By George Petersen

YOU DON’T HAVE TO WANDER FARTHER THAN YOUTUBE.COM to notice that video’s making a big impact on the web. Sure, the ‘net is filled with lots of funny clips, animations and occasionally even interesting bits, like the torture test of the Unitron waterproof computer keyboard. But there’s a serious side too…

On the Mix front, we’ve been incorporating video into our site for years, ranging from Seminars on Demand on topics such as Kevin Becka’s excellent series on studio miking techniques or technology previews like Taylor Guitars/Rupert Neve Expression Series or going backstage with the crew on the 2007 Snow Patrol tour. Just go to http://mixonline.com/video/ and you can find all this and more—including video highlights of past trade shows—AES, NAB, NAMM. And with the opening of Pixar’s Ratatouille, we’re going online tomorrow morning with an exclusive chat with the film’s sound designer extraordinaire Randy Thom—neat stuff!

There’s a whole lotta video going on around here with a whole lot more to come. That’s good. The bad part is trying to shop for some fairly simple HD camcorders that we can dole out to our editors for events like tradeshow coverage, where we need something lightweight, easy to use and capable of good quality picture and sound. That’s the ugly part. Picture-wise, there are plenty of low-cost models available that can handle the job, but getting decent audio from a consumer camcorder is like pulling teeth: Real ugly.

Today’s low-cost models tout features like 20x optical zooms (and the all-too-bogus 200x “digital” zoom functions), onboard effects, 720 HD picture quality, and storage to DV tape, hard disk, mini DVD and all manners of removeable media cards (SD, CF, Memory Stick, etc.) Yet at the same time, the attention to audio is deplorable. Here, I’m not even getting into the nuances of digital filter design or sampling rates or the quality of the onboard mics—or an almost total lack of manual controls for audio level. [Besides, there’s something VERY cinema verite about that blast of noise that appears when an AGC circuit pumps up the hiss or background noise during the pauses between sentences of dialog.] But what really kills me are the places where manufacturers locate these onboard mics. For some reason, the favored locations seem to be along the rear of the top panel–didn’t these companies ever consider putting mics on the FRONT of the camera, like maybe under the lens?

One model I looked at had the mics mounted on the back side of the flip-out viewscreen. On first glance, I thought this could be cool–the backside would form a quasi-boundary, giving you a semi-hemispherical pickup. However, it could get real ugly when the user tilts the viewscreen downward for low-angle shooting (pointing the mics at the floor) or when your hand partially covers the mics when holding the camera. Ugly, for sure.

Of course, it’s all fixable with an external mic, but finding a low-cost camcorder that has an external mic input (even 1/8-inch unbalanced) is not easy. But at least if you do, there are options, such as Rode’s VideoMic or Sennheiser’s MKE 300 shotguns or a simple Audio-Technica Pro 24 cardioid X-Y stereo. Yeah, I know there are much higher-end mics, but at least simple solutions like these will put you way ahead of the audio quality game.

And XLR inputs??? Fuggettaboutitt–at least in the sub-$2000 range. Certainly, there are other options, such as the cool XLR-to-minijack adapters from www.beachtek.com or the vintage PASS MD Report Jr. unit I’ve used for years. Heck, you could even go double system, and pack your fave location recorder, mixer, sound cart, booms, fishpoles, radio mics, shotguns and lavaliers. Sure, it’s a little bit of overkill when you’re shooting the kid’s birthday party on a $400 camcorder, but maybe that’s what real sound is all about…

When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.

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