Sound recording

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Hi,

I recently used my trusty old sony video recorder (digital but old) the quality of the imaging was good enough but you couldn't hear what was being said. Without getting too close and intruding is there any way that I can increase the gain/volume of the audio part of the recording? I expect that I will need to buy a separate microphone but any ideas of which type or even which one?

Thanks for any input on this one as I don't have a clue.

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

I do a bit of video recordings of when I am out on my motorcycle in a group. I use a gopro hero 5 session. This is mounted on the side of my crash helmet. Obviously at anything over 20mph the wind noise to the unit is too much. I have tried a few things. 1 is I downloaded a audio recording app for my galaxy phone ,which accepts Bluetooth. Most of the apps do not. I then use my microphone which is in my helmet connected to my Bluetooth phone unit. I can now do a running commentary or stay quiet. The 2nd is I bought a Tascam audio recorder. They are not expensive. So you could hold this in your hand or have it in a pocket. It has a very good gain volume on it for far or near recordings. It is also stereo. So the way I do the video is when I switch the camera on & my audio recording . I hold my hands in front of the camera & clap my hands hard twice. This is the clapper board method you see in film sets. Then when I edit the video, of which I use Pinnacle studio 22. Or you can download Hitfilm express free. I lay the video track on line 1. Then my audio tracks on line 2 & 3. Then you have to zoom in close & look for the 2 spikes in the audio & line them up with your hand claps. Takes a bit of getting used to but it works perfectly. You can now turn up or down any of the audio tracks to suit what you want. My Son Video's shows for a dance group & I taught him that method which he does every year when the shows are on. He even uses multi camera. Where my gopro is up by the spots above stage & he has 2 video camera's running at different locations in the hall. Then again you simply download your footage to a p.c & open your editing studio & edit away. The beauty of the programs is they have lots of special effects you can use to really spruce up a dull video. I even put audio music clips in if there is a point where we are all overtaking cars,,, I put Benny hill music on. Always gets a laugh. I also edit out the speedo on the bike just in case. Hope this long explanation helps you Regards .

Steve.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Not 100% if this applies to your recorder as you did not say if it was tape based but some systems recorded the audio as a simple audio track on the tape to save expensive digital to audio and vice versa electronics. The audio recording and playback head could be dirty and need cleaning if that is the case.

Martin C

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

Difficult to give a definitive answer without knowing more about the application, filming distance, background noise etc. But this is likely a good place to start:

Shotgun Microphone

Not cheap, but they do come up on ebay at about £140 or so. You'll need at least a foam pop screen and very likely a "dead cat" wind sock as well, also a mounting shoe.

If you are anywhere close to West Gloucestershire UK I can lend you one to try. You'll also need the cable to connect bretweeen the microphone output (XLR3 male) to whatever the external microphone input on your camera uses.

If you want to take this any further send me a PM.

 

Rgds Simon

Edit:  If you enter "Shotgun microphone" in the ebay search filed you'll get 800 plus hits.  You need something with a super-cardioid pattern.  Rode, Sony, Sennheiser are all good makes you could trust, but you may need to buy one with an on-board battery as it will be a condenser microphone which needs a power supply.  Your camera may have the facility of "phantom power" which is to power the microphone, but be careful there are two standards for phantom power – P12 and P48.  You need to buy a microphone compatible with whichever phantom power facility your camera uses.  If you want any further help just PM me.

Edited By Simon Williams 3 on 14/01/2020 16:57:44

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Wow thank you for the help, this is the scenario,

My new neighbours (well about 5 years ) have got worse and worse in terms of their behaviour, as I live in a (semi-detached bungalow) the noise levels travel pretty easily and are now beyond a joke. Neither of them work and they have drifted into a pattern whereby they are up until about 05:00 and then sleeping until afternoon. As I work shifts often starting at 07:00 sometimes finishing as late as 21:00 I do need to get four or five hours sleep and this is now not possible as they argue endlessly and then one of the ladies slams a door shut repeatedly for up to about 15 minutes at a time then they start again a few hours later.

