Camcorder and external mic question

[dominant7th]

Hi Everyone

I have been dabbling in a bit of recording recently and mainly using a good SE Microphone and my camera to record the footage. To be honest I find it a bit of a chore trying to get it all aligned in post so following some research I discovered that one guitar player has a set up which consists of:

Canon HF10 - which has an external mic input
Two AKG mics which he connects to the camera via a cheap Behringer mixer.

But I can't work out how the mixer connects to the camera. Am I correct in thinking that the mixer will supply the phantom power for the mic and then the mixer will have an output that via a lead will plug into the camera.

I suppose in essence I am trying to capture great audio and video in one rather than having to have it separate.

But I am interested in learning about how to connect a good studio mic with to the camcorder.

Thanks

[Fran Guidry]

The small mixer plus an adapter will do the job although it may take some tweaking to get levels just right. There are also specialized adapters like Beachtek and Juicedlink and others that will handle a single XLR mic.

The biggest problem is the quality of the audio circuitry in the camera itself. Camera audio tends to be marginal in terms of noise, distortion, and frequency response. You may run into auto-level circuitry that adds problems as well.

I've actually had some success with very inexpensive electret condensers like those designed for cassette/minidisc etc. applications. Mic placement is the key, it's actually a bigger issue than absolute mic quality.

But none of these solutions deliver the quality you can get from a parallel audio solution, and the hassle of syncing in post gets less and less as I've done it more.

Fran

[dominant7th]

Thanks for the reply.

Based on your experience it might be just better to stick with separate audio and learn to sync up the video with a better workflow.

At the moment I am using Presonus Studio Artist but this version does not handle video. I really like Presonus so I might upgrade this to the version that handles video and this might make the process somewhat easier.

[Fran Guidry]

How are you capturing your current audio? Sounds like you have an audio interface for the SE mic? As a rule you can use that just like the mixer you mentioned in your first post, so with suitable cable and adapter you could connect the SE into your camera and test out the issues. It's always possible that your rig will deliver results that satisfy your needs.

Fran

[dominant7th]

Hi Fran

Yeah I am okay with the audio. I have the Presonus interface which of course is USB but I'm not sure what kind of adapter I would need to get that into a camera because I am not video savvy.

I have just been looking at Presonus Artist again (which I own) I have just noticed that there is an add on available for exporting to mp3 so presumably I can import that mp3 into iMovie and then align it with the video using the hand clap.

I think I was just trying to make a workflow easier by having the audio and video on a card so that I can just reduce the time spent but I guess in reality after some experience it is not much of an issue to record audio and video separate.

[Fran Guidry]

Your interface almost certainly has line out and/or headphone out. Headphone out is probably the easiest to use because it's already stereo.

Headphone out -> 1/4 TRS cable (tip/ring/sleeve or stereo cable) -> 1/4 TRS to 1/8" TRS adapter -> camera input.

Line Out -> 1/4" mono to stereo adapter -> 1/4" TRS cable -> 1/4 TRS to 1/8 TRS adapter -> camera input

Fran

[dominant7th]

Thanks Fran - much appreciated reply.