How to Use Headphones with a Mini DV Camcorder

"Hi! My name is Paige and you can visit my website at www.porchproductions.net. Today, we’re discussing different elements with mini DV camcorder. Right now, we’re going to talk about sound, which is a huge issue. In general, you’re doing a point and shoot sound when you just buy a mini DV camcorder and are using it professionally. The best thing I can say to tell you about capturing the sound is to get as close to the subject to who is talking as possible. I shoot with a Panasonic DV X100. Well this is Panasonic DV X100 and it has a left and right surround sound, so like a left speaker and a right speaker. You can hear in your left ear and your right ear. In this model, it’s not great sound. If you’re spending for about under $1200 a camcorder, you’re not going to have wonderful sound, but it’s okay. I want to get as close to my subject as possible to hear it. Now, in order to hear what my subject is talking about and what the camcorder hears, you want to get a pair of really good headphones. You can have small headphones but you want to be able to block out your other sound that’s going round, and be able to concentrate on your DV. This the best way to direct sound, is to actually put on a pair of headphones so that you can hear what your camcorder is hearing and then direct your camcorder in a way that will create better sound. So, here in the back, and it’s different for different camcorders. Mine is back here. It simply says phones and that’s where I plug in my headphones. On the Sony and I believe on the Canon as well, it’s here around this area above your XLR input so your mini input for your sound if you were using a microphone. So, I’m going to plug in my phones right here, put on my headphones, and I can hear what’s going on. Make sure your camera is on camera, or else it’s going to be in VCR mode. When your camera is in VCR mode, it acts as a VCR and not at all like a camera. So, you want to make sure it’s on camera. I can hear myself right now. If the levels are actually too loud or too quiet, I can adjust the level of what I hear. This is not adjusting what the camcorder hears, but what I hear. So, if I want to hear myself better I can turn up these channel 1 and channel 2 audio."