Capturing good quality audio is as important as video. In today's market, with exceptional quality and reasonably affordable camcorders, audio is often overlooked. The majority of professional production companies have invested in high quality audio equipment in addition to the video equipment.
Hiss Reduction & Phantom Power
Audio location mixers are a vital link. They have higher quality microphone pre-amps than the majority of camcorders and often have high/low roll offs and cuts to eliminate undesirable sounds - such as hiss - prior to the audio being sent to the camcorder. In addition, most location mixers can provide Phantom power to the microphone and have better metering indication and monitoring capabilities than those provided by the camcorder.