3 Quick Questions

[alpha54]

Hello everyone, hope somebody can help me out with these 3 questions!

1. I just bought a Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic for outdoor use; what are your suggestions for a good hyper cardiod for interior use? I would mostly use it to record conversations between 2-3 people for narrative films. Something below or at a $200 price point is preferable, but I'm willing to go higher if neccessary I guess.
2. At the moment, I still own a Sony TRV950E which doesn't have XLR inputs (3.5mm mini jack only). Therefore, I will need a XLR to mini jack converter. I was thinking of getting either the Shure A96F (http://www.shure.com/accessories/a96f.asp) or the Beachtek DXA-2s (http://beachtek.com/dxa2s.html). Is the Beachtek really worth it? I'd much rather use the small Shure adapter than have to screw a big black box beneath my camcorder...
3. Last thing - I obviously need some XLR cables. Are there any specific brands or specifications to be aware of? I was gonna go out and buy some today or tomorrow, so any help is appreciated!

That should cover it, I hope somebody has the nerve to read all of that!

Thanks a lot for your help guys!

 

[Noiz2]

1) The consensus seems to be Oktava, great mic and in the same price range as the NTG2.

2) They are not exactly the same ting. The Beachteck is two transformers and has some routing and attenuation options. It can also deal with the mono/ stereo mini plug. The Shure is a mono transformer. Will your camera be happy if you stick a mono mini plug in? You would be shorting out one channel so it might not.

3) order from Matt (on this list) best quality around and one f the lower prices. Your going to be living with those cables for a long time. Cheap generic cables often have ify cable and lousy connectors. I have bought thousands of feet of mic cable over the years (I use to do a lot of theatre work) and made hundreds and it's amazing the poor quality of some of the "professional" stuff out there in music stores.

 

[alpha54]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

1) The consensus seems to be Oktava, great mic and in the same price range as the NTG2.

I assume you're talking about the MK-012? If yes, then I've heard a lot of great things about it as well. Any idea whether I should get the cardoid or hyper cardoid capsule? I'm not too sure what the difference is...

2) They are not exactly the same ting. The Beachteck is two transformers and has some routing and attenuation options. It can also deal with the mono/ stereo mini plug. The Shure is a mono transformer. Will your camera be happy if you stick a mono mini plug in? You would be shorting out one channel so it might not.

Well, I just went to a "professional" music store and I was told there shouldn't be any problem sticking the mono connection into the stereo port. Therefore, I bought a cheap $6 cable that plugs into the mic's XLR port and ends with a 3.5mm mini jack. I'll try it out, but I'm not too sure how well it'll work so I'll probably end up going with a better solution.

3) order from Matt (on this list) best quality around and one f the lower prices. Your going to be living with those cables for a long time. Cheap generic cables often have ify cable and lousy connectors. I have bought thousands of feet of mic cable over the years (I use to do a lot of theatre work) and made hundreds and it's amazing the poor quality of some of the "professional" stuff out there in music stores.

Sounds pretty good; who is Matt and where can I contact him?

Thanks again for your help mate!

 

[matthewd5]

i have the mk-012 and initially i got the one with all three capsules but i have wound up only using the hyper.

i just ordered a second and this time i got just the one with the hypercardioid.

i got it from www.sound-room.com

they seem to have the best quality control and i don't know if its true but i've read that there are other oktava mk-012's that are made in china but look exactly the same.

but that could be the same info as the j. wexler sighting in australia...

matthew

 

[alpha54]

Thanks for your advice mate!

So, the only thing I still need to find out then... Who is Matt and where can I get some of his cable?

 

[Noiz2]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

I assume you're talking about the MK-012? If yes, then I've heard a lot of great things about it as well. Any idea whether I should get the cardoid or hyper cardoid capsule? I'm not too sure what the difference is...

Well, I just went to a "professional" music store and I was told there shouldn't be any problem sticking the mono connection into the stereo port. Therefore, I bought a cheap $6 cable that plugs into the mic's XLR port and ends with a 3.5mm mini jack. I'll try it out, but I'm not too sure how well it'll work so I'll probably end up going with a better solution.

Sounds pretty good; who is Matt and where can I contact him?

Thanks again for your help mate!

I was talking about the MK-012. Hyper is a tighter pattern. It would be a better choice probably.

Try and see if it works. The problem is that the three connectors on the mic are not the same as the three in the camera jack (I'm assuming its a stereo mini jack). The camera expects ground, hot L and hot R on the tip and sleeve. The XLR is outputting ground and and two versions of the hot signal, on 180 degrees out of phase. So a straight pass through might give you what appears to be stereo but it will completely cancel when summed to mono, like when grandma plays it on her mono TV. The other poss problem is that a lot of mini stereo mic jacks have power on them to power consumer stereo mics. I'm not sure how this will effect the mic, and if your adapter ends in a mono mini then your shorting out one channel and the camera may not like that.

Someone already answered the matt question.
Good luck
SK