Looking for a field audio solution....
 

Thanks in advance to everyone who chimes in.

I shoot national BMX races and am looking for a solution to my sound woes. Up until now we have simply used the sound captured through the cameras. We shoot with sony pd's and fx1's. Even the audio captured through the pd's is subpar due to placement of loudspeakers around the facilities. What I'm looking for is either a mini disc or flash recorder that I can tap directly into a mixer and have direct audio. Has anyone hooked these devices into a mixer? What were your experiences?

that would work, but you will fry yourself trying to sync later! The audio of DV/HDV isn't too bad, if you're careful. It's a lot like exposure with video - as long as you don't go OVER, it's easy to boost later. Obviously, you'll get more noise if you boost a lot, but the quality is there, certainly enough for almost any project. My suggestion would be something like the sennheiser G2 series of wireless mics / receivers. The transmitters come with pigtails that go to 1/8" minijack, but you could easily get a sennheiser locking 3.5mm -> XLR connector. They are VERY flexible with input types, so you can very quickly match to the output of the board you want to tap into. Then, send that signal to a receiver on the hotshoe of your camera, and you've got the feed. For ambient audio, use the G2 (butt) plug transmitter. No joke. Set a mic somewhere in the facility that you think captures the energy well, and lock it down. Use the plug-on to transmit that to the other channel of your camera. When announcements come over the PA, the channel with the PA-feed will be at the correct level. When ambient audio is there, the channel with the omni will be at the correct level. By mixing carefully, you can make it pretty seamless. And, its a LOT LOT LOT less hassle than sync in post. If you need more channels, get an outboard mixer and run a wireless mic on the driver that's most important to your shot. Instead of the crowd being wireless, use it with a nice long XLR and put it on a high stand aimed at the crowd. Just some thoughts, but seriously, don't sync in post!

Hope that helps!

Since the announcer isn't on camera the sync isn't really important. As long as it closely follows the action it is fine for us. How much would a setup like that run?

for 2 tran 2 receivers, i think the kit is about 500. with the plug-on i think its about 600. Nice thing is, you can also use them as mics (which you couldn't w/ dat). So after the racing / before, you could keep one set with you and clip it onto people should you need to do interviews. The actual mics that come with the package aren't fantastic, but they're really not too bad. Especially if you're comapring it to on-camera audio, it will sound like the most incredible thing you've ever heard. check b&h or fullcompass, should have basically the same price. If you decide to go with a system and go through full compass, ask for Shawn Tallard and tell him that I sent you - he promised to give good deals to people I sent to him. g'luck