I'm sorry for making a duplicate post, but I asked this in the audio forum and nobody's responding.

My question is: I found that the Rode VideoMic Pro works very well when the audio gain on the camera is cranked down to almost nothing and the mic is set to 20db. But when I hook up my Sony UHF wireless, the audio sounds clear but muted. Just for grins and giggles, I plugged the cable into the monitor out (headphone) jack on the receiver, instead of plugging it into the regular audio output jack. The audio in the camera is now crisp and clear and has perfect volume..

Howzat? Is the monitor out jack acting like a line-in into the camera?

And are there any risks to the camera doing it this way?

Thanks,
Charles

Wait, so you plugged the Sony mic cable into the jack on the side of the camera that is supposed to have your standard composite breakout cable for a television output plugged into it?

Wow. That's interesting. I had no idea that jack went 2 ways. Does it do the same for the Rode? Does it still work with both mics plugged in?

The only damage I could imagine it could cause is possibly if you plug in a mic that had a battery for Phantom Power and it sent a spike towards your camera or something. Seems like it'd be a rare occurrence though.

No... I plugged the stereo mini plug from the wireless into the stereo mini-plug audio input on the camera. But instead of using the audio out port on the wireless, I used the monitor out (headphones) port.

I guess I didn't make that clear.

Oh, that makes more sense now. I haven't had any experience with Sony wireless units, so I'm not sure, but yeah I'd venture a guess that the monitor out on it would be sending out more juice than the actual Mic out. Could definitely be why. When you run it this way you need to leave the camera audio set low like with your VMP correct?

Yes. That's correct.

The Sony wireless conveniently comes with both an XLR out from the receiver, or a stereo-mini.