In this lesson we’ll record a piece of audio directly to the Sony a7S II, and then to the Tascam DR-60D recorder.
Here are the results for your comparison*:
*No processing has been done. The hiss is from the system itself, probably the microphone (an Audio Technica 3350T lavalier microphone). The camera mic level was at 10. The sample has been trimmed in Premiere Pro and exported as a 24-bit 48 KHz uncompressed WAV file.
The camera recording sounds good, and it does a good job volume-wise, as the level was just at 10. The DR-60D was maxed, but Gain was at Low (the lowest setting), and it slightly sounds fuller – but it could be my ears lying. What do you think?
Is the Wind Noise reduction feature any good?
The Wind Noise Reduction feature only works if you use the on-board microphone. The moment you connect an external mic, the setting is unavailable.
Here’s a sample with Wind Noise Reduction turned off then on: Sample
It does a good job of reducing the wind noise, but makes the audio tinny as a consequence. Not recommended.
Takeaways
The quality of the internal recording is quite good. However, the internal preamps don’t really beat a decent mixer/recorder/preamp. Also, you only have one input.
Wind noise reduction only works with the onboard mic, and is not recommended.
