EX1 audio problem w/ shotgun mike - please help

C

carl@brazos

Member
Hello,

I have an Audio Technica AT4073a shotgun mike mounted to my EX1 with a rubber shockmount and a dead cat windscreen. For some reason whenever I SLIGHTLY bump the camera or am in the SLIGHTEST wind, the audio gets static. I also have a Sony URX-P1 wireless mike connected to the other channel. I have tried switching channels and cables, but the audio is always bad with the shotgun. I have also tried our other shotgun which is phantom also, and it does the same thing. The only problem I can source it to is the camera, but the camera works with the wireless on either channel. I have also tried using a battery in the shotgun and turning the phantom off, but this does not fix it either. I have tried messing with the internal dbl menu and electronic windscreen, but no luck. I should also note that these shotgun mikes work flawlessly on my ZU1. PLEASE offer any suggestions or solutions - thanks.
 
Is the noise low frequency? Based on your decription, I'm sure it is.

I have heard some report the EX1 has a better low frequency response than some other cameras in this price range or less.

Sony should offer a menu selectable high pass filter at 80HZ. This would help the apparent low frequency noise (rumble) that can happen under certain conditions.
 
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Think I may have figured it out. I turned on the low pass switch on the mic, and adjusted the dlb trim down on the EX1. It seems to sounds a lot better now in testing. I will try it on a shoot tomorrow and see if it is 100% good.
 
Good news.

Are you sure it's called "low pass"?
Low pass filters pass low frequencies and attenuate, or cut, high frequencies that fall above some designated point.

It sounds like a high pass filter.
These are used on microphones (usually around 80hz) to cut stage rumble or reduce the mics bass response due to proximity effect.
 
carl, you are correctly finding out that you need to add more attenuation and, if bass is not important (speech only), the Wind Filter can be enabled in the EX1 menu.

I find that if I use the attenuators at some point below -21dB, wind is not a problem anymore. In most cityscape situations, a lot of attenuation is desirable to prevent triggering the limiter and it's nasty artifacts. Anyway, you don't want to hit clipping either. Lower levels are better than too much level. I always normalize it in post, if there's no need to retain a congruent balance of loudness across a program.

The reason there are so many problems with wind is that the natural thing to do is set the attenuation to the rated output level of your mic. But that's too much gain, as even a hand clap in the room will hit clipping levels. As a rule of thumb, I add 10dB more attenuation than the value that matches the mic sensitivity, for most situations. Add even more for amplified rock music, and more still for fireworks displays that are nearby.
 
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