Rode Video Mic

Klausky wrote on 9/19/2005, 2:54 PM

I just bought a Rode Video Mic and a 20 ft. extension cable. The merchant at the store told me that the cord may pick up radio signals in my recording. Is this common and what should i do if it occurs?

Comments

farss wrote on 9/19/2005, 3:04 PM

It's an unbalaced mic so anything is possible but over a short run very unlikely. We've been running balanced mics into unbalanced camera inputs over 5 meters of cable without any issues but technically this isn't the best way to do things. However when you factor in the dramas of converting the cameras unbalanced inputs to balanced inputs it's perhaps the best solution, so long as the cable runs are kept short.
I'd certainly not go any further than 20ft of extension cable! Also be careful, not all extenstion cables are made the same. With unbalanced audio the quality of thhe shielding is important. In general those extension leads are kept pretty thin so there's not too much copper in the shield which doesn't help.
Bob.

Jeff Waters wrote on 9/19/2005, 7:25 PM

Hi,
I bought the VideoMic, too-- like it a lot. As a novice to this stuff, though, I learned quickly why you often see a shotgun mike pointed down at the end of a handheld boom... it will pick up whatever sound it's pointing at and does a great job cutting out sounds from the sides.... but if you point it at your subject standing in front of a building, it will also pick up whatever sound bounces off the building!

So, I think that's one of the main problems with a camera mounted mic like this... but I do believe there is a way to attach it to a boom if it becomes a problem (it's not the mic... great mic).j
Jeff

Spot|DSE wrote on 9/19/2005, 9:23 PM

Rode actually makes a low-cost boom for this mic, but after seeing it, I'd rather have one of the low cost booms from KTek.

trock wrote on 9/20/2005, 5:49 AM

Someone on these forums suggested getting a $25 monopod from Best Buy and using that as a boom for the VideoMic. I did and it seems to work fine.

GlennChan wrote on 9/20/2005, 3:18 PM

From my limited, not quite relevant experience:
A- Tannoy (Reveal?) Actives can pickup radio interference even if you don't plug a audio cable in. (Technically this isn't supposed to happen.)
B- With some dynamic? microphone, I heard the radio with <6ft of cable.
C- With an Apex microphone using XLR connector, that picked up some radio interference. (Technically this isn't supposed to happen.)
D- On my computer, my headphones used to pickup radio interference. Headphone cord about 10ft. They RF would go away and come back depending on how the cable was coiled. Very annoying.

If you do pickup radio interference, try putting loops into the cable. That's about all I can suggest.