[Richard Crowley]

Perhaps you “missed” (or simply dismissed a priori) the most obvious solution, to move the FOH mixing position out INTO the audience area.

And, conversely, why do the video people need to hear through an opening? It is very rare that the video people have direct acoustic access to the audience area because it interferes with their ability to do their jobs properly: To communicate with the crew, and to monitor the broadcast mix (vs. what is coming in acoustically through the air).

And you really asked two different questions about FOH mixing. One of them is the actually process of MIXING (i.e. combining different pieces together) in the proper proportions against each other. The other question is establishing sound-pressure LEVELs.

For the task of MIXING, there isn’t really any proper solution except having your ears IN the audience area. And especially if the mix includes one or more un-reinforced acoustic instruments (like a pipe organ, etc.)

Some people have used an artificial head and headphones to simulate a binaural monitoring position within the audience area. But IMHO, that is a poor substitute for actually BEING THERE. It takes some significant learning curve to get the feel for interpreting what you hear in headphones. If you have a small team of people frequently, then it may be possible to expect them to use it properly.

For setting levels, it might be a bit easier than mixing. You could use a modern loudness meter (like Dorrough, et.al) and you could even have calibration points for different audience sizes.

BEING THERE in the audience area doesn’t necessarily mean a huge pedestal imposing itself into the congregation. Modern mixers feature quite functional and flexible remote control via a tablet and WiFi.

[Richard Crowley]

Yes, you can get your monaural microphone signal to record on BOTH tracks by using an XLR to 3.5mm adapter cable that is wired to do that.

And yes, in editing, you can take the single audio track and duplicate it to both tracks. Try the “Fill Left” and “Fill Right” functions.

Of course, it will not actually be “stereo”, but then you don’t really want “stereo” for this kind of recording, either.

[Richard Crowley]

Sorry, not clear exactly WHAT it was that burned or caught fire in your hand? The cable? The connector? The computer? The Firewire gadget (which one?)

Of course since Firewire is essentially dead, perhaps it is a moot point.

Firewire has long had a reputation for being rather sensitive to hot-plugging and ESD, so perhaps it is good riddance.

[Richard Crowley]

Yes. The indoor/outdoor distinction is the popular meme, but if you know the real reasoning, you can adapt to a wider variety of situations.

“Shotgun” microphones use the ANGLE of incidence to cancel off-axis sounds (that is what makes it a “shotgun”)
When you are indoors, you are almost guaranteed to have nearby reflective surfaces that will “confuse” a shotgun mic.
That is why we traditionally use hyper-cardioid microphones INDOORS because hypers are much less susceptible to reflections by virtue of their operating principles.

So the REAL distinction is nearby reflective surfaces (or not).
If you were shooting in a gigantic indoor space with no reflective surfaces 50 feet in any direction, then a shotgun may be the ideal choice.
OTOH, if you were out in the middle of a desert and had lots of hard-surface reflectors or light-blocking shades, etc. then a hyper may perform better.

[Richard Crowley]

If your recording level is too low, you may need to adjust the record level (and “boost” setting) on your computer. If you tell us what computer and operating system you are using we can tell you how to adjust this.

[Richard Crowley]

“it records too silents”

Nobody knows what that means???

[Richard Crowley]

Your budget of 20 Euro for a “quiet recorder” is completely unrealistic. Why can’t you plug your mic into your computer and record to that?

[Richard Crowley]

Hi Gennady,
It would be very much easier to try to help you if you could reveal some details.
What microphone? What connector? What camera?
What computer? What operating system? What editing software?
Do you have a “webcam”?

It would also be helpful to know what you are trying to produce. And what your expectation is for quality level?

[Richard Crowley]

Good to see you here, Evan!

I am in the middle of a discussion about repairing a dialog track over on another forum (dvinfo). The original track was quite “down in the mud” on the noise floor, and they used Izotope RX4 to clean it up. I was VERY IMPRESSED how well Izotope RX4 was able to rescue the track out of the mud. I will be buying a copy next time I have to deal with such a problem.

Now, we are discussing how to EQ the rescued track from the poor performance of the microphone (and perhaps the subject as well!)

ref: https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/all-things-audio/528650-audio-improvement-help.html

[Richard Crowley]

Yes those would probably do it. You may need BOTH of them in series (for a total of 24dB attenuation).

Radio Shack is still in business, so your local store-front should be able to order it for you. Dunno if you can buy stuff online anymore??

There are a pair of those attenuating cables up for auction on Ebay at the moment.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Attenuating-Dubbing-Cable-2-6-ft-long-42-2461-NEW-/281711167234