Jordan Wolf
Forum Replies Created
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Steve,
It sounds to me like there is a gain staging problem. Put in layman’s terms: something is turned up too much or not enough.
You’ve gotten good advice, but if you’re stuck with your current setup, I have some tips:
1. Set the gain on the mixer appropriately. For your mixer, do this by having the source make noise (talk, play instrument, etc.) and turn the Gain knob until the Zero light starts blinking.
2. Set the levels on the camera appropriately. For the Panasonic, you’ll want to set the levels so that the meters never “clip” and, on average, remain around “-18” to “-20”. The numbers represent how much headroom, in dB, you have left until nasty noises occur.
Wolf
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A 1/8″ connector could be used for a balanced connection if it and the connections were wired correctly. Otherwise, you’ll get cancellation of anything that’s in mono (the same on each leg).
Wolf
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Eric & Bill, et al.
Not to be pedantic, but balanced wiring is kind of a misnomer. Whether or not an input/output is balanced is completely independent on the wire used in connecting it. A balanced connection is made by having the same impedance (Z) on each leg of the circuit. The 3rd wire (Pin-1, Sleeve, drain, shield, etc.) doesn’t matter in the balancing of the connection.
The 3-wire mic cable uses Pins 2(+) and 3(-) for carrying the balanced signal and Pin 1 for keeping the gear attached to it at the same or low enough voltage potential. This keeps ground loops to a minimum. The shielding and twisting of the pairs helps with EMF and RF interference. The only place that NOT having all 3 connections becomes problematic is when you require external phantom power for a microphone or a DI box, since +48V uses Pin 1 as it’s ground reference. Cat5e cable works very nicely for multiple balanced, line-level signals (and there’s no “Pin 1”).
Additions and corrections are welcome; hope the above was informative and helpful.
Wolf
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There’s no problem with sending balanced, Line Level (+4dBu)signals over UTP CAT5e/CAT6 cable. That lets you stay in the analog realm, but confines you to the number of pairs available in the cable.
Any other solution would require A/D-D/A conversions, as you mentioned; standalone solutions include offerings from manufacturers such as Allen & Heath, Yamaha, etc.
Wolf
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There are a few different kits available. For a recent church revamp, I ordered a kit that has a cardioid lav, as the omni pattern wasn’t tight enough for both the “liveness” of the room and the gain-before-feedback that I needed for sound reinforcement. (Some of the above doesn’t apply for audio-for-film, but is handy to know)
Depending on which kit they OP ordered, they might have a stock cardioid lav ship with it.
Wolf
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Wired is ALWAYS more reliable. There are fewer points of failure, and you don’t have to worry about coordinating yet another RF device. K.I.S.S.
Wolf
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You might want to put it on a piece of foam, just in case someone whacks the table.
Wolf
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Plug a pair of headphones into the H1 and put the unit into record-ready mode (you should be able to hear what the mics are picking up, but it won’t be recording yet). Find the best spot by moving the unit around to different areas/locations. Once you find the sweet spot, leave it there and babysit it so no one messes with it.
I think that’s the best you’ll get from that setup.
Wolf
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If you want to get a board mix, ask the board op if there is a free Aux send. If so, maybe he/she would be willing to give you a pre-fader send from those channels.
You could also try a true stereo microphone, if you’re not using one already. That can enhance the feeling of being there VERY much, especially if listening through headphones or a surround sound system Look into X-Y and Mid-Side techniques and microphones.
Wolf
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