Brian Reynolds
Forum Replies Created
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Yes it will be unbalanced…. But that’s not a problem for short cable runs ie; 1-2 m
How is the shotgun mic powered? -
The NTG2 is a budget level mic….. Even if you connect it to the worlds best audio recorder you still have a budget mic… The Rode NTG3 is of different design and is MUCH better sounding than the NTG 1 or 2.
Rode NTG3, sennheiser MKH 416 or 600, some AudioTechnica models etc would make a much better start than the NTG2.
Recorders have come a long way recently with Tascam of various models or the new Zoom H5 or H6. -
o/p = OutPut
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The Rode NTG2 has a fairly low o/p regardless of how it is powered (either phantom or battery).
The H4n has poor preamps (its actually getting an old design these days)Many years ago I though it might have been the ideal location kit (NTG2 + H4n) but as time has proven its actually quite a poor combination.
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It would be quite easy to do….. BUT you will need a custom made cable, I doubt if an ‘off the shelf’ cable would work.
You will need to mix L+R from the laptop PC and that needs to go into the Sennheiser Tx unit in the ‘line in’ position (the diagram of the connections is in the Sennheiser manual) If the signal is fed into the ‘mic level’ input you will get LOTS of distortion because of the signal overload.
The custom cable will look identical at each end but it will NOT be reversable, the plugs will need to go the right way around.
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Problem 1 is often caused by the laptop power supply, switch mode supplies often cause this problem, Try running the mixer + laptop power supply, or try different ways of outputting the audio like USB interfaces, if all else fails run it on batteries. Apple laptops often have the worst problems.
Problem 2 sounds like a ‘gain staging’ problem in the audio chain. ALL the levels in each stage must be correct to achieve good results.
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Warren, you probably thought my reply to your question was a bit flippant, well let me explain.
This is quite a standard sort of set up for pro AV people but for someone new to the world of audio it could be quite complex.Let me give examples…..You are wanting to get several (1-4 mics) into a mixer and feed them to a domestic video camera. The mixer has a balanced output at line level, this needs to be padded down to mic level (approx 40db) and unbalanced to suit your camera.
You then need to deal with the telephone hybrid which will need a feed of ONLY the mics from the desk but NOT the output of the hybrid. This is what is called a ‘mix minus’ output from the mixer it is normally generated from an AUX feed from the desk… The AUX outputs will probably be unbalanced and will need to be fed into a balanced input of a hybrid unit which may need +4 level to get best results. (hopefully the mixer has enough gain for this)
The output of the hybrid will be +4 level and be padded down to -10db and unbalanced to input the line inputs of your mixer to prevent distortion. The mixer channel that has the hybrid on it needs to be fed to the main mix output but NOT the AUX out feeding into the hybrid.
Another feed from AUX2 of the desk could be fed to a powered speaker / or some sort of monitoring to listen to the the telephone hybrid ‘return’.
So each step in itself is quite simple but overall it is quite complex for a non audio person and you need to get the levels right in gain structure, get them wrong and you will go round in frustrating circles.
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You are probably out of your depth as you mentioned that “You are not an audio, video or technology guru by any stretch of the imagination”
Yes….. It is possible but you will need a dedicated audio person to set it up and also to operate it on the day as would be a long way from a set and forget sort of thing.
Additional to your list you will also be in need of a Telephone Hybrid Unit that will get your signals in and out of the mixer and telephone line.Trying to describe the setup and connections on a forum like this may give you more problems than you can deal with.
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DSLR = Dodgy Sound Location Recorder