i put a bunch of small rubber bands around it, and then a layer of gaffer tape over that. works great for me, and, frankly, if you look at a good mic shock-mount, its basically big rubber bands across a circle. =)

i don't have the me66 yet, but plan on purchasing one soon. isn't there a problem with using the original pd150 mic mount with the me66 in the sense that it holds the me66 too close to the camera?

results: camera noise on tape, mic in frame when using wide angle adaptor.

curious to know if i'm wrong about this, because the sony CAC-12 mount costs around $175 at b&h!!

i don't get much camera noise, but if you have a WA on, you see the windscreen when zoomed all the way out ( with the Lightwave screen ) Take the screen off and you don't see it. If the shot is so quiet and controlled that camera noise is an issue, you probably shouldn't be using an on-camera mic, imo. That said, the mic has pretty good side/rear rejection, so its really not that noticeable.

Several companies make mounts that solve the close-in long microphone problem.

Sony's CAC-12 for $180 will do it. With this, the largest wind silencers will not show with the wide angle adapter.

Light Wave Systems mini-mount will do it. Think it is around $150.

Just pull the small rubber mount off of your stock mic. That works perfect and its free.

<----but if you have a WA on, you see the windscreen when zoomed all the way out ---->

I have the Canon x.7 WA lens and am getting a ME66 within the next couple of days. Will I have to mount the mic further back. If so does it make the camera difficult to handle.

Maybe I am missing something but it sounds like you are doing it the hard way.

I just mount the ME66 in the camera shoe with a Senn MZQ6 Mount and plug it into the second xlr plug. Often as not I record with both mikes. If I am using a wireless mike on the other channel I just take off the onboard mike.

I built a homemade mike support for my azden (which doesn't fit in the factory bracket either. The nice thing about it is that it gives me some realestate on the PD150 to mount the Senn Evo reciever.

Thanks for the link to the Lightwave minimount product.

Quick question regarding the Sony CAC-12 mount. I couldn't tell from the pictures of it how it mounts to the camera body. I would like to use one with my VX2000. Anyone know if it's possible?

I removed the original microphone mount on my PD150 and the CAC-12 bolted right in.

You need a flat surface with two screw holes that line up for the mount. I wouldn't hesitate to drill two new holes in the mount if it were necessary.

I have an Audio Technica wireless system. The model of the receiver is ATW-R100. It is quite large so I'm not sure how it can be attached to the Sony PD150. With the added weight of two more 9v batteries, it is certainly more heavy to be on the PD150.
Any advice is appreciated,
Lucas

I have used that for a couple of months until I switched to AKG PR81. Yes it is endeed to big and heavy. I used to put it at the back of the battery (NPF-960) using a verlcro.

How do you attach the AKG PR81 to the PD150? By velcro also?
Thanks,
Lucas

Yes

I"ve always hung the receiver of my Sennheiser outfit on the sling that support the right hand. Stays out of the way and with the Sennheiser belt clip, never has come close to falling off.

I use the Mighty Wondercam, mini rover with the accessory plate (mini mate) http://www.videosmith.com/

Here's a new idea http://www.bracket1.com/

Interesting, Brian.

Looks like it would move the center of gravity for the setup off to the right. Fortunately, towards the right hand. Wonder how that feels after 10 minutes. Any insight?

The only incite I can give is on the Mini Rover. The grip and the mic mount is towards the back of the camera. The left arm and elbow will be tucked in to the left side of your body and the right arm likewise as your hand is in the support strap.

That's one heck of a rigid support. Your camera and your upper body become one. I'm older than dirt and I can hold the camera with all my goodies shake free. It also gives you something to hang on to besides the top handle. The ergonomics are such that you don't get tired and the grip is easy on your hand. Cheap, hard plastic grips just don't cut it.

The Mighty Wondercam is around $60 and the mini mate is around $10. The support is lightweight and milled from aluminum and the grip is cushioned and non slip. This is important when you have a few thousand hanging off of it. This ranks with the better things i've bought.

I mount my shotgun on the rover as well and mount my quick connect plate to the bottom of the river. The whole schmiel goes on the tripod, monopod and the marzpac

Hey guys,

** EXTENDING YOUR STOCK PD-150 MIC **
Question and its pretty urgent, I was wondering if any of you had used the stock microphone that comes with the PD-150 and just got a extension XLR cord about 16' long, and used it to hook up with the PD150 XlR inputs! I basically:

XLR INPUT = | (RADIO SHACK ADAPTER *XLR-1/4" PHONE PLUG IN)-PHONE PLUG IN -| XLR INPUT TO SONY MIC?

