Posted by muzician21 on 03/10/06 02:00

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?

> 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?

> Go double-system.

Can you elaborate? Translation "what does that mean.."

> 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.

> 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?

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?

> Note also that the soundboard mix will not be balanced.

I think he's got it on top of some pretty solid barrels that are all
about the same height and...oh, that's not what you meant...(just
inserting a little levity folks)

> 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.


> 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. ;-)

Thanks for the input.

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