On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 22:52:48 -0400, "j j" wrote:

>Thank you so much about all the active response and debates.
>I decided put up with this a little bit noisy system of VX2000 and studio 1.

Uh, what noise...? ;-) I was doing a check of a couple of
mics yesterday on the VX2000, playing the results back on
a good TV-audio system I know well, at a bit above normal
levels, and, well, I *cannot* hear this dreaded hiss the
VX2000 is so famous for...;-) Recordings made in a quiet
room with both mics produced quiet tracks, for all practical
purposes... That's good enough for me!

>Here is my final question: which one might be better in real audio
>recording? when I try to get the same level of sound recording, 1) record in
>auto setup and bring the level down at the editing 2) record in manual mode
>at high level as it can produce enough level. in this case the level setup
>might go over the middle line 3) record in manual at low level and bring the
>level up at the editing.

None of the above...
1) The VX2000 AGC, when properly matched with mic
sensitivity, produces a *lower* than average level
recording (that preserves more of the dynamic range
of the original sound than most AGC systems, keeping
relatively high peaks, and a low background level).
2) If there is ANY dynamic range of interest in the
original sound, recording at higher than average levels
in manual mode *will* result in hard clipping, due to
the relatively low peak input acceptance limitations
of the DV audio system.
3) This will result in excessive noise...
Matching is the key, and the VX2000 AGC can be your
friend...

>I ran through one experiment by myself without professional sound editing
>knowledge nor equipments. I recorded an interview with automatic setup (hiss
>noise level is around -60db) and two manual setups (one's hiss level -65db,
>the other's -60db). then, I brought down the level of audios with -60db hiss
>noise (both automatic and manual) by 5db so that the hiss noise level will
>be -65db. then compared three sounds before putting some noise reduction
>techniques.
>guess what? in my experiment, amazingly the sound recorded in high level and
>brought down at the editing produced better level for the voice.
>Yeah, it is weird. But anyway, Can I conclude that VX2000 in high level
>audio setup produce better sound? of course, only given the situation that
>regular microphone is used (not extremely powerful mic nor mic preamp).

If you have sufficient peak level acceptance with acceptable
distortion, boosting gains at the earlier stages will most
likely result in lower noise at the output - BUT, DV does
***not*** gracefully handle clipping, so using this strategy
for optimizing noise levels is rather dangerous. But, again,
if you optimize gains/sensitivities with the VX2000, and use
the AGC, the recordings sound good and are quiet...