QU-32 to Camera Sound Difference

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This topic contains 50 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of volounteer volounteer 3 years, 3 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 51 total)
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  • #96535
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @mikec

    The gain was on the camera mike input.
    It was hidden in a sub screen under something non intuitive to reach the screen to change it.

    #96536
    Profile photo of Deltoran
    Deltoran
    Participant

    The camera mic is turned completely off and all of its options on the camera’s menu are greyed out – probably because we’re using the XLR input. I checked the canon manual, not super helpful, at least in terms of audio options. The limiter is off, the attenuator is off, most options are greyed out since we’re using a line-in instead of the onboard. The switches next to the audio level controls are already in the M position. Only thing I can think of is perhaps there’s a degradation in the line between the QU-32 and the camera? Is that a thing? The camera does also have a ‘headphones’ volume option but I wouldn’t think that would affect the tone, just make it quieter to listen to.

    I’ll try to make a post on a canon forum and see if they know what might be causing the audio difference. Thanks.

    #96537
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    From the mixer to camera using mix 7-8 are you taking two lines from the mixer 7-8 outputs up to the camera xlr inputs.

    I take it that if you PAFL mix 7 -8 and listen it it in headphones at the mixer that it sounds good?

    When you listen to it at the camera then it sounds bad?
    What do the audio levels look like on the camera meters?

    If you are using both outputs on mix 7 – 8 from the mixer and sending them one line to
    each input at the camera and one of the XLR cables is wired with pins 2 and 3 swapped at one end that would cause a lot of phase cancellation to the audio on the recording.
    That’s a long shot but possible.
    If the cables have a broken line on either pin 2 or 3 that will cause low level and “thin” sound on a balanced input.

    #96538
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    The gain was on the camera mike input.
    It was hidden in a sub screen under something non intuitive to reach the screen to change it.

    Finding that control and turning it all the way down was just enough to make it work.

    Your consumer camera must be one step up from the bottom to even have a MIC gain/level adjustment.

    #96539
    Profile photo of Deltoran
    Deltoran
    Participant

    @Mike_C

    There’s only a single XLR line from the board to the camcorder. When I PAFL the 7-8 mix, it sounds great. When I listen at the camera, it doesn’t sound as good. It’s not terrible, but when I’ve mixed at the board for a certain sound and then the camera doesn’t match it on the recording, it’s frustrating. Audio levels on the camera meters look fine, it’s definitely receiving the signal at good strength. The ‘headphone volume’ setting wouldn’t affect the sound other than volume would it? I’m wondering if I should just use a decibel meter on the board headphones and then match them to the camera headphones and see if that makes any difference to the quality.

    #96540
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @mikec

    For an inexpensive camera , the camera functions are excellent.
    The manual is not quite up to AH standards:) And the UI via screen is a real pain.

    Video is HD quality and the useful zoom is 30x.
    We only need 20x , so the extra range is a bonus if the operator du jour wants to go in a bit more.

    Audio was the big weakness. Along with the documentation!

    We initially used it to record video. In parallel sent the Qu alt out to a CD recorder.
    Secretary added the sound to video and posted it on utoob & facebook.

    When covid hit we had to start streaming, and that brand new team got up to speed and working very well considering the time frame they had. There have been rough edges, and a couple of disasters with new operators that did not get trained properly, but the church is getting it under control now.

    #96541
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    The headphone level would not change the recorded audio.

    Play the recording back through the sound system directly from the
    camera and see what that sounds like.

    Do you have some thing else to test the line going to the camera with
    like a powered speaker just to see what that line sounds like feeding
    something else.

    You could take that line and plug it into an open channel on the mixer
    and listen to it that way.
    Make sure that is is not assigned to any mix, have the fader down, mute the channel to be safe, turn all the channel processing, gate, comp, eq, you will not need much input gain if any, PAFL that channel and listen to it in headphones at the board.
    Make sure no other channels or mixes are PAFL’d, what you will be hearing in the headphones is your mix 7 – 8 out of the board and through the cable using the open mixer channel as a means to listen to the actual output of mix 7 – 8.

    What mode do you have PAFL set for? If it is additive mode it could possible you were hearing multiple channels or mixes when PAFL’ing.
    The PAFL setting is in the set up menu.

    #96542
    Profile photo of garyh
    garyh
    Participant

    Deltoran, are you panning channels in your mix 7&8 for stereo? If this is the case then you need to use both xlr inputs on the camera from the board.

    #96549
    Profile photo of MarkPAman
    MarkPAman
    Participant

    I’ve got an AX11 here.

    I believe if you switch to “A” (the physical switches on the opposite side to the XLRs) that forces it to use the internal mic. This uses AGC and the level pots do not work in this mode.

    To use the XLR inputs you must be switched to “M”. The other switches should be set to “Line” for an input from the desk and adjust the two pots as needed.

    Why are you only using one input? Is there anything in the other one?

    #96551
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @deltoran

    @markpaman asked a very important question.

    If you are listening to two channels – stereo LR or similar on the Qu
    but only sending one channel (either L or R) to the camera
    then there will have to be difference when you listen on the camera output versus listening to the Qu output

    #96553
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @deltoran

    One other possibility. If your camera has audio ‘help’ like ours has to optimize voice music and other things, then you would need to turn that off too.

    #96556
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    If you are listening to two channels – stereo LR or similar on the Qu
    but only sending one channel (either L or R) to the camera
    then there will have to be difference when you listen on the camera output versus listening to the Qu output

    True……if any of the sources are panned on mix 7 – 8. If all the sources
    are straight up center then the two outputs on mix 7 – 8 are identical.
    The overall summed level will be lower but the “sound” would be the same.

    Just in case anyone is wondering the pan on the main L – R mix is independent
    of the pan on the any of the stereo mixes.

    #96563
    Profile photo of Deltoran
    Deltoran
    Participant

    There is no panning on the 7-8 mix that I’m aware of but I’ll double check next time I go in to work. Now that you guys mention it though, I am wondering if we need to set up two input lines instead of the one. The XLR inputs on the XA11 are set to ‘M’ as well as ‘line’ but only one of the inputs has an XLR line from the board. How does the 7-8 Mix work…is it actually two mixes that work in stereo? Or does it only do that if the channels are panned? If the camera is only receiving one mix, that could certainly be the problem.

    The camera is set to standard mode, none of the special ‘speaking’ or ‘music’ modes.

    I’ll update tomorrow after I take another look.

    #96564
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    How does the 7-8 Mix work…is it actually two mixes that work in stereo? Or does it only do that if the channels are panned? If the camera is only receiving one mix, that could certainly be the problem.

    Mix 7-8 or any of the stereo mixes on a QU are controlled as one mix with two outputs for stereo.
    On a stereo mix if the mix sends on all of the channels for that mix are panned straight up center the two outputs are the same or could be considered two mono outputs.
    I’ve actually used them like that to feed the same signal to two different locations.

    If your camera is set to record in stereo and only using one input channel one of the stereo channels will not have audio.

    There maybe a menu option for mono audio recording, input Y or input mix that would record audio on both channels.

    What does the camera audio metering show, both channels or just one with any audio level?

    #96581
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @deltoran

    mix78 is a two channel stereo pair.
    We feed our mix78 to our livestream via an audio interface that merges the video feed with the audio.
    Your camera seems to let you put them together in the camera while we do it in the software.

    The mix may seem mono depending what you fed into the mix and whether they were panned or not.
    For sure only one channel is mono but would not sound like half of a stereo listened to on the Qu.

    Is the difference in the OP the sound level or is it the sound quality that you think is different?

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 51 total)

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