AT4073 Setup

[balrais1]

Before going out and buying a AT4073a mic I decided to rent one and see, or hear, for myself just how good it was.

But I'm afraid I might have set it up improperly (eventhough the red bar showed a huge amount of gain) because the final output on my comp was not that impressive.

So my question to you is EXACTLY how can I set it up THE RIGHT WAY?
What channels do I use, etc.
Nothing fancy here, just hooking up a mic to a dvx and then dvx to comp so you don't have to worry about mixing tables, etc.

Thank you.

 

[Oleg 2]

do you use it dyrectly ?
the mic is extrymly hot , add 15 db attunuation ( cable or barel) other wise it will distort the camera preamp on high levels , set the camera for -50 internal menu .

 

[timapter]

make sure you are on MIC level input.
make sure your phantom power is ON.

on dvx, red bars start at -10 dB, so you can record up to around 3/4 reds and not distort - that should give you a full waveform when you digitize.

oleg is right, as always, so check that too... the above suggestions are just stuff you might have forgotten to do.

 

[Tainted]

Do you need a pad on this mic for the DVX? I was thinking about running one, but I don't want to have to deal with a pad really. Are the levels that hot? Or is that only when in a high SPL environment?

 

[timapter]

i shouldnt think you'd need a pad... but oleg knows best. ive only used the mic with an sd mixer into dvx, so thats taking the problem out of the loop.

 

[balrais1]

I don't think I need a pad so no worries there...

My main concern was whether I had set it up right or not (you know the simple stuff, like what channels to use etc.)

I know it might be cumbersome but could you take the time out to explain in detail what position I set the mic 1,2 switches, etc.

I doubt there was a problem with the mic, only the way I set it up.

 

[TeleDan]

Do you need a pad on this mic for the DVX? I was thinking about running one, but I don't want to have to deal with a pad really. Are the levels that hot? Or is that only when in a high SPL environment?

I haven't found it necessary to use a pad for normal dialog sound levels. I keep a -10db pad handy for when I get around loud noise levels like live music.
-Dan