Whats the best way to record professional audio with the GH1?

Like I said before, in certain situations (like shooting hours of footage outdoors with little or no desire to sync that much footage) and in certain conditions (as here, where there is background sound to "defeat" the AGC as it were), I think the GH1 and 7D can deliver adequate audio.

In ANY controlled situation, whether it be an interview, narrative work, or "mission-critical" location sound, I'd go for an external recorder if at all possible.
 
stephenmick said:
Nobody asked nicely, but I figured I'd post something anyway. :D

This is a quick clip with an interview snippet and some on-water action footage. In the first "action" clips, I'm shooting from another boat, about 20 feet away. In the last clip, I'm on the same boat as the main "subject." And it's raining.

Nothing has been done to the audio. Period. No level adjustments in FCP. No filtering at all. Nothing has been done to the video, either. I figured this was an audio test, so why bother.

[...]

I will leave this up for the next couple of days, then take it down. It's raw client footage, and I'm hesitant to have it up any longer than it has to be.

--SM
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Sounds about right, quite similar to my results. The BIGGEST thing that annoys me is the high pitched background tone. It's there all the time unfortunately fsr, and taking it out in post is only an OKAY solution. You pretty much lose any chance of getting a decent ambient / room tone.

Anyone know if a Juicedlink adapter will fix this? Or should I wait for the new Beachtek solutions...
 
Quick question. It's obvious from these posts that an external source is going to attain better audio than anything piped into the GH1. I haven't ever used an external audio source. Assuming it's a completely separate recording, is it complicated to synch up the video with the sound?
 
edoubleu said:
Quick question. It's obvious from these posts that an external source is going to attain better audio than anything piped into the GH1. I haven't ever used an external audio source. Assuming it's a completely separate recording, is it complicated to synch up the video with the sound?
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It's not difficult at all. Simply provide a reference sound (clap, slate, etc.) and you can sync clips in any NLE using the audio waveforms.

But the more footage you have to sync, the more complicated it becomes, and even PluralEyes isn't very attractive when you have 30+ hours of footage.
 
I just had a day doing interviews with the GH1/Juicedlink/Sony D50. I also ran the line out via a cable with attenuation to mic level into the GH1.

The sound quality from the GH1 was decent. A bit ruff and I could clearly hear AGC working it's ugly gain. But it could be used and would certainly be ok in many productions.
Listening to the D50's uncompressed 48khz/24bit audio files was crystal clear and very nice.

I had an AT897 above the interview subject pointing down connected to the juicedlink and then to the D50. A bit more work to start the camera and then the D50 but once I got used to it I felt comfortable working the procedure.

One thing that became very apparent was how easy it is to operate let's say a HVX200 if compared to a HDSLR. The price one pay for shallow DOF and light sensitivity.
 
Thanks. I was having visions of old martial arts films with the mouths moving before or after the words coming out...
 
editman said:
I just had a day doing interviews with the GH1/Juicedlink/Sony D50. I also ran the line out via a cable with attenuation to mic level into the GH1.

The sound quality from the GH1 was decent. A bit ruff and I could clearly hear AGC working it's ugly gain. But it could be used and would certainly be ok in many productions.
Listening to the D50's uncompressed 48khz/24bit audio files was crystal clear and very nice.

I had an AT897 above the interview subject pointing down connected to the juicedlink and then to the D50. A bit more work to start the camera and then the D50 but once I got used to it I felt comfortable working the procedure.

One thing that became very apparent was how easy it is to operate let's say a HVX200 if compared to a HDSLR. The price one pay for shallow DOF and light sensitivity.
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In your audio chain (mic/preamp/recorder/gh1) which elements are contributing the most to the sound quality? How much would you loose by running mic/preamp/gh1 or just mic/recorder or even just recorder (with internal mics and preamps)?
 
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Barry_Green said:
Mission accomplished. :thumbsup:
(3) semi-pro microphone with good preamp into GH1 ($600);
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Where is this mic mounted? If it's on a boom pole hanging eight inches away from the actor's mouth, then this option gets two stars. If it's on the camera, this option gets 1/4 of one star.
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I'm surprised you only gave this 1/4 of a star. FWIW, Jon Fairhurst raved about the camera-mounted AT815b/Juicedlink CX231/Canon 5DMk2. He declared it the overall winner in his audio shootout and said "[in difficult conditions] a quiet preamp is the key to a good result".

http://www.vimeo.com/5388476
http://www.vimeo.com/5903379
 
noirist said:
In your audio chain (mic/preamp/recorder/gh1) which elements are contributing the most to the sound quality? How much would you loose by running mic/preamp/gh1 or just mic/recorder or even just recorder (with internal mics and preamps)?
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I guess I would get pretty close running only the mic into D50. But I do loose phantom power and the ability to connect two mics with individual levels without the juciedlink.

GH1 vs D50 is easy. D50 is way better. It's even better than the H4N soundwise.
 
If he hasn't already talked about them in this thread, Ozpeter has previously posted his very helpful results of some informal tests of the GH1's internal and external microphone performance (including MP3 audio files).

Despite the GH1's automatic audio recording level feature, it can record relatively clear-sounding stereo audio. This will be useful for scratch or reference recording, and as Stephen M. & others have attested in certain cases it's adequate for program audio, too.

This first test compares the GH1's built-in mic to a few different external mics:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1692295&postcount=12

In his second test he discovered the GH1 apparently supports "plug-in power" (similar to phantom power) -- an undocumented feature -- which he demonstrates with a pair of external lav mics:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=177740
 
noirist said:
I'm surprised you only gave this 1/4 of a star.
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An on-camera mike 15 feet away recording into an AGC system? I don't know what circumstances that could result in adequate audio... I gave it 1/4 because that's my opinion of how it would work.


FWIW, Jon Fairhurst raved about the camera-mounted AT815b/Juicedlink CX231/Canon 5DMk2. He declared it the overall winner in his audio shootout and said "[in difficult conditions] a quiet preamp is the key to a good result".
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Did the 5D have the Magic Lantern modification to eliminate AGC? If so, that'd move it up to a star in my opinion, but I don't care if you're recording 96KHz 24-bit audio on a $4,000 microphone -- if it's 15 feet away, it's gonna suffer.
 
Barry_Green said:
It's all about mic placement, even more than mic quality. Get a $179 Oktava MK012, put it on a boom pole eight inches away, and record it on a Zoom H4N, and you'll get audio that will be incredibly vastly amazingly superior to *anything* you'd get by running any mic mounted on the camera.
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I'm always amazed how much mic placement overrides everything else in the recording chain, as if it worth $100 per 4 inches.
 
yabyum said:
There is supposedly a device that is a pre-amp that also emits a silent tone that blocks the AGC somehow... I forget what it's called...

Anyway, I've heard it works but never seen any real samples despite requests for them.

The Zoom H4N Barry mentioned is the most commonly used device around these parts (GH1 forums that is :)).
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I think the h4n is a piece of kaka, I don't know why everyone loves it. It's on board mics are pretty cool for sound effects / foley / ambient sort of stuff, but the on board preamps are terrible and too low going in with an xlr, and the line in is way to hot. There's no bear that's just right.
 
They love it because it's a $299 4-track recorder. At that price point, it matches up with the $1500 SLR at a reasonable price.

It's the "good enough" revolution again -- is it good enough? For strictly dialogue work, to justify its $299 price tag? Probably. Is it actually "good"? No, not in comparison to a real recorder from Zaxcom or even Tascam.

So, Blackout -- do you have a recommendation for an alternative to the Zoom, at about the same price point?
 
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