The Spoony Experiment

Vlog 6-27-09: Static

by Spoony on June 27, 2009 · 127 comments

Camera troubles resume, and no hilarity ensues. This vlog is basically a waste of time as I attempt to explain and demonstrate my weird camera issues. I was just playing with the thing to test the audio and decided to let the tape roll.I’ll have to wait until Monday for the repair shops to open and see if they can help.

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{ 127 comments… read them below or add one }

101
dylan June 28, 2009 at 6:42 pm

its not that bad but it would be annoying after a while

102
Chris June 28, 2009 at 6:46 pm

I think it’s the surface mount electrolytic capacitor inside the camera need to be replaced. The Sega Game Gear has the same problem. The capacitors leaks or dry out over time. The camera repair place should be able to repair that camera hopefully.

103
Aurini June 28, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Have you considered running a low-pass sound filter over the video? It’s not an ideal solution, but since you already have a bunch of video recorded with the hissing, it would help salvage it.

That’s what I use to make my Canon basic camera not sound quite so shitty for youtube.

104
Ethan June 28, 2009 at 7:05 pm

Give it a bit of cytoplasm, that will fix it right up.

105
TOYBOXX June 28, 2009 at 9:12 pm

That’s a bummer man. Take out the Thor hammer and give it a proper send off.

106
metrazol June 28, 2009 at 10:12 pm

It might not be the camera. The static sounds a lot like a motor leaking into the power supply. (Think air conditioning on the same circuit, or a fridge…ceiling fan…) Does it go away if you run off of battery? Also, if you’re using an unbalanced XLR you can get that kind of noise. It’s almost certainly not dirty contacts.

107
Booze Zombie June 28, 2009 at 10:49 pm

Your camera’s insured right? Just let it break somehow, get the insurance money and buy a new one.

108
Dylan June 28, 2009 at 11:57 pm

You really should consider a “Buy Spoony a New Camera” drive.

109
Dylan June 29, 2009 at 12:00 am

Or whatever.

For all we know, you spend all your donation money on takeout.

110
MNeC June 29, 2009 at 12:20 am

Hey Noah, have you considered testing another mic on your cam? Like, it makes sense that bad contacts could produce cracking sounds but not static. It really looks like something your external mic is causing…

111
Camisado June 29, 2009 at 3:33 am

I agree with Dylan (Comment #108)

You shouldn’t feel bad about doing something like that, You’re essentially giving us all a hell of a lot of entertainment for free, I think you’d be suprised how much your audience would be willing to give you.

Also, if you did manage enough for a new camera and mic set up I’d only demand we get to see a video of you absolutely trashing and destroying the old one lol.

112
Zognar June 29, 2009 at 7:09 am

For all the pack rats out there, who are fans of your work, Noah, please DO NOT destroy your old camera. In 10 years you can ‘videotape’ this old one and say “wow look at all the cool videos this thing got us started with”.

113
steelbath66 June 29, 2009 at 8:45 am

I might be wrong but the ’static’ you hear while using the condensor mic could be your air conditioner/computer fans/etc….

any time I use a condensor mic I have to turn all those things off to achive silence to record. Something else you might want to try is some sort of XLR Noise gate (shuts the sound off until a certain volume is reached)

I hope this may help in some way…

114
Thermoz June 29, 2009 at 11:52 am

hm, i think you should try asking a soundtechnician about that. been taking some courses in that myself but that was so long ago, and since i dont use that kind of knowledge regulary, ive forgotten most of it :p

but from the way a condensor mic works, it may be some kind of magneticfield that causes all that noise. or it might even have collapsed!

115
Thermoz June 29, 2009 at 12:01 pm

Oi whats up with the commercial btw?

“STOP STATIC”, “buy a new camera”, “need a new mic?”

honestly, its scary :P

116
Stephen June 29, 2009 at 1:04 pm

Ok. You can have my Panasonic HVX 200 for £20 (nice xlrs etc.). $1800 US p&p.

117
MrTroy June 29, 2009 at 4:37 pm

Spoony, a mid-90’s camera is a major dinosaur, it’s probably just the camera’s time.

118
Ithxsmir June 29, 2009 at 7:33 pm

I think one thing you need to realize Spoony is that I’d bet a lot of us come to your site and watch your videos not for your sound quality (not that its bad), but because we enjoy your sense of humor and reviews. Personally from what you demonstrated in the clip I’d watch your reviews/skits even if you were using the on camera mic, or with a little bit of static in the background. Your not making a multi million dollar movie somewhere, your on the net and the bar you set for yourself with regards to quality is far higher than what your average viewer expects. Create your work with pride, but I think your fans won’t fault you for technical difficulties.

119
xParad0Xx June 30, 2009 at 7:27 am

The ending of the video really made me sad with the geniune look of devistation and hopelessness.

I wish you the best of luck either getting your camera repair and/or accessories repaired for a decent price or finding a new quality camera for a good price.

Keep making videos, Noah :D The onboard sound mic is fine IMO and I really can’t tell the difference.

120
CelestialStalker June 30, 2009 at 12:15 pm

I believe the onboard mic is easily adequate with it you still sound better then most videos on the internet.

121
Belialxyn June 30, 2009 at 1:47 pm

Well, if it helps any, myself and sure most of the rest of your fans will watch even if you were using one of those old reel-to-reel cameras. The sound doesn’t matter to me, its nice if its good but I care more about just watching your stuff. Its awesome.

122
darod2007 July 1, 2009 at 3:01 am

God. How long is this review? I was going to watch but it’s almost as long as the movie itself.

123
D-Man July 1, 2009 at 3:03 am

Hey Spoony, I don’t know if you read these, but have you tried a different XLR cable? I am an audio engineer for a living and that sounds kinda like what we would call “One Legged.” It basically means that one of the pins lost connection. When that happens the signal becomes unbalanced and it becomes more vulnerable to interference and typically also sounds weaker and tinny. I’m not sayin it’s definitely it, but it’s at least cheap to check.

124
speedgraphic July 1, 2009 at 9:16 am

Am I the only one that thought the sound was actually better with the onboard mic?

125
cheezeofages July 2, 2009 at 6:34 pm

I looked around man, you can replace the XLR cable/accessory thing pretty cheap, but I couldn’t find a good cheap xlr compatible camera.

126
T.Katastrov July 4, 2009 at 3:37 am

Sounds like the ground broke somewhere on the communication cord.
usually that happens on the wire site rather than in the female jack.
you already tried another microphone/cable?

127
cryokinisis July 8, 2009 at 9:47 am

I don’t know much about cameras but I know something about contacts and cleaning them.
I’d suggest you don’t clean with alchol, it leaves a residue after it drys which makes the problem worse only ever use distilled water.
Also I don’t know if you can buy them (or where) but there is such a thing as a glasfiber brush (looks like a pen) which scraps the smallest amount of the corrosion off of the contacts it does amazing things for electronics espesially at low voltage.
thats my 0.02$

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