DV Camcorder Live recording without clipping audio??

Queue

Queue

Active member
Hello,
Long time, no post...

The other day I was at a Festival, and tried to record a live (and loud) performance using my Digital 8 (Sony DCR/TRV240) camcorder. I was just using the built-in mic.

Anyhow, as the band was loud, (as rock bands tend to be...) my sound is quite garbled due to what I assume is clipping in the audio portion of the recording. So, I'm looking for some suggestions on a (hopefully) low-cost way to avoid this. I do not believe there is a way to adjust the volume level of the recording. Additionally, the mic in jack looks to be a stereo minijack, but it accepts a "plug in power" microphone (no definition of just what that is...)

A search here turned up another thread, which had a link to this product:

http://www.beachtek.com/dxa4s.html

Let me know if you have any ideas...

Thanks,
Queue
 
I had the same problem and have a cheap solution. Even more amazing is that I found the solution at Radio Shack!!!

Buy an 1/8 inch headphone volume control and put it between the camcorder Input and the mixing board. Of course, if you were recording with the internal mic... then nevermind. Or perhaps try using a mixer and run the output to the camera via a headphone volume control (which I then connect to an RCA to 1/8 plug cable for a portable CD player). By the way, if you are planning on moving the camera a lot, then this of course will not work because the connection will crackle if you're not carefull. I have been surprised at how good the camera sounds using such a cheesy connection.

I hook up headphone to the camera to check for distorting levels and this seems to work well. Basically, I turn the volume on the headphone almost all the way down. This forces the Automatic Level Control to gain all the way up so when things get soft, the camera doesn't turn up the volume and mess up the dynamics. Hope this helps.
 
gorby,
Thanks! I was using the internal mic, but your recommendation sounds like something I'll definitely try. I'll need to get an external mic (or 2), but that'll still be way under the cost of the beachtek.

Queue
 
You might want to check out the info on the Beachtek there, as well.

I seem to remember that there might be some consumer mods needed to make them work right.
 
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