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[H340]High Quality Sound Recorder

by Arcykoontz, Arc

Cars are now a comfort as much as they are necessities for everyday living. They may have been just a need before but with the passing of time, cars also underwent several stages of evolution. As such, the need for it to be comfortable became an added factor upon choosing what car to buy. A merger was made in 1926 and Mercedes Benz was born as an answer to the call for fast, comfortable, and luxurious cars. Mercedes Benz and luxury were soon inseparable as they proved how much of a luxury and quality their cars have, and people loved the idea of what they offered. Soon, it was no doubt when Mercedes made it to be one of the top-selling cars, and with that, a widely-known automaker.

Mercedes since has stood its ground on producing cars that only the select few fortunate enough to afford a Benz. These elite group enjoyed being compared to royalty as they parade down the streets and freeways behind the wheels of their Benz, with people staring at them with awe. But that's just one part of the ride. A look at under the hood will tell bystanders why Benz is really such high-performing luxury car, giving them another reason to drop their mouths on the floor. Mercedes Benz continues to trademark their work with the legacy of high-performance they've been known for. They put it in their own hands to make car parts that are specific to the car models they also produce, as they are the only ones capable of knowing the exact specifications these models have.

Also, true to their word of providing their customers with only the best in luxury, they have also taken into consideration the role car radios play. Cruising down the freeway on the way to a business rendezvous could be a really tiring and sleepy ride. The only thing that could energize drivers and accompany them along the road are the sounds and music coming out of the car's radio. It would then be very essential and handy to equip their Benz with a Mercedes Benz Antenna Mast.

Although the trend now is to just plug in MP3 Players to listen to quality music that drivers enjoy, it wouldn't hurt to add on a Mercedes Benz Antenna Mast. There would still come a time when a driver would want to listen to the radio sounds and then this type of antenna will come in really handy. It adds on a lot of channels and so there'd be a lot of radio stations to choose from. After all, having a lot of options is good, isn't?

Antenna masts differ in materials used depending on its make. Benz makes their Mercedes Benz Antenna Mast with only quality materials. They know that the antenna length and the materials make a huge difference in the quality of reception that the car radio receives. It also gives additional strength when looking for radio waves so that even when driving in a so-out-of-town place, Benz owners could still have the luxury of listening to radio stations. Mercedes Benz produced Mercedes Antenna Masts for most of the model year and make that they have; as it is their lifelong commitment to customize car parts that's uniquely identifiable with each make.

Nowadays camcorders are used for more than just filming home movies. A large community of amateur videographers now film short clips to put on web sites such as ‘Google video', ‘You Tube' and their own personal sites. Some of these are purely for entertainment while others are for information purposes e.g. local history societies interview people for their memories of the locality.

The quality of modern camcorders and computer based editing systems combined can produce excellent visual results which are often let down by poor quality sound. The main reason for this is that the built-in video microphone is usually too far away from the people being filmed.

At the time of filming, our ears, eyes and brain work together to effectively suppress the reverberation and other unwanted sound sources in the room to allow us to hear what someone is saying, what we hear is different to what a microphone ‘hears'.

This is where external microphones are required, the closer a microphone can get to the subject, the quieter other unwanted sounds effectively become.

If at this stage you don't have any external microphones then the best advice for getting good quality sound from the built in video microphone is to get your camera as close to your sound source as possible i.e. about 3 feet away, however you might still hear some camera motor noise. If you are taking videography seriously then it's best to wear closed-back headphones so that you only hear what will be on the audio tracks.

Usually camcorders have a built in stereo electret microphone which can either be unplugged from its socket or there are external microphone sockets and some means of switching between them and the built in video microphones. An A/V socket is usually available for plugging in an external audio mixer.

It might be necessary to buy a ‘stereo plug to two mono sockets' lead so that you can make full use of the two tracks that are available on most camcorders.

Presenter

If your presenter needs to be mobile then it would be best to buy or rent a radio microphone kit (make sure you get a kit that has a small battery powered receiver - not a large mains powered one), this allows a lapel microphone (usually omni pickup characteristics) or a plugged in handheld microphone (usually cardioid pickup) to be permanently close to the presenter's mouth. The lapel microphone is usually worn on a tie, suit lapel or shirt, try to avoid placing it on a shirt collar since this picks up too much sound from the throat, which sounds un-natural.

If the presenter is always static and fairly close to the camera at all times then an electret ‘line microphone' can be worn connected via an extension lead, which should be framed out of shot.

Presenter and Interviewees

If the presenter is interviewing several people, one person at a time, then a handheld cabled or radio microphone can be used, this can be a cardioid dynamic or condenser microphone. To avoid missing parts of questions and/or answers due to poor microphone technique, a separate lapel microphone can be worn by the interviewer who then points the handheld microphone at the interviewees.

If a large group of people are to be interviewed then it would be best to have a ‘boom operator' to concentrate on pointing a hypercardiod microphone on a ‘fishpole' at the interviewee who's talking.

Alternatively employ a sound recordist with an audio mixer with a sufficient number of microphone inputs and lapel microphones to fade up whoever is talking in the group of interviewees. The presenter's microphone goes to one track and interviewees to the other.

At the editing stage the relevant audio track can be favoured to get as ‘close' a sound as possible, if both tracks are faded up all the time then the sound becomes too ‘open' and less inteligible.

If you only have one camcorder then it would be best to concentrate your shots on the interviewees and then after the interview to take some close-ups of the interviewer asking the questions and possibly an introduction and conclusion plus the ‘noddy' shots to help your edit. A wide shot of the whole group where you can't see the interviewer or interviewees talking is another useful shot for editing purposes.

Camcorder technical issues.

The built in microphones and pre-amplifiers on most domestic camcorders may not be good enough for professional requirements. It is best to use a separate audio mixer and microphones plugged into the A/V input and switch off any built in ‘auto' functions and limiters and then set the recording levels in the camera manually according to the Tone generator in the audio mixer.

Analogue camcorders will have to set their levels at -4vu and digital camcorders at 20db below full scale and set the audio sample rate to the highest setting i.e. 48khz.

If you are using microphones plugged directly into the camera it is best to manually control their volume (sometimes quite fiddly on domestic camcorders) or accept the potential downside of ‘pumping' audio if you elect to use the ‘auto' functions.

Condenser microphones will need a separate power supply on most camcorders unless they are the semi-professional and professional versions, in which case you'll have to select phantom power to be active on each channel.

For detailed advice on recording different scenarios go to http://www.recording-microphone.com/video-microphones.htm

Article Source : Muscle Cars For Sale

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Both Arcykoontz & Michael O'flynn are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

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