Camcorder mic

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 27 May 2007 7:23 am

I have been using my minicam for recording some live events. It seems that if the band is very loud, the internal microphone gets 'overdriven' and the sound distorts and gets real muddy.

Is that possible? Too loud for a microphone? I'll give it a try again, just in case it was the band that was distorted. But the camcorder has a jack for an external mic. So I might go that route, any suggestions for a good external mic for a camcorder?

(P.S. my ears don't get overdriven, I wear earplugs)

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 28 May 2007 7:01 am

As a generalization, yes, it would be possible to overdrive the audio input circuit.

My camera provides the option to set the audio gain manually, or let the camera do it automatically. You might check to see if yours offers that option, and if so, how it's set.

If you can't get levels under control using only the camera's settings, there are external devices such as the Beachtek DXA6-VU I use sometimes for more audio control.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 28 May 2007 10:28 am

Thanks,
I'll dig into the owner's manual. There seems to be a couple of 100 menu items, but now that I know what I am looking for that might be the solution...it might have been set to a fixed setting and not compensating for the changing level.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 29 May 2007 10:56 am

Only fairly high-end semi-pro cameras have any sort of control over the audio. I wish I knew why that is because even the cheapest one chip cameras offer quite a bit of options and control over video settings. I have a Sony PD-150 which is in the $3K-$4K range and it has onboard stereo mic preamps w/XLR inputs w/phantom power,switchable limiting,preset or manual input levels,low freq cut for wind noise,20db pad,onscreen audio level monitoring etc. These things just don't seem to come on the common "Birthday Party Camcorder" that the average Joe might have and there are few workarounds. You might be able to use outboard mics thru outboard mic preamps and then feed that signal thru the proper cables and plug adaptors into the external mic inputs if the camera has them - in essance controlling the levels from outside the camera.You still might have to contend with a limiter circuit in the camera that you can't turn off but at least you won't be hitting its threshold quite so hard. -MJ-