Home Free Library Store
Free Catalog



Save with a Two Year Membership

To post in the forums see the Forum Guidelines.
Join or Renew Today.
New Benefits for all VU Members
Forum Guidelines and FAQ
Main Index Search Posts
Who's Online Log In



Home: Video University Forums: Audio For Video:
audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising!

 
 


Adam Forgione
Enthusiast

Oct 19, 2008, 8:38 PM

Post #1 of 9 (2069 views)
Shortcut
audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! Can't Post
okay, aside from owning a wed vid company, i was a professional musician for 15 years. my band just did a 10 year reunion concert recently and i couldnt resist bringing out my 3 cams :

sony ex1, sony z1, and sony fx1

unfortunately i did not have anytime to set up audio properly. i was just thrilled to have some cameraman friends in the audience willing to shoot on and off while we played, so i set all 3 cams to auto.

ex1 built in mic on auto, z1 on audio auto with a Sony ECM-674 Shotgun Microphone
, and the fx1 built in mic on auto. the z1 audio input trim was set to 0db

my band was painfully loud. louder than any wedding will ever be even if ac/dc was playing, so this was a great example of worst case scenario.

all cameras where all over the place, in front of speakers, on stage, etc
the ex1 and fx1 audio was destroyed completely by clipping. the z1 sounded good and very usable, with clipping at only a few moments through the entire 2 1/2 hour set. now ive had this shotgun on my ex1 before in auto and it clipped a lot with a much lower volume environment especially with the low end. what really bums me out id that the ex1 does not seem to give you an option to change the trim input in auto mode like the z1 does. is there some secret menu im missing on the ex1?
Adam Forgione
Pennylane Productions


Mark Foley
Veteran


Oct 21, 2008, 2:15 AM

Post #2 of 9 (2042 views)
Shortcut
Re: [people9300] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
From an audio purist standpoint, all audio with today's generation of HDV-type cams are less than desirable to me given the digital compression it goes through. In addition unless a camera is perfectly placed, any onboard audio is basically worthless for other than a sync track or possibly filler for other/quality audio sources. (my opinion only) Not to jump threads, but once you discover the R44, everything changes :-)
_________________________
Mark






Adam Forgione
Enthusiast

Oct 21, 2008, 7:16 AM

Post #3 of 9 (2025 views)
Shortcut
Re: [Mark Foley] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
i guess the reason for the post was im wondering why the z1 preamps and input options are better than the ex1, just weird to me
Adam Forgione
Pennylane Productions


steslat
User


Nov 22, 2008, 12:49 PM

Post #4 of 9 (1823 views)
Shortcut
Re: [people9300] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
To be honest Ive been really pleased with the on-cam mic on the EX1 (for an on-cam mic). Ive shot some very loud bands and been almost next to the speakers on occasions. I usually set the limiter during the day and use external mics, but in the evening I switch to onboard full manual and it works a charm!

Steve


GmElliott
Veteran


Mar 27, 2009, 11:38 AM

Post #5 of 9 (1213 views)
Shortcut
Re: [Mark Foley] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
Not to jump threads, but once you discover the R44, everything changes :-)
I tried fitting mine into the grooms jacket pocket and all I got was dirty looks.






Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com
Glen Elliott on Vimeo


Mark Foley
Veteran


Mar 28, 2009, 3:42 AM

Post #6 of 9 (1187 views)
Shortcut
Re: [GmElliott] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
smart a** Sly
_________________________
Mark






GmElliott
Veteran


Jun 18, 2009, 11:56 PM

Post #7 of 9 (856 views)
Shortcut
Re: [Mark Foley] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
Hey Mark- how does this R44 FOUR-TRACK recorder work. Say if I feed it 4 wireless receivers. Does it mix it down to one track? I'd like a way to do some mixing in post between all 4 tracks. Is this possible?
TIA




Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com
Glen Elliott on Vimeo


Mark Foley
Veteran


Jun 19, 2009, 8:43 AM

Post #8 of 9 (842 views)
Shortcut
Re: [GmElliott] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
They are recordered on to 4 seperate tracks...gives you full lattitude in post
_________________________
Mark






MLiebergot
Veteran


Jun 19, 2009, 9:22 AM

Post #9 of 9 (839 views)
Shortcut
Re: [GmElliott] audio quality battle bewteen the ex1, zi, and fx1 - surprising! [In reply to] Can't Post
To expand on what Mark said, you have the choice of either recording the audio as 4 separate tracks or recording them as stereo pairs (XLR1+2 XLR3+4).
As you will most likely agree it would be best to record as 4 independent tracks to work with in post.
But all 4 mono tracks will be in perfect sync. Smile

Talk to Kenny about the R44 and using 4 wireless units. He came up with a real nice compact setup for housing his units and the R44.
He uses this setup for all of his ceremonies now, and has been exactic about it.

Michael

Cameras: (3) Sony FX1, Canon HV20
Audio: Marantz PMD620, Edirol R44, ZoomH4N, ZoomH2, Sennhesier G2
Mics: Rode NT5, Rode NT3, Rode M3, Rode NTG2, Shure SM57, AT822
Software: Sony Vegas, Final Cut Studio
Computer: MAC BABY! MacPro, MacBook Pro