Hello,
New to this forum and I hope someone here can give me some information and some help on what I am tring to do.

I have been asked to video a beauty pageant at our local auditorium and create a DVD of it. I have no issues with the video itself. I have done video in this place many times. My problem has always been audio. The last time I did a video I used a beachtek device tied to my camera. The beahtek device was plugged into the back of the soundboard(mackie) into the left and right main out jacks (could be the left and right aux sends, can't remember because I haven't done this in a while). I was told to try the tape out, but if I remember correctly, the last time I tried that the audio wasn't real clear, but that could have been my fault, because I went straight into the camera mic jack from the tape out. The sound I get is great when they are speaking, but if someone sings, it doesn't sound to great, it almost sounds flat, no mix of music and voice. I thought about taking a second camera and using it to record the sound and pulling the singing parts from that camera.


Is there a better way of getting a good mix of speaking and singing? Will a digital recorder work better and if so, what kind?

I have a Sony HDR-FX1 camera. I also have a beachtek DXA-4. The mackie box is pretty old, it has been in the auditorium now since probably 2000. It is a 24 line. I am not sure what the model number is, but if needed I will see if I can get it.
Thanks for any suggestions.

What's probably happening is that the vocals, speeches and singer are using a microphone which goes through the mixer and into the PA. This is what you're tapping into.
The band doesn't use any amlification, or uses its own PA so the instruments aren't going into the mix.

How about setting up a microphone (or a stereo pair) just for the band?
Is that an option for you?

Thanks for the response.

There really isn't a band involved in this. The music that the singers(contestents) sing to comes from CD or tape through the PA as well. There is a Tascam device tied into the system. Sorry I forgot to mention this in my first post.

Thanks

This is a very common problem and stems from the fact that you need two different mixes - one for the PA and one for your camera. PA engineers are good at PA mixes but not often video programme mixes at the same time!

It sounds as though you have taken an aux out from the desk (soundboard) into the camera but the aux does not have a good mix on it.

The good news is that if you have heard great sound from your camera when people are speaking then you can't be doing too much wrong at your end. The difference between analogue and digital is not important here - the feed you are getting is wrong to start with.

I approach the audio differently - I create a good program mix to camera using the main mix bus on the desk and then make a PA mix using an aux buss. I do a sound check for the camera audio before the PA is even turned on - that way I can hear what is being recorded because there is no loud PA confusing my ears. When I am happy with the camera mix I will then mix the PA audio making sure I don't change the main mix buss audio.

Hope this helps somewhat - try and get the venue audio engineer to approach the mix this way and let him/her listen from your camera before the PA is switched on.

Any questions please ask.

Good luck.

Thanks for the information. I will give this a shot during rehearsals and see if I can get my singing audio better.

What would be better for me to plug into, AUX, or main?

Thanks again