Jordan Wolf
Forum Replies Created
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Matt,
What do you mean by “peaking” the transmitter?
Do you mean:
a) The “AF Peak” light keeps lighting up.OR
b) The levels you are getting at the receiver are too loud, causing your camera’s inputs to overload.
See, I’ve been reading your post and it seems to me like this isn’t an issue at the camera’s inputs. This really seems like an issue that is at the transmitter – especially if it is peaking. If the transmitter is peaking, there is NOTHING you can do to fix that further down the signal chain.
Wolf
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There’s not going to be any real way to remove that distortion without altering the quality of the original audio. What Randy did (or similar) is more or less going to be the end result no matter who you have try to fix it.
Fix it at the source. Here’s how to keep this from happening next time:
1. Bring headphones and always monitor the audio coming into the camera. I can tell that you didn’t check the audio until after the shoot because you never mentioned anything about trying to fix the problem during the show.
2. Learn the difference between Line Level and Mic Level and what they mean to your camera.
3. Confirm the type of output you are getting from the mixing board and know what it means.
Wolf
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If the signal is already hot enough, move the microphone away from the source (mouth/chest) a little bit.
Sometimes, if you mic a person too low on the chest, it will be a very strong level due to the resonance of the chest cavity. To avoid this, I usually put the lapel mic no lower than just above the third button on a button-down shirt. Try to find a happy medium for your situation, and if you’re sending it to a good post house, they should be able to spruce it up with some EQ.
Have fun!
Wolf
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Okay…you’re phrasiology is a bit confusing.
In the last part of your post, you mention something about the mixer board not being able to take an XLR INPUT. Now, just to clarify, you never mentioned anything about the camera feeding signal into the mixing board. If you could clear this up for us, it would help.
Onto the Radial unit…
The pro audio industry loves XLR connectors because they are robust, can lock together, are balanced, and you can connect them without needing a barrel adapter (like RCA’s or Speakon’s).
I would go for the ProCo unit since it has XLR and TRS/TS jacks for BOTH inputs and outputs. The Whirlwind unit only has them on the input side (not a bad thing, just not as useful). I love Radial Engineering’s products, but I think that you should consider a more Swiss Army knife box. The Radial unit ONLY has XLR jacks, which is fine if you have all the appropriate adapters and turn-arounds. You would have more connections to troubleshoot, though. And, if you are on have a strict timeline, troubleshooting needs to take as little time as necessary.
I would buy the Radial as long as the return policy lets you take it back after you try it out. Buy adapters and turn-arounds, as they always come in handy. Oh, and label them, too. Bright, obnoxious colors work well to keep them from walking.
Wolf
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Oh, and the iso boxes will take XLR(M)/XLR(F), TRS, and TS connections. They have an XLR out output and will not allow phantom power hum/buzz from the camera’s mic jacks to get into the console’s outputs (a sticking point among audio guys, I will say).
Wolf
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Well, you could go a similar route.
If I were you, I would buy an “iso box”. It’s very much like a direct box, but it uses a 1:1 turn ration to keep the signal at the same level instead of knocking it down to mic level. ProCo makes one that I use and see commonly and Whirlwind makes one, as well. If you do ANY camera work at all and plan to have audio involved, either from a mixing board or an outboard mic, either of these units would be well worth their weight in gold.
Wolf
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I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you spend the extra money. That’s one of the best feelings…thinking, “Wow, that was SO worth the cost!”.
Wolf
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Yeah, as John said, SD cards are the recording medium. My only concern would be handling noise. The H2 can be mounted to a consumer-grade tripod, so that should be with stationary recording. As long as you leave like 3 seconds of lead time, handling noise shouldn’t be a problem.
Wolf
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Well, I really think you should look into a portable field recorder. It will be over your budget by a little bit, but will be well worth the extra money when you look back and realize that you didn’t have to go through all the hassle that comes with using an external mic, cables and shockmount, in addition to lugging around a laptop and whatever interface you are going to use.
A Zoom H2 would fit the bill very nicely and it’s not too overpriced, especially if you are making money off of the recording(s). They sell for around $180 and can be found on Ebay for a bit less.
Wolf
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Jared,
As a live sound guy and a broadcasting major, I see this all the time.
First: are you going to run off of battery power the entire time? If not, one of the FIRST things you must do is talk to the mixer and let him know you want to plug into his AC power. If he’she knows their stuff, they’ll understand and will let you; if they don’t, kindly explain that this will keep any AC grounding issues to a minimum since you will be on the same circuit as the other audio gear.
Second: You will most likely get a feed from an Aux Send or a Matrix. If you get one from an Aux Send, the mixer can determine just how much of each individual vocal/instrument, etc. you are getting. This takes time to dial in and if something on stage gets louder, it might impact your mix more noticeably than if you were given a Matrix feed.
Third: Don’t expect that the audio person will have the cabling that you need. Bring everything you think you will need, toss it in a gig bag; if you need it, it’s there. I would go out and buy some of the following cables:
2 XLR(M)-TRS
2 XLR(F)-TRS
2 XLR(F)-XLR(F)
2 XLR(M)-XLR(M)Having those will be a great investment. They don’t have to be long (no more than 12″). If you know how to solder you could just make your own.
Wolf
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