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General discussion

audio track garbeled on new camera

Sep 15, 2011 1:41AM PDT

I have a FujiFilm FinePix AX 300 digital camera, with HD video capability.
I have yet to get it to record video with clean ambient audio music. I am using a cd player for background music. It starts to play for about a minute, then sounds like the camera was flushed down a toilet. I turned off florescent lighting, I moved the music source farther away, I made sure my download USB cable is not hugging the PC speakers. It is the same almost every time, starts ok, then gets completely harsh to the ears. I started with fresh batteries, tried HD and SD, checked most of the settings. It is a new camera out of the box, first time out, it did this. Pictures seem fine, and video looks good. I don;t have my finger over the mic.

Discussion is locked

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On camera mics are always a pain.
Sep 15, 2011 1:52AM PDT

You have a choice to make here. Return it fast as defective and try another. Accept it and try putting your finger over the mic or other muffling to see if the sound is too much for the mic.

Folks seem to learn the audio area faster when they get into recording such. I prefer an audio recorder and then fix it all up in post production.
Bob

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Lets try your method
Sep 16, 2011 4:45PM PDT

I got a clip that I want to save the video from the camera, but I want to dump the audio.............take your advice, and add clean audio back to the video clip from the computer. I have never messed with video edit much yet, just pictures, but I do have Photoshop Premier and Windows movie maker. Adding audio over top the garbled audio seems simple enough with windows movie maker; but I am guessing it is not that easy to remove the bad audio track? Got any ideas, on doing what I want to do here? Keeping it simple if possible. Can I use either of these programs, or is this more complicated. I am just looking into using Premier, so no expert by any means. Help does not mention removing audio tracks, so I thought maybe you might know something about the process of removing a botched audio track, from good video.

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That's done in your video editors.
Sep 17, 2011 4:40AM PDT

All decent video editors let you grab the audio track to move it or delete it. When folk ask me how to edit this I'm left a little stunned as they didn't say they were not using the editor. That is, it's a basic feature and it's sort of like asking how to delete a word from a word processor. Or put another way, once you try it, you know how.
Bob

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you were right, the only thing I didn't try...worked
Sep 17, 2011 1:31PM PDT

I think it is success at last; but somehow I hit every icon, button, tab, menu, etc.........in Photoshop Premier 9; and never hit the "right mouse button" with the pointer over the audio track in timeline. I am brand new to using Premiere, but still, how does that happen. You were very helpful, because I focused on the most very obvious, and wiped the botched track clean, in less than two minutes. Right you are, but I got caught up in the trees; as I have never used Premier before. I also was using Windows live movie maker, which is much more limited in scope than windows movie maker, best I can tell. The imbedded audio track, does not even show, so perhaps I need more work with that program also, or it is not possible. I am new to video edit(very new) but I did spend some time(hours) searching, before posting. And in the end you did help me solve my problem. Thank you very much! I also spent more hours hunting for the save function, hidden under "share". Go figure, nothing would format. I learned a lot today. Oh yeah, the Adobe sight seems to be down this weekend for upgrades...........lucky me. I did find a help file for saving files; but picked the wrong time for learning video edit. I agree with you, it is much better to dub soundtracks post production. Much more control, better quality.

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(NT) Good to read. I bet you'll have a masterpiece soon.
Sep 18, 2011 2:45AM PDT
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Fujifilm AX300
Sep 15, 2011 8:59AM PDT

The AX300 is an entry level camera and I am wondering if the camera is defective or you are expecting more than it can give.
It cannot produce hi-fi music quality.

The microphone in low cost cameras is usually minimal at best.
The input circuitry is basic and will have automatic gain control (AGC) at best.
If the music you are recording is loud and the microphone is near the music, the audio will probably break-up badly.

Try recording a video outdoors with no music.
Talk in a normal voice and see if the sound is OK.
If it is OK with voice, you probably have the music too loud and too near the camera.
Try recording music with reduced volume and the camera about 30 feet away from the music source.

If you still suspect a camera failure, borrow a friends camera and see how well it functions with your current set-up.
If you determine that it is a camera failure - either return the camera to where you purchased it or contact Fujifilm and have it fixed under warranty.

..

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Volume still could be the problem
Sep 15, 2011 10:03PM PDT

Great input, thanks for the advice. It very well could still be too loud, and too close to the source. Since it sounds real good starting out, it may be the variation in the audio, spiking the mic. I am only about 6 feet away, and volume up over half on a small boom box. I will further investigate. It is possible the mic is more responsive than I anticipated. I said I checked all the settings; but there is not a mic level setting anywhere, on these entry level cameras, is there? Just the little speaker I assume.

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On the right track
Sep 16, 2011 12:29AM PDT

The microphones on digital cameras are very sensitive.
Many say, too sensitive.
And very few offer a manual microphone gain adjustment.