Beaten by a phone again. Recording loud music.

M

morgan_moore

Major Contributor
So Ive covered a pop gig recently and had mics going on my cameras.

Mainly to catch 'scratch' audio (for synch) or crowd cheers between tracks.. posibly to dirty up a studio version of the song. My intention was never to get 'nice' sound

On stage with the canon R6 and rode 'go' (?) the gain was dialled one click from off. All I recorded was a wall of distortion.

My C200 was 3m back from the stage front with the sony 'ecm' mic.. very low input.. again a 'wall of distortion'

I wonder if the elements in the mics are being overdriven or if I could get a device to lower the electrical signal delivered to the camera.

Is this called a 'PAD'?

One thing i did see was someone was recording on thier phone and the sound was 'usable' unlike my overdirven mush.

(you will see the iphone operator on stage - and even a glimpse of me)

Actually reatching the video I see it is cut from two phones and maybe someone was recording on a zoom or suchlike and synch was made in post.

the phone crew.....
 
Maybe was also the mic's SPL - sound pressure level.

Some of those Rodes have a maximum 110 dB or 120 dB, which is not that good (VideoMic GO II-H is 110 dB which could be pretty bad for that environment).

[For reference, the same company's old NTG2 is 131 dB.]

Maybe a -10 dB or -20 dB pad could have helped but SPL is SPL (the VideoMic NTG has pad built-in but its SPL is 120 dB).
 
Maybe try an in-line attenuator. A phone app loudness meter will give you an accurate enough reading to tell if you're close to exceeding the mic's SPL. I usually have the opposite problem, where I use an in-line preamp.

I think some cameras might have a built-in pad option that can be enabled in the menu, as well as a trim setting that's different than the gain.
 
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Imamacuser said:
Did the audio meter indicate clipping?
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On the R6 yes.

As I played with the gain the steps seem to be.. (playing with the gain is on touch screen so is like stabbing a jelly)
step 1) no sound
step 2) clipped

---

For the C200 I'll have to go into the menu and see if there is onboad padding as doug suggests there is in the sony cameras.

Then I can find the max SPLs of my mics and try an SPL app.

Thanks all. More to learn!
 
On Sony cameras, the menu is called INPUT MIC REFERENCE. If your Canons have that feature it is probably called something similar.
 
Under such extreme situations quality recorders have better pre amps limiters etc. do better. I usually mix the board feed with a recorder that’s farther back that give the sound of the space and audience’s reaction. The only mic that distortion proof are dynamic mics that can be near speakers. Beyond all that some times these rock concerts have bad acoustics and distortion but our minds filter out it. Later hearing it back you’ll notice all the imperfections.

I personally use a Zoom H5 with the internal stereo pair mounted on mic stand with boom arm. The H5 has a higher tolerance to loud music.
 
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I have my own thoughts (hire a soundie) for getting great sound from these events. I was a little peeved that my sound was trash and the iphone wasnt (well it was 'publishabel). Reading thier insta caption I think they might have done a little thinking.

All tips will be checked :)
 
In general, half of the time phone footage ends up being better and used more than "professional cameraman" footage, lol.
 
When I was younger, like 2 decades ago, I saw a lot of old-timer footage from "pro" guys and I was just so disgusted.

That feeling for "pros" never left me which put a big chip on my shoulder for the next 20 years.

Dudes charged (or tried to) a thousand or two for the day to be providing slightly hot footage with the background in focus but the subject out-of-focus, shaking the camera on a tripod while their fingers were changing settings, questionable framing with too much head room, just abysmal stuff.

Of course not everyone; some people I met were perfect, born to do it.

But some guys just never got it.

The operation part was never a skill they learned; it was just a job because they didn't have too many other choices.

[And not to say we don't make mistakes, we do. But there's a difference between mistakes and sloppy, unaware, ungentle.]
 
NorBro said:
The operation part was never a skill they learned; it was just a job because they didn't have too many other choices.
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Local news photographers. In general, most of them are just awful with not much desire to up their game or make any improvements whatsoever. What few skills they have were learned from watching co-workers who also have terrible skills and don't know what they are doing either. The blind leading the blind. Most of them might as well be mopping floors in a hospital.

When I'm teaching workshops, I can always pick out anyone who cut their teeth in local news, even if they have since moved on to other things. It leaves a stink that is hard to shake.
 
I consider my 35mm Ricoh XR-1 SLR to be my first real camera because I was making money with it in high school and college. I still own it. It was a great camera to learn with because it was 100% manual. It had a built-in light meter but you still had to set the exposure manually.

My first video camera was a 2/3" Sony DXC-M3A camera with a Sony U-matic VO-4800 deck connected by umbilical. Got that in late 1984 and was on the road for the next six months (KSC, NYC, DC, Utah, Alabama, etc.) shooting a Space Shuttle doc for PBS that utlimately paid for everything I bought to go into business for myself.

If you can believe it, I travelled with a full-size VHS deck on that project so the producer could review window-dubs in the hotel room of the raw footage I made before we left home for each leg of the project. Those were the days! We always rented Lincoln Town Cars because the trunk could hold as much as a truck.

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NorBro said:
I see where the Sony soft spot comes from 💘
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Ah, but when I went to Betacam I switched to Hitachi for a few years and then Ikegami for the rest. I didn't own anything with a Sony name on it from 1995 to 2006 when HD came around. If Ikegami had come out with an HD 2/3" camcorder I might never have gone back to Sony.
 
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