Re: [Avid-L2] Shotgun recommendation

On Jul 10, 2014, at 2:36 PM, Jeff Kreines jeff@kinetta.com [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> On Jul 10, 2014, at 2:35 PM, Greg Huson Greg@SecretHQ.com [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>> Found an older Schoeps with an MK41 on Craigslist. External power supply (12v from a 9v? Weird) but it sounds good. We haven't had occasion to use it 'hardcore' yet, so I'm anxious to try it in a 'real world' situation.
>
> Probably a T-power version rather than Phantom. Fine as long as you have the right power supply — just don't use it on Phantom power (though I believe there are adapters that handle this). I've got one of those...
>
> Jeff Kreines


Cool Greg! As Jeff says, you probably got a Schoeps with an older T-powered preamp. Like a CMC4. Those are totally dandy, though seem to be a bit more susceptible to RF interference problems than current Schoeps preamps. If you bump into RFI trouble, you could use Neutrik EMC XLR cable connectors on your boom/other cable:
http://www.neutrik.com/en/xlr/emc-series/nc3fxx-emc-b
I use those connectors on some of my cables, partly because it's feels hip to have extra-zoot secret protection. Also because I end up in locations with crappy RFI. Anecdotal research (switching cables a couple times) suggest the connectors sometimes help.

As for the external power supply, if it's a small blue box, it's probably a Denecke T-Power supply. Solid and transparent (to my ears).
http://www.denecke.com/Products/products.html?tpm=1_4
I only have one T-powered mic left; a Sennheiser 416T that works fine, though only one of my mixers offers built-in T-Power. Some T-Power basics:
http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/mixers/powering-mixers/t-powering/


On Jul 10, 2014, at 1:25 PM, 'Tom McDonnell' ltr54@sbcglobal.net [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> "Jim Feely wrote:
> "Thought of your mic quest when I ended up working with a Blackmagic camera
> "this week. We recorded double-system sound, but fed the camera a scratch
> "track. but anyway...
>
> Jim how did the camera do audio wise? Dynamic range, s/n, ability to
> tolerate over-modulation, mic-pre noise...? Curious minds want to know.
> Maybe this should be on CML. Sounds like good info to have. ;-)



I think our camera had the latest BMCC firmware (1.8, IIRC) which I'm told addresses some audio issues with the cameras. The Blackmagic camera's audio was pretty much as I remembered it from past experiences: Almost as good as typical DSLR audio. Didn't do any careful measurements because it was a full day and we had to roll. Noise level was fairly high, dynamic range was probably somewhere between 50dB or 60dB. Also seemed to roll off lower frequencies more than I thought necessary; but again, that's based on just a quick listen. I read up on the camera ahead of time, but could be we didn't select optimal settings. So this is all rather anecdotal and subjective… But it sure ain't an Alexa.

So we slated and sent a scratch track to the camera through a Sennheiser G2 wireless hop. Chose that receiver because it was small and camera didn't want anything bigger (like a lectro receiver) on the camera; can't blame them…not much room to mount gak on the thing. We set the audio receiver output to close to its maximum, set the camera to a "lightweight" line level (pulled down from max)…that seemed better than mic-level on the camera (which seemed really noisy).

There's a chance I'll be working with the cameras some more (not my first choice, but they're so inexpensive that they end up in my world). So I googled up a couple input devices. Two that look kind of interesting:

Beachtek DXA-BMD passive "audio adapter"
Passive, so mic input remains mic output…but you get knobs, some sort of metering, and two cool short cables to run audio to the camera…and that might be enough Mounts under the camera. They also offer a top-mounted bracket that'll hold a small receiver, mic in shock mount, and a handle. Potentially useful.
http://beachtek.com/dxa-bmd/

JuicedLink BMC388 Preamp
A preamp, so with a mic connected, the box can spit out line level audio. Potentially more useful.
Mounts on top of the camera…seems kind of convenient.
http://www.juicedlink.com/products/bmc388-blackmagic-cinema-camera-preamp

A Sound Devices MixPre-D would be better than either of those, but probably overkill for the BMCC audio, I think.
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/mixpred/

I could see some BMCC owners getting one of the above.
I think I'll stick with recording to my Sound Devices recorder.

HTH a little.

jim feeley
pov media
word image sound

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