what is the best mic to record loud music?

Q. hello friends; i have a sony hdr-sr11 i am thinking in buying external mic to record loud live music but i am not sure what mic to buy i have been looking for RODE VideoMic DVC; SONY ECM-MSD1; SONY ECM-HST1; which would you recommend? thanks for your answers.

A. Any of the mics will work OK for normal audio levels. I am not familiar with that camera enough to know if you can adjust audio input levels (probably not). If so, you are all set. If not, you will be disappointed because the camera will try to adjust levels automatically and it is NOT designed for loud music. You will get badly distorted sound.

Video pros always have a way to adjust the audio levels - pro cameras have that feature built in. Consumer cameras do not.

It will be a bit of a pain, but the best way to do this is to connect the microphone to a camcorder "XLR audio interface". This device allows you to adjust the mic level down so that it does not distort the camera input. You will need to buy a mic that has an XLR output. The mics you are looking at I think connect directly to the camera - you don't want that. Here is one reasonably priced audio interface that is designed for what you want to do:

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=DXA%2D6A&off=2&sort=prod&skuonly=0&search=DXA%2D6&pagesize=20

You can then connect any good pro XLR microphone to you camera.

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What is a good camcorder for recording live music.?

Q. Christian Contemporary. I 'm on a budget but I need a camcorder with clear audio.

A. check out the Alesis Video Track. It has some good mics on it and takes pretty decent video. Not a bad price either

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What is the best Camcorder for recording live music?

Q. It is very loud music and almost always in clubs so it is very dark, ive tried to look online but everything is from 2007 and older. any help would be great, thannks.

A. Anything with manual audio control. I think the Canon HF M series is the least expensive - your other option is to get whatever camcorder you want along with a digital audio recorder. The Zoom H2 or H4 are good examples - Tascam, Roland, Marantz, and many other company make similar "field recorders". When you import the video to a computer for editing, import the audio from the field recorder. Synch the audio with the video and mute the audio that was recorded by the camcorder.

As for the low light behavior of the camcorder... you need large lenses and large imaging chips if the stage lighting is that poor. The Canon HF M and HF R series have 58mm lens filer diameter but a single CMOS imaging chip. Compare these with the likes of a Canon XHA1 or Sony HDR-FX1000. They will get great low-light video... but their lenses and imaging chips are very large...

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What is the best consumer line camcorder for recording live music?

Q. I would like to record musicians / bands and create videos but do not have a large budget to draw from. Is there a consumer line camcorder that provides better quality and features for downloading video to a computer for editing without breaking the bank? Thanks for your help.

A. Get a cheap miniDV cam with a mic port and get a shotgun mic such as the rode videomic that uses 1/8" minplugs instead of XLR. Hope this helps!

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What kinda of video camera should I buy?

Q. I am somewhat on a budget, but I will pay for quality. I am mainly wanting it to record live music in bars, so I want something that can handle that much noise clearly.

This part is not necessary but I'm going on a canoe trip soon, so if there is one I can take down the river too, that would be awesome. But I don't want to sacrifice video/sound quality just for that.

A. Live music = loud = camera or camcorder needs some sort of audio gain control. I would also expect that these would be night scenes - or poor indoor lighting. Hopefully, there is stage lighting for the performers.

Canoe trip = waterproof. Generally, there are housings available for waterproofing, so I think the long-pole is the audio control.

Step 1: Set a budget.

At the low end, there's the GoPro Hero or something from the Canon HF R line. With the GoPro's using an external digital audio recorder like a Zoom H1 and synching audio when editing the video. With the proper camcorder like the Canon HF R series, then use the "attenuator" mic setting for loud audio and a waterproof "bag". The camera is not expected to deep in the water, so an expensive deep-water housing is not needed. I think the Ewa Marine VLA would fit most of the Canon HF series camcorders. Sony has its line of underwater housings for Sony camcorders so any of the HDR-series cams can work for both your needs... Another angle is the Zoom Q3HD and not use it while canoeing (but after landing).

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Can someone help me find a camcorder that allows for good sound quality?

Q. Hi!

I'm looking for a camcorder cheaper than £350 that has good sound quality, as I want to record live classical music. I know this means I need an external mic, so if someone knows of a camcorder which is good and allows for external mic, plus a mic worth spending money on, please let me know :)

thanks!

A. What is needed is manual audio gain control and good location of the mic(s).

It also depends on what sort of classical music. Solo, duet, trio, quartet, chamber music, etc. will have requirements different than a full orchestra.

There are a few entry level Canon camcorders (FS series, maybe one in the MV series) that have a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo mic jack. But they do not have manual audio gain control.

The reason you need manual audio gain control is that even acoustic - classical - music can get loud enough to overdrive the automatic audio gain circuit - the result will be muddy audio and "static" (audio peaking at the loud passages).

Just because a camcorder has a mic jack, that does not mean it also has manual audio control.

