i just purchased a canon gl2 for the purpose of video taping shows in club settings. im having huge issues with the sound quality. it comes out very distorted and loud no matter what the sound levels are set to. is there some special feature that im unaware of? or some other place to change settings? please let me know thanks!!

Clubs are usually very loud. Can easily overload the system to the point it distorts whenusing out-of-the-box settings

Have you tried the Microphone Attenuator setting? That should help a lot. See page 57 of the manual.

If that does not help, try an external mic (a dynamic mic is probably better, they usually have better characteristics in loud venues) and lower output thatn dynamic mics. Try it at Mic Attenuator setting.

i dont have my maunal could u possibly tell me where this option is?

You can download a PDF of manual here:

EDIT . . .

I'll try this again . .

Go to here and see the "DOWNLOAD LIBRARY" - top of page - you get to the PDF of the User's MAnual fro the GL2:

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=114&modelid=7512


Grazie

Chris,
Open the menu on your GL2. Select the VCR Setup submenu. Scroll to Mic Atten and change it to "ON". That should fix your problem with loud music. I use the Microphone Attenuator all the time at Wedding Receptions.

You can also assign the microphone attenuator to the custom key allowing more convenient access if you need to turn off and on on the fly.

What's the quality like at the end when you use these settings? I have been doing weddings as well but have gone to manual mode and have been playing with the manual setting on the volume dials and have gotten decent results. But, just recently did a wedding where the band was super loud and got a very faint static sound in the background. I am going to try your Microphone Attenuator setting to see if that works better. I had no idea, I have only had my camera for about 10 months now. Thanks.

Oscar,
The sound quality using the attenuator is very good. The slight static you hear is probably what is called clipping, where the volume exceeds a certain level and becomes distorted. In your case, it must be minimal distortion. The attenuator is like a limiter, keeping the sound recorded from going over a certain decibal limit. However, my experience is that the attenuator also reduces the overall volume at which the audio is recorded. That is handy for recording the reception-otherwise your clients will be reaching for the remote to turn down the volume on their TV while watching the reception portion of the video. I use the custom key to turn off the attenuator quickly if someone wants to say a few words to the camera. That way the 'interview' can be heard more clearly. But even when I have left the attenuator on for an interview that occured too suddenly, there has always been adequate volume unless I was close to the band or speakers.

If you are recording the actual showand if there is a friendly sound guy, you could take a line out from the sound desk, into a DI box where the signal is converted to mic level and then into the GL2. You would need to make up a simple cable to allow the DI box to connect with the mini jack on the camera. Many DI boxes have an attenuation switch to prevent signal clipping. DI boxes vary in price, but even a cheap model will always give better sound than using the microphone directly simply because of the direct sound path. One likely problem would be that the club sound desk won't pick up a decent level of audience response.

When using this setting do you choose the manual or automatic audio settin on the cannon? Do you have any suggestions on fixing the aweful sound that I recorded for a wedding? I am using pinnacle and Adobe Premeire Pro.