hvx audio

B

brianluce

Carbonite Member
Here's a quote about the hvx audio, i've not heard of this before. anyone want to elaborate?

"They (hvx) isn't any manuel (sic) audio setting (or at least not one that I have found) so you have to ride the audio the entire time."
 
There's nothing BUT manual audio setting. What they probably meant to say is that there's no automatic level control, and that's true -- there wasn't auto level control in the DVX, and there isn't auto level control in the HVX either.
 
Actually, the HVX DOES have ALC. See page 106 in the manual. For proper film making dynamics it should be turned off and levels set accordingly.


Ah, the old adage strikes again!! When all else fails - read the manual.
 
ALC is a limiter, not a gain control (AGC). So it's still manual - banging the limiter is not pretty, and it does nothing to raise levels that are too low.
 
Correct. There is no automatic level control of any type in the HVX. The ALC is, as Ullanta points out, an automatic limiter control.
 
Neither ALC or AGC should be used for professional sound. If sound level is too low and the volume controls are set midway then most likely the sound source is not mic'd correctly. The HVX200 and P2 technology were primarily designed for ENG application and secondly for digital film making. In both of these applications professional sound techniques are highly recommended.
 
Whatever you do, DON'T use the HVX's ALC function. I left it on accidentally on a few interviews and it has nasty pumping artifacts and gave us some horrendous booming bass from the HVAC system.

ALC should be permanently off.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Whatever you do, DON'T use the HVX's ALC function. I left it on accidentally on a few interviews and it has nasty pumping artifacts and gave us some horrendous booming bass from the HVAC system.

ALC should be permanently off.

Dan
Click to expand...

The problem there is that the levels were too high, not the ALC! It would have sounded bad without ALC, too!

ALC is not a problem if your levels are set correctly; and it can help prevent occasiol peaks on unexpected sound bursts. But you shouldn't set your levels so hot that the limiter is engaged during the "normal" range of sounds you're recording.

SoundMaster - I'm assuming that YOU'RE assuming normal boomed dialog? In various other situations it's perfectly normal to use different parts of the camera's gain range than "midway".
 
ullanta said:
SoundMaster - I'm assuming that YOU'RE assuming normal boomed dialog? In various other situations it's perfectly normal to use different parts of the camera's gain range than "midway".
Click to expand...

Actually, no. The camera's electronic circuitry is designed to perform best when the volume controls are placed midway. The volume control on the camera is NOT an ATTENUATOR. Therefore, it changes impedance match at different settings unlike the attenuators typically found on a digital mixer. Also, setting the camera volumes too high with a low input signal raises noise levels. Setting the camera volumes too low with high input levels tends to shift the signal dynamics and freq response.
 
funny arguing with someone named SoundMaster.. but hes got it pretty right.

The best way to get the best sound into the HVX is to have the knobs at midway and use an external mixer to adjust the output level to the camera.
 
Blah! Sure, now you bring up the external mixer! But I don't think the question specified that. With mic level inputs, you gotta set the camera gain where the gain works. And especially if you're not recording dialog, there's a lot of variation on what works.

Really, dudes, you're gonna tell me that slight shifts in frequency response are preferable to clipping? C'mon! Sure - I never use the camera preamps except in direst circumstances, and would recommend the same as you do. But don't mislead poor folks using mics directly into the camera into thinking they have fixed gain.

Most of the gain range of the camera is indeed useful, with the same caveats as any fairly cheap mic preamps.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top