Audio Disaster at Reception
 

The damage is done, but I'd love some advice on how not to repeat my mistake by identifying it.

Sony VX2100 Audio set on manual (probably at 3/4). Beachtech (not sure where the dial was but probably turned up way too high. Rode Video Mic plugged into Beach.

Result: Peak!!!! The music was loud. Its completely unusable (crackle, pop, hiss, distorted,) and I thought it would be the best of the three (I also had a Canon GL1 with internal mic and autogain) and I had an iriver plugged into DJ's board. So far I'm able to use the a mix of the Canon and iRiver.

Could I have avoided this problem by taking the audio off of manual and keeping it on automatic? Or would it still have happened on automatic if I had turned up the Beach dial by accident. It would have been great to have headphones on, and maybe I will the next time.

Thanks,
Scott

had you turned the audio to manual, you'd have likely had no distortion, but instead would have had breathing/pumping, or a compressed signal leaving you virtually unusable audio anyway. You'd have been better off following the cardinal rule of videography; ALWAYS put on good headphones during a shoot, and monitor audio, even on a locked down camera that is in a remote position. ALWAYS.

At the risk of sounding like a lecturer;
would you turn on your camera in manual mode and point it at a subject without looking thru the viewfinder or LCD panel? Prolly not. Using a camera without headphones is doing exactly that; shooting without monitoring.
There should never be a "maybe I'll wear headphones next time."

I WILL wear headphones next time...
I WILL wear headphones next time...
I WILL wear headphones next time...
I WILL wear headphones next time...

LOL, now just write it (by hand) 96 times more, and you'll for sure remember next time. ;-)