Microphone problem

1. Sulabh
   Member

   

   Hi Guys, 

   I am bit of newb to videography. I have two Sony XR500E consumer camcorders which have 3.5 mm microphone jacks and not xlr jacks. 

   I use a wired 2 feet long 3.5 mm wire microphone with an extension cable connected to it, so that it can reach the people in front while connected to the camera. But the problem is, there is lot of digital noise and hum being captured as soon as i plug the mic in. Also as soon as i plug in the charger, the noise becomes unbearable, nothing gets recorded. 

    

   Can anyone help me out here. how can i reduce if not eliminate this digital noise. Or any 3.5 mm microphones reccomendations? any good lapel ones? i need them to record speech/interviews.

    

   OR any good program that removes digital noise from recordings?

   Posted 6 months ago #

2. Charles Schultz
   Adobe Host

   

   What is your editing software? Premiere Pro has a noise reduction panel in the effects tab under audio. As for why you are getting the digital noise, sorry, I have no idea.

    

   Posted 6 months ago #

3. Sulabh
   Member

   

   I am using Sony Vegas 10, and use audacity for audio noise reduction, but that does not give me clean audio, it muffles it up a little. Plus sometimes i use floorfish plug-in, in vegas for hum reduction. But that is good for light hums, it does not do much for constant electronic noise... i think i need a good microphone.. 

   Posted 6 months ago #

4. lomaymi
   Member

   

   3.5 mm microphones are most likely to experience digital noise, mostly because they are unbalanced (check this Videomaker article "Audio for Video Production Balance vs Unbalanced"). Although you can find good 3.5 mm microphones, I strongly advise you to invest in something like the BeachTek DXA-2T. With this device you will be able to connect XLR microphones (which gives you a balanced signal) giving you a better audio quality. Its a little expensive, but it will give you a lot of more options.

   The meaning of a movie are the characters, the life of the movie is the music, but the magic is in the editing.
   Luis O. Maymí
   Follow me on Twitter @lomaymi

   Posted 6 months ago #

5. birdcat
   Moderator

   

   There are the Rode VideoMic's (mono & stereo) which do a good job.

   Bruce Paul
   7Squared Productions
   http://www.7squared.com

   Posted 6 months ago #

6. Rocky
   Member

   

   The fault condition you describe sounds most likely like an audio earth-shield wire or cable is open circuit or disconnected. That is reinforced by your description of increased hum/radiation from the charger, when it is connected. You have two cameras, if you get the same problem with both cameras then the problem lies with microphone its cabling or its connections. If you get no hum from the cameras internal microphone the problem lies outside the camera body.

    

   Locating the problem should be easy with a Sony XR500E as you are able to monitor the audio whilst recording through headphone jacks. If the problem is in the cable, by gently twisting/bending the cables where the cables join the connectors (both ends) you will be able to monitor if the noise/hum stop. Alternatively the problem may be a disconnected shield/earth wire internal in the microphone, swap with any another microphone if necessary, to confirm.

   Posted 6 months ago #

7. Sulabh
   Member

   

   Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it, rocky will check and come back to you, i think i need new better cables, which are a little hard to find in India.

   Posted 6 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

youtube, myvideo, funnyordie, gametrailers, collegehumor, dailymotion, glumbert, liveleak, redtube, googlevideo, sevenload, metacafe, clipfish, vimeo