PD-150 low sound

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I have a GV-D900 (miniDV walkman deck) and a PD-150. When I listen to the
sound level in the camera is seems fine, but when I bring it into the
computer via a standard DV 1394 card, the sound is always low. I am
capturing using Premiere 6 an Ulead Media Studio Pro 7, but I always have to
boost the sound by 300% after I have captured. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

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"Christopher Richards" <crNOTANYSPAM@christopherNOSPAMrichards.com> wrote in
message news:Y6Mzc.3286$zj5.419@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
> I have a GV-D900 (miniDV walkman deck) and a PD-150. When I listen to the
> sound level in the camera is seems fine, but when I bring it into the
> computer via a standard DV 1394 card, the sound is always low. I am
> capturing using Premiere 6 an Ulead Media Studio Pro 7, but I always have
to
> boost the sound by 300% after I have captured. Any thoughts? Thanks.

You have to boost the sound by 300% to get it to what level? Do you mean
that you have to boost the level recorded by the camera by 9db (about 300%)
to achieve digital full scale? If so, that's not only normal, but setting
the level on original digital recordings sgnificantly below full scale is
good practice. Most feel that having a cushion of 9 to 18 db below digital
full scale is a good thing. That way loud sounds will never exceed 0 dbfs
and will never suffer clipping, an extreme sort of distortion.

Steve King

 

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Great rich voice Steve! Thanks for your post. I had to boost the sound 300%
after capture in my editing program. I think the problem isn't recording the
sound, it is capturing it.

I have the meter set for -18dB doing interviews with a lavalier. Thanks for
the tip, I'll keep it down.

I upped the recording line in volume control on my XP machine and that
"seemed to help". I have to test this further because I didn't think you
could adjust the audio recording level when capturing via a 1394 card. Does
this make sense?

 

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"Christopher Richards" <crNOTANYSPAM@christopherNOSPAMrichards.com> wrote in
message news:VDnAc.4408$1x4.3746@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
> Great rich voice Steve! Thanks for your post. I had to boost the sound
300%
> after capture in my editing program. I think the problem isn't recording
the
> sound, it is capturing it.
>
> I have the meter set for -18dB doing interviews with a lavalier. Thanks
for
> the tip, I'll keep it down.
>
> I upped the recording line in volume control on my XP machine and that
> "seemed to help". I have to test this further because I didn't think you
> could adjust the audio recording level when capturing via a 1394 card.
Does
> this make sense?

I'm guessing that you are capturing the DV sound at -18 db or so, the level
on the tape, yet you are comparing it with other sound on the time-line...
from ripped CD music, other clips with sound, etc..... that has been either
recorded or, more likely, processed so that the peaks are at DFS, digital
full scale. So, in the editing process, you have to adjust these various
levels to work together, and that may mean increasing the level of material
you have recorded and captured. But, this is the right time and place to do
that level adjustment. If you try to do it in the camera and an
unexpectedly loud sound, even an exclamation in dialogue, goes over 0 DFS,
you're screwed. This may be one of those places, where fixing it in the mix
is a good thing.

Steve King

 

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> I'm guessing that you are capturing the DV sound at -18 db or so, the
level
> on the tape, yet you are comparing it with other sound on the time-line...
> from ripped CD music, other clips with sound, etc..... that has been
either
> recorded or, more likely, processed so that the peaks are at DFS, digital
> full scale. So, in the editing process, you have to adjust these various
> levels to work together, and that may mean increasing the level of
material
> you have recorded and captured. But, this is the right time and place to
do
> that level adjustment. If you try to do it in the camera and an
> unexpectedly loud sound, even an exclamation in dialogue, goes over 0 DFS,
> you're screwed. This may be one of those places, where fixing it in the
mix
> is a good thing.
>
> Steve King

You are right. I ran some more tests and what does seem to be the case is
that I had my recording line in on the computer too low. If I push that up
I get a less flat wave form. I still have to match in post.
Christopher