All Things Audio -- topics from 2002 thru 2004

[Pablo Nankivell]

So I've got an XL1S and a Shure UP4 wireless mic. the MA-100 I have is plugged in the Audio 1 ports in the back. At this point I'm confused. What am I supposed to change the Audio 1 selection to on the the side of the camera? Mic, ATT, or Audio 1? I'm also pretty sure that i need to change those same options within the menu under the VCR setup. Not sure what to do there...Any help would be much appreciated...Thanks in advance...

Pablo

[Lorinda Norton]

Hi Pablo,

On the side of the camera, slide the INPUT SELECT switch to Audio 1.

In the VCR setup under "Audio 1 in" select MIC.

[Gary Randall]

Does the GL2 have two audio tracks? What I mean is can I use two mics at once? One from the on board mic and one from a wireless mic. I was told that the GL2 had two Audio Tracks but I can't find out how to turn them on.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

It does have two audio channels. When you connect an external microphone to the camera, it disables the internal mic. Using a dual mono to stereo adapter from Radio Shack or others providers, you can have two independent mics.

[Steven Fokkinga]

Hi all, I've a small question concerning a sennheiser mkh-416 p48 microphone i saw as an used occasion at some shop for only € 550,-.
Are these things durable and is it sensible to buy them second-hand or could you always be better on the safe side and spend twice the money for a new one?
Unfortunately, they couldn't say how old it was and what it was used for, but they could give me 6 months warranty. The thing looked quite used with some dents and so on but sounded good. But then again I never heard another 416 so have nothing to relate it to...

[Matt Gettemeier]

I would NEVER buy a microphone with dents... especially a shotgun mic... the interference tube is part of the design and not simply a protective casing. Also DENTS are a sign of abuse, not use.

Minor scratches, rubs, and general finish wear are a sign of a mic that's been used, but is probably YEARS old.

Anything that's barely used should look almost new.

The 416 is one of the most durable mics ever made, but it's also been around for about 20 some-odd years... so on this particular one... I'd probably pass.

The going rate for GOOD condition used 416s is probably about $700-$750... and virtually NEW ones should be under $850 USD...

[James Lilly]

When I put a Rycote mini over the stock foam on a AT 4073a, it seems to distort the tone of the sound. It makes it flatter and not as warm. However, when I use the mini on the mic without the stock foam, it sounds just as warm. My question is, how much better is the mini by itself than the stock foam by itself? And has anyone else noticed this?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

When you diminish the airspace around the mike, you'll lose some of the highs, that's a given. Until recently, I'd not played/experimented with this too much.
The softie by itself won't cut wind at quite the same velocities, but it will sound similar, with more highs. But if the warmth is what you want, then leave the foam off unless you end up in high winds.

[Kevin Galliford]

I was thinking about getting the Samson Micro Airline Serire UHF Wirless Combo system for 399.99 at B&H Is that a good setup? I have a GL2 so I like the idea that its small! Also its UHF.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=249885&is=REG

let me know your opinion's.

[Gustavo Godinho]

Hi!

We´re making a documentary about a gay party that happens at that same time and at the same place of the most religious celebration of Brazil. We´ve been shooting it for two years, and 2004 is our deadline to finish. The problem is: we´re out of money, and can´t afford renting good audio equipment.

We´re going to shoot for 2 days. The first one is gonna be in a living room, where some people and our main character will pray. We´re thinking about cliping a lav mic on this guy, and capture his speeches. The problem is the background sound. Maybe we won´t have a shotgun mounted on a boom. So, I thought I could handle this problem with a weird solution: use 2 single chip mini-dv cams with its omni-directional mics only to record the background audio. We could hide the cams along the living room OR we could hold them (and shoot the action, because the footage could help us later) and point to the people talking, at different places.

Do you think it could work? I´m not talkin´extreme professional results, but I thought that mixing the two single chip cams audio captured from different places of the living room would MAYBE work as a substitute for the shotgun mic.

[Carlos E. Martinez]

What a shotgun provides is separating the noise/dialogue from the rest of the sound on a certain place.

To provide ambience sound you don't need two cameras, just one. Record it all on separate tracks and mix it later.

Shoot the action with the two other cameras, as that will provide more options for your editing. Just be sure the lav mic guy audio is recorded cleanly.


Carlos

[James Lilly]

I'm currently using an AT 897 and an AT 4073a for a boom mic indoors recording conversations and dialouge. Can anyone recomend something better for under 1000 dollars? I'd prefer under 500 if you can... The AT's seem to work really well unless someone shuts a door and then they either echo or the conversation seems to be over whelmed.

Thank you for any help

[Bryan Beasleigh]

It sounds like you want/need a hypercardoid. Read these two links.
Rose's article on mic patterns (click here)

Also read what Schoeps say about the rejection of off axis soundclick here


How about a Sanken CS-1, it's a cross between a short shotgun and a hyper. It has excellent off axis rejection and no rear lobe.
Approx price is $750 but it's an amazing tool.

You could buy an AT 4053a, it's an excellent dialog mic and a hypercardoid to boot. This weighs in around $400 at B&H.

An AKG 480b preamp with a CK63 hyper (approx $700)

An AKG C300b with a ck93 hyper cap (approx $400)

An Oktava MCO-12 with a hyper capsule, these run $190 at www.oktava.com

An NT-3 for $152. it;s big and heavy but it's a sweet sounding mic for the money.

All of these mics will do very well indoors for more info as well as several recorded sound files. The sound files will show the off axis response and act as a comparison between all the various dialog mics. i've also included a great deal of info and links to the maufacturer and various suppliers.
Click here

[Michael Best]

Anyone using/have used this wireless lav system and your thoughts?

[Kent Dammand]

Is there some kind of attachment I can get to Mount AT4073a Shotgun on DVX?