Hi all,
I just joined the group, after lurking for a while.
I'm a trail runner/hiker who travels quite long distances,
esp. when running, which means I discover amazing places/things
that I would love to record for sharing the experience with
others, and also that I need to travel very light with regards
to equipment, etc.
I'm a rank amateur recordist, recording only enough to know
that there are serious limitations with my old Sony WM-D6C and
Sony stereo mic (ECM 909?).
I'm also cursed to be an audiophile, although I do listen to music,
and not the 'sound' of the music, albeit through vacuum tube
preamps, and other similarly natural sounding equipment.
I recently purchased a Sony HiDef Video Camera - the pro model
called the A1, which is basically an HC1 with an XLR audio module
that accepts two XLR mics on camera for capturing along with the
video, while also providing phantom power.
My aim is to record the audio at a similarly high quality as the
HiDef video, mostly nature recordings, and I will likely want to
record the ambient sounds at very high quality all the time,
with ability to spotlight when I see/hear something interesting that
is not near. I realize this will likely require multiple mics
simultaneously.
I will start by recording audio on the HDV tapes, albeit
compressed. I am still in the process of choosing mics, et al,
So far, I have only purchased a Rode NTG-2, a general purpose
outdoor mic - mono shotgun, only $250. it's battery powered (or XLR)
so I can run it straight into the camera without the XLR unit.
I would like to record in stereo, but still have some research to do
about the various methods before finalizing mic purchases.
so, I have many questions, and am not sure where to start with them,
but I do know that nature recordists take their nature sound way
more seriously than any of the video wonks, so I've come here to ask
for advice, and hopefully contribute as well.
I guess my first question/assumption is this, is reasonably high
quality audio even possible in HDV format, given the compression?
another way of asking this is, what type of additional equipment
would be required to substantially upgrade the audio recorded with a
high quality mic onto HDV? are we talking Beachtek to minidisc level
of investment, or sound devices mixer/pre type setup to hard disk
recorder?
of course, I realize the mic is the key component, so perhaps the
best question to ask is, at what quality level (of microphone) will
the mic be wasted if recording in HDV? AT 897/Rode NTG-2,
AT4073/4071, MHK416, or the even more precious MKHs.
thanks to any and all who might read and respond,
namaste,
clay
ps, a recommendation for a lightweight entry level stereo mic/setup
would be most appreciated.
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