Cable from H4n to BMCC

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Marshall Harrington

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Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostWed May 01, 2013 5:46 pm

Has anyone found an off the shelf cable to connect the output from the H4n to the BMCC? I'm waiting another month or two for products to shake out and am hoping to use the Zoom for it's meters for a short time. Thanks.
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sgierth

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostThu May 02, 2013 7:05 am

Hi Marshall,

there is an adaptor you can order @Amazon.com:

3.5 mm stereo jack to 2 Mono 6.35 mm jacks

OR

you buy super-cheap 3.5 mm stereo jack to 2 cinch jacks + 2 adaptors cinch coupling to 6.35 mm jack

(like I did)

I had the same idea to feed all mics into the H4N1 for clean tracks and have the mixed signal feeding into the BMCC for synchronisation only.
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ChrisBarcellos

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostThu May 02, 2013 3:07 pm

I was able to go to my local musical instrument store and buy the exact set up I wanted for about $ 9. This particular one and dual plugs to fit in camera, and a male stereo mini plug to fit into the output up my Juiced Link rig. Point is, a well stock music store will likely have the fittings you need for your particular application.
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Marshall Harrington

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostThu May 02, 2013 7:32 pm

Thanks, I'll try Guitar Center. Good idea.

I did hear on the other site that the output from the Zoom via the headphones is not clean. I might give it a try and see. Any of you tried it?
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MarcusWolschon

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostWed Dec 18, 2013 12:18 pm

The newer H5 has a dedicated Line Out and it worked fine with my BMPCC.
It's just wayyyyy too bulky to mount on such a small camera. (Bigger then the H4n)
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richmondimage

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostWed Dec 18, 2013 2:41 pm

MarcusWolschon wrote:The newer H5 has a dedicated Line Out and it worked fine with my BMPCC.
It's just wayyyyy too bulky to mount on such a small camera. (Bigger then the H4n)


Sorry do you mean the H6 or the iQ5?
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richmondimage

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostWed Dec 18, 2013 2:46 pm

The H4n does also have a dedicated line out which is 1/8 inch like a regular headphone jack. I have not myself, yet used it, but it is there. I just bought my H4n a few days ago and am frankly about to bring it back to trade up for the H6

http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/h6
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josechu

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 9:07 am

So guys,,, have you manage to get useful audio on the BMCC from the heaphone-line out on the H4N? I connected the raffle mic into the H4N and set the mic levels. Then set the heaphone out to 100% inthe H4n and i still get a really low signal on the BMCC.
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Johannes Hoffmann

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 10:19 am

The H4n as all other ZOOMs outputs unbalanced consumer level (-10 dB). The BMCC expects balanced studio level (+4 dB). Assuming you did the cabling right you'll get a signal that is in real world usage (leaving some headroom on the ZOOM) about 20 dB below what you want. It sounds better than the build in mic and is usable for syncing or some ambient sounds (think airport ;-). But it introduces too much noise if pushed up in post to dialog level.

Some bold guys set the BMCC to mic and about 40%. With some luck you get something usable out of this setup. SNR is okay but sending a line signal to a mic input is neither technical ideal (impedance miss-match) nor will it prevent clipping at lower levels (according to my testing the attenuation of the BMCC is at least partly in the digital domain).

I use an Art dual usb preamp to push the signal of my Zoom H2n to the right level.

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josechu

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 7:38 pm

Thanks Johannes.
So you go from mic - h2n - art - bmcc? What about going strait to the art from the mic and to the bmcc? Is it any good?
I was thinking of buying one. Will you recommend using one with the bmcc?


Johannes Hoffmann wrote:The H4n as all other ZOOMs outputs unbalanced consumer level (-10 dB). The BMCC expects balanced studio level (+4 dB). Assuming you did the cabling right you'll get a signal that is in real world usage (leaving some headroom on the ZOOM) about 20 dB below what you want. It sounds better than the build in mic and is usable for syncing or some ambient sounds (think airport ;-). But it introduces too much noise if pushed up in post to dialog level.

Some bold guys set the BMCC to mic and about 40%. With some luck you get something usable out of this setup. SNR is okay but sending a line signal to a mic input is neither technical ideal (impedance miss-match) nor will it prevent clipping at lower levels (according to my testing the attenuation of the BMCC is at least partly in the digital domain).

I use an Art dual usb preamp to push the signal of my Zoom H2n to the right level.

Johannes
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Rakesh Malik

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 9:08 pm

richmondimage wrote:The H4n does also have a dedicated line out which is 1/8 inch like a regular headphone jack. I have not myself, yet used it, but it is there. I just bought my H4n a few days ago and am frankly about to bring it back to trade up for the H6


Yes, the headphone jack on the h4n is dreadful. It's also fragile. It's lead me to having my sound guys monitoring directly from the preamp rather than using the tape return from the recorder, even though that means that they're not able to hear what they're actually recording as would be preferable. The headphone out on the h4n is just that pitiful.

I haven't bothered with the h6 though, I'm saving my bux for a 633 instead.
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Johannes Hoffmann

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostTue Apr 29, 2014 9:24 am

josechu wrote:Thanks Johannes.
So you go from mic - h2n - art - bmcc? What about going strait to the art from the mic and to the bmcc? Is it any good?
I was thinking of buying one. Will you recommend using one with the bmcc?

Short answer: I either use the H2n as mic going into the Art or I use an external mic directly into the Art (using both channels in a row). The Art is a mixed bag but for the price and with some work arounds it is a solution that makes more sense in my opinion than expensive solutions.

The long answer will come in a day or so. I'm just gathering some of my findings and thoughts from the last month testing and using audio on the BMCC into a lengthy post (see this thread).

Johannes
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James Falsken

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostSun Aug 17, 2014 8:42 pm

I own both the Zoom H4n and the H6.
On both the H4n and the H6 the output jack is is a stereo mini jack, and is not a full size stereo plug. Zoom uses the same Stereo mini jack for both the line Out and the Phone Out.(line monitoring).

Why not use Red giant's Bulletproof to manage files,and Plural Eyes or Dualeyes to sync sound from camera and Zoom in Post? Then you just use the camera sound file for raw sync and the independent Zoom sound files as final output, replacing the camera's original sound files.
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JuanMNavedo

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostSat May 15, 2021 11:10 am

Finally found the right place to ask this:

I know this is an old thread but I would like to hook my Zoom H4n Pro to my BMPCC 6k Pro so I can use my Rode NTG2 Mic via the XLR on the H4n Pro. Can someone please advise me on how to get this done? Which cable is needed? Do I even need a microphone attenuator cable? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
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Howard Roll

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostSat May 15, 2021 8:34 pm

3.5mm TRS to 3.5mm TRS, line out to line in.

Good Luck.
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JuanMNavedo

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostSat Sep 04, 2021 1:15 pm

It worked! Finally had time to test this out and then implemented on a gig where I was using Lavs. Hooking my H4n Pro vía the 3.5 Jack into the 6K Pro Mic in bypassed the internal audio recording. I got a clean feed from my H4n Pro. The BRAW files had the clean audio from the H4n Pro baked into it.

So now I’m wondering if attaching an XLR to Mini XLR would yield even better results than the 3.5 jack to mic input method.

Thoughts? Has anyone experimented with it?
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Howard Roll

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Re: Cable from H4n to BMCC

PostSun Sep 05, 2021 2:52 pm

Not likely. If the BM mic level preamps were superior to the Zoom’s then there would be no need for external recording/mixing to begin with, line to line is basically lossless.

Good Luck

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