For some purposes (ambient-sound pick-up, some
close-in music pickup), the VX2000 built-in mic
is quite good. (I recently recorded a 5-member
a capella group mid-stage, mic'd, with two speakers
set in thirds across the stage. One camera was
audience-left, to the left of the stage edge, about
25' back; the other was audience right, near the rear
and to the right of the stage edge. I had a Mini-Disk
recorder on the board, figuring I would use the
camera audio only for synching and for mixing in
"ambience". A bit to my surprise, the left camera's
sound was superior to the board sound [the right
camera's sound was almost as good], and I primarily
used the left camera's sound, with sometimes a bit
of board sound mixed in when a dryer solo was
needed. Point: don't dismiss the VX2000 mic - it
has proven useful for "hall" pickup for several
concerts of several types of music...) As for
the other, as I understand it with the VX2000
with line or mic level input, you cannot bypass
the built-in preamp - but you can "best-match" it
for gains using pads or XLR adapters with level
controls to minimize noise or AGC ill-effects
(also try the VX2000 AGC, it is excellent!).
Do not assume from what you may have read elsewhere
that the VX2000 audio is "bad" - it isn't, and if
used with understanding, it is satisfactory short of
"pro sound" standards, which no camcorder meets...
You can record good sound with this camera. If you
will pimarily use XLR mics, I would look at the
PD150, since it can also provide phantom power.
On Fri, 21 Jun 2002 20:23:43 -0400, "Dan Volker"
>
>David,
>Do the pre-amp based sound issues of the VX2000 become lessened if you use
>an external mic, like a phantom powered AT835 shotgun mic, and a Studio one
>Pro ?
>
>I would not consider using the sound from any of the built-in camcorder mics
>I have seen, so my real interest here is only in the external mic audio
>potential. Do you know of any articles that refer to this--the link you
>provided was a good article, but did not deal much with this issue.
>
>Regards,
>Dan Volker
>"Neuman - Ruether"
>news:3d15ae89.914970@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...
>> On Thu, 20 Jun 2002 19:21:27 -0400, "Dan Volker"
>>
>>
>> >Lets say the only use you would have for your camera was shooting music
>> >videos at nightclubs or in a studio. While sometimes you would be getting
>> >soundtracks as wave files to synch in post, sometimes you would be
>recording
>> >audio off the mixing board, and sometimes you would need mics placed in a
>> >few places around the room. I have a GL1 right now, and I am about to buy
>2
>> >more cameras---either 2 more GL1's or I could get 3 vx2000's. While I
>> >believe the video would be superior on the Vx2000 cameras, if the audio
>is
>> >as poor for high quality music as I have heard they are, it would seem
>they
>> >might be a worse choice than the GL1 ( which has decent audio when
>equipped
>> >with the AT 835 , Studio One Pro XLR adaptor, and VU Pro).
>> >
>> >What do you guys think?
>> The picture would be noticeably superior with the VX2000
>> compared with the GL-1 (in both good lighting and poor)
>> for resolution, relative freedom from artifacting
>> (oversharpening and stairstepping on edges, and
>> near-vertical-line discontinuities), color, and picture
>> smoothness at high gain. The VX2000 sound problems are
>> minimal in actual use (as with all camcorders, the
>> VX2000 sound is not up to the medium's potential, but
>> it is good enough to use for music recording, which
>> I have used it for - both "classical" and "pop",
>> voice and instrumental) - and it offers a superior
>> (to the GL-1) built-in mic, excellent AGC characteristics,
>> and manual-level control, if needed. See:
>> www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/sony_dcr-vx2000.htm for
>> more on the VX2000. I'm an "audio nut", and have few
>> complaints with the VX2000 sound, the "problems" of which
>> I think were overblown by some who expected "pro"-grade
>> sound along with the "pro"-grade picture in a
>> bargain-priced camcorder for what it does offer...
>> David Ruether