I want to record good audio/video of guitar & vocals on camcorder

chaucer

Hello,
I have been using a Panasonic Lumix to record home audio/video recordings of myself and my family playing guitar and singing. The quality (audio especially) is not good, I can't edit them (on Movie Maker) and I want to be able to make better quality recordings.

I want them for posterity and to upload to YouTube.

I have a Dell Vostro 400 running 32 bit Vista Ultimate. It has a 19-in1 media reader card at the front with front USB ports.
I do not have a firewire connection.

I have been loaned a Sony Digital Handycam model DCR-TRV245E. The person that loaned it to me does not have the CD-ROM with the software.

My questions are:

1] What must I do / what must I buy to be able to use the camcorder to record and transfer recordings to my PC (and from there to YouTube)? Just a firewire card and cable?

2] Is the audio quality going to be better than on my Panasonic Lumix? Will he fact that it uses a motor driven tape cause noise on the audio?

3] Should I invest in a different camcorder with facility to plug in one or more external microphones?

4] If so, which camcorders have this facility (budget no more than about £400)?

Many thanks.

timbim_2

No purely consumer camcorder has external mic jacks of any reasonable quality. I'd consider, with your budget, getting a decent audio recorder and microphone. Most of these record onto a CompactFlash card. You can then import the audio into audacity, where you can edit them, and then move the audio into movie maker and sync with the video.

Laz123

The avi type of file from the Sony will be much better quality. You can't get better quality than from a dv tape. I'd suggest getting a firewire card (avi transferring to pc via usb doesn't work). Then you can use a free audio editor like Audacity to enhance audio quality.

chaucer

timbim wrote: »

... I'd consider, with your budget, getting a decent audio recorder and microphone. Most of these record onto a CompactFlash card. ...

I don't know anything about this - any suggestions what to look for?

chaucer

Laz123 wrote: »

... I'd suggest getting a firewire card ... Then you can use a free audio editor like Audacity to enhance audio quality.

Is firewire easy to install?
I've got Audacity - what enhancements will it make and do you mean to the camcorder audio or the audio recorded as suggested by timbim?

timbim_2

Are you sure you don't have firewire? Most Dells have a mini firewire. You really want to split the audio and video, making sure you have a sync point first (clapper board), edit the audio in audacity and then merge that back with the video, using the sync point. How good quality are you looking for in the audio recording?

chaucer

timbim wrote: »

Are you sure you don't have firewire?Most Dells have a mini firewire.

I'll have to dig around and have a look at the back - means dismantling everything :-(

Can I check from Control Panel?

timbim wrote: »

You really want to split the audio and video, making sure you have a sync point first (clapper board), edit the audio in audacity and then merge that back with the video, using the sync point.

Is that using the camcorder for video and a microphone for audio?
What format does the audio need to be exported as from audacity?

timbim wrote: »

How good quality are you looking for in the audio recording?

Not professional quality - just clean and clear and better than the muddy / hissy in-built mic on my digital camera.

Thanks

timbim_2

If you can stretch to about £200 of audio gear, then here's what I recommend:

Sennheiser E845 Evolution
Mic Stand
XLR Cable
Novation Nio 2 Interface

Really top quality kit. Connects directly to the computer via USB and records directly, separately from the camcorder.

chaucer

I appreciate you doing the searching on that - I really did want video / audio together - that kit looks good for rigging up a 'recording' session as it were - I was wanting something a bit less in need of rigging up - a basic camcorder / microphone option

any further suggestions??

£$&*"($£&(

A decent external mic will always help but a single mic trying to pick up guitars and singing is never going to sound that good. It depends on what you consider acceptable.

I know almost nothing about camcorders - if they had a mono mic input you could buy enough decent mics for close miking(?) the guitars and vocals, which is the only way for decent quality, and a microphone mixer. This could then be connected to camcoders mic input. However I think some camcorders have stereo mic inputs which provide a small amount of power for plug in powered mics and this wouldn't work with a standard mic or the output from a mic mixer.

timbim_2

You really need to be spending over £1000 to get a camcorder with XLR inputs. Not worth doing through jack. I'd go down the interface route though.