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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oops, not the fca202, no XLR input… which would make it useless for you.
The on-board mic seems like it’s fine to me, at least for these sort of Vlogs (though I admit I’m not that much of an audiophile). I imagine a side-by-side comparison to better audio might reveal a difference, but I’ve also always been able to hear a bit of a difference between the voiceover and the live segments, presumably even with the XLR mic.
most likely it could be a bad connector, the problem with adapters is they often go bad, I’ve worked with different sound equipment for years now and most of the time its simply the connections. especially in something as big as a xlr. It could also be a bad cable, have you tried different xlr cables? Your shoe or your cable may have some loose soder joints that is causing the sound to have static and not as loud, I’ve run into that issue more than once myself and it was usually a bad connector, or bad amp. Most likely a repair place will tell you to just buy a new one. Depending on how good of repair shop it is. But simply going by the sound it definitely sounds like one of the connectors has a soder joint that went bad, it usually happens when cables get tugged, tripped on, or simply wear and tear. Good luck getting it fixed. With respects to filming one solution I have found that works great is I have a small sound board that I have my xlr mic hooked up too and I simply plug in either the laptop or the 1/8 mic-in jack on my camera directly to the headphone out of the sound board. Theres a lot of other ways you could do it but, its really easy and pain free.
you could use the onboard mic for recording video because it’s quality is fine right now, and then get a mic for voice overs. I would recommend a Blue Snowball condenser mic. It’s USB so it works on any computer and the sound quality is Freaking Sweet. Best off, usually only about $100.
Save your other condenser mic for if / when you get decide to mabey get a sound board or multiple mics.
That is some pretty bad hissing, far worse than I usually hear from a microphone mounted camera. I’m not exactly a technological guru, so I’m not sure what to tell you to do to fix it. An external mic may be the best route to go. Aside from that, and I know you said you don’t want to buy a new camera but… you may need to buy a new camera. Yeah, sorry! The newer digital cameras look pretty impressive. I’ve been wanting to get one myself, but I’m going to get the most out of my old cam for the time being. I will say this much though, and it kind of goes against your desire to be a perfectionist… but if you talk enough during your videos, the static in the background is barely noticeable. Still, don’t let my opinion discourage you from fixing the problem. Do what you can to keep your vids coming!
It appears you don’t trust electronics fixers as I don’t trust doctors. They’ll both say what already is known that something is wrong but in the end it’s still you who has to deal with it. I have a recommendation and I think will sound really stupid for a video recording device but you could use a web-cam. There are some really professional web-cams out there that have a good quality image capturing and I saw even your room was heavy lighted to record. Oh and for sound you could use the lavalier microphone. I apologize again if I made a preposterous suggestion.
Personally, I think this is the perfect opportunity for you to finish up your Let’s Play of SWAT 4, and get Ripper into full swing. I would say continue FFVIII, but you like to do live segments in those, so that’ll be put on hold. Really like your work, and I hope things work out for ya.
My first question would be, how are you getting sound in to your computer for voice overs, is there a RCA out on that to tie to the RCA in for the camera to bypass the camera’s preamp. Secondly, perhaps something like this http://www.topdjgear.com/gemc5chcomib.html for 30 bucks would help if whatever you use for your computer does not have the output.
Spoony,
I commented on a previous blog about your audio problems, but just incase, I’d like to reiterate. I have the same camera as yours, a Sony PD-100 manufactured in 1998, which came with the same accessory shoe. Eventually, after several years of heavy use, I encountered the same hisses and pops whenever I used the XLR shoe. I took it to a repair shop and they told me the problem was a loose internal connection on the camera shoe itself. After a couple months of it working, the problem resurfaced even worse than before. So I had to make the same decision: re-repair, or buy a new cam. I found an alternate solution that let me keep my camera and only cost about $250. I bought an XLR to 1/8″ converter from Beachtek, a small box that mounts under the camera using tripod screws and uses an internal 9 volt battery to power its own preamp circuitry. The quality was amazing when using my high quality shotgun, and there is virtually no hiss. If your mic requires phantom power, there’s a Beachtek adapter for that but it costs about $50 more. If you eventually decide on a new camera, the Sony PD-150 can go for as low as $1500 in some online stores. It was released in the early 2000s still used today by pros, and it has XLR and accepts your L-series batteries. Incidentally, how do you capture audio into your computer using your XLR mic? Surely you must have some sort of audio interface that accepts XLR and feeds to your computer. Perhaps, if you really want to go cheap, you can try a cable coming out of the interface and into your cam’s 1/8″ mic input that’s on the side.
