional systems to edit the instructions and to record them with the degree of precision necessary for professional results.

Phase 1

My master scripts contain, at a minimum, the slide number and a short description of each slide. If the slide is narrated, it also contains its commentary. I make a copy of the master script, renaming it as a "narration script." It is identical to the master script, except that the entries for non-narrated slides are replaced with a notation signifying the number of seconds to the next narrated slide. (I typically allow 5 seconds between slide narrations, and add 8 seconds for each successive, non-narrated slide. For example, if I had two non-narrated slides in a row, these two slides would be replaced in the narration file with the notation, "21 SECONDS.") I also increase the font size so that I can more easily read the script when it is printed out.

Phase 2

Using my computer and the software that comes with the Magician, I lay down the time code on one of the four tracks in the multitrack. This is the beginning of the "master tape."

Phase 3

I insert a new tape into the multitrack and record each slide commentary using my narration script. All I am concerned with here is the commentary and not with the time required to accommodate slide changes. This greatly simplifies the process of preparing the narration.

Multitracks allow you to set a location point to which you can return at any time. I set a location point, record the commentary, and play it back. If it is not acceptable, I return the tape to the location point and try again. Sometimes it takes numerous tries before I get it right! If it passes muster, I reset the location point a short distance farther on and go to the next commentary.

Phase 4

After all the narration is recorded, I transfer it to a tape in the two-track. (Think of these as narration tapes #1 and #2, respectively.) Using the dubbing capability of this unit, I copy tape #2 to tape #3, pausing after each commentary to add 5 seconds between narrations or for non-narrated slides, the time indicated in the narration script. (I use an inexpensive Radio Shack timer for this step.) Tape #3 is then copied to one of the tracks on the master tape in the multitrack, and saved for any future editing that might be required (tapes #1 and #2 are then erased). At this point, the master tape now contains one track with the time code and another with the narration.

Although the narration is copied three times, thus reducing the audio quality, the effect is not significantly noticeable. In fact, my voice usually sounds better after the last copy! The narration is actually improved since, during dubbing, I can easily exclude the starting and stopping tape noises made by the multitrack during the original recording of each commentary.

Phase 5

The next step is to set the slide duration times so that they are in perfect synchronization with the commentaries and the slides they represent. The Magician's software (DOS, but I run it off a desktop icon in Windows 98) produces what is known as a "command list" that contains the instructions that are ultimately read into and stored in the Magician. With this device, one can specify times to the nearest one-hundredth of a second. During this process, the Magician is connected to: (1) the slide projectors, (2) the track of the multitrack containing the time code, and (3) the computer (via a serial port).

I start with a generic command list that contains arbitrary duration times. The program reads the time code from the master tape and executes the slide changes at the times specified in the command list. The slide changes obviously will not be in synch with the narration since we started with arbitrary times. The variance is estimated, the change in the time duration is made to the list via the keyboard, and the altered program is sent to the Magician (a matter of a second or so). The tape is rewound and played again to check the synchronization.

Any necessary adjustments are made and the process is repeated until the synchronization is perfect. It is not only an easy process, but the task can be left and taken up again at any time. This is because the position of each slide in the carousels is recorded in the command list, and no matter where the tape is re-started, the projectors are automatically advanced or reversed to their correct positions.

Phase 6

Now the software is instructed to make the slide changes using a keyboard command. In this mode, the slide durations are controlled by me, not by the time code on the tape. I go to the beginning of the command list and step through the slide changes, noting when a slide changes from a vertical to a horizontal format or vice versa, adjusting the dissolve time accordingly since I use shorter dissolve times between format changes than I do within a format. Additionally, the dissolve time might be changed to reflect the character of a particular slide or slide sequence. The durations are left unchanged.

Any special effects, such as flashing a slide, are added during this phase. Finally, I copy the command list from the computer to a tape on the two-track. As this command tape later can be read into the Magician, it does not require a computer to load its instructions. The Magician is a solid-state device, i.e., the contents of its memory remain even after the power to the unit is turned off. Thus the command list remains in the unit until is it overwritten by a different command list sent to it from the computer or from a different command tape.

Phase 7

The next step is to add the music. I prepare a tape on the two-track, copying music from CDs or other tapes, and eliminating most of the blank time between selections. Although the Magician is connected to the multitrack, the computer is not involved in this step. I run the master tape, starting the music tape when the first slide appears. As the music is copied to an unused track on the multitrack in "real time," I sit back comfortably, raising and lowering the volume in accordance with what I see on the projection screen, the narration script warning me when the next commentary will take place. If any mistakes are made, only the music track needs to be re-recorded, not the narration or time tracks.

Phase 8

The final step is to "mix-down" from the four-track to the program tape in the two-track that will be used during presentation. I send the time signal to one track and the music and narration tracks (mixed) to the other.

Presentation: For program presentation, I use a very basic, single-tape player purchased from Radio Shack. The track containing the narration and music is fed into a compact, 25-watt amplifier (Radio Shack again), and the other track containing the time signal is sent to the Magician. Consequently, the presentation music is mono rather than stereo. Understandably, one might ask why I don't use the multitrack, which can produce stereo (one track for the time code, one for narration, and two for the stereo music).

In addition to being rather bulky and somewhat heavy (mine weighs 11 pounds), multitracks have more sliders and knobs than the cockpit of a Boeing 747! Believe me, during a presentation, anything that can go wrong will go wrong--a single incorrect setting on the multitrack and your audience will be waiting for you to find the source of the problem while you curse under your breath the day that high-tech entered your world.

Although many fine slide shows are put together with a very basic dissolve unit and tape recorder, much patience is required. The addition of a multitrack recorder and a computer-programmable dissolve unit, however, will make life considerably easier and generate a well-deserved, enthusiastic applause from everyone watching your program.

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