Motor sound?

[Robert Petersen]

This is interesting information. I have been considering purchasing an XH-A1. Motor noise would be an issue for me. I currently have a Canon GL-1 and a Sony PDX10. The Sony is extremely silent, but the Canon GL-1 is very noisy. Filming in a quiet church, you can hear the Canon from up to 10 feet away, and the microphone definitely picks up the sound. I have to use external mics and keep them 10' or further away from the Canon camera. The noise is not consistant; sometimes it is louder than other times.

[Jeff Mahar]

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Re: Soundbooth - A quick read gives me the impression that Soundbooth is sort of "Lite" or simplified version of Audition geared toward video, not audio professionals, Maybe a bit like more like Cool Edit was to Cool Edit Pro.

Hey Don,
In CS3 Audition is Soundbooth. For whatever reason they changed the name for the release of the new suite of tools. But they did add a lot of features that will be helpful for video. To Doyle's point I din't realize that you could also do some of the isolation in the current Audtion, but that is great. If you want to see the additional features of Soundbooth (Or Adition 3 as you could call it) Adobe has a cool little Flash feature demonstration here http://www.adobe.com/products/soundbooth/ check out the feature tour tab.
Jeff

[Don Palomaki]

Compare at: http://www.adobe.com/products/soundbooth/compare/

Looks like Adobe sees it as two separate products, at least for now.
Stand-alone full Audition 2.0 is $349, Soundbooth CS3 is $199.

[Urban Skargren]

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

If someone is selling a close to knew XH-A1 cheap because of this noise, let me know immediately!

First I interpreted it as you were angry, but now I guess you want that cheap camera? :)

[Bill Watson]

I must admit it's a little bit noisier than my GS400 but I have to put my ear up against the case to pick it.

I don't see it being an issue (if at all) with anything other than the onboard mic in low ambient noise situations.

I mostly use a wireless mic so it's not something I've come up against.

[Jack Walker]

Originally Posted by Urban Skargren

First I interpreted it as you were angry, but now I guess you want that cheap camera? :)

Yes, I'm about to buy an XH-A1. If I can get one very inexpensively, I'll take it... noisy motor and all!

Regarding Soundbooth and Audition... they seem to be two separate products now. Here is a link that compares the two:
http://www.adobe.com/products/soundbooth/compare/

Soundbooth is task oriented for working on video audio. Audition continues to be a full featured mult-track recording and editing application, with vst plug-in support, etc. etc. etc.

It's not totally clear, but it seems that if you are doing complex multi-track soundtrack creation and editing for your video, audition is still the product to use.

[Jeff Mahar]

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Compare at: http://www.adobe.com/products/soundbooth/compare/

Looks like Adobe sees it as two separate products, at least for now.
Stand-alone full Audition 2.0 is $349, Soundbooth CS3 is $199.

Interesting. Thanks! I wonder why Adobe has taken Audition out of the Master and production suites? I hope they have not killed it then. It is a great product for audio engineers.The Master suite is supposed to contain all of their products. Hmmm...

[Jack Walker]

It seems that Soundbooth will let people do easily, with a very small learning curbed, the tasks associated with audio for Video. Note that SoundBooth only has one track editing.

Audition will do all the same things, plus everything else.

I believe soundbooth will be point and click. Audition will continue as a standalone professional audio editing and multitrack recording application.

A lot of people who bought the video collection and have Audition don't use it because it is too daunting. Soundbooth does the specific tasks most people need. Audition is still available as a standalone for those who want it's capabilities.

[Shane Rielly]

My A1 is so loud man! I even took the first one i got back to the store and swapped it, but the new one is just the same...!! I'm also just trying to get over it and work around it...!
It's definitely made me like the A1 less... I thought a camera in this range shouldn't have a problem like that!? Other than that it's great though!

Maybe it's just the PAL ones that are loud for some reason?

[Urban Skargren]

Thanks for sharing this. I'm still thinking of replacing or repairing, but the chances of improving it seem smaller and smaller... I do fiction films and interviews, where I want maximum control over sounds. Let's hope it won't be noticed in the end. I suppose it's better than having a bad audio circuit in the camera, like in the PD150.

[Poppe Johansson]

Originally Posted by Shane Rielly

Maybe it's just the PAL ones that are loud for some reason?

This could be the reason, because if all units were as loud as mine, there would be more complaining about motor noise. Maybe it's not all PAL A1 that have motor noise issue though.. On the other hand, I'm sure that every one has their own "how much noise is bad" -level. I'm doing sound post production for my living, so maybe I'm little too sensitive for motor noises ;)

I've used Peak's Soundsoap Pro and Waves RenEQ to remove A1's whining noise (with Digital Performer). It's possible to get rid of it, but of course removing some frequencies from audio always makes it a bit worse than original.

[Shane Rielly]

As bad as the problem is, it's good to know that i'm not the only one with it. I thought i had just gotten a dud unit!
I also do mostly interviews so the zoom noise is really a problem! i Have a Rode NTG-1 that is mounted on camera and it picks up the noise even more than the camera's mic. I did some interviews last night for a promo DVD and i used a Sure SM 58 hand held mic which did the trick because it was far from the camera, but it would've been nice to not have to do that.

I have Adobe Audition so i will try out some of the post solutions in there...but there is just no replacement for good sound on the day!

[Urban Skargren]

Originally Posted by Poppe Johansson

I've used Peak's Soundsoap Pro and Waves RenEQ to remove A1's whining noise

Found any specific frequency to notch away?

[Don Palomaki]

Keep in mind that an on-camera mic is OK for ambient sound, sound where quality is a secondary consideration, and for Joe and Jane Sixpack's handi-cam put-me-to sleep videos of their boring vacations. It is a poor choice for any point source that is more than a couple feet from the camcorder (e.g., a person speaking), or for low volume sources.

In most cases and with all of the camcorders (including Canon) I've used, if the gain is cranked up to the point where motor noise is an issue with the on-camera mic, the shooter is using the wrong techniques to capture sound.

BTW: Using headphones has a way of emphasizing the noise floor thanks to tight coupling to the ear and the excluding much of the ambient sound in the listening environment.

[Poppe Johansson]

Originally Posted by Urban Skargren

Found any specific frequency to notch away?

For my whining noise I have used -6dB at 5300 Hz. You must set very narrow Q (0.7 in RenEQ), otherwise you'll ruin sound totally. 5kHz is very important frequency e.g. for consonants. Of course A1's noise has lot wider frequency, but it's impossible to remove all extra noise by EQ only. That's why I've been using also Soundsoap Pro. Remember, that those settings may not work with other EQ at all (maybe only with Waves RenEQ with my A1's sound;)

Don, I'm not using onboard mic. Problem is there also with shotgun mics. Of course it's always bad move to use camcorder mount mics, but what I was saying, my A1 is noisier than other camcorders in this price range. But I'm sure all A1s aren't this loud.