Very loud band, help with captured audio...
 

Last summer, we did a wedding and during the reception, we were filming the band and got some great audio from our XL2's built in mic and were able to use that on the DVD.

A few weeks ago, we decided to try it again. We were filming a wedding and the band they had was pretty loud. On the Xl2, I had my audio levels set to limit the audio level at the green dot on the audio meters, however, now when I bring it into FCP, the audio is pretty much stuck at -18db. I can't bring it up because it sounds bad.

Any way in the future to capture better audio with the XL2's built in mic whenever there is a really loud band?

Thanks.

EDIT: I'd like to keep using the built in mic so I don't have to lug around audio equipment to record the band every time I go to a wedding.

You oversaturated the sound and the built in limiter kicked in, I had the same issue during a wedding a few months back, not much that you can do now as that audio is wasted. What I've started to do is run manual levels during loud shots like this and setup my meters to about -10 clip, I'm watching them like a hawk and going so far as to set my levels when I'm about 6' from the DJ's or bands mains so that I can't get saturated audio on the tape.

One other thing that I like to do I take my wireless interview mic and clip it to my belt and as I walk I get that audio as well, provides me an extra set of ears that were not pointed directly at the action but rather pointed down and to the floor, this is actually what saved me during that wedding shoot.

In the end, I took cd's of all the songs that I was going to use in the dance sequence of the production, re-mixed them down to about 1 minute each and did my own medly, added the video from those songs back in and came up with a quick save to the major problem.

Miguel

I'm surprised that you were satisfied with the wedding vows audio, if you captured that with just the XL2's built in mic.

Anyway, sounds like either your cam's input circuitry or the mic itself were overloaded. Dialing down the recording level doesn't correct that.

In the past, I've spoken to the DJ/sound guy and gotten a monitor feed directly off the board into a wireless unit, then into the camera for fabulous unhindered sound.

Nah, the church had everything mic'ed, so we got a direct feed from them.

That's not a bad idea at all.

make sure you bring a huge array of adaptors for connecting to the board if you go that route.

To bring back to the original question, if it's blown out in the recording, there's not much you could do for it...you could contact the band and ask them if you could come to a practice and record them there to lay over the footage.

A little Hi-MD or iRiver recorder is nice for taking sound from boards. Less XLR cable to carry around and set up, and it frees the cam's audio input for more options. Also, you can drop it in the groom's pocket with a lav mic to get the vows when the church isn't miked.