My modified VX2000 has amazing audio now at DVinfo.net

Bryan Beasleigh · March 18th, 2004, 02:06 PM

I had Greg Winter of Rochester NY do a mod on my VX2k that's quite similar to the BBC modifications. The preamps are bypassed and the audio in is through the RCA jacks that were for VTR input and playback.

I received the camera this morning from UPS and immediately setup for my first test. Using a mix pre and line out into ythe camera RCA jacks I recorded example using my Oktava and Schoeps. the results were cleaner than I can get from the marantz pmd670. I couldn't get the sucker to clip no matter hoew hard I tried. The Sony's line into the analog to digital converter is really forgiving. It can take alot, the meter on the mixpre was showing peaks at +12db.

Frank Granovski · March 18th, 2004, 03:54 PM

Is this modification the same as "the BBC fix?"

Gints Klimanis · March 18th, 2004, 04:21 PM

I'm interested. Would you kindly provide details on the fix, such as total cost?

Frank Granovski · March 18th, 2004, 04:26 PM

Here's the link:

http://www.gregjwinter.com/modification2.htm

Aaron Koolen · March 18th, 2004, 04:54 PM

Bryan. Would like to hear those clips if possible. One's I'm most interested in though are silenced ones. No power to mic or something. Want to see the sample and look at the noise level.

Every piece of audio gear I listen through my Sony 7506 phones has crazy hiss. (XM2 phone jack, Sony Home Theatre, Soundblaster live etc) So I can't even get a relative reading to tell if it's my headphone adding some noise or what if all this gear is just total crap. Some well recorded silence on gear I know is quiet would be a great help.

Cheers
Aaron

Bryan Beasleigh · March 18th, 2004, 04:58 PM

Aaron, what clips/ Are you talking about the PMD670, if so there is nothing to hear. all of the clips i've sent you so far were done on that recorder.

I have clips of the Oktava and schoeps through the camera before and after the mod.

On some of the clips I announce a silent test span so you can listen for hiss. I've just sent you one with absolutely NO HISS

Aaron Koolen · March 18th, 2004, 05:44 PM

Yeah I meant the new one from the VX2K. Thanks though, saw it in my email box. Will listen to that clip properly later.

As I said before, if possible a silent one (Mic off or something) would be great as that one through the VX2K had a signal floor at about -50dBFS. I can't hear it properly as don't have phones here (only crappy computer speakers), but I assume that was probably ambience or something.

Guess my main worry, now I'm looking to getting some good sound acquisition gear, is making sure that I can understand what, if any, noise to expect from what I buy, and if it'd be acceptable for what I do. I'm also looking to maximise what I spend to get the best improvement. I'm starting to think recording into something other than my XM2 is the first step. The XM2 has about 67dB s/n...

Your VX2k should now have about 86dB of dynamic range right? (74dB s/n at 12dBFS)

Catchya, and thanks for that.
Aaron

Matt Stahley · March 18th, 2004, 11:55 PM

The mod peaks my interest but I'm also curious how Greg attached the MixPre to the bottom of his cam. The mod and an MM1 would be quite pleasing to me if I could attch it to the bottom of my cam.

Bryan Beasleigh · March 19th, 2004, 12:06 AM

The Mix Pre, MM1 or MP1 are the same size and made out of very thick aluminum channel. The casing is slightly larger than the base of a PD150/VX2000. The space where the tripod screw is located has no component .

Greg disassembled the case and drilled a hole through the case. he then drilled and taped a hole where the anti twist pin is located. Using a long 1/4' screw for the tripod socket and a set screw for the anti twist, the unit is mounted much the way a Beach Tek is attached.

For me the better option is a bracket like the "Bracket 1" is screwed to the base of the camera and the Mix pre is attached with velcro. http://www.bracket1.com
It's $60 at B&H.

I could also mount the Mix Pre to my mini rover accessory bracket

For the time being, I'll use a mixer case and cables, with the camera on a tripod. I'm through hand held or Marzpak camera use until I get new knees. No cartlidge left at all. Bone on bone, like walking on two broken legs.

Bryan Beasleigh · March 23rd, 2004, 09:36 PM

Latest test results from Jay Rose show an amazing increase in signal to noise of 24-26 db. The freq response extended from 80Hz - 15khz unmodified to 50Hz -20khz +0-2

http://www.dv.com/jive3/thread.jspa?...04446&tstart=0

I am one happy camper, I knew the sound was very much improved but it is nice to see the results in print.

Now I have to figure out how to mount the mix pre without butchering the case.

Matt Stahley · March 24th, 2004, 03:20 PM

Thats awesome reults thanks for the link Bryan. Now I'm totally stumped on what to do with my audio as I want to move towards the preamp ways instead of my passive box. Was looking at the DXA-8. I dont know now?? I could use an MM1 with a line out Y cable feeding both L/R RCAs correct? I never really use more than 1 mic and the MM1 would be within budget.

Bryan Beasleigh · March 24th, 2004, 06:58 PM

The MM1 would be usable. the only problem is you can't ride the gain because the pot has 11 click stops over 66db of gain. Thankfully the first several are large increments and each click stop at the tail end of the adjustment has 4db of gain.

If you're careful and set the gain until the camera meter shows -12 the limiters should take care of the rest. You could even build a Y cable with a 10 db attenuation in channel 2 and you'd have all the bases covered.

The Beach is still better than than nothing. It did it's job, I just wanted better.

