On Thu, 12 Jul 2001 06:05:25 GMT, Bill Van Dyk wrote:

>I have been playing with the audio on my VX2000 since I got it. Like David, I regard the picture quality
as
>outstanding. I have a Sennheiser MKE300 mic which at times sounds very, very good. I shot outdoors
recently at a
>wedding photoshoot and the sound quality seemed very good.
>
>Last week, I shot a small concert. The truth is, I bought a minidisc to record the sound because, a) I didn't
expect
>the VX2000 to have that kind of quality sound reproduction built in, and, b) I expected to move the
camera around quite
>a bit, thereby creating natural variations in sound that I didn't want. I wanted to place the minidisc on one
location
>and use the sound from it for the final mix.
>
>Well, I messed up the minidisc and ended up with sound that was too low level to use. I experimented
later and I think
>it will work properly next time. So I ended up with the Sennheiser on the VX2000 and that sound is not
particularly
>great. It's not evil or anything, just not great.
>
>Bottom line: I don't expect a camcorder to record music with the kind of fidelity I want. I had always
assumed you
>would want to use a DAT or minidisc for that purpose (knowning that tape is too unstable and inconsistent
to synchronize
>later in an NLE).
>
>I'm very interested in this issue. I did set my sound to 16bit on the camera.
>
>Incidentally, I haven't researched it extensively, but I recorded a classical concert recently with a TR7000
and found
>the sound rather stunningly good. Anyone else with a TR7000 notice that? This was a string orchestra,
which is about
>as demanding as you can get. I was blown away when I played it back through a good stereo system. I
played it back
>several times because I thought I must be nuts. Crazy, isn't it? Maybe next time I'll record the sound on
my TR7000
>with the built in mics!

You can also use a more "musical" (and stereo) mic on the
VX-2000 for good sound at concerts. The MKE-300 has no
low bass, a peak around 150cycles, a somewhat "saddle-back"
response above that, with a hefty high end peak - and that
is on-axis (things get worse off-axis). For cheaps, try a
Sony 908C mic (120 degree setting) for music with the
VX-2000. If you use the AGC, make a moderate mic pad to
reduce the 908C's output to better fit the VX-2000 input
needs or you will hear too much limiting. I recently mixed
a 4-camera wedding ceremony using one MKE-300 on one
VX-2000 (with pad), the on-camera mic on a second, a 908C
on a TRV-900 placed near most of the musical "action", and
an Azden wireless near the front (with receiver on a PC-1,
also up front, on a mic stand...). Large 19th-cent. organ,
piano, two violins, a tenor, a rabbi who could SING,
a priest who could BOOM, a couple who could mumble, and
speakers who used the bad house sound were the sound
sources. None of the individual unprocessed tracks was
particularly good, but with EQ and noise reduction on each,
and mixing (mostly at 25% for each, with some local gain
control), the result was VERY satisfying! Everything
sounds right and natural (except the speakers using the
house sound), with good clarity and ambience.
The moral to the tail: record as many tracks as you can,
be ready to "fix up" the tracks afterward, and mix to
optimize results. I have made really satisfying 2-mic
straight recordings of orchestras and choruses back in
my audio-only days, but it required very good placement of
a couple of *VERY* good mics, not something that is easy
for a more casual video shoot, or effective where the
action is all over the place... Now, I "shotgun" the
event, getting as many different picture and sound "views"
as I can on tape, then work on the raw material later
during editing to improve it for inclusion in the mixed
final video.