First, a courtesy request in responding to my question – please don’t tell me to go out and buy anything – I’m working on a budget and am currently restricted to the equipment I own – I know it’s not state of the art, but has served me (and my family) well over the years – and saved (earned) us a lot of money that was put to use for music training/tuition/audition fees, etc.
When logistics allow, I lug one of my TEAC reel to reel machines to make live recordings of my son or daughter performing. In studio settings, I record directly to my hard drive (such bliss!).
When those solutions aren’t practical (my son recently performed in LA, I’m on the east coast), I carry what was a state of the art prosumer video cam that features an integral 8mm digital recording unit. It is relatively compact and does a great job – except!! – it has audio level circuitry that cannot be disabled. There are recording level dials that control levels when external mics are used (I always use external mics – two mono, one for each stereo channel), and these seem to lower the level, but I am confused as to how to overcome or avoid the effect of that damned limiting circuitry.
I recently recorded my son (a cellist) in a two-hour recital with piano. My strategy (I only guessed that it was right) was to lower the recording level to the point where (I hoped) the loudest passages would not invoke that limiting circuitry. The result is almost perfect – in two hours of recording, there are only two spots where extended silence followed by sudden loud piano attacks caused the limiting circuitry to kick in audibly.
I have corrected these two instances by altering the volume envelope – the result will be transparent except to the most discriminating audio engineer – and, perhaps, to the musicians themselves (perhaps, not necessarily – the result is pretty darned good, IMHO).
My question(s): Is my strategy correct, or is there some other technique by which to moderate the incoming signal so as to keep the cam from trying to protect me from saturation? If I raise the level, I’m know the result would be full of evidence of the machine groping for more signal in soft passages while compressing the signal in loud areas. Fortunately, none of that is present on my recording (except for the two instances of limiting cited).
Lastly, is there some software or physical wizardry that could be brought to bear upon this unit that would permanently disable that damned limiting feature? I’ve scoured the manual and have satisfied myself that there is no built-in switch or option to turn it off (such a shame – an illogical feature set for an otherwise amazing machine – who needs manual input control if it is compromised by auto-limiting circuitry?).
The unit is a Sony CCD-V220 and dates from the late ‘80’s.
When I can afford it, I’ll “upgrade” to some sort of portable digital piece (DAT, digital HD recorder, or a laptop). In the meantime, I’m limited to this piece.
Feel free to also comment on my corrective approach. What I did was to alter the volume envelope to eliminate the effects of the limiter by locating the point where it kicked in, increasing the volume at that point, then gradually reducing the volume to mimic what my ear hears as the natural decay that would occur from an acoustic piano. Is there any better way (a plug-in, perhaps) to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Caruso
When logistics allow, I lug one of my TEAC reel to reel machines to make live recordings of my son or daughter performing. In studio settings, I record directly to my hard drive (such bliss!).
When those solutions aren’t practical (my son recently performed in LA, I’m on the east coast), I carry what was a state of the art prosumer video cam that features an integral 8mm digital recording unit. It is relatively compact and does a great job – except!! – it has audio level circuitry that cannot be disabled. There are recording level dials that control levels when external mics are used (I always use external mics – two mono, one for each stereo channel), and these seem to lower the level, but I am confused as to how to overcome or avoid the effect of that damned limiting circuitry.
I recently recorded my son (a cellist) in a two-hour recital with piano. My strategy (I only guessed that it was right) was to lower the recording level to the point where (I hoped) the loudest passages would not invoke that limiting circuitry. The result is almost perfect – in two hours of recording, there are only two spots where extended silence followed by sudden loud piano attacks caused the limiting circuitry to kick in audibly.
I have corrected these two instances by altering the volume envelope – the result will be transparent except to the most discriminating audio engineer – and, perhaps, to the musicians themselves (perhaps, not necessarily – the result is pretty darned good, IMHO).
My question(s): Is my strategy correct, or is there some other technique by which to moderate the incoming signal so as to keep the cam from trying to protect me from saturation? If I raise the level, I’m know the result would be full of evidence of the machine groping for more signal in soft passages while compressing the signal in loud areas. Fortunately, none of that is present on my recording (except for the two instances of limiting cited).
Lastly, is there some software or physical wizardry that could be brought to bear upon this unit that would permanently disable that damned limiting feature? I’ve scoured the manual and have satisfied myself that there is no built-in switch or option to turn it off (such a shame – an illogical feature set for an otherwise amazing machine – who needs manual input control if it is compromised by auto-limiting circuitry?).
The unit is a Sony CCD-V220 and dates from the late ‘80’s.
When I can afford it, I’ll “upgrade” to some sort of portable digital piece (DAT, digital HD recorder, or a laptop). In the meantime, I’m limited to this piece.
Feel free to also comment on my corrective approach. What I did was to alter the volume envelope to eliminate the effects of the limiter by locating the point where it kicked in, increasing the volume at that point, then gradually reducing the volume to mimic what my ear hears as the natural decay that would occur from an acoustic piano. Is there any better way (a plug-in, perhaps) to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Caruso