D7000 audio solution

FiddlerMD

FiddlerMD

Well-known member
Hi everyone, I bought a D7000 this morning and am trying to figure out a good audio solution. Options are to run a mic (a lav) directly into the camera, get an external recorder or combine the 2 and run the external recorder into the camera.

Obviously option 1 is easiest but I'd like to know from those that have tried it whether it's worthwhile - meaning, is the quality of the recording sufficient or is it too noisy/bad otherwise for this to not even be a consideration?

as far as recorders go, I could go with something like a Zoom H1 but then I cant easily use my existing xlr mic (oktava) if I want to. Then there's the tascam DR40 which seems like a great recorder with xlr but it does not have a line out.

can someone explain to me why you'd run an external recorder and then also run it into the line in on the D7000? is it strictly for sync or do you have a better reason for this?

Any comments on the best solution for D7000 audio will be much appreciated - thanks!
 
If you are after the "best" audio solution, then you should consider a high-quality field mixer like the Sound Devices MixPre-D ( about $750 ) which has professional quality mic pre-amps and a very loud high quality head-phone amp ( you immediately hear any problems ), and then add an external recorder that has LINE IN, and you can also send the signal directly to your D7000 camera too. This way you get first-class mic pre-amps, are able to properly monitor the audio, can record very high quality audiio ( via the external recorder ), and can feed a high quality audio signal to your camera. Yes, it's not cheap, but like everything, you get what you pay for.
 
i'm not looking for 'the best' - i'm looking for decent. specifically on the question of feeding a clean signal into the camera - doesn't the camera kinda suck on the pre-amp stage and thus will still be noisy? this is why i dont understand the point of recording on something like a zoom h* or whatever and feeding line out into the camera
 
I've found the sound on the D7000 to actually be pretty clean. But it has a couple of disadvantages. You can't adjust the levels dynamically and I'm not sure how one can deal with wind noise.
So I use the D7000 sound as a sync reference and record good sound with my Sony pcm-d50.
 
FiddlerMD said:
specifically on the question of feeding a clean signal into the camera - doesn't the camera kinda suck on the pre-amp stage and thus will still be noisy?
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To get good sound you need to use the best pre-amps you can, which means either an external field mixer with professional pre-amps ( i.e. SD MixPre-D ) or a digital recorder with good pre-amps. ( good pre-amps are tough to find on a low budget, but I am very interested in testing the Olympus LS-100 which is supposed to be out this month )

As far as recording with your camera, the idea is to set your camera's pre-amps to their lowest level ( essentially taking the camera's pre-amps out of the equation ) and then feed the camera a clean strong signal. Getting this clean strong signal to your camera is the problem, which is why the pre-amps of the field mixer or digital recorder have to be as good as possible. ( other than the Olympus LS-100, I would look at the Tascam DR-100 MKII as a potential recorder )
 
If you don't want "the best" audio but want something that's 99% there... use some sort of external recorder with XLR ins and phantom power, and capture synch sound on the D7000. (You can get a battery powered phantom box for about $30 from a music store or site, too). You don't necessarily need to run a line to the 7000 from the recorder - if the Nikon can pickup the audio at a decent level, you're fine for synching. Wouldn't want to do a feature that way, but for shorter projects, it's pretty easy to manually synch by bumping footage around a frame at a time until it locks.

If you own a video camera with XLRs that has manual audio (say an old DVX), that can be a very useable field recorder. The DVX in particular has very nice sounding preamps; I've used it as an audio recorder when I needed more tracks to record live music. Very good, warm sounding pres in that thing.
 
yeah i have a dvx but using it strictly for sound seems crazy - especially the whole tape thing.. i'm so done with tapes :)
 
In my experience I've found that the d7000 external mic jack is very inconsistent, and the trim controls are mostly useless. I've seen some very reasonable hand held recorders that get much better audio for anywhere from $100 to $300. Ultimately you would want something with XLR inputs and phantom power, but that gets close to the cost of the camera itself. The main thing that I would look at with a handheld device is the maximum mic input tolerance (at least 120db). Most of these devices have a mic in and most quality shotgun mics have battery operation when phantom isn't available, so it is possible to get very high quality audio with a little ingenuity and a few trips to radio shack for adapters.

Good luck!
 
Well, considering you where thinking of something in the range of a H1. THen id spring and go for a H4 or maybe even the H2 since you have better inputs for mics and sound boards over the H1.
They are relatively cheap semi pro quality. Anything higher, your going to have do a bit of research and have some deep pockets.
Best is duel audio recorder. Use an external recorder and sync video with the camera in audio = good audio on the cheap.
 
right now i'm leaning towards something like a tascam dr-07 mkii or the dr-40 (if i can find it cheap). I am also considering a sony m10. I keep on going back and forth on the need for xlr. I understand the benefits, but on the other hand, the batteries die pretty quickly. I am also most likely ordering an OST 802 for lav work and will likely get something to be able to run my oktava 012 into whatever recorder I end up using.
 
FiddlerMD said:
I am also considering a sony m10.
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Great little recorder with one of the lowest noise floors for consumer recorders.

FiddlerMD said:
I keep on going back and forth on the need for xlr.
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XLR inputs are essential for pro audio, but only when the pre-amps are also pro quality. With my GH-2 I use a passive BeachTek adapter ( no pre-amps, no batteries, great sound ) to take LINE level audio from my Sound Devices MixPre, which provides fantastic sound and will power two condensor mics and a pair of headphones for almost a full day on just 2 AA rechargeable batteries. The link below shows how I've adapted the BeachTek to "snap in" below my GH-2 when I want to shoot with XLR audio sources. It's modular and works really well, but depends on a strong / clean audio signal.

One of My GH-2 Shooting Rigs
 
so torn between the M10 and DR-40 - they run about the same price. DR40 has xlr. sony has a lower noise floor (apparently) and is really portable. Tascam has various pickup patterns... thoughts???
 
FiddlerMD said:
so torn between the M10 and DR-40 - they run about the same price. DR40 has xlr. sony has a lower noise floor (apparently) and is really portable. Tascam has various pickup patterns... thoughts???
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The M10's mics are omini-directional and on the so-so side. I haven't tested the DR40 so I don't know if it's mics or pre-amps are any good. For me it would all come down to how good are the DR40 pre-amps, because if they aren't worth using, then there's little advantage over the M10. ( M10 also has extremely long battery life, 20+ hours )
 
Fascinating thread! Just wondering if the audio quality using something like: Omni Mic > MixPre-D > camera mic jack, would produce sound quality similar to Omni Mic > MixPre-D > DR40 (or similar recorder). I have used a Rode NTG-3 > Tascam HD-P2 over the last year or so and, other than extremely quiet situations, I've found it to be great (too bulky for run and gun unless you have a sound guy!)

Also, the Beachtek DXA-SLR looks like a pretty cheap and decent option.
 
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So I ended up getting the M10 - fantastic audio quality. Just make sure you get dualeyes or pluraleyes or something to sync in post.
I also ran it with an OST802 - pretty decent, just sucks that the M10 doesnt have a mono record option
 
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