Blackmagic Forum

Hi guys,
I've been testing the camera with Rode Video Mic and some Lavs. I've tried almost everything that I can think of and no success. The audio levels are so low and poor that are barely usable. I've heard that the Juicedlink solves it, but come on this camera should at least be able to handle one mic properly without investing in another accessory. Share some thoughts and experience.

The camera does not provide phantom power. This is well known that you'd need a pre-amp or an external recorder.

You don't need phantom power with Rode Video Mic, it has it own. Do DSLR's or HDV cameras have phantom power, no they don't, and they work very well with these mics that I am testing. Thx for the input, man!

Cheers!

Milen Mladenov wrote:You don't need phantom power with Rode Video Mic, it has it own. Do DSLR's or HDV cameras have phantom power, no they don't, and they work very well with these mics that I am testing. Thx for the input, man! Cheers!

Hi Milen: I found my Sennheiser ME64 produced nice audio levels with the BMCC I tested. Of course, it also sounded much better when connected to the BMCC via a Sound Devices MixPre, as expected.

No guarantees, but BMD has received audio-related feature requests from day one for the BMCC, so there's at least a chance a future firmware update will address things such as sound quality, on-screen meters, etc. Here's hoping.

Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:

Milen Mladenov wrote:You don't need phantom power with Rode Video Mic, it has it own. Do DSLR's or HDV cameras have phantom power, no they don't, and they work very well with these mics that I am testing. Thx for the input, man! Cheers!

Hi Milen: I found my Sennheiser ME64 produced nice audio levels with the BMCC I tested. Of course, it also sounded much better when connected to the BMCC via a Sound Devices MixPre, as expected.

No guarantees, but BMD has received audio-related feature requests from day one for the BMCC, so there's at least a chance a future firmware update will address things such as sound quality, on-screen meters, etc. Here's hoping.

Thx Peter, that's really helpful. Did you use the same audio set up on your Cuda Brothers Promo (really nice job,I like it a lot). I guess Sennheiser with some sort of Preamp? I remember the audio was very nice and clean.

Milen Mladenov wrote:Hi guys,
I've been testing the camera with Rode Video Mic and some Lavs. I've tried almost everything that I can think of and no success. The audio levels are so low and poor that are barely usable. I've heard that the Juicedlink solves it, but come on this camera should at least be able to handle one mic properly without investing in another accessory. Share some thoughts and experience.

Are you using a 1/4" balanced adapter? and make sure the Rode Video mic has a fresh battery!!!
like this one
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/397834.html

Milen Mladenov wrote:... Did you use the same audio set up on your Cuda Brothers Promo (really nice job,I like it a lot). I guess Sennheiser with some sort of Preamp? I remember the audio was very nice and clean.

Yes, as noted in the details I posted on the Vimeo page:


In-camera audio transformers and/or pre-amps usually aren't very good. I'm glad I kept the MixPre I bought many years ago for just that reason. Same as it ever was. Cheers.

Darryl Gregory wrote:

Milen Mladenov wrote:Hi guys,
I've been testing the camera with Rode Video Mic and some Lavs. I've tried almost everything that I can think of and no success. The audio levels are so low and poor that are barely usable. I've heard that the Juicedlink solves it, but come on this camera should at least be able to handle one mic properly without investing in another accessory. Share some thoughts and experience.

Are you using a 1/4" balanced adapter? and make sure the Rode Video mic has a fresh battery!!!
like this one
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/397834.html

Hi Darryl,
yes the adapter is balanced. I've tried also with two adapters one for each channel and a separate cable. No luck again. Yes,I always use fresh batteries!

Cheers,
Milen

Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:In-camera audio transformers and/or pre-amps usually aren't very good. I'm glad I kept the MixPre I bought many years ago for just that reason. Same as it ever was. Cheers.

