Real World Digital Video, Second Edition

Audio Options

When you're on location or on the set, your main concern with audio is usually getting a clean track of the person who's talking. Most of the sophistication of audio—including sound effects, stereo dimension, and music—is added during postproduction.

Another reason not to worry about your camcorder's audio capability is that you don't need to use it. To achieve the best audio quality, some videomakers use an external DAT recorder, not the camcorder's built-in audio. (For more information about external audio recording, see “Should You Record Separate Sound?” in Chapter 7.)

However, there are several audio features you should think about. As we've already mentioned, professional DV recorders have audio lock for timecode-accurate ...