. Automatic Gain Control (AGC) Learn about automatic gain control and how it effects your audio Most cameras come with Automatic Gain Control (AGC). This allows the camera to configure what it feels the best sound recording level is for a particular scene. It will try to adjust itself to various sound changes within a shot. For instance, if the signal coming in is too quite the AGC will try to boost the sound levels making the sound more audible. Likewise if the sound is too loud the AGC will work to reduce the recording volume of the sound to try to minimize the chance of distortion. The problem with having this setting on “auto” is that the AGC doesn’t know what your desired sound priorities are. For instance, if you are filming a documentary of an old, soft spoken man sitting in his kitchen your AGC will kick in to help boost the man’s voice. However, let’s assume, as most humans do, he takes a break in his conversation to reflect and prepare himself for his next statement. During this time the AGC will recognize that the man has stopped talking and now, to the microphone, the sound of his refrigerator engine may be the predominant noise in the shot. The recording device will start to focus on that sound instead. If the man does start speaking again it may take the AGC a few seconds to adjust itself to focus on the sound of the man’s voice again. What may happen initially is that the man’s voice will start muted and gradually incline back to normal recording levels. Alternatively a sudden change in volume could result in very loud and distorted sound levels. For this reason we recommend setting your audio levels manually.   Continue Below... What is tape noise? Automatic Gain Control (AGC) What is room tone? How to fix room tone and ambient sound mistakes Acoustics and recording space       .

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