Sound recorded too low

[Ron German]

Hi
Going on testing my new HD 100a, I tried to record sound in auto with a pro mic, similar to the Shure SM 58 and the sound was recorded too low.

Also when I added the HD 100 stock microphone, no sound was recorded.

(Up to now, I haven`t noticed any ISSUE with the image (noc noc noc), whitch is really great, even in SD! )

So please let me know what should I do to set up the sound to record with professional mics correctly?

Best
Ron

[Stephen L. Noe]

Did you have your preamps in auto or manual mode? What did the VU meter read on your LCD? Seems like you have it set to manual mode and the rotary dial is set to low. Check your VU meters and try again. You should be able to get excellent audio. With the SM58 you need to turn off phantom +48v and set the selector switch to mic.

give it another shot Ron.

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Ron German

Also when I added the HD 100 stock microphone, no sound was recorded.

The stock microphone requires phantom power, so the switch needs to be in the +48V position for it to function properly.

Something similar happened on some footage I was given recently. The levels were barely peaking at -40dB. I applied a Multiband Compressor in FCP, boosted the 2500Hz range (crossover 1), used post-gain and actually managed to pull up pretty decent dialogue! You can then play with the other crossovers, thresholds and EQs to fine tune out noise and undesirable frequencies.
It is at least good enough to use as a guide for ADR, and possibly for the final mix.

[Ron German]

Tim
Thank you for your attention.
It was only the first test with the camera in SD 24p 16X9, I didn`have any
pre-amp mic, it was kind of SM58, straigh to cable as usual and set to mic.
I set the camera definitely in auto. Very strange. The VU barely moved.
Regarding the stock mic, it was set in mic without the phantom power and I will give it another shot.
Best
Ron

[Jay Yellamaty]

Originally Posted by Ron German

Tim
Thank you for your attention.
It was only the first test with the camera in SD 24p 16X9, I didn`have any
pre-amp mic, it was kind of SM58, straigh to cable as usual and set to mic.

Kind of SM 58 ? There are dozens of mics that look like SM 58's. The SM 58 is a professional low impedence mic, an excellent choice for HD 100. Many of it's imitators are high impedence, low quality, low cost mics, whose output does not match the input levels on the HD 100. Always use a Low impedence ( low zee ) mic. One other thing to watch for is that the monitor select switch is set to " both " Hope this was helpful.

[William Hess]

I have a similar Shure SM58 experience I would like to share:

I shot a casting call two weeks ago. I had my sennheiser ME66 plugged into channel 1, and my Shure SM58 plugged into channel 2. I've never used the SM58 with any of my video cameras but figured, what the heck, I may as well put something on channel 2. I set both channels to Auto mode. Both inputs were set to mic with phantom power going to channel 1 only.

While the ME66 was incredibly sensitive as usual, the SM58 was hardly picking up anything. I changed the "INPUT2 MIC REF" to -60db and it helped a bit, however the signal for the SM58 was still way way low. Examining the audio in post revealed the same thing.

I'm not sure what the deal is, however the SM58 is plenty loud when connected to my Mackie 1202 mixer. Perhaps either the SM58 is not terribly sensitive, or the mic pre's on the HD100 are not terribly powerful, or a combination of both.

[Jack Walker]

Here is a user's guide for the SM58:
http://www.shure.com/stellent/groups...ro_sm58_ug.pdf

The SM58 is a dynamic microphone and must be used very close to the sound source. According to the user's guide, here are the distances:
1. Vocals, maximum 6 inches (ideally probably about 2 inches for a "typical" singing voice.
2. Speech maximum 2 feet.
3. Ambient Speech with distant sound, 3 feet to 6 feet

In addition, a quality preamp is needed for a quality sound. Also, as a dynamic mic it is not very sensitive. The dynamic mics with a Neo..dyn...(?) magnet are a bit more sensitive. However, they all are much less sensitive than a condenser mic.

Since I am waiting for my JVC camera to arrive, I don't have experience with the mic and the preamps on the camera.

[K. Forman]

One of my first test clips with the HD100 also produced no audio. I was worried at first... until I noticed the switch for the phantom power was off. Duh huh!

[Stephen L. Noe]

Originally Posted by William Hess

I have a similar Shure SM58 experience I would like to share:

I shot a casting call two weeks ago. I had my sennheiser ME66 plugged into channel 1, and my Shure SM58 plugged into channel 2. I've never used the SM58 with any of my video cameras but figured, what the heck, I may as well put something on channel 2. I set both channels to Auto mode. Both inputs were set to mic with phantom power going to channel 1 only.

While the ME66 was incredibly sensitive as usual, the SM58 was hardly picking up anything. I changed the "INPUT2 MIC REF" to -60db and it helped a bit, however the signal for the SM58 was still way way low. Examining the audio in post revealed the same thing.

I'm not sure what the deal is, however the SM58 is plenty loud when connected to my Mackie 1202 mixer. Perhaps either the SM58 is not terribly sensitive, or the mic pre's on the HD100 are not terribly powerful, or a combination of both.

Phantom power must be off for the SM58 and the selector switch set to mic. I had a similar scenario when my shotgun mic died when I was shooting overseas. Instead I used my Sennheiser e835 mounted to the camera using my wireless SK100. That served as my shotgun for most of the shooting. Actually I liked the fact that I could pull the mic off and use it quickly in any situation.

Anyway, change your preamp selector switch to mic for a dynamic mic like SM58.

[Stephen L. Noe]

Here's the scenario:

[Ron German]

Thank you all
I think I solved the problem by changing the "MIC REF Level" to -60db
and the "audio reference level" to -12db.
I`m not an audio especialist and don't know if it´s right but my Sony ECM77 and Audio Technica 815 seems to modulate well after this change.
Best
Ron

[Ram Ganesh]

Originally Posted by Keith Forman

One of my first test clips with the HD100 also produced no audio. I was worried at first... until I noticed the switch for the phantom power was off. Duh huh!

yeah... same here... no audio...i wonder why JVC chose not to make it as a DEFAULT setting is beyond me... they seem to expect us to read the damn manual! ;)

[Jack Walker]

Can't you hear in the headphones if the mic is sending a signal?

[K. Forman]

In my case, I was just doing some "get to know the new cam" stuff, and didn't have headphones on. It didn't really occur to me that there was no audio coming out of the mounted ear piece either. So, it was a surprise when I did some capture.