-
XL2 – Rode NTG-2 – FS4-HD – Microphone clicking, random
Hey guys,
I was out in the field the other day my XL2 with a Rode NTG-2 shotgun, Sony professional headphones and a Firestor FS-4 attached.
I started getting this clicking noise in my phones, I guess you could say a popping noise. It was random and I couldn’t replicate it. I thought some sort of static buildup or something. It was indoors and outdoors. I put a new battery in the mic, tried it without a battery (it was running off of the XL2 phantom anyways) , disconnected the FS-4 etc and it still did it. I watched to see if it did it when wires touched and no consistency. I used the factory canon stereo mic and it didn’t replicate the symptoms.
I am lost.
I have it hooked up right now and it isn’t clicking. It is sitting on a grounded computer so does that have something to do with it?
I am lost. Works right now but doing tomorrows shoot will it act up again?
Could the mic be defective? I thought maybe it was the cable but everything is the same as the other day except I don’t have the FS-4 HD hooked up.
-
8 Replies
-
Hello Elijah and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
You seem to have caught an intermittent problem. How fun!?
Something to do with the mic and the camera.
Did the clicks get recorded? Can you post a bit of the audio some where?
Can you go back to the same place and replicate the problem?
I doubt putting the cmaera on a computer is responsible for the lack of click. Take another mic with you.
Make sure, if the mic’s battery is turned on, that the XL2 phantom power of the XL2 is turned off, or vice versa.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
I just shot for about 4 hours today and it appeared to be fine.
I will try and upload a sample of the problem though because I would love to figure out what happened. It scares me to think it may happen again. I will be shooting Thursday in the same place so we may see it happen again.
Thanks
-
Elijah,
It cold be locational or positional; something to do with the actual location. Maybe something in the area is generating the noise.
Best,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
Are you sure that noise wasn’t caused by cell phone/blackberry interference?
Randy
-
Ok,
Here is a small sample of the noise. I am not sure it wasn’t. I look forward to hearing some opinions!
https://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/26576/xl2-ntg2-bad-audio-sample_1-2.aif
Thanks Ty and Randy!
-
Ok, the verdict is in!
I was at location yesterday and while setting up BOOM! teh, teh, teh, teh I hear in the phones. Long shorter. I tried everything, and then I noticed that unconnecting the microphone and leaving the XLR connected gave the same noise. Using the Canon XLZ factory stereo mic it did the same thing too!
I have shot with this camera well over 100 hours and have never heard this before. I walk outside and the noise is still there although not as loud. I decide to just go with the EW100 and it’s lavalier and forgo the NTG-2. Later I am driving down the road to try and find some Mini DV tapes and I hear the car speaker, front right, stereo system is 100% off, start making the EXACT same noise. Teh, teh, teh, teh. Once I arrive at the store I shut the car off and it was still doing it. It still didn’t click at that point but I realized that whatever the problem was it must be some super wide band interference or me!
Shorten it up here. It was my Sprint/Nextel IC902 cell/walkie phone!
If the phone was in my pocket it would randomly cause this problem. If it was away from me yet still on (so I could see missed calls and texts) it would cure the problem!
I am so happy to have figured this out! Hopefully it helps some other folks out in the future!
-
Elijah,
Thanks so much for your Cow Contribution. Yes, Nextel phones are extremely disruptive, even getting into hard wired mics.
Now that you have become familiar with the sound, you’ll know it when you hear it.
There are other cell phones that I’ve found knock wireless reception almost completely out.
I’ve been on two shoots where the wireless was fine until the talent showed up. Hang a wireless on them and the range goes from 50 feet to completely unworkable. These phones need to be completely turned off. “Black Screen” as it was described to me, meaning no power whatsoever. I prefer holding the phone for them in case they decide to check for calls during the shoot and fail to power the phone down completely.
Thanks again for sharing your experience with everyone.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
Thanks for the tips on the cell phones!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up