SADLY MY ATTEMPT FAILED AND THEIR WAS NO SIGNLA RUNNING THROUGH IT.. ANYONE HAVE ANY THEORYS?

I do it all the time. I have a normal XLR cable that I connect between the camera and the microphone which I place on a stand. It works very well.

Why do you go through the 1/4" plug/socket?

We're having little micro drop outs in audio on our PD150. It's only occasional, not on every tape, and sometimes it seems if we change tapes it won't come back. This happens in all recording situations and with different mics.

Any idea what's going on?

Thanks,

Arne

sounds more like a tape issue than anything else.

Don B

I suppose...though the same tapes work fine in a DVX100A...

Presumably you've cleaned the heads?

Sometimes the loss of audio is an indication that the heads are dirty or close to end of life.

Yeah, we just had a full cleaning...

How many head hours on the camera?

I may be way off base here, and I've never used the PD150, but is there a chance that this is happening near the ends of the tapes? Have you considered using DVCAM for the PD150?

Also, I have seen mention of some strange PD150 audio problems here: http://www.alanbarker.com/ (see the section PD150/170 SOUND - Audio Quirk).

Hi,

I have had similar problems on a vx2100. The only thing I could reduce the problem to is extreme environmental changes.

Do you take the camera and tapes into extreme temperature/humidity changes?

-Adam


<<<-- Originally posted by Arne Johnson : We're having little micro drop outs in audio on our PD150. It's only occasional, not on every tape, and sometimes it seems if we change tapes it won't come back. This happens in all recording situations and with different mics.

Any idea what's going on?

Thanks,

Arne -->>>

Greetings,

I have a couple PD-150's and we shoot alot of corporate videos with lapel mics.. Now our PD-150's have the problem when using manual audio gain it produces the hiss/noise. Using AGC it's not there and seems to provide an overall better quality.

The problem is I can't control the mic level with AGC when directly connected to the XLR on the PD-150.. So I have this idea..

I have a Mackie DFX-12 mixer with 6 XLR mic inputs and XLR out R + L. I'm thinking I plug the lapel in MIC 1 on the Mixer and plug the PD-150 into the output of the mixer. Then I could control the signal level from the mic on the mixer as it's outputted to the PD-150. Then infact I could have up to four people mic'd through the mixer and all go to the camera in the case if I have 4 people on screen in a discussion or what have you..

Any ideas or concerns that I am totally missing, or will this not work at all?

Welcome to the forums, Pat.

You don't mention if the onset of hiss is a function of the camera or the introduction of the lavalieres. Since you say this happens with multiple 150's, I'd guess this has something to do with the lavs. Or somehow you've had simultaneous failures of some sort in your cameras.

The use of an outboard mixer is always better than the onboard if for no other reason than the level control is so much more convenient and the meters are handy if not absolutely accurate in a digital recording environment (unless the meters are LED).

Seems to me you'd have a six-input maximum system, not four.

If I were going to hook everything up, a line-level monaural output from the mixer would be fed into camera channel 1 which would then split via the switch to both camera channels. Then I'd leave one of the camera channels in Auto and the other in manual and the level set at about 1/4-1/3. Then use tone to set up the mixer output using the camera's meter on the manual channel.

This will leave you with the best of the manual and auto worlds and you shouldn't miss much even if the sound levels vary quite a bit.

First thanks for your post..

Let me clarify the hiss is part of the problem with the internal components of the PD-150. We have two camera from the batch of bad cameras, sony didn't recall but offers a $150 upgrade to fix the problem and even then Sony can't say if it will be gone for sure..

However this problem doesn't exist with AGC on. This is confirmed through Sony..

Anywho, back to the mixer.. I have never used one and well quite frankly and very new to this whole arena..

So basically I have a lav input into MIC 1 via XLR. Then I have two MAIN OUT XLR JACKS, a LEFT and a RIGHT.

On the pd-150 I have input 1 with a selector for channel 1 or channel 1/2 and input 2 without that selector option.

So I am guessing, and believe me only assuming..

