Stu Holmes
August 18th, 2006, 02:40 PM
Hi
Had an audio problem i've not come across before and thought i'd bounce it off you knowledgeable people:
Taped a live band on 2 different days in (lmost.) identical cricumstances / equipment / settings and got two very differetn audio results, so i hope someone can chip in with some theory/comments as to why.
Camera was HC1000 + Rode Videomic and i was using Auto audio levels for the simple reason that i have filmed the SAME band at the exact SAME location with the SAME equipment and even standing in the SAME place and got really excellent sound before, but this time, i got a lot of distortion on the sound, am certain the mic was overloading the HC1000's preamps..
Now I'm 99% sure the band were using identical volume levels on their amps and they were playing the same set of songs even, so the question is WHY did i get excellent audio the 1st time and distorted audio the 2nd time?
- I've thought about it and the ONLY difference is that the 2nd time i was using the Rode Deadcat windshield (as the location is half indoors/half outdoors and there was a bit of wind so i was being cautious not to get any wind noise), AND i decided NOT to use the low-cut filter the 2nd time. (to get a slightly more bass-heavy audio track).
So my theory is this:
- Did leaving the low-cut filter filter OFF the 2nd-time (and maybe using the Deadcat) have caused the overloaded audio? If the majority of the output from the band's amps/speakers was fairly bass-heavy then it makes sense that the low-cut filter used the first time may have taken the levels down just enough to not cause clipping & distortion. Use of the Deadcat the 2nd time also would cut the high-frequencies a bit and this would also help create a more bass-biased sound being picked up by the mic.
Has anyone else had this happen to them on the Videomic (which i do know is a hot mic and a bit borderline on overloading) or any similar shotgun mic?
- I didn't use manual levels as the band was playing soft tracks and more rocky tracks and i wanted also to pick up the chit-chat with the audience inbetween songs and to do that with Manual levels would have meant riding them more than i wanted to and would have a bit tricky to do that and get the images right too.
Phrased a different way, if you had two "identical" shotguns and one was designed to give a more treble-oriented sound (maybe ME64-like - you know what i mean) and one was designed to give a more bassy EQ, then is it possible that if they were identically sensitive that the "treble-oriented" mic would not produce clipping like the bassy-mic ? (when taping a band using speakers that may have rather bigger woofers than tweeters...)
Had an audio problem i've not come across before and thought i'd bounce it off you knowledgeable people:
Taped a live band on 2 different days in (lmost.) identical cricumstances / equipment / settings and got two very differetn audio results, so i hope someone can chip in with some theory/comments as to why.
Camera was HC1000 + Rode Videomic and i was using Auto audio levels for the simple reason that i have filmed the SAME band at the exact SAME location with the SAME equipment and even standing in the SAME place and got really excellent sound before, but this time, i got a lot of distortion on the sound, am certain the mic was overloading the HC1000's preamps..
Now I'm 99% sure the band were using identical volume levels on their amps and they were playing the same set of songs even, so the question is WHY did i get excellent audio the 1st time and distorted audio the 2nd time?
- I've thought about it and the ONLY difference is that the 2nd time i was using the Rode Deadcat windshield (as the location is half indoors/half outdoors and there was a bit of wind so i was being cautious not to get any wind noise), AND i decided NOT to use the low-cut filter the 2nd time. (to get a slightly more bass-heavy audio track).
So my theory is this:
- Did leaving the low-cut filter filter OFF the 2nd-time (and maybe using the Deadcat) have caused the overloaded audio? If the majority of the output from the band's amps/speakers was fairly bass-heavy then it makes sense that the low-cut filter used the first time may have taken the levels down just enough to not cause clipping & distortion. Use of the Deadcat the 2nd time also would cut the high-frequencies a bit and this would also help create a more bass-biased sound being picked up by the mic.
Has anyone else had this happen to them on the Videomic (which i do know is a hot mic and a bit borderline on overloading) or any similar shotgun mic?
- I didn't use manual levels as the band was playing soft tracks and more rocky tracks and i wanted also to pick up the chit-chat with the audience inbetween songs and to do that with Manual levels would have meant riding them more than i wanted to and would have a bit tricky to do that and get the images right too.
Phrased a different way, if you had two "identical" shotguns and one was designed to give a more treble-oriented sound (maybe ME64-like - you know what i mean) and one was designed to give a more bassy EQ, then is it possible that if they were identically sensitive that the "treble-oriented" mic would not produce clipping like the bassy-mic ? (when taping a band using speakers that may have rather bigger woofers than tweeters...)