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Posted by Scott Dorsey on 03/10/06 02:57
<muzician21@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
>> >Using a Sony Digital8 Camcorder, has an 1/8" mic-in jack, though I've
>> >never used it. Since the camera has onboard mics that record stereo, I
>> >assume the jack to be stereo as well.
>
>> Don't use it.
>
>By "it", you mean the mic in jack?
Or the camcorder. Go double-system. Honestly, you will not regret it.
>> Those things have AVC that cannot be disabled, and the
>> inputs are unbalanced, have plug-in-power and are incredibly flaky.
>
>Yes, it's labeled "plug in power". I can't seem to put my hands on the
>manual at the moment, what is plug in power? Some kind of proprietary
>mic system?
Yes, it's DC offset added to the signal pin on an unbalanced mike input,
to power cheesy electret capsules. Makes for a real nightmare interfacing
to normal electronics.
>> Go double-system.
>
>Can you elaborate? Translation "what does that mean.."
You use a seperate recorder for the sound and the picture. You slate the
takes so that you can synchronize the two together in post. You do not
use the godawful sound electronics that were added to the camcorder as
an afterthought, except perhaps as a guide track to make sure synchronization
is correct.
>> The board will have an XLR balanced output. If you absolutely HAVE to
>> use the shitty camera audio, you will want to run it through an isolation
>> transformer and then a DC blocking cap to get rid of the plug-in power.
>
>Excellent info, though this is beginning to sound like a lot more of a
>PIA than I had anticipated just for making a memorabilia tape for my
>friend. Not sure what my alternative would be to avoid catching all the
>ambient house noise other than running the board directly to my cam.
Some of the house noise is good. Some of it is bad. That's why you want
both a board feed and an ambient house feed so you can mix the two.
>> You will also need to pad it down a LOT, but since those cameras do not
>> have trustworthy metering, it's basically a matter of cranking the pad
>> down until you don't hear it clipping in the phones any more.
>>
>> Radio Shack sells a cable with a 40 dB pad and a blocking cap for just
>> this application. Two RCAs on one end, 1/8" stereo jack on the other.
>
>Okay, maybe sounding a little less like a PIA if there's something this
>simple out there already.
>
>> Getting from the XLR to the RCAs is your job, although I would strongly,
>> strongly recommend transformer isolation.
>
>Transformer isolation in the form of...some kind of a box that's made
>to do this?
Yes. The PA guy may have 600:600 isolation boxes in the kit. Talk to
him.
>I happen to have a couple of mic pre's that have 1/4" line-in jacks in
>addition to XLR mic in's, I don't suppose these would be useful for
>this?
No, the last thing you want is a mike preamp. You don't want any more
gain! You already have 30 dB to 40 dB more gain than you want!
>> It will be a
>> mix of everything that _isn't_ naturally loud in the room and needs
>> reinforcement. So there will be no drums in it, for instance. You can
>> use an ambient mike on stage, run that to one channel, then run the PA
>> to a second channel and mix the two in post. Or you can ask the PA guy
>> to make you an audio-for-video mix from an aux buss. If he is busy he
>> may not be willing, though.
>
>Hmm...if something's not going to be in the outputs from the board,
>this is a problem. Just talking about having this cam on a tripod with
>whatever cords need to be run from the board, maybe with the attenuator
>or pad doohicky's your were referring to inline. I guess I'll just have
>to see how inclined toward helpfulness/knowledgeable this guy is going
>to be.
Basically, everything depends on him.
>> But really, really, you want to go double-system if there is any way.
>
>Roger. As soon as I find out what exactly that entails. ;-)
Could just involve borrowing a cheap MD recorder, running a PA mix into
one channel and a stage ambient mike into the other. Hopefully you'd want
something better than the cheap MD, but you take what you have.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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