RODE Videomic Pro

[Luc Spencer]

Well, thanks to all the nice things you've said about the VMP, I got one myself :)

As a first rough test, I cranked up the music inside my room to a neighbour-unfriendly volume, and then talked to the camera which I held at about 75cm from my face (with the microphone attached to it). Not only did my voice come through CLEARLY, the mic did a good job of cancelling quite a portion of the background music (which came from its opposite side). I have yet to test it outside, but something tells me it will perform very well.

I do have a question - how do you guys use it on the Panasonic TM900? I decided to set the mic level inside the camera menu to its lowest setting (-30), turn AGC off, then set the VMP to 0db. In this setting, when I was really close to one of my speakers, the sound meter reached one red bar, and therefore it was a bit distorted. But that's what the -10dB is for, I guess.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Many have reported problems with wind noise with the VMP. Some speculate that it might be from the switch holes at the back of the mic. When you do your outdoor test, you might try it with and without some gaffers tape on the back of the mic to see if that helps. Of course, you would want to use a furry wind filter of some kind as well.

[Robert Suave]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

"Anyone know of a source for a super high quality 1/8" mini extension cable?

Just so happens I re-did my bag two months ago. I used Canare "L-2E5 mini microphone cable" and "L-4E5C mini star-quad". For any 1/8" plugs I used Neutrik NT3RC (right-angle) and TecNec M3.5S locking.

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

My above post was making y'own.
Markertek, Trew, Gotham, Dale, ect. would gladly make cables using the same or other premium components.
Big box stores like B&H do not make cables. And if they they have a specific cable, it will likely be mass-produced w/molded plugs and low-cost cable stock... which may be fine, for occasional usage and in a 'perfect world'.

So what do you think of this cable... will it preform well (shielded, no hum/EMI) with the Rode Videomic Pro? Is it worth the price? Is it the right cable/connectors?

Canare Headphone Extention Cable, 3.5mm TRS Male to 3.5mm TRS Female, 25 ft. | eBay

Thanks for your help!

[Chad Johnson]

It looks like it would give you more protection than a standard 3.5mm cable.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Robert Suave

So what do you think of this cable... will it preform well (shielded, no hum/EMI) with the Rode Videomic Pro? Is it worth the price? Is it the right cable/connectors?

Canare Headphone Extention Cable, 3.5mm TRS Male to 3.5mm TRS Female, 25 ft. | eBay

Thanks for your help!

Would work better than the typically unshielded "headphone extension" cables you find at Radio Shack or Best Buy but the output of the Rode VMP is unbalanced and as such is more susceptible to hum and EMI pickup than is the balanced output of most professional mics, even with well shielded cables. You could expect LESS hum and EMI susceptibility but not NO susceptibility. That's just part of the nature of unbalanced audio connections. It's not the cable that makes it balanced, that's only part of the puzzle, it's the wiring of the output that's feeding signal to the system and the input at the other end of the cable that the signal is fed into.