Sound level adjustment

[Mark II]

Hi and thanks for viewing,

I just bought the RODE stereo mic for my 5D Mark II and I plan on shooting a friends rock band on October 24th (Halloween party).

The area where the band will perform is about 50' wide and 80' deep with ceilings around 15' tall.

I have 2 questions:

1. Is it necessary to set the 5D's audio level like the RODE manual says? If so, how do you do it?

2. Would you recommend using the PAD switch for the particular event I'm shooting? .... what about the High-Pass filter?

.... I'm absolutely new to external mics so any info. or tips would be most appreciated!

Thanks again,

Mark Devillier
Bombsight Photography

[Mark II]

Nevermind
.... googled it and found out the 5DMKII has an automatic adjustment.

[FlyingPhotog]

I'd get a feed off the mixing board and jack that into the camera or an alternate recording device.

One cardioid or hyper-cardioid mic in a live environment is going to sound, well, less than optimal.

[Jim Strenk]

Are you anticipating plugging the Rode mic directly into your Canon 5D Mark II?

Or, will it be plugged into a on camera mixer/amp?

[Mark II]

I mucked it up really bad.:oops:

Plugged it directly into the 5DMKII.

I don't know what happened but the video is useless! Audio is blown out.:mad:

I had all of the functions on the RODE stereo mic activated.

Could it have simply been just TOO loud?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5FQ1zn7P0A

[ChasWG]

I mucked it up really bad.:oops:

Plugged it directly into the 5DMKII.

I don't know what happened but the video is useless! Audio is blown out.:mad:

I had all of the functions on the RODE stereo mic activated.

Could it have simply been just TOO loud?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5FQ1zn7P0A

WOW, sorry. But once I read what you were planning on doing I knew it would turn out this way. I only just today read this, so I'm sorry I didn't see this before and try to warn you.

Your last question is the right one. Yes, it was just way too loud for the auto settings on these cameras to handle. A small mixer in between the camera and the mic is your best bet if you are going to try that again. Or getting the proper cables to get a direct feed out of the mixing board might have done you better. At least there the mixer could have turned down your input levels. In both cases the answer is the same. A mixer in between the mic(s) and the record device. Digital audio recording is a very touchy thing. Unfortunatly you are just the latest in a long line of people who found out that you can't overdrive a digital audio recording. There is no headroom like with the old anilog devices. Once you hit Zero, it's over.
And as one person already said, a single hypercardiod is not the way to go about recording a live music event. These mics are best used to record human voices and noises that are coming from a single source, like machinery or what not. A secondary audio record device might have helped you out. Something with stereo mics.

Just to let you know, I do sound recording for a living and pictures on the side. I'm still waiting on getting one of these video recording camera bodies. If I had one I'd really be wasting more time in front of my computer. :rolleyes:

[Mark II]

Thanks for confirming that, Chas.

I have been wondering for some time now wtf went wrong.;)

[Trey T]

I used stereo mic on both 5DII and 7D at live event and it sounds good. I always have teh switch to the high-pass.

Recently we shot a live event w/ both 7D(w/ rode) and 5DII(w/o rode) and the sound from the 7D w/ the rode mic sounds a lot better.