[Norm Kaiser]

Understood. But then why is the sound quality so good? The sound of the speaker is exceptional. My only problem is the handling noise. I would think that if my connections were wrong the mic would either not work at all or sound like crap…right?

[Norm Kaiser]

OK…here’s where I wade into murky waters for me.

I have three mics. All three mics terminate into a mono (one black ring) 1/4 inch plug.

So…that means the mics are unbalanced, correct?

So to overcome the fact that it’s a mono plug, I have a mono 1/4 inch to stereo mini adapter.

My thought was this would just put the same mono signal into both tracks, left and right.

This seems to work very well except for the handling noise.

And just to educate myself — in order to have a balanced connection, you have to have three tips, correct? That is, if the cord terminates into a 1/4 plug, the 1/4 plug would have to have two black rings around it, correct?

[Norm Kaiser]

I thought that, too, but I’ve tried three different mics all with the same result.

Is it possible that the noise is due to the fact that the mics are dynamic, not condensers?

[Norm Kaiser]

>>Be more specific. What omni mike did you try? What camcorder?

Camcorder is a Canon Vixia HF21.

I’ve tried three different mics: The Pyle PDMIC58. That’s the Shure clone. Then I tried the Radio Shack omni and the Radio Shack uni. Note that I have three different mics AND THREE DIFFERENT CORDS. Regardless of which mic I use, I get the same handling noise. So I assume the problem is not the cord.

>>Are you using an xlr to mini-plug cord or an xlr-xlr cord?

XLR to 1/4…and then I convert the 1/4 to a mini into the camcorder using an adapter.

>>Will you hear noise if you wiggle the cord near where you plug it in to the camcorder or mike end?

No. No noise. Connection is very snug.

[Norm Kaiser]

This is so awesome!

Would you PLEASE include a screenshot of the compressor as you set it on each track??!??!

[Norm Kaiser]

>>So, if doing something for a local television station, I think they may have a lot less restrictions, rules, and regulations. He didn’t even have bars and tones on his program when he gave it to the station.

Yes. This does seem to be my experience. So my goal is to get it “in the ballpark” so I can produce demo DVDs to distribute for marketing purposes. When I have the station interested, I then intend to ask for their station’s specs and render accordingly.

Let me see if I understand the concepts correctly. Please, please correct me where I’m wrong:

1. Put a compressor on the main audio bus and set it to, say, -24dB. The compressor will the compress any audio that goes above that level.

2. HOWEVER! This will not prevent some peaks from creeping out above that level, so this is where the Wave Hammer thing comes into effect. Put that on the main bus, too, to catch any sneaky peaks that might violate the peak limits.

Am I on the right track?

There are presets for both the compressor and the Wave Hammer. If I want to set to -24dB, is it roughly acceptable to use the preset for -24dB?

[Norm Kaiser]

Thank you so much!

I’ve read many people suggest this. Problem is, I can seem to figure out how to do it in Vegas. I apply the equalizer effect thing in Vegas and tell the equalizer to drop everything under 80Hz, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect.

Can you or anyone give me some pointers?

Doesn’t have to be Vegas…can it be done in Audacity? If yes, I’d love to know how.

[Norm Kaiser]

Thanks, guys, for replying!

Thank you for pointing out that tidbit about using an omni mic. That did not occur to me. Funny, right after reading your post, I read up on the matter on the Internet and one article summed up exactly what I was doing: I mistakenly concluded that a uni mic would be better to block out any ambient noise.

Now…back to the matter at hand, however.

I have run several experiments, but still no luck. I switched to a uni mic, no luck.

Here’s the deal — somehow it seems the mic is too hot. That is, if I just gently and smoothly run my thumb along the shaft of the mic, the camcorder picks that noise up.

I could try turning the mic level down on the camcorder, but then I worry my actual dialogue (interview audio) will be too low. The mic level is set pegged squarely in the middle of the level bar…which to a newb like me seems to be where it should be. But then why is it picking up all the handling noise?

[Norm Kaiser]

Thanks so much for the response!

I think I should have been more clear about what I’m doing in my original post. I am not generating content for PBS or a major cable network — I’m preparing content for independent local TV stations.

I’ve shown my show to about half a dozen stations already and, honestly, none has put it under any microscope or returned me any sheet of numbers. At best I’ve been told, “You’re audio is too hot. Turn it down and we can use it.”

So…that’s where I’m coming from. I’m looking for some general rules of thumb to apply to Vegas so that my audio isn’t “too hot.”

Hiring an audio engineer at this point isn’t an option. Translation: This is a shoestring operation, a do-it-yourself one man band.

[Norm Kaiser]

>>-18 dBFS (or -20 or whatever) is a REFERENCE level. That’s where you put your reference tone.

Yikes! What does that even mean? This is a language I don’t understand. What is a “reference level”? What is a “reference tone”? How do I “put” one in Sony Vegas?