hello eveyone,

i was wondering, cuz im outta money right now to get a boom. so i just want to hang my XL2 mic from a broom stick( yes, sad i know :( lol ) but the wire is well to short.

so i was wondering if there are extention wire i could buy and maybe a price range. or can i just walk in to my local video shop and ask?

thanks for the help

cheers

Mike

Anyone?

lol

i have an answer of sorts

i emailed HENRY'S and asked them they said they dont carry that type of wire but i should try story that deal in audio stuff and i dont know of any where i live except for RADIO SHACK and well that turned up nothing.

I guess your looking for the same thing ROB?

well if i find anything ill post it here

also emailed canon about it havent heard anything from them either lol

cheers

Mike

No, I was just bumping the thread so that other people notice
it and hopefully respond to your question.

ah cool thanks alot Rob

cheers
mike

Probably not the answer you are looking for but if you can't find the cable you are needing I can recomend a good cheap mic. Check out the Azden SGM 2x. It only runs about $200 and for the money is actually a solid mic. I am usually cautious about buying cheap equipment but I was in a similar situation to you and had to get something, and lucky for me it turned out to be about the best $200 I ever spent.

oh cool cuz im looking in to buy a SGM aswell but i dont need it till the summer. whats farthest the distance on the Azen SGM to get nice sound ? and whats the product number if you dont mind?

thank kevin
Cheers

Mike

Kevin is this the one you have

http://www.video-direct.com/accessories/azden/sgm2x.html

also does it come with a XLR wire or is that seperate?

wow at my local Henry's this mic is $650

i think ill be ordering from the states :p

also does it work on phantom power?

thx

Mike

That's the one. It works from a fairly reasonable distance. Its hard to say... I wouldn't say you need to be any closer than you would have to be with any other boom mic I've used. I know that is vague but trust me it is a good mic. Also, I used it to record interviews with kids outside at a park and was very happy with how directional the mic was. You can also take off the longer capsule and put the short one on and use it as a studio mic as well. I just finished recording a 10 DVD set which consisted of 90% voice-overs. So like I said before. It is well worth $200. Even if it goes to crap tommorrow I got my $200 out of it. Check out B&H, I think that's where I got from...Either there or MacMAll

thanks kevin

i think im gunna go place my ordre for in now

but does it use phantom or does it always need the 1.5 batt.
and do i have to buy a xlr wire or does it come with one?

thanks

I think I had to buy an XLR for it and it does not run on phantom power. But all you need is a couple of AAA batteries and you're good to go. It doesn't eat up the batteries very fast either. I used it all summer and changed the batteries like twice. Just be warned, the shock mount it comes with is crap. It doesn't really work for mounting on a boom pole. I guess it is designed to mount on a camera.

thats what ductape is for my friend LOL

thank for all your help Kevin

Cheers Mike

hey kevin i was just wondering what type of xlr wire did you buy? was it gold or just normal.

so for what may sound like silly questions but Audio is not my thing....yet:)

its not really mine either. I don't think there was anything special about it. it looked like every other XLR i have ever seen so I guess its a "normal". Sorry if that doesn't help much but its about all I know.

thats cool i was just wondering

thank again kevin

cheers

hey kevin sorry to bother you again.

but i just got my Azden x2 Mic in and i was wondering the seting are on the camera to use it? ive never used a xlr mic befor.

so i dont wanna blow anything up lol

if you could help on the set up that would be awesome

thanks again

Mike

Hey mike. I see you have been doin some posting over on the Apple site. I go by analias over there so my boss can't see me posting all the time. Did you get that real time issue cleared up? You've got quit e the set-up. So I don't have my camera right in front of me but I remember it was kind of confusing. If you have the manual handy it will probably help more than I can right now. I am pretty sure you won't blow anything up, however I have seen a few scary posts in here lately. I just can't remember every switch in the process right now. I knkow it is a bit trickier if you want to get both the on cam mic and your boom working at the same time. Also FYI, I always shoot with the mic switch in the second on switch position. It filters out noisy background frequencies like AC hum and so forth. If the manual isn't helpful post back and I'll go grab my camera.

Kevin

hehe no that isnt me on the apple site. you must have me mixed up with someone else. hehe

well i have been looking at the manual

like it says i dont have phantom power mic so i should have the +48V set to off( and im guessing if the mic uses a batt thats not phantom) and should i plug in to 1/3 or 2/4 chan?


thanks

mike

Hi Gang,

Couldn't you just plug in a regular microphone and use a long XLR mic cable and plug it directly into the camera? Mic Cables and Cheap Mics can be bought at any guitar center or music store for 20-30 bucks. Or is that still too much money for this user?

