benmunro wrote:Howdy guys, thanks for the advice. I will buy a JuicedLink Riggy but for now I seem to be able to get audio on the Rode video mic when I switch it to "mic" instead on "line" this seem's quite odd to me.
That's as it should be; even powered, the mic's output will be mic level, which is lower than line level. The preamps on the mics aren't made to apply a lot of gain, they're generally designed with the idea that you'll be using a preamp if you want line level. To get the most of the mic, regardless of whether you use the camera's audio or a separate recorder, you're going to want a preamp. I've gotten decent results recording directly to a camera with XLR inputs as well as directly to a recorder with XLR inputs, both cases using phantom power, but a good preamp gives you a lot to work with. We were able to get clean dialog with an Audio Technica shotgun mic on a boom 15 feet above our talent (a compromise due to circumstance, not our preference). It required a lot of gain, but we added the gain with a good preamp.
A better solution would have been to either use ADR or shoot the dialog in close up shots instead of relying on the wide shot for dialog, but the director wasn't the sort to actually listen to his crew's advice, so we just did the best we could.