YOU ARE RUINING THE MAGIC FOR ME! Never explain how things are done, or else DEATH!
Noah, even though trying to be a perfectionist is good, but us fans really not mind a lot. As long as your review is still top notch awesome we will support you. New Camera guys! Gotta get him one
Did you do a Curtis and Trevor “eeeeeee” near the end of this video…?
Too bad it’s not working… Your reviews are usually top quality in video and sound, but I don’t mind if it isn’t that good. Your videos are still funny and top notch. So keep on going, spoony!
And I’m sure there’s people ready to donate some money to you. Not only us fans, but maybe even TGWTG? Who knows.A
I seriously don’t notice the camera mic’s machinery sounds….
Are you sure it isn’t the microphone?
Do you have to run audio through the camera?
If you mentioned the name of the camera/mic/accessory manufacturer/model, perhaps you can get more positive feedback about it.
Make an model, Spoony?
As it was turning away at the end… To the screen’s direction… Almost as if it would have tried to make one final review.
@ TheBlunderbuss: I taught that first too but since both mics he used had the static, its probably something with the camera. If you’re lucky its just a little scratch in the audio input, they will probably be able to fix it/replace it.
Best of luck!
-Ictiv
Come on cammy! You can pull through :)
The static may be caused by some external device that produces a strong magnetic field when it is turned on.
Example#1: you mom’s vacuum cleaner.
Example #2: someone in of your neighbours is a readio amateur.
Example #3: some domestic anti-burglar alarm systems based on sensors (i.e. sensors attached to windows and doors that detect their opening) also produce string magnetic fields in some cases. This once happened in Italy when ONE SINGLE SENSOR caused all radio devices to tilt in a range of 100ft.
i think the onboard mic sounds ok. its not ideal but it works rather nicely. and i dont think most of your viewers are extreme sound enthusiasts so that shouldnt be an issue^^ the change from voiceover to onboard mic will probably be very audible but i dont think people will care too much about that. its better than the annoying hissing sound, right?
recording the sound externally and having to sync it to the video afterwards can be pretty bad, especially if you are doing it alone… i can see why you dont want to do that^^
anywho, good luck with finding a solution, i hope you can get everything fixed! especially because you seem to have some very neat equipment there!
It sounds rather good.
Spoony!!!! You have to be one of those perfectionists. I couldn’t here a damn thing in terms of background noise. Maybe if I cranked the volume up I could, but it’s not needed to hear you perfectly fine. Your kinda making a mountain out of a mole hill. Remember, your doing this stuff in your bedroom. It doesn’t have to be Hollywood quality. I just wanna watch and listen to your videos. Quality is the last thing on my mind really.
I’m not an expert but that sounds like amplifier noise. Like when you turn your radio on and crank up the volume to the max.
well but, you could record seperately onto pc and DONT do takes
in fact you do takes, but you never stop recorder, audio or video
so you just have to sync one time, everything
it sounds like phase shifting between the microphones, the xlr-microphone is taking up other mic and recording it at the same sound channel and I’d bet that is that’s causing the static, if you have a separate soundport for both microphone you could mute the camera-mic and probably clean the sound
I think a mixerboard or a soundprogram could salve the problem, I could consult some friends I know with more experience then me Spoony and see what they think might help
i wanna add a thing, you should go to where they sell electronic hardware or sound hardware like a instrument shop with the boom-mic and the camera, they could probably help you out with the problem
Holy shit that is indeed a bad signal.
Theo i got curius of to know what model of the camera it is you are using?
Allso one tthing that made me think of is eroding (is it spelled that?) buildupp on the internal component on the adapter you are using or inside the cameras connector cable.
