I may be needing to calibrate the volume indicators on my AF100 to a mixer. Reading the instructions for a MixPre-D, I'm supposed to feed the test tone to the camcorders line input, and adjust the camcorders volume controls to get a -20dB reading. The AF100 doesn't have numeric readouts, but there is a tiny white tick mark at about where I think -20dB might be. Is this correct?
Calibrating the AF100 to an audio mixer?
- Thread starter Ken Hull
- Start date
freezeframereality
Active member
Tye
Active member
Hi Ken...
I have done a lot audio recording through mixers from various sources and source material and I'm not why you'd
need to do that? Not certain exactly what you'd be calibrating to...on the mixer side. Maybe some kind of specialty mixer?
But you got me interested in what you might be doing when you say 'you might need to calibrate the voulume
indicaters to the mixer' .
Cheers,
Tye
I have done a lot audio recording through mixers from various sources and source material and I'm not why you'd
need to do that? Not certain exactly what you'd be calibrating to...on the mixer side. Maybe some kind of specialty mixer?
But you got me interested in what you might be doing when you say 'you might need to calibrate the voulume
indicaters to the mixer' .
Cheers,
Tye
Tye,
The name of the game is Keep The S/N Ratio As High As Possible, Without Causing Clipping. If the boom op has a mixer, he can adjust the volume there, monitoring the mixer's VU meters, and send a line-level output to the camcorder. The camcorder's volume controls still affect the signal, even if it's a line level; so the camcorder's volume controls need to be set so that a proper level at the mixer will be a proper level recorded in the camcorder.
The name of the game is Keep The S/N Ratio As High As Possible, Without Causing Clipping. If the boom op has a mixer, he can adjust the volume there, monitoring the mixer's VU meters, and send a line-level output to the camcorder. The camcorder's volume controls still affect the signal, even if it's a line level; so the camcorder's volume controls need to be set so that a proper level at the mixer will be a proper level recorded in the camcorder.
Ed Jeffersen
Active member
Don't be afraid to use the ALC. It does a great job of taming the occasional clip. This is good insurance when going for high s/n ratio. Also remember - get those mics in close. Number one s/n improvement.