MA-200 XLR audio adapter questions

[Michael Estepp]

Thanks a lot, I was actually under the impression from a producer that we were purchasing a Digibeta, but alas... But there is always the future. Until I get a deck with a slot for SDI in/outs... or the digi beta, I will use firewire. Do you know of any other nifty options I have that I haven't thought of?

Michael

[Brad Simmons]

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Brad,


Is your goal to simply avoid duplicating a single channel in post, or is it to capture a true stereo sound field with accurate left and right channels?

-->>>

Hi Ken, well that's where I'm confused. I simply want to record dialogue, and I'm wondering if I only capture sound from a mono Sennheisser mic into the left channel, is that good enough? I can only hear the sound on the left side of my headset, and I can only hear it coming out of the left speaker when I have captured the audio. (obviously)

So, in post production, having used one mono mic to record to the left channel, and I duplicate the left channel to the right channel, does that effectivley lower the quality of the sound?

Basically, all I want to know is how would most people record a dialogue scene with 1 Canon xl1s, one MA200, and one mono seenheisser mic? Should I just use the left or right channel with the mic...and then somehow duplicate the channel in post? OR should I get one of those converters that splits the XLR cable and would let us plug it into the left AND right channel (fake stereo).

thanks in advance.

[Ken Tanaka]

Brad,
Your confusion is understandable. I believe that most videographers simply record their dialog on a single channel when using a single mic. Then, during post-production, it's very simple to pan that channel across left and right channels with a slide of the mouse in your non-linear editing program. (At least that's how it works in Final Cut Pro.)

[Brad Simmons]

thanks Ken, I just tried that in Premiere with "Duplicate Left Channel" and now I hear the sound coming out of both speakers. It sounds good.

Thanks for clearing it up. I was under the impression that mono=bad and stereo=good...and that somehow I needed to always strive to achieve stereo? I just want to make sure that duplicating a mono track will sound as good as trying to use two mono mics and blending them in post. Especially if this film goes to a film fest in a theater with large speakers, I'm wondering if a duplicated mono track will sound somehow distrorted? Thanks for explaining all this.

[Ken Tanaka]

No, don't worry, panning a channel does not introduce any distortion.

Basically, the finished sound field of most films is a mix of many mono tracks. Dialog, foley effects, music, and background sound is all woven together to paint the image fed to your ears.

[Brad Simmons]

thanks a bunch Ken as always.
Just what I wanted to hear.

[Darren Douglas]

I've just bought an Audio Technica Line & Gradient Mono Balanced Shotgun Mic, AT 835B, it cost me £200.00, and it's not working that well with the MA-200 I bought a year ago, which seems to be working fine. (incidentally I have had this same problem with other mics)

The problem I've got (and it may be the way I'm setting it up in the menu), but the signal I'm getting through the right channel is very low and it's not picking up sound from a distance that I expect it to, when I isolate just this mic.

I've set the menu up as follows: ST 12 bit 1,2. The onboard mic is on the Stereo 1&2 channels, and the mono AT 835B is linked to the right channel Audio 2 through the MA-200.

I have to get almost upto the AT835B to hear a signal through my headphones, as soon as I pull away, the signal seems to decrease massively. Is it the balanced/unbalanced thing.

Have I set it up correctly? For £200.00 it should be able to hear a pin drop at 20 yards. Have you had any similar problems? Is the MA-200 only capable of taking unbalanced inputs, could it be that? Does the MA-200 automatically attenuate the mic input signal?

PS. I have checked the AA 1.5V battery by the way in the mic, and tried the AUDIO 1 connection instead, same problem.

[Christopher Hughes]

I have the same mic and works great.

Make sure that you have the correct setting, for which ever Stereo 1 o 2 you are using. Such as making sure its set to MIC not LINE IN.

It should be somewhere on the menu system. The manual should tell you how to set it...as I cannot remember off hand. If you have lost your manual. You can download it in PDF around 3MBs from the internet.

One its set to MIC then you will hear the mic...its fairly powerful so you should not have be to right up close to even get a sound. I seems to me its set on LINE not MIC on the menu for ST-2, and you do the same for ST-1 if you want to just use your AT on ST-1 in 16bit. Even with the switch set....you still have to select the source type from the Menu...i.e MIC for your AT

[Christopher Hughes]

And one more thing....I'm not try to infere your dumb...but you have remembered to plug in the MA-200 power source plug, right?
I know I have done that mistake! and after cursing the ground realised what a nonce I have been to not plug in power to the back of CAM.

[Darren Douglas]

Hi Chris

Thanks for your advice especially regarding splitting the signal using the RCA cable, excellent idea. Re the MIC, I've ensured the menu has selected MIC for Audio 2, so I don't think it can be that. Also the power on the MA200 is connected. It seems like I have to go to Manual levels on Audio 2 and really crank up the MIC to get it anywhere near the 12db max sound level.

Could it be the quality of the earphones, however the on board MIC is loud enough when I select this using the Audio Monitor. Have you found the audio quality is much different bewteen the two?

[Don Palomaki]

What does the meter tell you as to level?
Do you have the monitor selector set appropriately and for an appropiate balance between ST1 and ST2 at the output?

Is the MA-200 RCA connected appropriately. If the levels are 50+ dB lower than you would expect, almost sounds like you might be hearing cross talk only, and that the mic might be really patched to a different input.

[Christopher Hughes]

One more Idea.....Have you set the earphone port to have ST-1 and ST-2 monitor....it could be that. I have never used 12bit..so not entirely sure, but I think you can choose between the two. So perhaps its the sound not getting to the earphone port from ST-2 thats the dodgy bit. Have u tried the mic purely in ST-1 only???

If that does not work, but the build in mic does work..then it could either be your MA-200 faulty, or that your AT835b is knackered!!

Hope you solve your problem soon!!

[Darren Douglas]

Hi Chris/ Don

Think I've solved this one due to your help.

I've invested in some better earphones, Sennheiser MX500, which has improved the level of sound I'm hearing. I've also split the AUDIO 2 cable to left and right, so although Don mentioned the signal may be reduced slightly, the AT835b seems more audible as it's now across both channels. I've had to crank up the Audio 2 output to get a more balanced output, but it seems to have done the trick.

Thanks again.

[Gareth Trezise]

What am I doing wrong?

I can hear everything I expect to hear via headphones but when playing back recording I appear to have only recorded from the onboard mic!

Here's how I have everything set up.

In the XL1 menu, Audio Mode is 12 Bit ST-1,2 and Audio 2 In..Mic

The Audio 1/Mic Input Selector is set to Mic

Sennheiser receiver is plugged into Audio 2 in R channel on the MA200

The Audi 1 out leads on MA200 are plugged into Audio1 on back of XL1

Audio 2 leads from MA200 are plugged into Audio 2 on side of XL1

Using the Audio Monitor on ST-1 I can hear through headphones sound being picked up by onboard mic & on ST-2 I can hear sound from the Sennheiser clip on mic

When playing back a recording I do not hear any sound from the Sennheiser clip on mic, only from the onboard mic

I 've read the instructions again & again and I'm just going around in circles.

I'm sure I can't be that far from getting it right.

Can someone please help me out here and tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Many Thanks

Gareth

[Don Palomaki]

If monitoring the analog output of the XL1, do you have the playback configured correctly so that the Audio2 output is sent to the amplifier/speakers?

If listening to firewire captured in a NLE, does you NLE support 4-channel audio capture?