Best Camcorder for sound quality...?

id use the mac to record sound, just plug in his music from his sound board directly, also id record with a camera to get some background croud music, but dont make that real loud in the final production

I agree with everythign Lare says... a little more detail... The best audio will be captured when YOU can control the mic gain. Most entry level camcorders do not have a mic jack. The least expensive miniDV tape based camcorders - of which I am aware - with a mic jack are the Canon ZR900, ZR930 and ZR960. The ZR950 does not have a mic jack. None of these camcorders has manual audio control. In a very loud audio environment, the auto-mic gain will be overdriven, the recorded audio will clip and sound very muddy. There are three way to work through this: 1) The least expensive camcorders with a mic jack AND manual audo control - of which I am aware - are the Canon HV20/HV30/HV40 and the Sony HDR-HC9. You can use the built-in manual audio control without or with an external mic. 2) In conjunction with the Canon ZR900, ZR930 or ZR960, use an XLR adapter like those from juicedLink or BeachTek. The XLR adapter has mic gain control knobs. This will work only with external mics with these ZRs. When you plug somehting into the mic jack, the internal mics (and the auto mic gain control) are bypassed. You can use the XLR adapter with the HV20/HV30/HV40 and the Sony HDR-HC9 too - to use pro-grade mics with XLR connectors. 3) Use an audio "field recorder" to pick up the sound separately. Edirol, Zoom (the H4 is my preference), Sony, Marantz, M-Audio and others make small field recorders. When you edit, import the audio to your video editor, sync the audio, then mute the audio that was captured with the video. Export the project at the highest quality, import that newly exported project and it becomes the basis for the editing...

stick with miniDV. it has a 48k 16 bit uncompressed audio track capability. Other media uses compressed audio and is pretty bad, especially in a situation with live bands where sound can have high peak levels. despite claims to the contrary, most miniDV cameras have excellent onboard mics, the usual problem is some gufus switches the audio to 12bit compressed mode, or they are trying to pick up a voice from across a crowded room. If you just want the band and not interviews it should be good to go. I am not sure you can get a miniDV in that price range with an external mic connector, but then you can get interviews using an off camera mic. All miniDV has firewire, its part of the system spec which was written by Apple. The stills taken by video cameras leave a lot to be desired, not the least will be that few video cameras come with flash. A separate pocket still camera would be a better solution.

"All miniDV has firewire, its part of the system spec which was written by Apple" sorry to rain on your parade. Texas Insturments designed what's known as FIREWIRE (apple speak) or iLINK (sony speak)... the correct name is IEEE 1394... spend as much as you can on your camera. The audio will be so loud when you're taping him that you need to make sure you're not over modulated. 48K 16 bit is what you want to record in. HD is so much better than Standard Def, but there is so much more strain on your computer to edit and render..., stick to mini DV as everyone suggests...