For an inexpensive camera , the camera functions are excellent.
The manual is not quite up to AH standards:) And the UI via screen is a real pain.
Video is HD quality and the useful zoom is 30x.
We only need 20x , so the extra range is a bonus if the operator du jour wants to go in a bit more.
Audio was the big weakness. Along with the documentation!
We initially used it to record video. In parallel sent the Qu alt out to a CD recorder.
Secretary added the sound to video and posted it on utoob & facebook.
When covid hit we had to start streaming, and that brand new team got up to speed and working very well considering the time frame they had. There have been rough edges, and a couple of disasters with new operators that did not get trained properly, but the church is getting it under control now.
The headphone level would not change the recorded audio.
Play the recording back through the sound system directly from the
camera and see what that sounds like.
Do you have some thing else to test the line going to the camera with
like a powered speaker just to see what that line sounds like feeding
something else.
You could take that line and plug it into an open channel on the mixer
and listen to it that way.
Make sure that is is not assigned to any mix, have the fader down, mute the channel to be safe, turn all the channel processing, gate, comp, eq, you will not need much input gain if any, PAFL that channel and listen to it in headphones at the board.
Make sure no other channels or mixes are PAFL’d, what you will be hearing in the headphones is your mix 7 - 8 out of the board and through the cable using the open mixer channel as a means to listen to the actual output of mix 7 - 8.
What mode do you have PAFL set for? If it is additive mode it could possible you were hearing multiple channels or mixes when PAFL’ing.
The PAFL setting is in the set up menu.
I believe if you switch to “A” (the physical switches on the opposite side to the XLRs) that forces it to use the internal mic. This uses AGC and the level pots do not work in this mode.
To use the XLR inputs you must be switched to “M”. The other switches should be set to “Line” for an input from the desk and adjust the two pots as needed.
Why are you only using one input? Is there anything in the other one?
If you are listening to two channels - stereo LR or similar on the Qu
but only sending one channel (either L or R) to the camera
then there will have to be difference when you listen on the camera output versus listening to the Qu output
One other possibility. If your camera has audio ‘help’ like ours has to optimize voice music and other things, then you would need to turn that off too.
If you are listening to two channels – stereo LR or similar on the Qu
but only sending one channel (either L or R) to the camera
then there will have to be difference when you listen on the camera output versus listening to the Qu output
True…if any of the sources are panned on mix 7 - 8. If all the sources
are straight up center then the two outputs on mix 7 - 8 are identical.
The overall summed level will be lower but the “sound” would be the same.
Just in case anyone is wondering the pan on the main L - R mix is independent
of the pan on the any of the stereo mixes.
There is no panning on the 7-8 mix that I’m aware of but I’ll double check next time I go in to work. Now that you guys mention it though, I am wondering if we need to set up two input lines instead of the one. The XLR inputs on the XA11 are set to ‘M’ as well as ‘line’ but only one of the inputs has an XLR line from the board. How does the 7-8 Mix work…is it actually two mixes that work in stereo? Or does it only do that if the channels are panned? If the camera is only receiving one mix, that could certainly be the problem.
The camera is set to standard mode, none of the special ‘speaking’ or ‘music’ modes.
How does the 7-8 Mix work…is it actually two mixes that work in stereo? Or does it only do that if the channels are panned? If the camera is only receiving one mix, that could certainly be the problem.
Mix 7-8 or any of the stereo mixes on a QU are controlled as one mix with two outputs for stereo.
On a stereo mix if the mix sends on all of the channels for that mix are panned straight up center the two outputs are the same or could be considered two mono outputs.
I’ve actually used them like that to feed the same signal to two different locations.
If your camera is set to record in stereo and only using one input channel one of the stereo channels will not have audio.
There maybe a menu option for mono audio recording, input Y or input mix that would record audio on both channels.
What does the camera audio metering show, both channels or just one with any audio level?
mix78 is a two channel stereo pair.
We feed our mix78 to our livestream via an audio interface that merges the video feed with the audio.
Your camera seems to let you put them together in the camera while we do it in the software.
The mix may seem mono depending what you fed into the mix and whether they were panned or not.
For sure only one channel is mono but would not sound like half of a stereo listened to on the Qu.
Is the difference in the OP the sound level or is it the sound quality that you think is different?
The camera is set to record only a single input; on the camera’s screen both input meters are set to input 1 and both are showing audio signal.
All the channels on the mixer have panning set to center. There is a difference in volume on the camera but I assume that’s just due to the ‘Headphone volume’ setting on the camera. What is more concerning to me is that the sound quality and the various levels in the actual mix sound different on the camera compared to the mixer. If they aren’t the same, the changes I make on the mixer are pointless. Do you think I should try to connect a second XLR to input 2 and switch the camera to stereo or does it not make any difference since the panning is centered?
One additional thing I’m wondering: What should the Mix sends be set to, pre or post? I’m curious if perhaps that’s why I’m getting a sound difference.
When you PAFL mix 7/8 on the board, you should be hearing on the headphones the exact same sound as you would hear if you attach the headphones to the camera and monitor from there. Are you using the same headphones or different ones?
