Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:33 pm
This post and another centering around a Rode Video Mic Go II prompted me to dig around a bit. There is some confusion being introduced here. I see this new term popping up, "plug-in power". I either missed something in my 50 years of being involved in electronics or manufacturers are trying to dumb something down again and causing confusion. Typically dynamic and some other mics are considered to not need "power" to operate. This is a bit of a misnomer as they need what has been considered a bias or very low power if you will, to generate a signal. This bias however has never been considered a form of power. Condenser microphones however do need what the industry calls phantom power which is a higher degree of power than bias. Now we have this Rode Videomic Go II. It claims to be a condenser that will use "plug in power" (I'm assuming same as bias). I can find no further definition other than marketing rhetoric to qualify any of this. So is this thing a kinda, sorta, akin to, condenser? Ya, I'm confused too. Condenser has always been associated with more sensitive, greater detail etc than dynamic. Dynamic mics have always been considered great to scream into, knock around, and such. I'm cynical. There are lavs that are condensers and need power to operate but they are typically used with wireless systems or proprietary recorders that provide that power to the mic and these mics are not meant to be plugged directly into a trs camera input. Is this creating confusion in the interweb? Again, I'm cynical. I think I'm smelling another marketing rat. Back to the BMPCC 4k, the preamps are just weak. One needs to push the gain using most any mic. Not complaining here. I don't want to pay more for better preamps. As long as I can get either a scratch audio or timecode stamping for syncing in post I'm gold. Ya, I'm rambling. Disregard if you so feel. Just thinking "out loud".