capture audio from difference source

[John Rofrano]

I’m not sure I understand what you are trying to do. What firewire audio interface are you using?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Elijah Lucian]

im trying to record video from my camcorder.

and along with that i want to record audio from my Motu 896MK3 inputs (analog7/8) at the same time to get better sound quality.

but the program doesnt allow me to select these audio inputs while capturing the video, leaving it to the camera’s microphone, which sounds like… bad.

if i look up in the audio menu everything is greyed out…

[John Rofrano]

Ah… now I understand… I assume you want to record live yes?

What you need to do is record the video using the Vidcap program from Vegas but record the audio from within Vegas itself. Vidcap can only capture the combined video/audio interleaved feed from the camera via firewire. You can use Vegas with the MOTU interface to record the audio separate to an audio track in your project. You’ll have to start and stop them both at the same time for recording. This is just like using a camera with a separate audio field recorder.

What you will end up with is a separate video with the camera audio and then a higher quality audio track via the MOTU in Vegas. You can then use the camera audio as a guide to sync the two up in post.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Elijah Lucian]

yeah i want to do it all live, then i want to record the track over track to make a split screen video song…

this seems really counter-intuitive to me, why is there no way to use one device for video and one for audio? i can do it in a couple other simple programs (Camtasia & a freeware one called CaptureFlux) if these small companies can figure out how to do it, how can sony not figure it out?

i just need sony because it can do split screen stuff…

thanks for the help anyways! i find that if i use USB i can use a seperate audio source. the quality suffers a lot, but it just makes things WAY easier… maybe i should ask the programmers about this function… it would make life a lot easier for a lot of people im sure.

[John Rofrano]

> this seems really counter-intuitive to me, why is there no way to use one device for video and one for audio? i can do it in a couple other simple programs (Camtasia & a freeware one called CaptureFlux) if these small companies can figure out how to do it, how can sony not figure it out?

It’s not that Sony cannot figure it out… It’s that it’s not what Vegas is designed to do. Vegas is not a live capture application. It is designed to capture footage that videographers have already shot in the field and then need to capture and edit from their cameras. The Vegas firewire tool provides a way to transfer the already interleaved audio and video from a camera as a single stream.

Camtasia is designed to capture “live” output as is Adobe OnLocation. It’s a matter of using the right tool for the right job. You are trying to use Vegas for something it was not designed to do (nor never claimed it could do). If I were you I would just use Camtasia, which is designed for this.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Elijah Lucian]

ahhhh! i seeee

haha. where can i find out more about this kind of stuff.. so i dont look like an idiot posting in these forums?

thanks so much for the reply. its all starting to make sense now.

maybe you’ll know this one. why can i use my usb for capturing camera and get a different audio source and not so with firewire? (in vegas)

[John Rofrano]

> haha. where can i find out more about this kind of stuff.. so i dont look like an idiot posting in these forums?

You don’t look like an idiot at all. Asking questions is how we all learn. I hope nothing I said made you feel like an idiot. If I did, I am truly sorry. I did not mean to offend. Asking right here on the Cow is a good way to learn.

> maybe you’ll know this one. why can i use my usb for capturing camera and get a different audio source and not so with firewire? (in vegas)

Every camera manufacturer makes different decisions about how they support USB ports. All camcorders that support firewire usually do it in the same way. It is the standard way to transfer data from tape to PC. Remember… it is NOT capturing… it is transferring the interleaved video and audio DATA that is already on the tape bit-for-bit. Essentially, it is a file copy.

USB is another story. Some cameras will only transfer still images via USB and not support video at all. Some support USB video in “webcam” mode which gives you a much degraded picture because it’s only meant to be used as a webcam.

So if your camera supports being used as a webcam via USB this would be why you can select different audio. Most webcam programs do not assume that the webcam has audio because early webcams were only video cameras only and audio still came from the sound card and microphone. So Vegas does not assume that USB capture will have video and audio together but for firewire, this is always true.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Danny Hays]

Actually I capture from my HDV and DV cameras straight to disc, without a tape even in the cameras with Vegas. I have to turn down my speakers so I don’t get feedback. But to capture from a firewire camera and a firewire audio interface at the same time on the same computer I have never tried. I always use two computers as it’s very easy to sync up the audio. If you have two seperate firewire cards in your computer you may be able to do it. I don’t so I can’t try it but I am interested in if it’s possible. OnLocation is still way better for direct to disc capturing as it has many tools to help setup your cameras. CS3’s and Serious Magics versions are way better than CS4’s version according to the forums. Danny

[Mike Fields]

Another option would be to use an adapter (assuming your camera supports external microphones) to feed your audio into the camera, bypassing the internal mics. Now the combined output would contain the video from the camera and the audio from the external microphones. I have done that a number of times with my Sony camcorder (and the audio in the camera is pretty good – just the cheap mics on the front that are not that good).

mikey

You can’t have too much disk space or too many gadgets !!