Well, just to let you know, there are many who are one man operations, like myself who can capture great audio while shooting alone. I have many posts on this subject and audio. A good lav mic alone will not take your audio to the next level.

First off if you want to start doing corporate gigs, then ditch the consumer iRiver and invest in wireless, or better audio recorder(s) and decent lavs.

For the corporate gigs you are going to want to monitor and adjust your audio accordingly.

Now since you have FX1's as do we, you could add a Beachtek or Juicedlink type XLR boxes and run multiple wireless, wireless/shotgun mic, or multiple hard wired feeds into your camera and monitor and adjust accordingly.

Or you could go the route of purchasing a Edirol R-44 ($899) (great 4- track recorder), and record up to 4 channels of audio to removable SD media and at the same time send a wireless (or hard wired) feed to you camera for monitor/sync/backup audio. You can also have the R-44 right next to you and monitor and adjust accordingly while you are shooting.

All of these are good viable options.

But I would highly recommend not trying to use iRivers for corporate work. For one, they don't produce good audio, as the audio is compressed MP3 and not uncompressed WAV/AIIF quality audio.
Also, they are consumer grade quality and can and most likely will fail you at some point. They don't have removable media and need proprietary software to upload to your system. Not to mention that they have poor manual adjustment controls, and need to go into a menu to adjust recording volume.

Yes they were affordable, but for what you can charge for corporate work, you really should upgrade your audio setup, s one job could pay for this alone.

You can even upgrade recorders to a Marantz PMD620, Edirol R09 for $399. Wireless setup Sennheiser is the most affordable recommendation for around $600.

I don't want to sound like I am preaching, but I guess I am to a point, as I have done many many times here. Don't neglect your audio in your video, as it will show eventually, when compared to someone who makes an effort to capture great video and audio. It is an investment at first, but will outlast your video cameras by 10 fold in the long run. And it can be done affordably as well. ---------------------- I am sure folk appreciate the time you put in to commenting. I am wanting to produce some video promotional material for our small business (and if that is successful, maybe sell some DVDs too). I also have an interest in classical piano and every two months or so attend recitals by some quite amazing pianists. I have been given permission to start videotaping these provided I give a copy to the pianist and venue. So I don't want to stuff up and I am a newbiee!! Gulp. Help!! So in the quantum leap from an amateur hand-held videographer (Panasonic GS-NV180) to someone masquerading as a "video-heavy", what should I do. My arsenal comprises the above camera, a Sony Mini Disk, a Pro 44 XLR mic, a laptop with AUDACITY loaded and a little Behringer Sound mixer that attaches to the laptop via USB. This works well but is MESSY and I don't think messiness will work well at the piano recitals. I am wondering if the Edirol R44 you mentioned might be a good thing as it is an audio recorder and so eliminates two devices (the mixer and the USB interface) and lots of cables. It also eliminates the whirring sound of motors etc. I take your point about getting things right from the beginning and I am prepared to spend the money. I suppose my questions are: a) Does the Edirol produce better sound than i) the H4 ii) and Mini Disk? The mini disk is pretty good but the H4 which I have heard so much about might be MP3? b) I think you are saying that you can feed audio back to the camera from the Edirol wirelessly - ie it has a transmitter. Is that correct? DO you ever get drop outs? d) Are most good cameras ( I am thinking of buying the Panasonic DVX100) capable of accepting wireless signals or do you need to attach a receiving device? c) Can track marks be made on the Edirol and H4? The Mini Disk does this and it is a very handy feature. d) Can Edirol audio be converted into MP3? e) Do you need to be a sound engineer to be able to operate the Edirol? f) I am proposing to attach my Pro 44 mic to the underside of the grand piano (a $150,000 Steinway) with blu-tak. But is this really the best way to do it or in your experience would it be better to have a mic on a boom stand? Once I cure my basic ignorance and get some of the basic understanding-blocks in place I can start asking better questions! And sorry for asking so many. Really hope you can help. Thank you.

Hi Michael,

Thanks so much for your reply. I look forward to digesting this information fully after I have taken my daughter to school (we are in Australia!!). But before I dash off before you go to bed, do good cameras like the DVX100 have what they call "Pro Audio" anyway - and record in quality as good as from the Edirol (assuming a good mic) thus vitiating teh need for a sound recorder full stop?

Thanks so much for your help.
Cheers, Bryan