Using an audio mixer with a camcorder

1. MachVI
   Member

   

   I've been out of video production for 15 years and am getting ready to jump back in with an HD camcorder purchase, but one of my absolute "must haves" is the ability to feed the camcorder with the "line out" of an audio mixing board for some studio work. What is not clear to me is if the microphone input jack (such as on a Canon HF20) is compatible with the normal line levels from an audio device, or will it only work with microphones?

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2. EarlC
   Moderator

   

   Only microphones.

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3. robgrauert
   Member

   

   If your camera has an audio input, such as an XLR connection, that can be set to Line or Mic, then it should be able to receive a feed from a mixer...

   Robert J. Grauert, Jr
   http://www.robgrauert.com

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4. EarlC
   Moderator

   

   That would be true, Rob, except I think all the HF20 has is a minijack microphone input. Still, I should not have been so blunt because there are ways to go from line to mic, or mic to line, but not without some degree of jury rigging and that often brings on additional audio problems, or can.

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5. BruceMol
   Member

   

    If the mic input on the HF20 is like the HV20, you'll have to deliver signal from your soundboard to a 1/8" stereo mini-plug. With the HV20 you can select auto or manual levels. I have to tell you though, if the HF is like the HV, it's really hard to monitor the levels and the indicator levels aren't so accurate. If it's a critical event, you want back up sound from some other device. I've used a ZOOM H2 hooked up to a soundboard for music and vocal and my HV20 recording the ambient hall sound - I sync them up later. I see that BeachTek and others make a box that adds XLR inputs to cameras like ours. I've never tried one because the price was the same for a ZOOM and Earl has written about them before and he is absolutely right, they are worth the money, piece of mind, ease of use, easy to monitor.

   So, you probably can fiddle with the HF20 input levels for use with a soundboard, BeachTek boxes will allow you to do that better than the HF20 at the expense of adding some audio complexity but if you used an auxiliary audio device you'd have two copies of your sound - redundancy is good.

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6. D0n
   Member

   

   I shoot weddings.

   I considered the beachtek adaptors.

   I went instead with a peavy pv6 usb mixing board.

   My reasoning was simply this.... some of the venues and churches I've been to have archaic soundboards and rather than risk plugging into phantom powered, plugs by accident or trying to figure out how to use/troubleshoot someone else's board it is easier to plug into thier board (even if the fastest means is to put a splitter on thier headphone jack, into a board that is safe and set up right, into both one or more  of my camcorders and my laptop.

    

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7. XTR-91
   Member

   

   You'll probably be able to feed a line signal into a mic input, whether it's switchable or not. You won't be able to feed a mic signal into a line port, on the other hand, and get any usable signal. Numerous times, I've been able to connect the speaker (line output) of my computer to my PC's audio input being set to Mic mode. The audio levels were fine after a significant amount of adjusting the speaker and microphone levels.

   The possible side-effect of feeding a line signal into a mic input is an extra amplifyed and distorted signal. Most camcorders that don't have manual sound level controls will often adjust the levels automatically, so there probably won't be any worry.

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8. film814
   Member

   

   If you only have a 1.8" input, and want XLR inputs and controls, I would strongly recommend a JuicedLink.  You can get them at B&H, and they work just like the Beachtek, but the preamps are much higher quality.

   I've used one on a camera while shooting a stage production, and the audio came out gorgeous.  (Plus it gives you the flexibility of not only using professional mics, but picking up a feed from a mixer if you want.  i.e. if you're doing the video, and there's some other professional doing audio.)

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9. EarlC
   Moderator

   

   Line to mic WILL distort and overwhelm your mic circuits and could possibly cause serious damage to the audio circuits of your camcorder. DO NOT directly connect a line feed to a microphone input without some kind of converter!

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