Digital Video

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digital Video tutorial - [ Audio and Sound Recording ]

Dialogue is recorded onto miniDV tapes in the digital format AND in-sync with the video from the get-go. Transfer it into the computer and work it over with the software. Beef-up those voices. Adjust the EQ, cut the hiss, add some bottom. Perhaps some doubling effects. A touch of chorus. Reverb or echo. Boost and balance the volume. Once you've polished the dialogue track, you can add music, sound effects, etc., with the multitude of audio tracks available in your editing software.

MICROPHONE
You can use a Shure-58 from your old rock band, or a similar mic in the $100 range. Spend $200 - $300 on a decent shotgun mic.

CABLES
3-prong XLR plugs/connectors and/or minijack.. Have a couple of them on hand.

ADAPTERS.
With DV Camcorders in a higher/more expensive format, you could plug that cable right into the camera. But these miniDV's have a mic input which requires a 1/8" mini-plug (like the one that comes with your headphones), so we'll need an adapter. Be aware that all of these plug/jacks come in stereo and mono. If there's one "ring" around the metal part of that plug, it's mono. Two rings, stereo.

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TROUBLESHOOTING

If there is no strong signal It could be the mic, the cable, the adapter. Could be the headphones. Any or all of the above. Do some "process-of-elimination tests" until you get to the bottom of it.
The mic? Many of these microphones use an internal AA battery. Maybe it's dead. You should replace it at the beginning of a shoot anyway, and always have a couple extra in your bag.
The cable? Jiggle the end. There may be a "short" where the ends are attached. This is where they usually "go bad". But if the actual cable gets stepped-on, bent or twisted, they can fail here, too.
The adapter? This is probably the culprit. Don't rely on just one of these "female-XLR to male (3.5mm or 1/8") stereo minijacks. Invest in 3 or 4.

On a movie set, the sound-man will have everyone hush for 30 seconds or so, and he'll record the "silence" of the location: Presence. Room Tone. The ambient sounds that surround us at all times, ..Get 30 seconds of room-tone, and you can add it to your scene and use it to patch-up the "bed" of your soundtrack.
..Another thing we rarely notice: The purr of a refrigerator. Listen to it

The clip-on/lavaliere... or wireless/radio microphones.
There are even more problems associated with those alternatives. Just be sure to do a lot of experimenting before the shoot.
The lavalier mics give a deeper richer tone however because they record the chest vibrations of the subject.
Radio mics can lose signal but are getting better.

[PERSONAL ASSIGNMENT]
Make a bizarre symphony or cacophony of sound.

Find sound sources from all possible sources - cd-rom sound effects, noise of traffic, machinery, music, flashkit.com ,search for "soundfx" on the net.
Record a multitude of sounds and capture them into the computer..
Record (video and audio)your classmates talking and in the editing software swap the soundtracks around
Have the inanimate objects speaking like "humans" and have humans making weird soundFX and ghastly "noises".