pro sound on a trv19?

[Dave Largent]

Actually, I'm surprised to see Bryan hasn't been
more negative about the "unfixed" VX audio
than he has been. Is he gettin' soft?
Truth is, the VX' unfixed audio is fine for the
vast majority of customers' expectations
of "professional audio" -- with a decent mic.
The 170 does have noticably less
hiss than the 2000, but I haven't compared
the 2000 to the 2100, although they say
a 6dB improvement, I believe.

[Frank Granovski]

He thought the audio was good with his Beachtek, Senn ME66 and keeping the gain down, but I guess he decided to go even better when that BBC fix became available in North America. We really should be asking him about why he went for the big leap and spending spree. Some people just want the best and are willing to pay for it, I guess.

[Dave Largent]

Well, the 2000 does hiss up pretty quickly, but that's
not hard to take out in post.
Actually, I had looked into the BBC fix when
I first acquired the VX, but didn't want to void
the warranty.
I was a bit disconcerted to find, after buying a
preamp for the 2000, that the line in is really no
better than the mic in, when you look at S/N.
A couple of tech looks at the 2000 (including the one that was done by the
BBC for their "fix") have shown that the best S/N
is found at 5-6 notches down from the mid-
point.

[Bryan Beasleigh]

The audio with the "Winterized" Vx2000 is better than any of the DV cameras. It's a whole new ball game.

[Dave Largent]

So, Bryan, what did you come up with as the
best way to tote around the pre w/your
modded VX?
I'd be tempted to have the pre drilled, or look at the
PSC Mjr, which, from what I can tell from the
specs, offers 70dB of gain.
One thing I don't like about the PSC is that the
limiter is not adjustable.

http://www.raycom.co.uk/psc/mjr2.html

[Bryan Beasleigh]

I think the PSC Mjr has been discontinued.

So far as the mixer for my VX2000, I've carried it in the Portabrace case, If I'm tripod mounted I just sling the case on the tripod.

I am looking at some sort of bracket but it won't matter much for a while, I can't walk steady enough to carry a camera.

[Dave Largent]

My girl just told me her cousin just got two
new knees and he said he was glad he
did it. And he ended up taller than he
was prior to the operations, and he's doing
real well. The cousin is 51.
I hear titanium was used. Titanium is
lighter than aluminum, but stronger,
I think.

[Bryan Beasleigh]

Alfred
I'd be happy to email you 2 samples I recorded on the TRV20. they were done quickly but it will give you some idea.

The samples are of an AT899 and a Sony ECM44 lav.

Dave
They're doing a half knee, the inside (medial) of both is bone on bone. 75 minutes of rough carpentry and they're done. I'll be awake, so maybe they'll let me tape it ;-) The hardware is titanium.

[Alfred Okocha]

Hi guys!

I've been working alot and haven't really had time to check what's going on here.. Lots of opinions! Great! I just saw your mail Bryan, (Beaser?) and I'd be happy to check your audio files out!
I'm no audiofile (?) though so don't expect an expert comment. =)

Thanks alot.

[Chris Gray]

Sorry to revive a six-week-old thread, but it hits the topic I need to get advice on.

I have a TRV80 with Azden SGM-X miniplug shotgun. The mic seems decent enough, but on moderately loud sounds there is distortion, likely from the TRV80's automatic levels being overloaded. I looked at the Beachtek DXA-8 but it is designed for camcorders with manual audio level control, which the TRV80 doesn't have.

Would the DXA-8 work to reduce or eliminate clipping anyway, or do I need to record into DAT or MiniDisc?

[Dave Largent]

Yes, it could help.
Why do you want that model rather than one of Beachtek's
cheaper ones?

[Matt Gettemeier]

I'm assuming you thought the DXA8 would control clipping 'cause it has active circuits and gain?

The problem is that a cam with automatic gain control will still turn the gain up when it doesn't hear anything... then something loud happens and the cam is caught off guard and the internal gain is too high... = distortion.

It's also possible that you're getting some distortion from the cam or mic (or both) anyway. It would be easier to judge what's happening with a sound clip. With the gear you're using at the moment it would be hard to control widely varying sound levels... Hell, it's hard enought to contol that with a $5K rig!


Since I missed this thread when people were asking about Beas and his uber-VX2000... I can personally vouch for the Greg Winter mod. Beas and I have swapped sound files for a while and when he started getting REALLY pricey mics we both got hyper-critical of the sound chain. One day he emailed a clip and asked me to give an opinion on hiss... I was scared to tell him how much I heard... Then he told me he'd sent his cam to Greg... A couple weeks later he sent new clips and now his cam has THE BEST audio section available. Period. I'm the first to mention the DVX's audio section... but it's an easy second place to what Beas gets out of the VX2000 now. Believe me, the price of that mod was a bargain for how it transformed the VX2000 into a state-of-the-art capture device.

[Dave Largent]

Does the DXA8 provide attenuation?

[Matt Gettemeier]

YES... click here!

[Bryan Beasleigh]

DVX-8 review