Try using two lines to the camera just as a test even though it’s still mono
both audio tracks on the camera with have audio.
Just to be clear, on the mixer you are PAFl’ing mix 7 - 8 and not the main mix?
As for the mix being pre or post fade there is not really one correct answer, it depends
how you want to control the mix.
In post fade the mix will track along with the level changes you make for the main LR mix. Once you find the relative balance for the live stream mix it will follow along
with what you do on the main mix as in if you turn up a vocal solo for the main mix
it will also turn up on the live stream mix.
That set up is a good compromise when you only have one person running sound.
A pre fade mix will not follow any changes you make to the main LR mix, so if you turn
up that vocal solo for the main mix it will still be too low on the live stream mix.
To make pre fade aux mix work you will need a second person who is monitoring that mix
either with good isolation headphones or in another room with a monitor and mixing the the live stream mix 7 - 8 levels remotely with an iPad.
Keep in mind if someone is mixing remotely they can only really control the mix levels
all of the channel processing will/could effect the main LR mix, there are a few ways around that is you have open channels available, but that’s another topic.
I figured I was supposed to be hearing the same sound when I connect to the mixer as well as the camera…that’s the crux of my problem. I am using the same headphones.
Yes, PAFLing mix 7-8, not the LR (house) mix. We’re set to Pre-fade which seems right after reading what Mike C wrote. We want our house (LR) mix to be different than our recording/livestream mix (7-8). I’m just trying to figure out why that 7-8 mix which goes to the camera sounds different on the camera than it does from the board. Could it be some sort of audio encoding issue with the camera? I’ll try using the two XLR lines going to the camera, hopefully that will help.
You really should use both XLR inputs and switch to stereo on the camera. Then you can pan the channels in the mix for a more pleasant result. We do this for our church service and pan the channels to approximately the same place they are on screen.
We set up a monitoring station in a separate room behind the soundboard using 2 XLRs from the mix outs on the board, under the door, and to a Beringer Powerplay P1 and monitor with headphones. This isolates the stream mixer from the sound in the sanctuary. We use the Qu App on an ipad to adjust the levels and pans for the mix.
We actually have a similar setup, we’ve got a ‘livestream’ booth where the livestream director runs the stream and normally somebody is supposed to adjust the 7-8 mix from the Ipad…but until recently, most of our tech staff didn’t even know what PAFL was…so they were waiting for the stream and listening from the computer instead of just listening direct to the mix. Since we’ve gone to recorded/edited segments instead of livestream due to Covid, we’ve got a camera guy and a sound guy (me) who monitor during recording direct from the mixer and camera since we’re not really using the sanctuary mix. We’re both using noise isolation headphones so we don’t really hear what’s going on outside. Again, the problem is what I hear from the board doesn’t match what one hears on the camera when playing back the recording. I’ll let everyone know how the two XLR lines work out. Probably better to have stereo sound.
I’ll give you an example of the sound difference and why it is a problem. A week ago, more like two now, we recorded a choral octet with piano. Prior to recording, we set up the mix and there was a good balance between the parts and the piano was at sufficient volume to support but not overpower the singers. Once all was said and done, I replayed the recording on the Camera and suddenly there were certain voice parts that stuck out that didn’t when we initially recorded. Also, the general tone sounded thinner and more muted and the piano was too loud and would consistently overpower the singers.
I expect that the sound will be different when it’s streamed over the internet, which is why it matters that we get a good original…it’s hard for me to generate a good product if the changes I make on the mixer don’t translate to the camera/recording.
It might be easier for you to record to a DAW , perhaps via local Qu drive, and do your editing with the DAW then merge that file with the video and forget any audio via the camera itself.
However when you decide to livestream you will need to have it working right.
Have you tried using both channels to both xlr inputs yet?
Is the sound issue still the same when you do that?
Recording an octet with piano would be spread around at least somewhat in the stereo field so only one cable would have to make it sound different in the camera. With one channel this is looking like the culprit to me.
Are you sure there is no EQ anywhere including the camera which could be causing a problem?
As to different sound when you post online, we are now having a similar problem.
The sound used to be natural but lately the pastor sounds like he was breathing helium.
I went into my pc and tweaked the EQ there and now it sounds much better but still a tiny bit off.
Used one of the many presets and it turned out one for rock music worked best!
That was a straight line in the middle, with ends flattening off some, resulting in changing levels of frequencies from +9 at 100 cps down to -8 at 16000.
I am suspecting something in SLOBS or the way the video team is tweaking things for this anomaly.
So you might want to also check the sound on the internet and then pretweak to undo that change when you edit in the DAW.
Problem may be if you post to different sites they may still all sound different.
Have you confirmed in one way or another that what is coming out of the cable that would be feeding the camera
sounds good/correct?
The recording of audio on the camera would not change the mix balance, maybe level, maybe tonality, but not the mix balance
like making the piano overpower the vocals.
If you have an open mono mix 1 through 4 try one of those.