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In Reply to: Carter - question posted by mario on April 09, 2001 at 10:35:17:
It's kinda hard to justify purchasing something JUST for audio, but aside from buying a prosumer camcorder (with full manual audio controls), standalone audio gear is often the better alternative for aspiring video hobbyists. Since you're digitizing the footage into a computer, pretty much ANYTHING will technically work. The question is how much quality do you want and how much are you willing to spend. In LOTS of cases, a cheapo Radio-Shack cassette recorder with a recording volume dial and a decent microphone would do the trick. Plug it into the soundcard and digitize the audiocassette to whatever file format your video edit program takes.
If you want to get fancy, award-winning audio guru Jay Rose has an article on making a decent MiniDisc recording setup for around $300. Note that MiniDisc samples audio at 44.1khz whereas audio on miniDV is 48khz, however the computer ought to re-render and resample it without much of a problem.
You can worry about syncing up the audio after it's been digitized into the computer. Make the job easier by starting the MiniDisc and Camcorder (presumably on rollbar mount) recording, then make a loud noise (tap the horn)... this way, once you see the footage and waveform audio in the software's timeline, you have a visual cue on how to sync up the two clips.
Some hobbyists resort to adding manual audio control to their camcorder with a device from Studio 1 or BeachTek. You'll need to check first whether plugging anything into your camcorder's mic plug will override the AGC. Some camcorders' only apply AGC to the onboard mic.
In a pinch, I guess you can try to use a laptop to record audio with some sliver of manual control. On a windows machine, go into Volume Controls and switch it to "Record Control." Set the Record Volume accordingly and use Sound Recorder with an external mic. Don't use a desktop PC for this as you're sure to pickup nose from the fan(s).
HTH,
Carter
'96½ Z3 _7_7_7_7
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