Brian

Michael,

In order to use the Azden mic you'll have to do one of two things.

Switch Audio 1 to rear, then set the Rec Channel Select which will make the XLR jacks record on channel 1 and 2 separately, or 1 XLR will record to both channels (left and right mono). Note that setting Audio 1 to rear will disable the on-camera mic.

The other option is to use the Audio 1 set to Front Mic and use Audio 2 set to Rear which will make one XLR channel 3 and the other one channel 4. The downside to this is that the mini-dv format only has capacity for 4 channel audio by reducing the sampling frequency to 32khz and the resolution to 12 bits. This is fine for dialog but not really acceptable for music which needs the full audio spectrum for accurate reproduction.

There is actually a 3rd option used by some folks which is to record the extra audio onto a second camera. This will allow you to get everything recorded using16bit 44.1khz audio. Then, you simply capture the extra camera audio track(s) into your NLE and do the mix on your timeline. This is where a slate or clapboard comes in handy as it will allow you to sync the audio from the two cameras by looking at the waveform of the clap sound.

Good luck,

=gb=

hey thanks alot Greg for the help much appreciated

Mike

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : Anyone? -->>>

Mike, Rob,

I discussed years ago about this issue with the local Canon maintenance, and the proper technical answer is, no, you can't put a long cable between the Xl1 (and nowXL2) mic and the camcorder.

The reason is that, the mic is a compromise between price and quality. Basically, if you do not have that good microphone, you can somewhat compensate that by having a (very) short cable, for the input signal (more precisely, the input) impedance depends on both the mic and the cable. And this is what Canon has done: They've selected less expensive mic, for they were also able to equip it with such a short cable. My guess is that this is also the reason for the bit unstandard connector. Extending the cable is deliberately made uneasy.

Now, if you insist for a long cable, what will happen is that the higher frequencies will be damped (and signal to noise ratio will be worse). How much, depends on the length of the cable. The connector itself may also be a potential source of degraded signal.

(All this is not that difficult so called circuit and transmission line theory in electrical engineering, but if one is without a background, then it's not that easy to explain. Perhaps Don Palomaki has an idea how to explain the point in commonly understandable words.)

thanks lauri


cheers
mike

this is funny...I was actually looking at the Azden SMG - X and this one as well as a NRG-SA 568.

Any comments on the other ones? I know the NGR is $114 for a small package kit but I wonder if I'll just get what I pay for and end up with junk.

help. I really want to get a good shotgun mic that won't break my budget.

Eugene

im sorry i cant really help

when i got my Azden SGM 2X i went on the word of a few ppl and and user comments on the net.

im sorry i havent done any tests with it yet cuz im busy packing and getting ready for my move.

however im shooting a short this weekend and i can let ytou know on sunday how i think it sounds in comparison to the stock XL2 mic LOL.

and if i have some time ill try and post a clip for yuou to listen to

cheers

Mike

thanks a lot! I would appreciate that.

Np.

i'm glad to help


cheers
Mike

<<<-- Azden SGM 2X ->>>

I have a pair of Azden SGM 2x shotgun mics. It's otherwise ok, but it's not that sensitive as the Sennheiser. Of course, the Sennheiser is far more expensive.

I use the Azden mics together with Sound devices Mixpre preamp to record birds and other wildlife sources. It works well, the sound is very good, backgound noise is very low, and rather weak sounds get captured. Sound Devices Mixpre compensates the advantage of Sennheiser shotgun mic, and the result with Azden SGM 2X is just ok (although not the ultimate top quality).

I'm pretty sure, telling which tape is recorded with Azden and which one with Sennheiser mics would be very very difficult.

ya i just filmed a new short with the azden 2x and well sounded byfar better the stock mic(duh) i should be posting a lil clip for Eugene to check out hopefully sometime soon.

and i would love a Sennheiser but the money thing .. so i'll settle with ok :)


cheers
Mike

Mike, might I suggest the following:

Step 1: Attach a Samson (or other manufacturer) RF Mike to broomstick w/gaffer's.

Step 2: Make necessary connections to cam.

Step 3: Turn on trans & receiver, and, cam.

Step 4: Shoot!

In 3 years, I have never had a problem. Plus, I can place the transmitter a goodly distance from the cam, if necessary.

Give this method a chance if you can. I think you will like it.

