Camera Audio Levels.

Staven

Staven

Well-known member
What level do you guys recommend keeping the camera audio Channel 1 and 2 levels at for recording(situated below the lcd). I'm recording sound through mixer into camera. The last show my mixer put them at 1/4, but when I got into post it seemed so quiet, I had to raise the levels significantly. What do you guys set them at?
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

If you have a 1k tone generator (most mixers have it built in), set your mixer to 0db and then set you camera to 0db also or just peaking into the red. You will not touch the camera inputs again, but use the mixer as your master control. Gaffer tape over the cameras audio knobs will make sure nothing gets bumped. This setup is pretty standard in the industry.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

On the DVX, the red starts at -12db, not 0. Most mixers send tone at -20db, so you'd want to calibrate your DVX to it by setting the pots so that the meters are showing 4 dots down from the red.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

Most mixers are still analog and you should have your audio peaking at 0db. Most automatically send out a 1k tone at 0db. Digital levels are traditional set to -20db. I am not sure what the dashed lines on the DVX correspond to in terms of db. Usually when you hit red your are at -20db. But the mixer should be set to 0db (analog) and the camera set to -20db (digital). My mistake earlier. Check out this link for some info. Talamas is a leading audio rental house in Boston.

http://www.talamas.com/welcome1.html

Click on the Analog vs Digital Audio Levels link for some useful info on levels and meters.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

Yes, analog mixers at 0 db are frequently calibrated to digital recorders at -20. The way the DVX works, each of the little dots in the audio meters represents 2db. Maximum peak is at 0db. So every dot to the left of max indicates -2db down. The transition from white to red happens at -12db. To calibrate to -20, you have to be at 4 dots below the transition point. The minimum level that it shows is -34db.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

I shot a concert last summer using the onboard camera mic. No mixer was used. I noticed that the Audio levels were way into the red so I adjusted the levels to bring them out of the red zone. However when I got home and played back the tape. The concert sounded really good in the original setting with it peaking in the red. It was not distorted or nothing. However when I got to the part in the tape when I made the adjustment, it made a big difference in audio. It seemed really low. Why is that? Should I shoot in the RED all the time then and adjust the levels in post?
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

Doesn't hurt to peak into the red. It's just a warning that you're approaching 0db - the point of clipping. Believe me, when you clip digital audio you'll know it. I've changed my inputs on the DVX to -60 (hotter than -50), pushed well into the red, and not had any clipping yet.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

Red doesn't necessarily mean RED, on the DVX.

Analog audio meters peak out at about 0, and you can go into the red and it'll still be okay.  With digital, you CANNOT go to zero, or you'll encounter hard clipping and distorted sound.

However, on the DVX, the red level is nowhere near the point of clipping.  There's still plenty of headroom.  It would have been better, perhaps, had Pansonic included a stage of yellow, so we would have white from -34 to -20, yellow from -20 to -4, and red from -4 to 0.  But they didn't.  Oh well.

The point is, red doesn't mean clipping.  Red is fine.  If you have dialogue, you want to set your meters so that you're getting a good strong signal, filling up all the white, and going a few dots into the red.  If you're peaking in the red (meaning all the red is showing, all the way up to the little vertical line on the right) then you're in trouble.

Some red is okay. All red is not. Your loud audio peaks should show at least a few red dots. Your loudest peaks could show as many as five red dots and you'd still be okay -- it's that sixth dot that's the killer.

So yes, you adjusted your audio levels way down, probably further down than you needed to.  You can bring it back up in post, you didn't really hurt anything, you just didn't use all the available dynamic range.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

I have found if you set your levels to one in the red you get the best input -10db.
 
Re: Camera Audio Levels.

I agree with Jarred. Most sound techs I work with set tone on the camera to -20, but ride the levels to -12 and -10 with no distortion.
 
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