Audio Speaker

[Randy Johnson]

Last question for a while I promise. Is there a way to listen to the on camera speaker while recording? or is it playback only (like my Panasonic AG-hmc150)?

[Steven Digges]

Record monitoring is limited to headphones on all cameras. If the speaker was on you would be recording that sound with the mics ; )

Steve

[Randy Johnson]

ok I guess thats the standard now. Every camera I owned before my Panasonic let me hear what I was recording including my JVC-GYHD101. I guess I will rig something. Thanks

[Chris Quevedo]

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

Last question for a while I promise. Is there a way to listen to the on camera speaker while recording? or is it playback only (like my Panasonic AG-hmc150)?

dude stop apologizing, this a community designed to make it feel safe to ask questions about gear people love. so just don't worry about it. it anything it gets kinda annoying when people apologize for asking stuff. and i don't mean to come off in a unkind tone with that man. just be empowered and know this is a safe place to ask questions and not be embarrassed about it :-) so just feel free to keep asking all the questions you want. plus, it keeps the community moving the more you post so please feel free to ask

[Chris Harding]

Hi Randy

If you are never going to use the mic on the camera you can always rig a headphone amo via the speaker socket but seriously the shotgun mic on the camera has sometimes saved my bacon with audio (like forgetting to turn on the wireless mic during speeches!)

Just plug in some earbuds and you can monitor all the time! You can also get off eBay a neat Bluetooth link for headphones so you can also listen to audio being recorded without being tied to the camera..they work really well ..I use one on the main cam while shooting cutaways on my 2nd EA-50 so I can hear the audio all the time on camera 1

Chris

[Steven Digges]

Randy, you are talking to a bunch of guys that just went through the same process as you. It is all good.

There is probably too much to read but there is one thing unique about this EA50 sub forum. If you were to go way back to its beginning there is about 5 of us that got the camera about the same time. We chronicled the entire process of personalization and figuring it out. It is all there if your board :)

In pro video, audio is messed up far more often than the image. Too many guys treat it like an after thought. Constant monitoring is a must. I prefer quality headphones. For me those are Sennheiser HD280. Even my ear buds are a $100 Sure set. Say I'm directing an interview and need to interact with the talent a lot while I shoot. Some times I will set the audio up with the closed back headphones so I know its good. Then I might switch to the Sure buds for convenience and keep just one of them in at all times. But it is ALWAYS monitored. Things happen to audio signals.

Listen to Chris, even when he locks down a camera he is smart enough to monitor it. There is nothing worse than getting to post and finding out your audio sucks. And if you find out the signal isn't even there, you have no one to blame but your own ignorance. I have seen it happen....but not to me! I listen.

I'm a lefty, the headphone jack placement is in a bad place for us. I had to get a 1/8 right angle to 1/4 short adapter cable to make the set up better for me.

[Jerome Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Steven Digges

I prefer quality headphones. For me those are Sennheiser HD280.

I LOVE those headphones! Great sounding and somewhat good at "noise cancelling" in most scenarios (not inside the bowl at the speedway though!)

PS... not doing this race. They've replaced me with interns!

[Steven Digges]

Jerome,

I feel your pain. I got replaced when ISC signed a contract with Getty Images to cover all 16 ISC tracks. Interns....Ouch!

Not to be picky but so no one gets confused:

The 280HD headphones are "noise reducing" cans. They do that with insulation and a closed back design.

"Noise canceling" headphones should never be used to monitor video recording. They use circuitry to knock back certain frequencies, defeating the purpose of monitoring for quality and noise.

Steve

[Jerome Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Steven Digges

Jerome,

I feel your pain. I got replaced when ISC signed a contract with Getty Images to cover all 16 ISC tracks. Interns....Ouch!

Not to be picky but so no one gets confused:

The 280HD headphones are "noise reducing" cans. They do that with insulation and a closed back design.