Thanks Rob

cheers
Mike

<<<-- Originally posted by Michael Lopresti : ya i just filmed a new short with the azden 2x and well sounded byfar better the stock mic(duh) i should be posting a lil clip for Eugene to check out hopefully sometime soon.

and i would love a Sennheiser but the money thing .. so i'll settle with ok :)


cheers
Mike -->>>

whenever you get to it that will be great. I am about ready to but either the Azden or the Audio Technica AT835b. They are very similarly priced...in fact, here is a comparison between the Azden, AT835b and the Sennheiser, enjoy.

http://www.lafcpug.org/review_shotgun_mic.html

Michael , You might want to try here as an option to Henry's

http://www.vistek.ca/

Eugene
sorry man im haveing a bit of a hard time here im trying to pack all my crap i move in 3 day and im not even half done yet.




thanks for the link Steve


Cheers Guys

Mike

Eugene Weaver - Hey man sorry its taken so long for me to get back to you about the Azden Mic sample school isnt giving me time to do anything

but heres a clip from my new short

again sorry about the wait.



www.lusmagh.com/the_ex2.avi




Cheers
Mike

thanks for the link! Since we last spoke, I bought an Azden 2X as well as well as a boom pole and some other goodies. We shot the first part of our short film this past Saturday which turned out great in a very speedy micro budget sort of way. We shhot the second part next Friday (which is all indoors so I don't have to worry about matching up outside light).

i made my pole out of a broomstick a sock and ductape LOL

it worked well :)

how did the clip sound to you Eugene?
can you hear the fussy sound (it low)?
any tips on how to get rid of it?

cheers
Mike

I'll tell ya...I thought it turned out fairly decent. I am sure I will improve with the more footage I shoot with the Azden but for the $200...I'm happy.

I didn't notice a real fuzzy sound. but I guess putting this thing up against the onboard mic, this one blows it away.

ya forsure

but ya i spent $300 CAD on it and i think it was well worth it


what kind of pole did you buy and how much did you spend on it?

don't laugh.......I used a golf ball retriever! It worked GREAT! It can extend however far I want it to and all I need to do is slap som e gaffer tape around the mic (which I keep in its shock mount) to the end hole of the golf ball retriever and voila......instant boom pole.

I got it for free from a friend of mine. I'm sure it isn't quite as good as a professional one would be but I figure hey, it's free and it works!

i need friend to give me free stuff to heh

You might also want to check places like musiciansfriend.com for good prices on audio stuff. No affiliation -- they've just been very good to me. I seem to recall you can get some of the cheaper XLR cables there for like $8 for 25ft. Radio Shack cables will run you about $25/25ft and RS stuff is mediocre grade at best.

As for max length of cable runs, that's where the balanced/XLR stuff shines. A couple of hundred feet should be no problem (other than cable cost ;).

If you really wanted to just extend the on-board mic by 10 feet or so, it should be trivial (and relatively cheap) to extend the cable with standard Radio Shack crap, or make your own. You probably won't find anything with the Canon custom dual plug/jack arrangement, so just extend each with seperate cables. If I recall, you'd need a 1/8" phone stereo extension cable and a 3/32" phone mono extension cable. If you're handy with a soldering iron (or have a good friend who is) it should be pretty easy to cook something up. Note however that this stuff is unbalanced and long runs may result in hum and other noise creeping into your audio. To reduce the likelihood of this, make sure your pair of cables are the same length and they should be taped together.

If you use the broomstick and phone extension cables, please post pics. ;-)

-cw-

hehe saddly i dont have a pic of it but it worked well

i used 25 ft xlr cable taped it to the broom stick
i use a sock to wrap around the shockmount on the SGM then taped it on a angle so it kinda looked like a V shap

only thing i had to be carful with , well my boom holder had to be carfull with was not to move his hands on the pole while we were shooting. or the mic would pick up a kind of scraching sound

but it worked great and it cost me a old broom handle like 3 ft of ductape and a clean fresh outta the dryer white sock

cheers
Mike

I recently purchased a nice extendable pole that works much like the golf ball retriever in that it is variable length. Got it at a big home improvement store. It's the long yellow pole for changing light bulbs out of high ceiling fixtures. This thing is awesome other than the bright yellow paint job. Very sturdy and will reach out there a long way. I plan to change out the mediocre hand grip at the base with something more like dirt bike handlebar grips. Will let you know how it works when I am done.

-gb-

that cool can you post a pic of it when your done i would like to to see it

Cheers
Mike