I would move that selector for input 1 to channel 1 and input the left XLR MAIN OUT into INPUT 1 and right XLR MAIN OUT into INPUT 2.

I guess I don't know much about XLR and MIC's but are they stereo or mono? If there were mono then would I feed just the LEFT XLR into the PD-150 Input 1 with channel selector set at 1/2 instead of just 1?

<<<-- Originally posted by Pat Sherman : First thanks for your post..

Let me clarify the hiss is part of the problem with the internal components of the PD-150. We have two camera from the batch of bad cameras, sony didn't recall but offers a $150 upgrade to fix the problem and even then Sony can't say if it will be gone for sure..

However this problem doesn't exist with AGC on. This is confirmed through Sony..

Anywho, back to the mixer.. I have never used one and well quite frankly and very new to this whole arena..

So basically I have a lav input into MIC 1 via XLR. Then I have two MAIN OUT XLR JACKS, a LEFT and a RIGHT.

On the pd-150 I have input 1 with a selector for channel 1 or channel 1/2 and input 2 without that selector option.

So I am guessing, and believe me only assuming..

I would move that selector for input 1 to channel 1 and input the left XLR MAIN OUT into INPUT 1 and right XLR MAIN OUT into INPUT 2.

I wouldn't do that. Since everything is really mono, I'd do as I suggested in my first post so you can run one channel on manual and one channel on auto level control.

I guess I don't know much about XLR and MIC's but are they stereo or mono? 3-pin XLR connectors are almost always mono. The lavs are almost certainly mono.

If there were mono then would I feed just the LEFT XLR into the PD-150 Input 1 with channel selector set at 1/2 instead of just 1?

Pan the output on the mixer all to the single channel that you connect to the camera.

-->>>

only the first one seems to function and i couldn t figure out how to activate the sound. when i watched the footy on my tv there was no sound at all while there was some while recording(i had earphones).


thanks

I have a PD150, and I'm trying to make my mind wether to buy the relatively cheap AT897 gun mike, or invest some more to afford the praised AT4073a.

Is there any PD150 specific PreAmp issue that I should consider before deciding between the two? I heard some bitter complaints about the sound quality of the PD. Is it really that bad? Could it make the price difference between the two microphones unworthy?

(Sorry for my English friends, I'm everything but a genuine English speaker...)

Thanks a lot,
I truly need your advice

Tom

The PD150 isn't as good as I'd like but it is ok wherever there is some amount of background noise. A voice-over recorder it isn't. But I've used mine for this on occasion. The PD150 isn't nearly as good as the DSR-300 or most any pro camcorder. In fact, my Sony MD recorder can do a better job than the PD150.

A microphone can be a life-time purchase. I'd make a selection based on my long-term expectations for a microphone and make the recording setup a minor part of the decision process.

That said, either microphone will do the PD150 (and more expensive cameras) very well. And you can go a long way with the sound from a PD150. You just cannot get the absolutely silent background that (fortunately very few) situations call for in our general work.

For microphone decision help, you'd do much better over in the 'Now Hear This' forum where they talk about the issues of microphone selection and where they have a very good moderator to assist you.

It seems like I really have to crank up the volume of the t.v. or stereo when playing back audio recorded on my PD150. My recording levels are way up there, I don't have the mic attn. on, and this is straight out of the camera before editing. Is this typical?

Regards, Myron

Myron,

It is hard to say since we don't know your playback setup.

What do you mean by your 'recording levels are way up there.' Do you mean the Level controls? Where are the indicated audio levels when you record?

The PD, IIRC, puts out audio at the pro line level.

I never play footage back from my camera into the type of setup you describe so I have no experience at what you are attempting but I certainly have no problems with my properly recorded audio levels in the editor.

Thanks for replying Mike. I record with the levels peaking just over the 0dB point on the meter. Have you never just connected your PD150 to your t.v. via RCA cables to quickly check a new project on the big screen?
I'm going to run a portion of this project through the editor and see how the audio comes out.

Thanks, Myron

No, I never do. I move the tape to my DV deck and watch it on my broadcast monitor. The deck will last longer than the camera (transport-wise) so I don't use the camera for playback. And the deck and the mixer have audio meters so I can see what is happening on the way in (and out)

The only time I hook up to a TV is if I need a focus aid and I didn't bring the portable monitor along (keeps the Director off my camera).

The fancy tools are one of the few advantages of having been in the business a long time. :-)