Splitting audio for dual record internal/external

[FrameFarmMedia]

I did a quick search and didn't come up with an answer so I hope I can get an answer.

I am looking for feedback on dual audio recording. Placing a splitter between the XLR box (Juicelink, Beachtek etc) and running audio into both the camera for internal recording and to an external recorder (Tascam, Zoom etc).

I'm looking to find out if there are some pitfalls to worry about before going down this route The reasoning is that in many situations I have tight turnarounds and having good audio on the internal record would save time synching but as has happened in the past the audio going internal gets messed up I assume by the crappy way the 5D preamps work. Having a nice quality external record is a god send as many things I shoot can't be re-shot if something messes up audio wise.

I'm looking for any feedback or suggestions if there are better ways to handle audio. I'm fairly new to DSLR shooting (sorry if my terms aren't right) but have been in TV production for well over 10 years and we are trying out different camera work flows to get certain looks our clients are after.

thanks for your help.

 

[Ted Ramasola]

You can just mount your ZOOM on or near your cam and have the out of beachtek into zoom and the out of zoom into dslr. that way you dont use a splitter. Or if you use only one mic just ditch the beachteck and plug your mic into the zoom.

 

[FrameFarmMedia]

You can just mount your ZOOM on or near your cam and have the out of beachtek into zoom and the out of zoom into dslr. that way you dont use a splitter. Or if you use only one mic just ditch the beachteck and plug your mic into the zoom.

thanks for the quick response. I never thought of rigging it like that but your right it does make more sense. Often it is a single stick mic in a interview setting but sometimes we do run 2 lavs or lav/stick combo (if the hosts mic technique sucks).

thanks again

 

[Ted Ramasola]

One reason the beachtek was used was due to the fact that when the 5D mk2 came out its audio had no manual controls, so beachtek and juicelink came up with ways to defeat the AGC. Now, current firmware or magic lantern now allow the 5D manual audio controls, (magic lantern even allows headphone monitoring) so the beachtek and juicelink became redundant for some shooters. The Zoom can accept 2 XLR inputs that can now be individually controlled, and using a special cable it can even accept 4 inputs.

 

[FrameFarmMedia]

One reason the beachtek was used was due to the fact that when the 5D mk2 came out its audio had no manual controls, so beachtek and juicelink came up with ways to defeat the AGC. Now, current firmware or magic lantern now allow the 5D manual audio controls, (magic lantern even allows headphone monitoring) so the beachtek and juicelink became redundant for some shooters. The Zoom can accept 2 XLR inputs that can now be individually controlled, and using a special cable it can even accept 4 inputs.

Thanks for the backstory on the gear. It makes sense now. Time to do some research on which external recorders but that is for another thread.

The only reason why I had originally thought about splitting the signal out of a beachteck was to add a level of redundancy in case the external recorder or the internal audio got messed up during recording. I guess that is a bit paranoid and would add more problems than direct in out of the external audio recorder.

cheers

 

[Ted Ramasola]

your welcome. and also try considering the tascam, I have a zoom and its a battery power hog.

Also, speaking of redundancy, if you use magic lantern on the 5D, you can further split the tracks so one channel records the line input from your external recorder/mic and the other channel records from the internal/built in mic of the 5d.

 

[FrameFarmMedia]

your welcome. and also try considering the tascam, I have a zoom and its a battery power hog.

Also, speaking of redundancy, if you use magic lantern on the 5D, you can further split the tracks so one channel records the line input from your external recorder/mic and the other channel records from the internal/built in mic of the 5d.

I've been trying to convince my company to try the magic lantern hacks but being a very large and corporate parent company they won't even entertain anything that sounds like a hack. It would solve many of the issues of getting some of our shooters to move beyond traditional small chip broadcast gear. The DSLR world strips all of the comforts of traditional shooting (zebras, audio monitoring etc) and it does leave traditionalists very uneasy.

 

[Ted Ramasola]

I've been trying to convince my company to try the magic lantern hacks but being a very large and corporate parent company they won't even entertain anything that sounds like a hack. It would solve many of the issues of getting some of our shooters to move beyond traditional small chip broadcast gear. The DSLR world strips all of the comforts of traditional shooting (zebras, audio monitoring etc) and it does leave traditionalists very uneasy.

I myself was very guarded in using a hack and didnt install it until the "Christmas Release" or the Unified ML version was released last Dec. The Unified ML changed the GUI into something very professional looking as compared to the early versions of ML, and now it is very stable. The 5D is simple turbo charged transforming it into a different camera. I use ML together with the Mosaic filter and now its pretty capable, without the typical DSLR issues of moire/ aliasing.

 

[FrameFarmMedia]

I myself was very guarded in using a hack and didnt install it until the "Christmas Release" or the Unified ML version was released last Dec. The Unified ML changed the GUI into something very professional looking as compared to the early versions of ML, and now it is very stable. The 5D is simple turbo charged transforming it into a different camera. I use ML together with the Mosaic filter and now its pretty capable, without the typical DSLR issues of moire/ aliasing.

thanks for the knowledge