Audio dubbing with the Sony DV-G1000
 

Howdy,

I am using a mini DV player - the Sony DV-G1000 to record some underwater footage coming from an analog camera mounted on a sled. Needless to say, this type of waterproof camera has no ability (and no need really) for any capturing audio.

Our system sends up video in real time to the surface, and I'd like to record some audio onto the video, as it is being recorded in real time (i.e., not editing in an after-the-fact audio track during playback). Is there any way to hook up a microphone and add comments to the video as it is recording? I've tried doing this with a DV-G900 and had no luck...we hooked up a powered Radio Shack microphone (the kind that takes a small watch battery for power) and plugged it into the microphone jack, but when we played the tape back, none of the audio got recorded.

Perhaps there is some setting I need to apply? A call to Sony revealed that they had no idea what I was trying to do, and hence couldn't help me.

Thanks for your time.

Fred

Fred.

I tried this with some aero footage and got the same outcome. I had a long lens on a JVC camera head and ported audio from the PD150 which was taking the wide shot and the sound. I was going to the RCA's whic I found later were outlets only. ( I was setup to fail by the PD150 which goes both ways in VTR mode, though I should have remembered what the G1000 handbook says and thought better. )

I think the only way for audio-in is via that tiny phono socket with a three channel plug. I think this is what you describe as the microphone jack.

I think this is a line level input only. The mike level would be too low so you might have to use a pre-amp. Any plug (jack) other than a three channel may link two, maybe all of the channels to each other or to ground or an unholy combination of both.

I don't know which of the three active conductors on the mini phono plug (I think you guys call them jacks) are the two audios and one video channel. For video alone, I connected to each in turn and got a video feed in from the second from the tip end. EG., 1 = tip & ?, 2 = video, 3 = ?, 4 = ground or shield.

I was getting audio cross-interference from the camera with the video even though I had no audio source into the line so there is more to it than I was able to work out. I did no more at fear of damaging something.

BTW if you can't find a capture option for the G1000 in Premiere, selecting the G900 works just fine.


Any furthur information would be appreciated.

Fred, I assume the mini-VTR you have is the Sony GV-D1000. I can understand why you'd want to record your audio in the heat of your underwater skirmishes, whatever they might be. There's no way you can re-create the essence of on-the-spot action commentary, in a studio. It's no surprise that you got no useful advice over the Sony "help!" line.

First, what you can do is dependent on the type of connection you are using between the camera and the recorder. Is it analog, with composite or S-Video? Or is it digital, using FireWire (i-Link)?

If it is FireWire, you can't add any audio to the video during the primary recording. You'd have to record audio segments on a separate audio recorder and then audio-dub them onto audio track 2, when you edited the tape later. You'd also have to set your GV-D1000 to record on 12-bit on audio track 1, during the primary recording, even though no content was being recorded on it. This is necessary, to keep the 12-bit audio 2 free for dubbing later. The 12-bit audio would probably be just fine for voice recording.

If you have an analog video connection from the camera, you can arrange to simultaneously record video and live voice recording, using either 16-bit or 12-bit audio. If you might wish to add more audio later, by using the VTR in audio-dubbing mode, you should use the 12-bit setting. However, some computer editing programs will allow you to mix or convert audio tracks from either 16-bit or 12-bit sources. Some of them will convert 16-bit to 12-bit, but not vice-versa. There are also FireWire-based A/V mixers and editing controlers that will allow such audio mixing and dubbing, independent of a computer. If you have recorded audio on the 16-bit track, you can convert it to 12-bit by re-recording the tape on another VTR or camcorder, that is set to 12-bit mode.

Now, if you're wondering how you add live audio to a VTR that doesn't have a mike input, here's what you do: Obtain a portable audio recorder that has a mike input and audio outputs. The smallest and simplest analog type will probably be adequate, if it has these connections. You won't necessarily be recording audio onto it, but just using it as a receiver for your mike. Run your mike into it and take the audio output from it and send that into the A/V input of the GV-D1000. There's a 4-connector plug that came with the VTR, that has a yellow video and two red & white audio RCA jacks on the other end of its wire. Plug two audio cords into these and into the audio recorder's outputs. There's a small yellow minijack for the 4-way A/V plug on the lower left side of the VTR's input panel. If your camera uses an RCA video cord, plug it into the yellow jack on the 4-way cord. If it uses S-Video, leave the RCA video jack empty and plug in the S-Video cord separately. Make sure your mike is getting power, either from its own battery or from the audio recorder, whichever type is used. This set-up should work. The VTR doesn't know that the video and audio are coming from two different sources with these analog connections. The option you have to do this, is an example of some advantages that an older analog A/V system has over a digital one.

If the GV-D900 you used before has a mike input, I don't understand why it didn't work with the set-up you described. It's possible that the mike wasn't working or receiving power. Make sure the mike you use is functional with the audio recorder. Good luck.

Thanks.
 

Bob and Stephen, thanks for your replies.

Stephen, I'm away from the office for the next week or so, but I will give your suggestions a shot and see what happens. You are right, I incorrectly stated the model of the Sony VTR. Ultimately, our video input is composite. It runs a gauntlet of twisted pair wiring, baluns, video overlays, etc., but ultimately it's composite video being sent to the monitor and GV-D1000.

Thanks again, and I will post again later with any stories of success or failure.