I have been told that I need to capture some evidence of this behaviour showing the times and recording the noise, which is loud enough to wake me up every time, so I used the video which has no tape. The image shows the tiem on the alarm clock but even going into the living room where the sound levels are make you jump, it barely captures the sound, there is an external microphone input socket but I wouldn't know which microphone type/make etc to buy.

So I will check out the ideas mentioned and see what looks liek the best way forward.

Once again many thanks,

Ian

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

There is a saying . Fight fire with fire. I had the same problem in a terrace house. The bedroom backing on to mine was a young girl with a boyfriend. Yes you guessed. Humping till 3 & 4 am. I complained to the parents & got nowhere. So I set up my hi fi. With the sub up against the wall. When I was ready to go out I set a high base song on a repeat & switched the system on. It was not loud but the base was insane. Strangely the noises stopped. Just wait until they are asleep & give it to them. They will soon stop.

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Posted by Steviegtr on 15/01/2020 23:23:01:

There is a saying . Fight fire with fire. I had the same problem in a terrace house. The bedroom backing on to mine was a young girl with a boyfriend. Yes you guessed. Humping till 3 & 4 am. I complained to the parents & got nowhere. So I set up my hi fi. With the sub up against the wall. When I was ready to go out I set a high base song on a repeat & switched the system on. It was not loud but the base was insane. Strangely the noises stopped. Just wait until they are asleep & give it to them. They will soon stop.

Yes sadly I am beginning to think that might be my best option, if only it was humping, the younger of the two can clearly be heard ranting and shouting then banging the door closed repeatedly for over ten minutes at a time, then maybe again a couple of hours later and now that is nearly every night so I do need to stop it. Might be quicker and even cheaper to upgrade my h fi system.

Thanks,

Ian

[SparksParticipant @sparks]

For the mic. to match it must be of the correct impedance, look up the model on the Internet either specs. or user manual will give an indication.

High quality end machine it could be 600 Ohm dynamic, my guess it will be around 50K or so, many today will take a condenser microphone but they have a 1.5V cell fitted in the mic, if using a line input instead of the mic input we could be looking at about 10K impedance and around 300mV or so.

No harm in using an external microphone amplifier into the line input., the specifications or user manual is your friend here.

Dave

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Ian Skeldon 2 on 15/01/2020 23:13:06:

Wow thank you for the help, this is the scenario,

My new neighbours (well about 5 years ) have got worse and worse in terms of their behaviour, as I live in a (semi-detached bungalow) the noise levels travel pretty easily and are now beyond a joke. Neither of them work and they have drifted into a pattern whereby they are up until about 05:00 and then sleeping until afternoon. As I work shifts often starting at 07:00 sometimes finishing as late as 21:00 I do need to get four or five hours sleep and this is now not possible as they argue endlessly and then one of the ladies slams a door shut repeatedly for up to about 15 minutes at a time then they start again a few hours later.

I have been told that I need to capture some evidence of this behaviour showing the times and recording the noise, which is loud enough to wake me up every time, so I used the video which has no tape. The image shows the tiem on the alarm clock but even going into the living room where the sound levels are make you jump, it barely captures the sound, there is an external microphone input socket but I wouldn't know which microphone type/make etc to buy.

So I will check out the ideas mentioned and see what looks liek the best way forward.

Once again many thanks,

Ian

Get a cheap webcam, get some free security software and set it to record continuously in time-stamped 10 or 5 minute chunks.

Neil

[SparksParticipant @sparks]

A sound activated switch comes to mind here, as soon as there's sound triggers an electronic switch that turns the recorder on.

Dave

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Some good advice there, I will look at both of the options mentioned. If I can record it at roughly the level I can here it then I can present a case and get the problem sorted.

Many thanks for the help,

Ian

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

In the sixties my brother had neighbours who regularly got into plate-throwing shouting matches, though not as far as I know in the middle of the night. He bought a copy of Good vibrations by the Beach Boys, and when they got going he put it on the stereo and turned it up. After a few applications they would quieten down in seconds!

George B.

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