"Noise canceling" headphones should never be used to monitor video recording. They use circuitry to knock back certain frequencies, defeating the purpose of monitoring for quality and noise.

Steve

Yep, you're exactly right on the terminology there... sorry but was in a rush.

[Chris Quevedo]

Originally Posted by Jerome Cloninger

I LOVE those headphones! Great sounding and somewhat good at "noise cancelling" in most scenarios (not inside the bowl at the speedway though!)

PS... not doing this race. They've replaced me with interns!

seriously?! what the hell dude! i loved your vids from Bristol! why did they do that?!

[Randy Johnson]

by the way here is my audio speaker solution! Works great!Suck it Sony:)

[Steven Digges]

Really? No offence Randy. Do you have something against headphones? You may be able to hear audio through that but what about hearing the quality of the audio?

Steve

[Chris Harding]

Even when I play back clips the audio coming from the speaker (or a headphone piece) is still not the best quality and that's mainly due to ambient noise that your open ear gets in! I guess it might work ok if you blocked off your left ear totally and snugged your right ear against the earpiece? I still prefer headphones as I have XLR 1 coming in on one side and XLR 2 coming in on the other side so I can monitor each wireless mic set.

Steve? I think you are a lefty aren't you??? so that wouldn't work at all for left handed people.

What does work very neatly is to have a Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the camera and a Bluetooth headset on your head ...that gives you total freedom if you like to monitor audio all the time. You can find these easily on eBay!

Chris

[Randy Johnson]

Well a couple things here 1. Nothing I hate more than trying to work in the field and my headphones get all tangled up. 2. The speaker is perfect for run and gun confidence to make sure the wireless is working and has no interference and is close enough to the subjects mouth in noisy rooms. 3. You noticed the Y splitter because when I can I do plug in a regular headset. Oh and Chris as you know we both kinda came up with the BLuetooth idea a year or so ago I dont use it much anymore because I was having problems most of the time it worked but I found myself doing more field troubleshooting than I wanted to do plus you remember the issues we had with the Azdens well my is working great now and the only thing I changed was I dont use the bluetooth anymore so there is reason to believe that the bluetooth was stepping on my range a bit.

[Steven Digges]

Hey Guys,

Admittedly, I am a fanatic about audio, and I like it that way. I have seen good video destroyed by bad audio too many times. Not mine, because I put time, effort, and experience into making sure I get it right. Too many video guys “set it and forget it”. Yes, constant monitoring is a PITA, but absolutely necessary in my book. So I have two ways of doing it. It does not matter to me if it is a single head interview or some of the very complex audio visual events I work on, the monitoring is the same. During set up and the beginning of the records I use the Sennheiser HD280’s I mentioned. That allows me to monitor the quality of the audio, not just the level or presence of the signal. But they cut out to much of the other stuff in the room I need to hear. So once I am completely comfortable I may switch to ear buds. Mine are good ones, pretty high end Shures. I might let one dangle sometimes but at the least I am always monitoring. And I recheck the quality often with the good cans.

At a corporate AV event I might have 10 to 20 different feeds from the mixer hitting my cameras and recording devices during a show. Often the audio guy is sending those from an aux send (each channel has its own gain) so I am monitoring an operator as well as a signal. To me, It has to be done no matter how many times we set the levels in rehearsal. You can’t believe how many times, over the years I have seen guys get lazy and record junk audio that could have been fixed. Just last week I was in charge of shading the cameras and running the record decks (Aja Keypros). Day one everything was fine. When I came in for day two I checked my systems in the morning and found a 60 cycle hum we had picked up. We had to fix it in a hurry before the show kicked off. If I would not have been paying attention I could have recorded that hum. That is exactly how freelancers don’t get called back again. I know, I freelance and I produce shows for my own clients.

Chris, I know you use Bluetooth to monitor your fixed camera. Good for you.

With audio, things change, sh** happens, a lot. I monitor it.

Steve