Tascam DR05 tips needed

Bletch

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James
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Hey guys
I tried using my Tascam DR05 last night for the first time at the Ganga Aarti ceremony in Varanasi. The plan was to record the sound, no video. Then tonight and tomorrow, to film it using my Osmo, GoPro4 and D5300. get home, mix up the shots, put the sound back over it.
Somethings gone wrong with the audio. I recorded in 24bit WAV with a Tascam wind jammer over the mics and then put the Tascam on a Manfrotto table top tripod. This was then placed on a very low table.
The music from the ceremony speakers was quite deafening but I can't hear anything on my Yoga3 netbook. I stuck my mobile earphones into the Tascam and the sound is there, just so low, even when on full volume. I also did a quick "1,2,3, testing" and that sounded okayish.
I know this is actually my fault for not doing something, I'm not audio expert and have never messed with levels and cut off points etc.. I was quite close to the speakers, maybe I should have pointed the Tascam at them directly? There was also people sometimes sitting close to my Tascam, maybe they blocked the sound?

Has anyone got any suggestions?

Maybe I should film tonight with my Osmo, I have a Rode VideoMicro, I could attach that and then later separate the sound/music and edit stuff... But the Aarti lasts for over an hour and the Osmo won't I don't think.

Any help would be most appreciated

Cheers
 
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Couple of thoughts. When the event was running did you check the VU meters to see the level they were recording? It may also be possible that the position of the Tacam muted the sound so the recorded sound was lower than you anticipated.

Tip : If you want decent sound make sure your mic or recording device has a line of site to the source.

You could try downloading Audacity ( Free) which is a very good audio app and see if it can help
 
Sounds like you recorded it with the levels too low. On the level meter you want to be hitting around -12db. You can boost the audio in Audacity which is a great bit of software but that will introduce noise.

Were you hoping to sync the audio from last nights performance with the video from a different performance?
 
Hi guys,
Just read your replies before setting off to Aarti last night. I think you were both right, I never really had a line of sight, people kept sitting on the table where I placed my Tascam/tripod and also I didn't mess with the levels as I wasn't sure what do with them.
Listening to the sound from last night though, there has been an improvement, using earphones with my netbook, the sound is really low but if I just use the netbook speakers on full, it's okay for me.
I did as you suggested Sam and raise the levels, I opted for about 3/4 full, There were marks on the LCD display that I think I should have been aiming for? -12db wasn't easy to achieve, it was all over the place. Also made sure no one was sitting close to me.

Sam, I'm not really bothered too much about syncing the sound, very little singing, lots of bells, clapping etc.. Filming tonight and tomorrow. Although the Aarti last over an hour, I just want to make a small segment about it for my mini movie on Varanasi, so over the night 2-3 nights, I'll move about a bit with my cameras.

Thank you for helping guys, much apprechiated!
 
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