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SONY HXR-MC50 mic to Beacktek aux input
Hello–
I’m trying to hook a wireless mic and a shotgun mic up to a Beachtek DXA-2T.
The wireless works great – plugged into the left XLR jack – but I can’t seem to get the shotgun working attached to the Aux mini jack. The mic is mounted on the camera which is a Sony HXR-MC50 (the shotgun mic came with the camera and is a ECM-CG1S)
No amount of fiddling seems to work – I tried switching from Mono to Stereo on the Beachtek and no luck.
Is it possible to have one wireless and a shotgun hooked up to the beacktek? Would a 3.5 to XLR adapter help – plugging it directly into the right XLR and bypasssing the Aux input altogether?thanks!
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4 Replies
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Firstly, that microphone is of the Electret Condenser variety (thus the “EC” in the model number), and therefore it requires a phantom voltage sent from the mic input in order to work. Typically, for Electrets, this is about +5VDC.
I doubt the Beachtek provides power on the Aux port for the mic, which is the main reason it’s not working. If you use a mini-xlr adapter, and turn on the 48V Phantom power on the Beachtek (if it has that option), that is too much voltage and will most likely destroy the mic.
the second issue you’re running into is that this is a Stereo mic, so the mini connector carries Left, Right and Ground on separate pins, and may not be pin compatible with a mono Aux input.
Michael Paul
Location Sound Corp -
Thanks Micheal –
My Beachtek does not have the option to turn on phantom power.
Will this Rode mic work plugged in the Aux input?
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The Rode video mic appears to take a 9v battery for power so yes it will work with the Beachtek with the proper connecting cable.
Eric
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It seems quite probable that the “Aux” input on the Beachtek DXA-2T is line-level and not mic-level. Alas, Beachtek seems to be following in the modern tradition of “dumbing-down” documentation to the point where it isn’t useful any more, so it is not clear exactly how the “Aux” input is designed. Yes, I realize that I am tilting at windmills and there is no hope of reversing this informational entropy.
But in any case, the Aux input will NOT work with the Sony HXR-MC50 microphone. While that microphone is NOT “stereo”, the connector is wired to send the mono signal to both the left and right channels of the camcorder. And it requires “plug-in power” from the camcorder. This power is eliminated by the Beachtek box and not passed through to any of the input connectors.
While the Beachtek box is a handy gadget, it is NOT a suitable solution for what you are trying to do. The microphone on the HXR-MC50 is a specialized design and operates properly only when plugged directly into a consumer mini-jack mic input. I have not seen ANY commercial equipment that allows use of both conventional XLR microphones AND 3.5mm mini-phone “plug-in power” microphones.
I have an HXR-MC50 and it is a very nice little camera, but I would have to build a custom version of the Beachtek box to allow that kind of “mixed-mode” use. I am actually considering doing that because I have a similar need.
Or the Beachtek box could possibly be modified to allow such use, but, of course that would void the warranty.
The Rode mic may work, but not plugged into the “Aux” input, you would need to plug it into an XLR mic-level input with an appropriate adapter.
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