[Richard Crowley]

It would have been very helpful if you had provided a sample (perhaps 30 seconds) of the audio which contains your problem. You mention that you “go out”. Does that mean that this happens only outdoors and all the other shots are indoors?

It sounds like your noise is “gated”. You can hear it only while the subject is speaking. That might suggest that the noise is acoustic from the environment and the wireless system is muting between phrases. But we can only make wild guesses without hearing a sample.

It is unfortunate that you don’t have an XLR cable. Presumably that means there is no opportunity to borrow one? Here in the USA, we have a saying: A $30 cable is infinitely more reliable than a $3000 wireless kit. My practice is to never use a wireless kit if I can use a cable.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Beware of generic advice like “turn the trim half way up, and then from there, turn the gain up to until it reaches -12 db on a normal voice volume.” There are too many variations in different combinations of gear for such a rule to apply in all (or even most) situations.

In fact, my practice is almost the opposite of that. I typically set the record level (or mixer level slider) at the “optimal” level (which is around 3/4 of the full range setting). And then adjust the (front panel) channel gain for “good” recording levels. That gain setting gives you optimal control of levels during recording. You can pull the level down to respond to higher peaks, and you have some amount of additional level to compensate for lower sound levels.

This is all part of “gain staging” which you must learn how to do properly for you whole production chain. There is no “one rule fits all”.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

We don’t know what mic you were using?
We don’t know what “normal voice volume” means in your particular test.

Unless something is wrong with the gear, then it is “normal”.
Why do you ask this question? Do you think something is broken?

There could be a hundred different combinations of “normal”.
Dependent on literally dozens of variables in your experiment.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

The Mic Trim (or any other user control) is only a (small) part of the total picture. It is not valid to make conclusions like this with a single experiment. It is also not useful to report this kind of finding without revealing the WHOLE picture. The CONDITIONS of your experiment are a critical part of any findings.

If you got no distortion with the trim adjusted for maximum gain then clearly you were dealing with a relatively weak signal. If you were dealing with a louder source and/or a more sensitive microphone, you would certainly see distortion (likely clipping) when you increase the trim gain control.

It is good practice to experiment with all the controls, connections, operation of your gear. Good for you, working on becoming familiar with your equipment. But don’t jump to conclusions without conducting tests under a variety of conditions.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Ironically, the more expensive the camera the MORE likely it is that the designers assume you are using separate sound recording so there is no corresponding increase in sound performance on high-end cameras.

As Messrs. Ford and Watson have already mentioned, the best you can do is to use an external mic preamp to bypass the preamp in the camera and give some measure of improvement to the signal-to-noise ratio and distortion factors.

The “go-to” solution is typically one of the preamps or mixers from Sound Devices. They have the reputation of making high-performance and rugged construction gear for professional use.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Is this a portable computer or a desktop computer?
If it is a desktop computer, is it powered from the same circuit as the Roland V-1HD?
If it is a portable computer, what happens if you disconnect the power cord AT BOTH ENDS?
Portable computers are particularly notorious as a source of terrible hash on the audio.
It would have been helpful if you had identified the computer in question.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

I NEVER stretch the audio track. The audience can hear artifacts from diddling the audio MUCH more than they can detect the odd duplicated (or dropped) frame of video. And, of course you can pull-up the sync at each edit point, so you rarely have to diddle the picture track, either.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

[Stephen Rutherford] “1 – Do the converters work with ANY cameras or just the BMD cameras? Basically, I am looking at some Sony cameras that have HD/SDI out – would the converter work (i.e. – get signal from/program return to/talkback/tally) for any HD/SDI camera? I understand that the video shading portion would only really work on the BMD camera setup.”
Yes the CameraConverters are designed to work with any brand of video source (camera or whatever). Yes, you are correct that the camera control feature works only with BMD cameras.

“2 – My assumption is that you have a Studio Converter racked up in the control room while there is an individual converter at each camera. Is this assumption correct?”
Yes one Camera Converter for each camera and a StudioConverter or TalkbackConverter back in the control room.

“3 – Is it necessary to have the Talkback Converter as part of the setup or will the Studio Converter be able to handle everything (source, return, talkback, tally)?”
Thousands of systems were installed with the StudioConverter back before the TalkbackConverter ever ever existed.

“4 – Looking at the Talkback Converter and Studio Converter, they really seem to do pretty much the same thing… what’s the difference, other than the Talkback can handle 8 signals as opposed to the Studio’s 4?”
The TalkbackConverter appears to handle 4K while the older StudioConverter only handles HD-SDI (“2K”) You did not mention what Sony cameras you are considering, so we don’t know whether you need 4K or only conventional 2K (HD-SDI) operation? The TalkbackConverter also handles 8 inputs (cameras or whatever) while the StudioConverter handles only 4 inputs

The traffic and response on this forum seem essentially dead. It appears to have become just a shill for BMD press releases.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Evan, someone calling themselves “Bill Wilnheim” posted exactly the same question 12 minutes before you posted this one. Many people see this as suspicious behavior and are unlikely to respond to either question. You might want to sort this out if you expect reasonable responses.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Thank you, @Justin Stanizzi.

Note that MECHANICAL License/Rights typically refers to AUDIO-only recordings (by whatever physical media: wax-cylinder, vinyl disc, cassette, CD, etc.) Mechanical licenses in the USA are subject to copyright laws which provide for compulsory licenses (after the original recording) and at statutory-established rates ($ per minute per copy, etc.) Because of the compulsory licensing and statutory rates, mechanical licenses can be easily purchased online through agents like the Harry Fox Agency, etc.

OTOH, SYNCH License/Rights covers synchronizing music with IMAGE (film or video). Alas, in the USA, synch licensing is neither compulsory nor governed by statutory rates. So license must be negotiated with the rights-holder on an individual basis. In other countries (like Canada, AFAIK) they have something more streamlined like mechanical licensing is in the USA. Although there seems to be some rights-owners that are making it easier to acquire sync licenses.

Remember also that the different kinds of rights, licenses, laws and practices varies from one country to the next. So while what Justin shared appears to be USA-centric, it does not necessarily address licensing laws and practices in other countries.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.