Recording FW400 from Handycam direct to mac, how to use line In on mac for sound?

[mikes70mustang]

Im trying to use a Handycam(older cassette model) to record directly through firewire to my mac. Problem is, I dont want to use the audio from the handy cam. I get a hiss type feed back through the line in 1/8in. jack on the handycam. Ive tried everything i know to get the line in on my MBP to record sound. and the feed back is from the camera. Ive tried unplugging everything and running the cam on batt. and the line in source from batt. Still feed back. So the question is, how do i get sound to make it to my imovie recording using line in on my mac.

Oops forgot, the Handycam is a DCR-VX2100

 

[arjen92]

record it with quicktime player. In preferences you can tell which microphone you want.

 

[mikes70mustang]

record it with quicktime player. In preferences you can tell which microphone you want.

Hmm il try that, im assuming the higher end vid. editing programs have the option i want. Apparently the cam that im using is like semi professional. Its kinda dumb that i get a fine white noise when using line in. This thing is like 3 or 4 years old but apparently still gets like $2000 for it. Pretty good church donation lol

 

[marioman38]

$1500 perhaps, thats an awesome cam. I don't understand what you're doing. Just import via DV like normal, mute the soundtrack, and then record the other track, I thinks in iMovie it is listed as a "Voiceover". The firewire port is digital, so it will never give you a hiss noise. The 1/8th is analog, so you are likely to get some amount of hiss.

 

[mikes70mustang]

$1500 perhaps, thats an awesome cam. I don't understand what you're doing. Just import via DV like normal, mute the soundtrack, and then record the other track, I thinks in iMovie it is listed as a "Voiceover". The firewire port is digital, so it will never give you a hiss noise. The 1/8th is analog, so you are likely to get some amount of hiss.

well besides doing announcement clips, i was just trying out the camera on sunday. I tried to record a fathers day message at church, and used the line in on the camera from our sound board. But the hiss that comes out of that camera is unacceptable. Maybe its b/c im used to really good quality sound, but that hiss is no good. Quicktime like the other guy said, fixed that issue, since i can line in to my mac. Ill try and do what you said and try it. Yah, its a nice camera. I dont see how it was ever called professional quality, but what do i know. Im dissapointed with the progressive scan though. 15fps? how would that be practical even back when it was new?

 

[mikes70mustang]

Ok, your saying add sound later. Im thinking adding voice and being able to sync it perfectly on iMovie is probably impossible. Im sure you can sync voice w/ video on FCS but im not thinking it would be so easy on imovie. I think people would be distracted if the voice didnt match the moving mouth of the speaker.

 

[arjen92]

Ok, your saying add sound later. Im thinking adding voice and being able to sync it perfectly on iMovie is probably impossible. Im sure you can sync voice w/ video on FCS but im not thinking it would be so easy on imovie. I think people would be distracted if the voice didnt match the moving mouth of the speaker.

I might know what your problem is. But I'm probably wrong. At our church we had a wireless microphone, new. And the people handling it are, well, not that talented with technic. (they only know to power it on, and to put the slider higher). So the microphone started to griss/grumble/make noise (I don't know how to say it in english) whenever the preacher said something a little bit harder, he almost had to whisper.

The problem was, that the gain was to high, and the slider to low. It was overpowered. When doing sound, always put the slider on zero, adjust the sound with the gain, and later on you can balance the sound by moving the slider.

So what the problem might be is that the sound is coming to loud into the camera. What input signal did you use, booth or something? Maybe you can try to make it less loud. And what might be the problem is noise from the sound table. Try (if you have one) using an external sound recorder. See if there's still noise.
(you can then always try to use that recording, and make it sync with the video, I did that once with a concert).

 

[mikes70mustang]

I might know what your problem is. But I'm probably wrong. At our church we had a wireless microphone, new. And the people handling it are, well, not that talented with technic. (they only know to power it on, and to put the slider higher). So the microphone started to griss/grumble/make noise (I don't know how to say it in english) whenever the preacher said something a little bit harder, he almost had to whisper.

The problem was, that the gain was to high, and the slider to low. It was overpowered. When doing sound, always put the slider on zero, adjust the sound with the gain, and later on you can balance the sound by moving the slider.

So what the problem might be is that the sound is coming to loud into the camera. What input signal did you use, booth or something? Maybe you can try to make it less loud. And what might be the problem is noise from the sound table. Try (if you have one) using an external sound recorder. See if there's still noise.
(you can then always try to use that recording, and make it sync with the video, I did that once with a concert).

No, i know all about the slider and gain and all that stuff. Ive been doing it for a while. The problem is straight up just the camera making the buzz. When there is preaching there is no music playing so you can hear the feed back. We record onto CDs every service as well, also record music too. But its not the board, ive checked. Im very technically savvy when it comes to hardwire and sound systems. I even tried a DI setup with ground lift. Did not work, it didnt work b/c it is the camera making the noise. But recording with quicktime worked just fine.