I am filming in an industrial environment with a Canon 5D mk2 and I need to be able to do cable-free off-camera sound.

My plan is to plug my Rode NTG-2 rifle mic into my Sony PCM-D50 digital sound recorder so that sound assistant can monitor the audio (and record as a back-up), but primarily use the PCM-D50 as a mixer and connect the line-out from the PCM-D50 to the transmitter unit of a Sennheiser ew 100 ENG G2 which I am about to buy.

With the EW 100 receiver plugged into the 5D, and with the camera's audio set on manual (using the new manual levels now available with the Canon 2.0.4 firmware upgrade for the 5D) to a pre-tested level I will (I hope) get sync sound recorded onto the 5D cable-free.

I realise that the line-out from the MD50 may well be at the wrong level for the EW 100 transmitter so I may need some PAD cables to get input levels to match.

Any suggestions about the practicality/pitfalls of this possible set-up gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Mike

www.mikegoldwater.com

Hi Mike,
I would suggest that you use a mixer. I might be wrong, but line out on your recorder is just that. Line level output on playback. You could use the headphone out to send a signal to your transmitter, but then you wouldn't be able to monitor. Use a field mixer and send an output at mic level to your wireless and a line level to your recorder. Another advantage is that you can send tone to calibrate camera and recorder recording levels.
Cheers
Jon

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply. I agree I could use a small field mixer but I am trying to save a few hundred pounds and I already have the Sony PCM-D50. I tested the line out from the PCM-D50 today and the line out levels are mic-level dependent.

Do you know what pad cable would I need to use to balance the line out from the PCM-D50 or similar recorder to feed into the Sennheiser ew 100 ENG G2?

Thanks, Mike

Before you do anything else, connect it together as proposed and then see how far down you can crank the input sensitivity of the EW 100.

I don't have mine to hand but there's a distant memory that it can crank down to handle line level.

Won't hurt to try.


CS

The SK-100 body pack transmitter can be configured to accept unbalanced -10dB line-level. (which has been discussed previously on this forum) Adjusting the software sensitivity alone, will not 'pad' the analog input stage.

Hi Rick,

Thanks, based on your advice and Chris's comment I have bought the Sennheiser ew G2.
By adjusting the input sensitivity of the transmitter and the output of the receiver the whole system works a treat!

Thanks again, Mike