March 18th, 2004, 02:06 PM	#1
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	My modified VX2000 has amazing audio now I had Greg Winter of Rochester NY do a mod on my VX2k that's quite similar to the BBC modifications. The preamps are bypassed and the audio in is through the RCA jacks that were for VTR input and playback. I received the camera this morning from UPS and immediately setup for my first test. Using a mix pre and line out into ythe camera RCA jacks I recorded example using my Oktava and Schoeps. the results were cleaner than I can get from the marantz pmd670. I couldn't get the sucker to clip no matter hoew hard I tried. The Sony's line into the analog to digital converter is really forgiving. It can take alot, the meter on the mixpre was showing peaks at +12db.

March 18th, 2004, 04:54 PM	#5
Aaron Koolen Trustee Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 1,727	Bryan. Would like to hear those clips if possible. One's I'm most interested in though are silenced ones. No power to mic or something. Want to see the sample and look at the noise level. Every piece of audio gear I listen through my Sony 7506 phones has crazy hiss. (XM2 phone jack, Sony Home Theatre, Soundblaster live etc) So I can't even get a relative reading to tell if it's my headphone adding some noise or what if all this gear is just total crap. Some well recorded silence on gear I know is quiet would be a great help. Cheers Aaron __________________ My Website Meat Free Media

March 18th, 2004, 05:44 PM	#7
Aaron Koolen Trustee Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 1,727	Yeah I meant the new one from the VX2K. Thanks though, saw it in my email box. Will listen to that clip properly later. As I said before, if possible a silent one (Mic off or something) would be great as that one through the VX2K had a signal floor at about -50dBFS. I can't hear it properly as don't have phones here (only crappy computer speakers), but I assume that was probably ambience or something. Guess my main worry, now I'm looking to getting some good sound acquisition gear, is making sure that I can understand what, if any, noise to expect from what I buy, and if it'd be acceptable for what I do. I'm also looking to maximise what I spend to get the best improvement. I'm starting to think recording into something other than my XM2 is the first step. The XM2 has about 67dB s/n... Your VX2k should now have about 86dB of dynamic range right? (74dB s/n at 12dBFS) Catchya, and thanks for that. Aaron __________________ My Website Meat Free Media

March 18th, 2004, 03:54 PM	#2
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Is this modification the same as "the BBC fix?"

March 18th, 2004, 04:21 PM	#3
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	I'm interested. Would you kindly provide details on the fix, such as total cost?

March 18th, 2004, 04:26 PM	#4
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Here's the link: http://www.gregjwinter.com/modification2.htm

March 18th, 2004, 04:58 PM	#6
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	Aaron, what clips/ Are you talking about the PMD670, if so there is nothing to hear. all of the clips i've sent you so far were done on that recorder. I have clips of the Oktava and schoeps through the camera before and after the mod. On some of the clips I announce a silent test span so you can listen for hiss. I've just sent you one with absolutely NO HISS

March 18th, 2004, 11:55 PM	#8
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	The mod peaks my interest but I'm also curious how Greg attached the MixPre to the bottom of his cam. The mod and an MM1 would be quite pleasing to me if I could attch it to the bottom of my cam.

March 19th, 2004, 12:06 AM	#9
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	The Mix Pre, MM1 or MP1 are the same size and made out of very thick aluminum channel. The casing is slightly larger than the base of a PD150/VX2000. The space where the tripod screw is located has no component . Greg disassembled the case and drilled a hole through the case. he then drilled and taped a hole where the anti twist pin is located. Using a long 1/4' screw for the tripod socket and a set screw for the anti twist, the unit is mounted much the way a Beach Tek is attached. For me the better option is a bracket like the "Bracket 1" is screwed to the base of the camera and the Mix pre is attached with velcro. http://www.bracket1.com It's $60 at B&H. I could also mount the Mix Pre to my mini rover accessory bracket For the time being, I'll use a mixer case and cables, with the camera on a tripod. I'm through hand held or Marzpak camera use until I get new knees. No cartlidge left at all. Bone on bone, like walking on two broken legs.

March 23rd, 2004, 09:36 PM	#10
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	Latest test results from Jay Rose show an amazing increase in signal to noise of 24-26 db. The freq response extended from 80Hz - 15khz unmodified to 50Hz -20khz +0-2 http://www.dv.com/jive3/thread.jspa?...04446&tstart=0 I am one happy camper, I knew the sound was very much improved but it is nice to see the results in print. Now I have to figure out how to mount the mix pre without butchering the case.

March 24th, 2004, 03:20 PM	#11
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	Thats awesome reults thanks for the link Bryan. Now I'm totally stumped on what to do with my audio as I want to move towards the preamp ways instead of my passive box. Was looking at the DXA-8. I dont know now?? I could use an MM1 with a line out Y cable feeding both L/R RCAs correct? I never really use more than 1 mic and the MM1 would be within budget.

March 24th, 2004, 06:58 PM	#12
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	The MM1 would be usable. the only problem is you can't ride the gain because the pot has 11 click stops over 66db of gain. Thankfully the first several are large increments and each click stop at the tail end of the adjustment has 4db of gain. If you're careful and set the gain until the camera meter shows -12 the limiters should take care of the rest. You could even build a Y cable with a 10 db attenuation in channel 2 and you'd have all the bases covered. The Beach is still better than than nothing. It did it's job, I just wanted better.