DSLRs Offer Accessories Including A Why To Get Great Sound

For me, and a lot of people like me, sound is the biggest thing that sucks on a DSLR camera. DSLRs were never meant to make pro movies. I found some good info about this at this Canon 60d review. For some popular DSLR cameras like the 7d there isn’t even a manual audio option, so you have no way to turn off those nasty AGC amps built into the camera, meaning you will get really bad semipro sound results, you need DSLR accessories like a preamp.

To get the best possible sound and overcome the AGC a low-noise preamplifier is desperately needed. Preamps are not big, and plug into the camera, which gives you in most cases XLR mic out, or a 3.5 minijack. Always use them even on cameras that have manual control.

Why?

If you want to get high audio quality a good low-noise preamplifier is important. Directly on the preamp there will be knobs, and meters to adjust sound externally giving the sound guy more options. The sound guy will have more control, as you can also hook in headphones, and use pro microphones.

You want potentiometer control for each channel, and high-low gain settings. A preamp will give you an amplified mic level, which means this is right for driving the mic inputs on cameras and recorders. You can normally calibrate levels, and Calibration is important because different cameras and settings will require different calibration set points.

A preamp turns your DSLR into a pro HD camera instead of a still camera that offers a HD video function. Another great thing is you can monitor your sound through a headphone amp.

To be able to achieve better signal-to-noise performance from the camera, most preamps will Disable AGC, meaning it will throttle back the noisy AGC amplifiers, this is really important for cameras like the 7d that does not have manual audio control.

It does not sound good at all when camera's AGC will increase the gain and noise during the quiet periods of the recording

If you want great sound with a DSLR you need a preamp. Indeed, accessories for the Canon 60d can be cheap. But a cheap good quality preamp is not the only way to get great sound, keep reading.

Here is a list of things to do if you do not have the luxury of shooting in a proper sound studio:

1: When the microphone is close to the actor it is good, the closer the better
2: Refrigerators and any loud appliances must be shut off
3: If possible cover portals with blankets
4: Windows are the biggest noise creators so put blankets on them too
5: Always use the best mics you can
6: Airplanes, sirens, loud vehicles, loud people, barking dogs are common sounds so don't ignore them because you hear them all the time
7: If you are using a boom pole every little movement and vibration can be recorded so use a gentle touch and listen to what you are recording so you don't make a mistake

That's it for now good hunting.