It is possible to use the camcorder's internal built-in mics successfully - but the location of the camcorder (hence the location of the mics) is important because of the stereo separation and balance. With external mics, they can be located away from the camcorder... But even built-in mics need manual audio control. I guess the point I am trying to make is external mics are not a "hard and fast rule".

There are some Sony camcorders in your budget range that have a very rudimentary "MicRefLevel" menu toggle for "Normal" or "Low" gain. I am not aware of any SOny camcorders in your budget range that have an audio-in jack. There are some Canon camcorders in your price range that have a similar "Mic Attenuation" toggle.

The least expensive camcorder - of which I am am aware - with a mic jack and more granular manual audio control is the Canon HV40.

Another option is to use whatever camcorder you want - but record the audio with an external audio "field recorder" like those from Zoom, Edirol, Tascam, M-Audio and many others. These generally have built-in mics - and can connect external mics if required. All have manual audio control. When you import the video for editing, import the audio from the field recorder, sync the audio, then mute the audio that came in with the video...

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Is there a way to make my music sound similar to live music that was recorded through a camcorder?

Q. I'd like to find an effect to make it seem similar if you recorded live music through a low quality camera.

Is there a way to do this?

A. You can use VirtualDJ to mix two audio.

So you'll need some audience voice and VirtualDJ.

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What is a good digital camcorder to purchase for low light situations?

Q. I'm looking for a moderately priced digital camcorder that will record high quality footage in low level light situations, but also have really good sound quality. Mostly for recording live music in small club type settings. Geek speak is Greek to me. I get really confused when people talk about bites and pixels and whatnot. I just want something that can see in the (not completely) dark without being green. If someone can recommend a brand/ product name that would be great.

A. "Moderate" means different things to different people.

Good low light generally means either big imaging chips and big lenses to allow as much light in to hit those big imaging chips. The imaging chips are like the retina in you eye. They need light to work well - big lenses allow more light in. The good news is (I think) is *most* clubs have some sort of lighting and the talent is under those lights. That means the talent is not necessarily under "low light" though you might be at the back of the room and the camera will be surrounded by low light, it will be pointed at the talent - that is lit.

My opinion: There is no camcorder with good built-in mics. Whatever camcorder you get should have a mic-in jack so when you discover that the built-ins are not good enough, you have a recovery path.

DO NOT GET A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Since miniDV tape provides the best available video quality, that is where I will stay...

Low end:
Canon ZR800, ZR900, ZR930
While these camcorders do have mic in jacks, they do not have manual audio control. If the audio you record is loud, the camcorder's auto-mic gain circuit will not be able to handle it. There will be lots of clipping and the audio will sound very muddy. The best mic in the world cannot fix this and the bad audio cannot be fixed in editing. You can replace the audio with properly recorded audio from a field recorder (like those from Marantz, M-Audio or Zoom).

Mid range - some might consider this "moderate":
Canon HV20, HV30
Sony HDR-HC7, HC9
They are around or over $700.

All four cams have a mic-in jack and full manual audio control. These are the least expensive camcorders with both. They all shoot in standard definition (DV) and high definition (HDV), so you have a choice as to which format you want on the miniDV tape.

As miniDV tape camcorders, you will transfer the video from the camcorder to your computer using firewire (IEEE1394a, .Link - all the same thing). USB will not work to tansfer the video from the miniDV tape. You will need to add a firewire 400 port to your computer if you don't already have one. Macs have had them for years.

Since we have gotten this far, I will list the high-end recommended cams, too - Just so you understand where I came up with "moderate":
Canon XHA1
Sony HVR-V1U
Panasonic HDX200
These are all around or over $3,000.

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What's a good digital camcorder to purchase for low light situations?

Q. I'm looking for a moderately priced digital camcorder that will record high quality footage in low level light situations, but also have really good sound quality. Mostly for recording live music in small club type settings. Geek speak is Greek to me. I get really confused when people talk about bites and pixels and whatnot. I just want something that can see in the (not completly) dark without being green.

A. Sony has 0 lux capable camcorders. For more info try sonystyle.com

Original Question

What is the best Camcorder for recording live music?

Q. It is very loud music and almost always in clubs so it is very dark, ive tried to look online but everything is from 2007 and older. any help would be great, thannks.

A. Anything with manual audio control. I think the Canon HF M series is the least expensive - your other option is to get whatever camcorder you want along with a digital audio recorder. The Zoom H2 or H4 are good examples - Tascam, Roland, Marantz, and many other company make similar "field recorders". When you import the video to a computer for editing, import the audio from the field recorder. Synch the audio with the video and mute the audio that was recorded by the camcorder.

As for the low light behavior of the camcorder... you need large lenses and large imaging chips if the stage lighting is that poor. The Canon HF M and HF R series have 58mm lens filer diameter but a single CMOS imaging chip. Compare these with the likes of a Canon XHA1 or Sony HDR-FX1000. They will get great low-light video... but their lenses and imaging chips are very large...

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