5DM2 and Rode VideoMic produces hiss
 

I am in the middle of a week's worth of filming with two 5DM2 cameras, each with RODE VideoMics mounted on the hotshoe. I have a strong presence of hiss in everything, regardless of location.

Because I am filming a band of musicians, I have the mic settings on -20db, to prevent clipping. When they are playing, the audio is great, but when they stop, I believe the the audio attenuator brings the levels up and hiss is introduced.

Aside from the obvious (record audio externally), does anyone have any advice? Can someone recommended a good program to help filter out the noise in post? I edit with CS4.

If anyone is curious, I am filming L'image, a revival, after 30 years of Steve Gadd, David Spinozza, Tony Levin, Mike Mainieri, and Warren Bernhardt:

Iridium Jazz Club - NYC

I'm shooting with 8 cameras total, and hope to be able to post a sample of the video on line. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Sterling

You're experiencing the AutoGain built into this camera. Do a Search here and you'll find lots of complaints and thoughts about that very issue.
Basically, as things stand right now, you're hosed. There are some solutions coming down the pipeline, but they're not here just yet.

If you're using CS4, just drop your audio into Soundbooth and use the built in Noise Reduction tools there. From what I've read, they can be totally awesome for exactly this kind of work.

Thanks Matt!

I figured it was the auto gain.

CS4 is installed, but I haven't played with it much as Cineform and Blackmagic Design haven't provide support yet for their products. They should be on board within the next few weeks. Regardless, when I get back to the LA (and into my edit suite), I'll try Soundbooth on the audio.

Cheers,

Sterling

FYI,

Just an update on the Rode VideoMic, under normal circumstances, I have decided that I really like this microphone. For starters, it was only $130. It is capable of picking up people speaking with great clarity, even with hundreds of people screaming in the background. I highly recommend it. Of course, an external audio solution is preferable.

Cheers,

Sterling

Audio Help - Michael Schoenfeld
 

Sterling,

Michael Schoenfeld here,

If I was you (for one thing, I'd be really stoked hanging out with these giants of music!), I'd pick up a Zoom H4, and a SignVideo XLRPro (I'm sorry there is no simple, easy, answer - that's the "beauty" of the 5Dmk2"


Zoom H4 -
Need Cookies Enabled

SignVideo XLRPro -
XLR Pro Under Camera/Beltpack XLR Adapter at Markertek.com


Mic goes into Zoom H4; 1/4 mini stereo into "Aux in" on SignVideo XLRPro; output from SignVideo XLRPro into "mic" input on 5Dmk2 - double audio recording does requires some sync in post (not a big deal - my editor and I are doing it as we speak), BUT.... the good news, MUCH higher quality AD converters, no "hiss"(because the H4 has no auto gain "auto-enabled"), 24bit 96K original files from H4 if desired, and phantom power if needed.

Easy huh? No, but the quality is really quite nice for a pretty simple set of hoop-jumps.

Let me know if you desire any further help (or a person to shlep a fill card - e-gads, what a lucky cuss you are!)

Michael Schoenfeld

michael schoenfeld : 801.532.2006

Michael,

Thanks for your audio ideas.

Of course, my shoot is over, and for the most part, the audio recorded in the camera is only a references, as the live shows were going into a multi-track recorder for a polished mix, to be done later.

In future shoots, I will probably use some sort of shoulder mount with rails, which will give me more room to have additional equipment, such as the products you suggested.

I have to say the the Rode mic did quite well, when I set it back to 0db and there wasn't overly loud background noise. Keeping the rig simple, on the other hand, did not attract unwanted attention when Paul Simon and other music legends wandered into the back to hang.

Yeah, it was a great week.

As for syncing the picture to the external audio, we we driving a TS-Grand timecode display from the audio recorder (Denecke, Inc. - Home of The Industry Standard For Electronic Time Code Slates). This is different from a smart slate in that the timecode is constantly running.

Whenever we started a new clip on one of the 5DM2 cameras, we would shoot the display. This allows us to lock everything up.

Cheers,

Sterling

I was going to say...

Anyone using eight cams on a music shoot sure as hell shouldn't be even thinking about using the onboard audio of the 5D2 (or maybe even of any video camera for that matter, lol).

That's just sacreligious... Unless you want a crappy preamp, crappy a/d converter, unbalanced audio inputs, and autogain all messing up your audio, LOL...

I just wish it were eight 5DM2 cameras. The problem is that four of the cams were hanging upside-down from the lighting grid, and were recording the entire length of the show.

It would be nice if the Canon didn't have a 4GB file limit and/or a remote start/stop would be useful.

-S