Sony CCDTR520E: Issue with audio recording on 8mm tapes

[gicugiacu]

I've been having trouble with my camera's audio recording. I recently recorded a full cassette and noticed that about half the scenes have good, clear audio, while the other half are extremely quiet. The volume never fluctuates within a single scene, and the video is perfectly fine throughout.
To me, this rules out a playback error as if the problem were on playback, the issues would appear randomly. So I'm convinced the problem is with the camera itself. I've tried recording in both loud and quiet environments to see if a faulty gain correction is to blame, but that didn't give me any clear answers. At this point, I still can't predict which scenes will record at normal volume and which will end up too quiet. Has anyone encountered a similar problem?

[VWestlife]

Are you sure about that model number? I get nothing when looking it up.

If it's from the mid-1990s or earlier, it could be starting to suffer from bad capacitors. Audio is usually the first to have problems.

[gicugiacu]

I’m sure about the model number. The camera is from 1996 so that would fit your description. I guess if it were the bad capacitors it wouldn’t be something one can fix right?

[gicugiacu]

Or let’s put it this way, it wouldn’t be something that I can fix with an external mic?

[VWestlife]

You can try an external mic. If you're lucky, the problem might simply be caused by dirty contacts on the muting switch in the mic jack.

[gicugiacu]

Yeah I’ll definitely try an external mic. I just find it peculiar how there are non inconsistencies in volume during a scene. In my mind if the problem was a dirty contact the audio should be bad throughout…