Rode Videomic question end it all

[Luke McMillian]

Hey Steve,

thanks for the reply. I'm going to hang onto my videomic simply because it's practically the same audio quality as the NTG-2 according to what I've read. What do you mean about the balancing transformer on the end, what can I do to make it how you described?

GS400 > beachtek dxa4 > 20-25 feet xlr cable > transformer? > video mic> deadcat

Would something like the rode vxlr be a proper transformer?

So if I have the balancing transformer at the end, it still won't make it balanced correct?

My other choice is using the headphone stero volume control with 3.5mm extension cable. What is the max length you would recomend I use before getting too much noise or picking up too much unwanted sounds. Do you think it's a better idea to buy a couple of the rode 3.5mm extension cables which is 10 feet long or 3 and just attaching them together? Will i lose any quality from that? or buy something longer from radio shack?

Thanks

Luke

[Steve House]

As far as I know, the Rode VXLR is just a cable adapter and is not a balancing transformer. In the connector on the Videomic cable the tip and ring are connected together so when it's plugged into a stereo input on the camera both the left and right channels get the same signal. The VXLR thus will connect both the tip and ring to XLR pin 2 and the sleeve to XLR pins 1 & 3. This is the correct way to make a balanced system unbalanced but doesn't work in reverse.

Frankly, by the time you get all the stuff to do it right, converting to balanced at the mic end of the line and back to unbalanced at the camera end, you will have spent as much as you would going to a balanced mic like the NTG-2 intead of the Videomic anyway and you'd get better performance with the better mic.

I really don't like the idea of that inline volume control to adjust levels on the mic. It's designed for headphone levels, not mic levels, and it just can't be of very high quality. I'd bet good money that every time you turn that knob you'll get "sccrcchh scrcchs" in your audio plus you'll be more subject to hum pickup whenever you have it in the line. Personally I wouldn't consider it even momentarily. I also wouldn't use the stereo extension cables from Radio Shack to connect the mic to the camera connect the videomic to the camera either. They are headphone cables, not mic cables, and are not likely to be properly shielded for low level mic signals. Rode makes an extension cable from real mic cable and I'd either go with that or make up my own cables out of good quality connectors and properly shielded mic cable (simple to do after a little practice learning to solder - a skill you should have as an audio person or videographer anyway).