On board Mics

[snapper2]

I have two camcorders available ( and no chance of getting another)neither have an external mic socket. Having made a pigs ear of one interview situation what advice may members offer to ensure or at least help me not to make a hash of it again?

Sony 990X Handycam and a similar JVC.

Thanks for any useful input.
snapper2

[TimStannard]

Record to something else and sync in post. MiniDisc was popular for years and still is in some circles.
Or a Zoom H1 or H2 which will give you the option of internal mics or external mics using a 3.5mm jack.
Or an H4n if you want more professional, with XLRs. Or equivalent eg: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
(or PM RembrantRob on this forum who may well cut a deal with you, if he still ahs one for sale)

[slimbob]

HI Tim

Out of interest are the zoom (H1,2 HN4) pretty good as external mics in themselves or is it best to use them with a different dedicated external mic plugged into them and just use The zooms to record the audio?

Are they equivalent in audio quality as say a £100- £200 dedicated external mic ?

Is it hard to sync in with video in editing (ie) ?? Does it always look a bit weird (ie) visuals and audio recoded separately?

Jut interested to know.

Cheers

[vidmanners]

snapper2
FWIW these portable recorders will most-likely use Electret mics - these are surprisingly good, but still suffer from wind-noise outside location. This is easily solved,by a wind-sock arrangement "Dead Cat" or whatever... but essential for Street-interviews.

Of course it helps if you explain what went wrong...maybe it was a still day...

Those external recorders (to SDHC card) are almost "essential" even if only for use as a Foley lookout - and if they take external mics that often means another piece of kit to watch (and leads to get snagged). FWIW I think MiniDisc is dead - probably only available s/h - a solid-state recorder is a better investment IMHO.

[TimStannard]

I think vidmanners has answered the question about quality perfectly. They are surprisingly good general purpose mics. I use mine for recording ambient sound on location and voiceovers at home. I've also used it for sticking in fromt of a stage and recording a nativity play. I wouldn't use them with their inbuilt mics for interviews as they'd probably need to be in shot to get a good enough quality audio (unless you're interviewing ver close up).

[Midnight Blue]

I did a sound test of a zoom H4n it was ideal for recording my wifes chior but as Tim says it would have to be in shot if used in studio interview situation.

Zoom H4n Sound Test - YouTube

[slimbob]

Bloody good quality Midnight by itself just Zoom H4n.

But agree slightly better with external mic compared to Zoom inbuilt mics

You have so many serious toys !!!!!

Damn you Midnight

P.s -Choir sounds great by the way

[Midnight Blue]

You have so many serious toys

Not really, I have what I consider to be the bare minimum equipment to produce video. Lights, camera, sound.

[slimbob]

point taken ...
A Zoom H4n is a great bit of kit though.

It's great to have good stuff but not needed to get the job done admitted........... I understand what you mean.

[snapper2]

snapper2
FWIW these portable recorders will most-likely use Electret mics - these are surprisingly good, but still suffer from wind-noise outside location. This is easily solved,by a wind-sock arrangement "Dead Cat" or whatever... but essential for Street-interviews.

Of course it helps if you explain what went wrong...maybe it was a still day...

Those external recorders (to SDHC card) are almost "essential" even if only for use as a Foley lookout - and if they take external mics that often means another piece of kit to watch (and leads to get snagged). FWIW I think MiniDisc is dead - probably only available s/h - a solid-state recorder is a better investment IMHO.

Friends,
First, an unqualified apology for not responding before to the postings. I thought I had set to receive email notification of responses, and I have just found them in the spam folder!

Thank you for the suggestions, at present my external recorder is the analogue tape type, but I have been looking for a digital within my limited budget. my old Canon 8, which had to be dismantled to remove a camera tape, had an external socket so I have a tie clip mic and a cheap "Directional"...

Vidmanners asks what went wrong... basic stupidity really! Lack of fore thought, the whole excersize was without much planning other than "yes, I'll try to do that for you". About 90% was "off the cuff".... (that doesn't work!) Situation was a large, barn like hall, a large crowd of people, well, several hundred, everything going on... a quietly spoken interviewee, and a modestly spoken interviewer, a general conversation between the two, summing up by the interviewee and a few questions and answers. The result was as bad as you guys would expect! The conversation was drowned into insignificance by the surrounding din. Much embarrassment and a big lesson learnt.

Thanks to Tim Stannard for the ebay link, I did take a look, however, the item well exceeded my budget. (unless the lottery comes up!)

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?

Thanks, and my apologies again.
Snapper2