Video Meets MiniDisc

by Craig Anderton

The nemesis of Good Video is Bad Audio. When shooting the typical video — whether it's your cousin's wedding or a corporate demo — you'll generally see audio handled in one of two ways:

• Recorded through the camcorder's mic. There's trouble ahead, because mic placement for optimum sound pickup is seemingly never the same as the best camera placement for optimum video.
• Recorded through a separate mic, which then goes through a long, trailing cable to the camcorder (or goes through a preamp and then to the camcorder). If the words "long, trailing cable to the camcorder" don't fill you with apprehension, they should: Cables have some mysterious characteristic that makes people want to trip over them.

In 1998, some DJs over in Germany turned me on to Minidisc as a great way to fly sounds into a DJ mix. I went out and bought a Sony MZ-R30, which I've used on stage, for recording interviews, doing field recording, and more. But I've also found it's a great way to record high quality audio for your video.

Minidisc recorders are small, unobtrusive, and have both mic and line inputs. Perfect. If you're recording a lecture, put a lapel mic on the lecturer, plug it into the MD, and given its small size, place the MD in the lecturer's pocket (or on the podium). I've recorded demos at trade shows by patching into the demonstrator's PA system, which also works well. With mono recording, you can stuff 148 minutes of mono audio (74 stereo) on a standard, non-HD Minidisc, so you can probably record an entire event without having to change discs.

Once I'm back in the studio, I boot up Vegas, capture the camcorder video and audio, then group these two tracks (i.e., select them and type G). Even though eventually you won't use the camcorder audio, you still need it until you transfer the MD audio. I then record the Minidisc audio to a separate audio track. But wait — don't the camera and MD need to sync? No. I just zoom way in with Vegas, and line up the MD audio visually with the camcorder audio.

With long videos, the Minidisc and camcorder tracks might drift out of sync over time. In this case, just before the drift starts to becomes noticeable, click on the Minidisc audio track in a relatively blank space. Next, do a Select All (Ctrl-A), then type "S" to split all video and audio clips at the cursor. Finally, nudge the Minidisc clip backward or forward as appropriate so it plays in sync with the camcorder audio. If this creates a slight blank space in the audio, overlay a little background noise over it and crossfade with the other audio.

Once the MD audio is lined up with the video, group these clips together (select the MD audio, then the corresponding video, and type G). This ensures the two will travel together while editing. At this point you might be tempted to erase the camcorder audio, but don't — just mute it. If you ever lose you place with the Minidisc track, you'll be glad your audio reference is still there.

Craig Anderton has released three loop libraries, written over 20 books on music technology, and remains active as a performer with the German group Rei$$dorf Force. Check out his web site at www.craiganderton.com.