For cleaning, maybe you should try one of those canisters of compressed air, the kind that come with a thin plastic tube to get in to tight places, like between keyboard keys and headphone jacks.
Also, aren’t there programs that you can install on your computer that would enable you to control and manage you camera through the computer? So if you have to record sound directly into the computer you could automatically start and synchronize your video capture with the audio feed.
Damn you looked and sounded devastated near the end when you said “it might still be dirty” . You could sell your camera you are recording on now on ebay or something for extra cash, who wouldnt want to buy a camera owned by Mister MaximumSpoon :D especially as the onboard mic still works.
Hey, Spoony I’m in the Army and we have very similar connectors for our commo equipment on our tanks. One thing I’ve learned when we have a bad connection and get alot of static is the best way to clean both male and female ends with a pencil. I know sounds stupid but really scrub the shit out it with the eraser the blow it out with canned air so the eraser shavings arent caught in there. Really cheap way to get your shit operational. Unless of course its not just a bad connection.
I think you should buy a cheap harddrive camcorder. A used JVC on the eBay for 150. Greetings!
Donations will come from me soon your Spooniness. I know you weren’t begging, but your reviews make me laugh and we all need laughter. I couldn’t hear the motor of your camera over the fan of my laptop… something I might want to get checked out.
Is that a castlevania shirt?
To be honest Spoony, your static problem reminds me of my old headset in terms of static. Mine had some sort of defect at some point in the wiring around the mic that caused massive static or it wouldn’t record the microphone’s input. I had to get a new one when that one fried, and while I’m no tech expert, the resemblance of your problem to my problem is somewhat uncanny.
Well, I’m no sound expert but honestly I think the sound in this video was just fine. The fuzz with the mic was nasty but the sound from the camera mic seems just fine. In fact, the sound in this video from the camera mic is a lot better than a lot, and I mean a lot, of videos on the net.
Anyway, I don’t know about anyone else but hearing that tiny wer in the background wouldn’t bother me at all.
Ok, now that i’ve SEEN the equipment i can see what’s happening. I have stage mics that do the same thing. It turns out to be the actual cable between the mic and the input, NOT the connections themselves about 90% of the time.
Where the hell did you get that Castlevania shirt? I love it.
What the hell is that big, black, deathcock next to your bookcase?
Spoony, don’t you play SILENT HILL? You’re catching up static. STATIC! They are here! Finally! Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.
How egotistical are you to think that people care enough about your opinion to listen to you piss and moan for 40 minutes about a movie you didn’t like.
One could argue that you are doing it because it means more comments, which means, more hits. Of course, this would make you a huge hypocrite since you are bitching about the changes to this movie, which also caused it to sell more tickets.
Either way, you might want to stick to your usually wittier approach to reviewing things. Just pissing and moaning is really not that appealing.
I thought of that Paul (#17) said too. Have you tried to use some kind of noise reduction filter on the static or did that just screw it all up even more? I’d say it’s worth a shot if you haven’t as Audcity is freeware and is a very good audio editing program for being that. =)
I’m no technical expert, and at the moment, I have no cash, so all I can offer you is best of luck in getting this resolved. For what it’s worth, I’d watch your show regardless, fuzz or no fuzz…
Having the same problem with my lavalier mic, I hope if you fix it you tell us what was wrong.
Best of luck to you Spoony, camera problems can be a total bitch to fix.
Cool Wave or other audio editor capable of noise reduction?
I’ve had that type of problem at my job before. I was filming one of the many high profile lectures we have on my campus and then my audio crapped out. NOT a fun time, so I can sympathies to some degree.
Operator is pleased with how you name weapons, and use them as refernce…VERY pleased!
If you do decide (because of this or otherwise) to get a new camera- I would second what Shawn (#59) said about getting a Sony PD-150.
They are excellent pro-sumer/low-end pro cameras with great connection options and controls. They are a tiny bit pricy still, but well worth it if you do decide to get a new camera.
dude spoony…if you kept a camera going good for 10 years you did well. If I were you just use the onboard mic until you can get it fixed or buy a new one.
also what type of camera is it?
Dude, I don’t hear the sound of the camera recording. it sounds fine. don’t trip spoony.
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