Low audio levels EX-1

[Rick Diamond]

FCP brings all audio in at the levels they’re recorded at. Field audio is very often recorded at -12 or -20db. In FCP, which is set at 0db, levels will be low.

Rick Diamond

[Steve Wargo]

we set the camera audio switches to AUTO and sent tone to the camera. We noted what the camera thought was normal. There are no numbers on the scale. We’ve used what the camera told us and everything’s been pretty normal.
No, we don’t use AUTO for anything other than this test unless we’re recording reference sound on B-roll.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Carelton Holt]

We are experiencing the same problem with low audio levels recorded directly into our EX1. We have tried several mic options and audio that sounds pretty good in the camera in the field, is about -18db in Adobe Premier. we are now at the -53dBu on the trim in the EX1 and still have to turn the audio levels up to 9 or 10 to get reasonable audio levels. Is this normal?

[Craig Seeman]

What Mic?

Not all mics are the same. Some are hotter than others. I’m using a Sony 680S shotgun and there are times I’m down to – mid teens dBu, the peaks are so hot.

If you’re using wireless you may have to consider what’s happening from end to end too for example.

[Carelton Holt]

We are getting pretty much the same result with three different mics: Sennheiser G2 wireless lavaliers, Audio Tecnica wired lavaliers (model number unknown)and an Audio Tecnica AT897 Shotgun. All three of these mics are professional level products and have performed very well with previous cameras.

We have moved the trim to -56dBu and are getting better results. we are going to try to carve out some time for additional testing. It just seems strange to me that the Sony manual states that a with the trim at the default of -41dBu and a volume control knob level of 5 should produce 0dB and a volume control knob setting of 10 should produce +12dB, when we are having to boost the trim 15dBu and are still not quite at these levels using a broad aray of professional level mics. In theory, this represents an 18dB boost to get full sound. We are concerned that boosting the trim much further will result in excessive background noise pickup and/or clipping. I will try to post up results after our testing session.