Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

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jlaing96

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Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostTue Jun 08, 2021 12:28 am

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if I could plug a Shure SM7B directly into a BMCC6KP? Would the phantom power be enough? I dont know a lot about recording stuff. But my main goal here is to not have to sync audio in post :D


Any helps / tips would be appreciated.
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Howard Roll

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostTue Jun 08, 2021 2:51 pm

Yes, but don't use Phantom power, the Shure SM7B is a dynamic mic.

Good Luck
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Brad Hurley

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostTue Jun 08, 2021 3:20 pm

Howard Roll wrote:Yes, but don't use Phantom power, the Shure SM7B is a dynamic mic.


And because of that, you may have to crank up the gain a lot to get a good signal; I don't have any experience with the BMPCC 6K Pro but most on-camera preamps tend to be on the noisy side. You may need to use a cloudlifter or a similar booster if you can't get a good clean recording.
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Daniel Tufvesson

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostThu Jun 10, 2021 8:50 am

I tried this a while ago on the BMPCC4K and, yes, the CloudLifter is definitely needed. I would suspect the same goes for the BMPCC6K Pro. I actually ended up adding the DBX286s as well since it gave the processed broadcast sound I was aiming for and I could feed the camera with a line level signal instead.
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John Griffin

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostThu Jun 10, 2021 9:07 am

I would suggest (despite what BM state in their marketing material) that you need a mic preamp to feed the pocket cameras via XLR to get a hot enough signal for serious audio work and for serious audio work you are better off recording to a separate recorder anyway. Just because these cameras can supply phantom power doesn't mean the internal pre amps are good enough for phantom powered mics. I would suggest that phantom power / balanced audio is there to provide the shielding from noise rather a plug and play audio solution.
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jlaing96

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostFri Jun 11, 2021 8:30 am

Thanks for the help guys

Daniel Tufvesson wrote:I tried this a while ago on the BMPCC4K and, yes, the CloudLifter is definitely needed. I would suspect the same goes for the BMPCC6K Pro. I actually ended up adding the DBX286s as well since it gave the processed broadcast sound I was aiming for and I could feed the camera with a line level signal instead.


Cheers, Dan.. I'm not an Audio expert, so I know very little on all this stuff. But can a cloudlifter work without a preamp? If I'm not mistaken, the BMPCC 6k pro would act in a way like a preamp?
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Daniel Tufvesson

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostFri Jun 11, 2021 3:21 pm

jlaing96 wrote:Cheers, Dan.. I'm not an Audio expert, so I know very little on all this stuff. But can a cloudlifter work without a preamp? If I'm not mistaken, the BMPCC 6k pro would act in a way like a preamp?
Yes! I will try to explain.

One problem with all microphone preamplifiers is noise. The more amplification, the more noise is introduced. A good (as in expensive) preamplifier has less self-induced noise compared to a less good (cheaper) one.

Most preamplifiers like the one found in the BMPCC6K is well suited for use with active microphones that contain their own amplifiers that is powered using the phantom power provided by the preamplifier. The amplifier built into the microphone boosts the signal so that the preamplifier doesn't have to do all the heavy lifting (and add that noise we don't want).

When using a dynamic microphone, like the SM7B, you need to have all that amplification in the preamplifier since the mic doesn't have any built-in amplification. The SM7B specifically causes problems with most common preamplifiers today since it requires almost 60dB of gain to be usable. That is a lot of gain and requires a very good preamplifier and most are not up to the task.

That's where the CloudLifter comes in. It is a very low noise amplifier that is hooked up in line with the microphone and provides a gain boost (around 20dB for the CL1 version if I remember correctly). The CloudLifter itself is powered using the phantom power from the preamplifier so there is no extra power supply needed.
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jlaing96

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostSat Jun 12, 2021 8:36 pm

Daniel Tufvesson wrote:Yes! I will try to explain.

One problem with all microphone preamplifiers is noise. The more amplification, the more noise is introduced. A good (as in expensive) preamplifier has less self-induced noise compared to a less good (cheaper) one.


Thanks for the explanation Dan. So if I've understood you correctly, I can connect the mic to a cloudlifter, and connect the cloud lifter directly to the BMPCC? And for this to work, I would need to have phantom power turn on, on the BMPCC? Or is it not needed?

Sorry for all the question! You've been very helpful!
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Daniel Tufvesson

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostMon Jun 14, 2021 2:15 pm

jlaing96 wrote:Thanks for the explanation Dan. So if I've understood you correctly, I can connect the mic to a cloudlifter, and connect the cloud lifter directly to the BMPCC? And for this to work, I would need to have phantom power turn on, on the BMPCC? Or is it not needed?

Sorry for all the question! You've been very helpful!
Exactly! That is correct.

[BMPCC4k w. phantom] <--> [CloudLifter] <--> [SM7B]
Shoot - BMCC | BMPCC | BMPCC4K | BMVA | GH5
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jlaing96

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostWed Jun 16, 2021 8:26 pm

Daniel Tufvesson wrote:Exactly! That is correct.

[BMPCC4k w. phantom] <--> [CloudLifter] <--> [SM7B]


Thanks again mate! Seems to work really well so far. I ended up getting a Shure MV7 and coupled it with a Fethead rather than a cloudlifter. I chose the fethead because from I what I could see online, the effect is more or less the same as a cloudlifter, but it's half the price and it's a far more convenient formfactor (at least for me).

Thought I'd share for anyone else looking to do the same thing :)
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Robert Castiglione

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostFri Jun 18, 2021 3:24 am

Just reading the comments in this forum.

It is important to feed the xlr input a "fat" signal. The internal preamps respond very well to this. The results when you do this can be pretty amazing.
Rob Castiglione
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jlaing96

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostFri Jun 18, 2021 11:37 am

Robert Castiglione wrote:Just reading the comments in this forum.

It is important to feed the xlr input a "fat" signal. The internal preamps respond very well to this. The results when you do this can be pretty amazing.


Not sure I get what you mean by this. Could you elaborate? Would love to learn of other techniques to improve the quality :D
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Robert Castiglione

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostSat Jun 19, 2021 12:40 am

Relying mostly on the internal preamps won't give you as a good result as relying on an external preamp to either send the camera a line level signal or, when recording at mic level, boosting the signal with a device such as fethead. I have used the fethood, phantom power version , with a Sanken CS 1 shotgun with excellent results.
Rob Castiglione
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rapapar

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Re: Can you connect a Shure SM7B direct to BMCC 6K Pro?

PostSun Jul 09, 2023 10:18 pm

I use a mackie VLZ3 wich give these 60db of gain without the bad noise
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