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Home: Video University Forums: Audio For Video:
Yet more R44 questions

 
 


GmElliott
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Jun 26, 2009, 8:24 PM

Post #1 of 6 (725 views)
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Yet more R44 questions Can't Post
Got my R44 recently and finally got around to testing it tonight. I only broke out a single wireless system and did combinations of recording with the onboard mics and wireless systems, alone and combined.

First off I'm quite impressed with the audio quality from my wireless system. I don't know if my ears are leading me astray but it sounds better than running the wireless into my video cams- MUCH better in fact. This may be due to the audio compression in HDV.

Anyway 1) I found that the wireless system (Sony UWP-V1) that I usually have the transmitter set at -12db for priests/officiants/grooms came it a bit quiet. I had to really crank the level knob (inner knob) to get a good volume out of it. On my XH-A1's this comes in plenty hot even at -12db.

Of course I can simply lower the gain to 0 on the transmitter to bring up the signal volume. Is there anything negative to doing it this way? Is it better to set up the transmitter to come out hotter and be able to set the levels on the R44 relatively conservatively?

2) I tried setting it up to record with the onboard stereo mic and a single mono source (wireless) but couldn't find a setting to accommodate this. I'm assuming you cannot set to record "stereo" with the internal mics and "mono" with input 3 for the wireless. In other words you can't mix stereo and mono recordings. It's either one or the other.

Of course I can simply do Monox3 and channel 1 & 2 will be the onboard mic and channel 3 the wireless. But then the onboard mic gets recorded as two channel mono rather than two channel stereo.
Please advise!


3) I don't quite wrap my head around how to adjust the levels- how is the inner knob different from the outer. When playing with it I assume the INNER knob should be set first- which seems to make a larger change in the audio. Then use the outer knob to fine tune it.

I'm assuming you want to get an audio level that's strong enough to be peaking around -6 to -3 yet not push it so far it yields too much hiss or room noise.

Thanks in advance!

PS So far I'm loving this thing!!!! Thanks Mark & Kenny!




Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com
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Kenneth
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Jun 27, 2009, 12:11 AM

Post #2 of 6 (716 views)
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Re: [GmElliott] Yet more R44 questions [In reply to] Can't Post
The answer to #3 is that the outer knob should be set first. This is your sensitivity control. Because you are sending an amplified signal to you recorder it should be set somewhat low. I have mine set at -32 db. If you were plugging a microphone direct into it you would set it higher. Simply put what the sensitivity does is control how much the mic picks up. Setting it low will make it so it only pics up things spoken directly into the mic. Setting it high and you can hear the guests taking from a few pews back.

Then you set the inner knob.

Think of it as one of those scales that's in the doctor's office. You get on and they move the one weight to 200 and then they move the smaller weight to 18, and they are able to tell your weight.

the outer knob is your big increments and the inner knob is your fine tuning.



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Mark Foley
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Jun 27, 2009, 2:43 AM

Post #3 of 6 (707 views)
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Re: [GmElliott] Yet more R44 questions [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Glen...
Kenneth answered you main question correctly....ALWAYS first adjust the outer/larger setting (set the inner to 12 o'clock for a starting position). Adjust the outer until the signal is just reaching -12db (12 on the scale) or as close as you can get it to 12 on the scale on peaks. Adjust the inner to make small incremental changes to the signal once again to reach 12.

For question #2 go to menu/recording setup and turn the scrub/value button until you see "Int+Ana". Set the Rec Mode to "STEREOX2. Plug your external source into channel 3 or 4. This will produce a .pjt file on the R44. In this project file will contain two stereo files. 1.wav will be the stereo file of the internal mics. 2.wav will be your external source



Happy recording...once you figure it out, you'll realize this is probably the best bang for the buck piece of audio gear you will have ever own....
_________________________
Mark






(This post was edited by Mark Foley on Jun 27, 2009, 4:56 AM)


GmElliott
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Jun 27, 2009, 7:47 AM

Post #4 of 6 (689 views)
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Re: [Mark Foley] Yet more R44 questions [In reply to] Can't Post
Regarding the knobs- it felt like the inner dial (which has less steps) is a larger adjustment. If I keep the inner dial at the 12 o'clock position I have to turn the outer dial almost all the way to the right! Do you know how much each dial changes the db for each click?

When recording with the internal speaker the inner dial doesn't to much other than the last three clicks to the far left. It comes up with "low, med, and high". All other dial clicks to the right it doesn't make a difference.

Regarding STEREOX2, wouldn't that cause the channel 3 audio (with no channel 4 input) to be a stereo file with only audio on the left (beings as you aren't inputing anything on the right channel)?

Sorry for all the Q's! Thanks guys!

PS- Kenney says there WAS a full manual included, Mark says there wasn't. Which is correct?! lol




Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com
Glen Elliott on Vimeo


(This post was edited by GmElliott on Jun 27, 2009, 7:47 AM)


Mark Foley
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Jun 28, 2009, 4:55 AM

Post #5 of 6 (660 views)
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Re: [GmElliott] Yet more R44 questions [In reply to] Can't Post
Quote
Regarding STEREOX2, wouldn't that cause the channel 3 audio (with no channel 4 input) to be a stereo file with only audio on the left (beings as you aren't inputing anything on the right channel)?
Yes...but that is the only way you are going to get a stereo file with e internal mics and any additonal analog inout on the other channels

THe outer knob is you input sensitivity...itwill produce the great change on the signal...use he inner to fine tune

_________________________
Mark






GmElliott
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Jul 2, 2009, 8:43 AM

Post #6 of 6 (567 views)
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Re: [Mark Foley] Yet more R44 questions [In reply to] Can't Post
I figured out what I had wrong- I was thinking about inner vs outter all wrong. The dial closest to the unit is the OUTTER and the one further away is inner. It's based on thickness of the knob not location in accordance with where it attaches to the unit. Crazy




Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com
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