On board Mics

[TimStannard]

First, an unqualified apology

No need, but welcome all the the same.

How easy is it to sync the externally recorded track, my guess would be maybe not to try, but to use it more as a voice over?

Really very easy - so long as your editor is set to show a pictorial representation of the waveform of the audio. You "simply" match up the spikes.
Best way is each time you press record, you make a very short sharp sound (a clap will do) which will make a prominent spike in both waveforms.

If you are planning to record a long event and use just parts from it, you'll find it easier to leave all recording devices in record mode throughout. That way you only need sync once (or once per tape/ SD card/ whatever). On the timeline, sync first then cut out all the chaff.

[Rembrandt Rob]

If you already have a tie clip mic which you like (ie you're happy with the sound of it) then have a look at a secondhand minidisc recorder on ebay. You can pick one up for less than £20 and they are small enough to fit inside a pocket. Not a lot bigger than a radiomic and thinner than a zoom.

They are not ideal but will do the job better than the on-board mic.

[slimbob]

I was wondering too about how easy it would be to to sync up audio from separate audio recording device and video from camcorder...

The clap technique just answered that for me Tim .....cheers

Of course......... that is what the old Hollywood clap board was for ?

I think ??

I always thought they were to just start the scene .... didn't think about helping the editors to sync the video & audio together if audio was recorded separately

Or am I off track here??

RB) .... Mini disc is a great idea for a budget solution for those of us who can't afford zooms......noted

[Bpotter908]

Believe it or not, Quite a few things Hollywood did actually made sense! The clapper-board being one of them.

[slimbob]

Yes you are right Hollywood definitely know what they are doing

I feel like dumbass now.

Nothing new there then

[paulears]

Syncing is not really that hard - especially if you can see the waveforms - video editors have an ultimate sync of a frame, so there can be sync errors less than this, but often they can't be heard. If you need more accuracy than that, and I find that rarely I'll have a couple of tracks that have a 'phasiness' to them if theres a constant complex sound in both takes - if it's a problem, stick them into an audio editor and just align them there and the go back to the video. Anything analogue will drift, and on very long tracks minidisc will too - but it's really not a problem. Sometimes I can sync to a picture event - get close, then as I do music and theatre, look for a point where something starts to move, or a drummer's downbeat, or a light snapping on or off. All these work to get combined picture and sound tracks into sync, and then you can slide the audio track roughly into position and look for something obvious to use in the waveform, then find it on the picture tracks and you are done!

[slimbob]

Thanks Paul ...you make it sound so easy !!!!!!

I am sure like with all things practice makes perfect .

I have copied and pasted this advice for future reference when I need to do this Paul.

Thanks very much

[rocksure]

Reading this thread, I have a couple of things to say.
a) never record with onboard camera mics if you want professional quality sound
b) the onboard mics on dedicated audio recorders are ok for collecting ambiences ( though separate mics are better), but not particularly good for recording dialogue. Besides the fact that the inbuilt mics are never as good as professional shotgun mics or small diaphram condensors mics with hyper cardiod or cardiod capsules, you also have the issue of getting close enough to the talent to pick up the voice without also picking up too much ambience, while not getting in the shot at the same time. They also generally record in a wider pattern than is desirable for this. Using a lav mic, a mic on a boom or on a stand, and plugged into a separate recorder is the best option. I wrote a tutorial on this a while back, which includes notes on sync'ing audio and video, so rather than reposting it all here, I will include a link to the article
http://rocksuresoundz.com/2011/10/11...ng-good-audio/