Built-in mic level very low

B

Burton

Member
Hi all,
I have used the search and went through the forum, but can't find the answer to my problem. Used my new DVX today for the second time, but found that the audio level, using the built-in mic, was very low. Tried adjusting using the audio dials, but got lots of noise. The other evening, it worked fine, recording a person teaching from across a large room. But tonight, I can't seem to pick up much. Do I need to go through the "set camera baseline, selcet scene file setting, etc." each time I start up? I will be purchasing a microphone before doing actual projects, but I'd like to figure this one out first. Thanks everybody, Burton
 
Burton said:
Hi all,
I have used the search and went through the forum, but can't find the answer to my problem. Used my new DVX today for the second time, but found that the audio level, using the built-in mic, was very low. Tried adjusting using the audio dials, but got lots of noise. The other evening, it worked fine, recording a person teaching from across a large room. But tonight, I can't seem to pick up much. Do I need to go through the "set camera baseline, selcet scene file setting, etc." each time I start up? I will be purchasing a microphone before doing actual projects, but I'd like to figure this one out first. Thanks everybody, Burton
Click to expand...


get a professional mic.
shotgun or lapel.
 
Check all the switches, including the channel switches on the front near the lens, the phantom power, and the channel assignment under the LCD.

I had something similar happen and it turned out to be the audio volume control which is called "AUDIO MON/VAR" in the manual and is described in the section on "playback".

What happened was that I turned the playback volume down on the camera when I was capturing and reviewing footage, because I could already hear it through the computer. I didn't turn the volume back up. And I didn't realize that the same volume controls not only the camera speaker, but also the headphone volume. When I went to shoot next time, I couldn't hear anything through the headphones. And I kept adjusting the record volume instead of the speaker/headphone volume. I thought the headphone jack was fried. When I turned the volume up on the headphones everything was okay.

Hope its that simple for you.
 
Thanks Andy,
I am just back home after trying with a good shotgun mic, and same problem. I have to speak directly into the shotgun mic to pick up any audio. I will check into the playback volume to see if that is it, and if not, I'll go to the phantom and other switches. (Not that I understand at all what the phantom switch does yet!:)
Thanks again for the help. Aloha.
 
The switches on the front control the level of input (mic/line) which should normally be on 'mic' when an external microphone is connected. The Phantom Power switches provide 48v to the XLR connectors. Some microphones require phantom power, some microphones use batteries or can be switched between battery and phantom power, and some don't require it.

Also, when you have the camera on look at the audio indicator bars on the LCD. If they are responding to sound then its an indicator that the sound is getting in from the mic but not back out to the headphones.
 
Andy, Andy, Andy. You are a genius. After many hours of flipping those flipping switches, I read your post, went back to set everything up again, and guess what? Bars on the LCD were jumping. Changed headphones and voila! Sound. Of all the idodic things I could have missed! Thanks very much for the time spent responding. I am now on the road to greater creativity. Aloha!
 
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