Given how expensive premium, professional grade preamps cost, it was a good decision on BMD's part to cheap out on them. The BMCC is designed to maximize image quality at a $3k price point, and it's a given that most serious cinematographers will be either using dual system sound with a dedicated sound recordist who's going to have a professional mic + premp + recorder. They did however enable single system recording by building in a good quality, high bit rate recorder into the camera. Most film crews will use the same sort of front end, a pro mic + mixer with single system that they do with double system, so it's logical tradeoff to have a weak preamp. Most people using dSLRs who upgrade to a BMCC will already have a solid preamp also, at the very least a JuicedLink, even if they didn't go whole-hog and shell out megabux for a Sound Devices preamp.

Milen Mladenov wrote:

Darryl Gregory wrote:

Milen Mladenov wrote:Hi guys,
I've been testing the camera with Rode Video Mic and some Lavs. I've tried almost everything that I can think of and no success. The audio levels are so low and poor that are barely usable. I've heard that the Juicedlink solves it, but come on this camera should at least be able to handle one mic properly without investing in another accessory. Share some thoughts and experience.

Are you using a 1/4" balanced adapter? and make sure the Rode Video mic has a fresh battery!!!
like this one
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/397834.html

Hi Darryl,
yes the adapter is balanced. I've tried also with two adapters one for each channel and a separate cable. No luck again. Yes,I always use fresh batteries!

Cheers,
Milen

Not sure if anything from these blogs will help, but others seems to be getting by with the Rode Video Mic
http://bradbell.tumblr.com/post/4307684 ... deomic-pro

http://www.bmcuser.com/archive/index.php/t-2490.html

Just buy a juicedlink preamp. Even the $144 one. I have one and my in-camera sound is perfect.

Hearnia wrote:Just buy a juicedlink preamp. Even the $144 one. I have one and my in-camera sound is perfect.

I would agree If I was recording a single audio source to camera, But I record on board and external, My thoughts are a "Rode Video Mic" is better than the built in Mic, But should only be used for sync, or "When all else fails" a backup audio source if possible, The statement "Just buy a juicedlink preamp" is just a waste of money if you have a Professional Secondary Audio Source, and If you don't then get out of Audio and leave it to the Pro's.

Quality Audio is just as important as the quality of video, But most are not recording "Important Dialog" with this camera, look at the sample videos simple free music loops, not much of a Gage for dialog audio.

Darryl Gregory wrote:

Hearnia wrote:Just buy a juicedlink preamp. Even the $144 one. I have one and my in-camera sound is perfect.

I would agree If I was recording a single audio source to camera, But I record on board and external, My thoughts are a "Rode Video Mic" is better than the built in Mic, But should only be used for sync, or "When all else fails" a backup audio source if possible, The statement "Just buy a juicedlink preamp" is just a waste of money if you have a Professional Secondary Audio Source, and If you don't then get out of Audio and leave it to the Pro's.

Quality Audio is just as important as the quality of video, But most are not recording "Important Dialog" with this camera, look at the sample videos simple free music loops, not much of a Gage for dialog audio.

Exactly Daryl,
this is my case. I need good backup and reference audio for my production. Why should I buy preamp, when I am paying two sound guys. The onboard mic, records mostly fan noise. Probably with the video mic PRO it works, because it has this + gain 25 gain switch, sadly the older model doesn't have it!

Milen Mladenov wrote:

Darryl Gregory wrote:

Hearnia wrote:Just buy a juicedlink preamp. Even the $144 one. I have one and my in-camera sound is perfect.

I would agree If I was recording a single audio source to camera, But I record on board and external, My thoughts are a "Rode Video Mic" is better than the built in Mic, But should only be used for sync, or "When all else fails" a backup audio source if possible, The statement "Just buy a juicedlink preamp" is just a waste of money if you have a Professional Secondary Audio Source, and If you don't then get out of Audio and leave it to the Pro's.

Quality Audio is just as important as the quality of video, But most are not recording "Important Dialog" with this camera, look at the sample videos simple free music loops, not much of a Gage for dialog audio.

Exactly Daryl,
this is my case. I need good backup and reference audio for my production. Why should I buy preamp, when I am paying two sound guys. The onboard mic, records mostly fan noise. Probably with the video mic PRO it works, because it has this + gain 25 gain switch, sadly the older model doesn't have it!

I didn't know you had the older model Video Mic Milen, Hope you work it out soon.
Cheers