Audio into GH1

A

Aaron Neal Trout

Active member
I purchased the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter from radio shack and plugged it into my GH1. I then attempted to run in a Senheiser wireless lav, but the camera acted like it was receiving no sound. I tried using a Senheiser boom with no luck, and then even tried running them thru a Sound Devices mixer. The only time the camera ever recorded sound was when we did a line level signal off the mixer, and then it was distorted. Is there a setting on the camera that you need to turn on to disable the onboard mic? Is there a trick to using external mics & mixers?

I've read all the other audio threads, and really have no desire to run a second system (i.e. Zoom H4n). This camera is for inexpensive, single man commercials & web content, nothing more. I'll shoot the RED and hire a sound guy for anything narrative. I'm looking into a juicedlink or beachtek mixer. Has anyone successfully used these with the GH1 or is it only speculative that it will work?

Thanks!
 
its a 3 pole right?

If you have all that stuff tho, just record audio separately. Even with the best mics it gets all nasty with the auto gain.
 
Aaron Neal Trout said:
I purchased the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter from radio shack and plugged it into my GH1. I then attempted to run in a Senheiser wireless lav, but the camera acted like it was receiving no sound. I tried using a Senheiser boom with no luck, and then even tried running them thru a Sound Devices mixer. The only time the camera ever recorded sound was when we did a line level signal off the mixer, and then it was distorted. Is there a setting on the camera that you need to turn on to disable the onboard mic? Is there a trick to using external mics & mixers?

I've read all the other audio threads, and really have no desire to run a second system (i.e. Zoom H4n). This camera is for inexpensive, single man commercials & web content, nothing more. I'll shoot the RED and hire a sound guy for anything narrative. I'm looking into a juicedlink or beachtek mixer. Has anyone successfully used these with the GH1 or is it only speculative that it will work?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Luckily I had an experienced radio shack guy that pointed me toward the right thing. You need to make sure that you get an adapter thats designed for like audio equipment and not a cell phone. The audio equip one is just a big fat plug, no wire or anything.

You don't turn off the internal mic, the camera should detect a valid connection there and remind you to turn on your external mic, recording no sound from the internal one.
 
Make sure the plug surround is small enough to fit into the gap in the GH1 casing. I had to shave a bit off my plug adapter's plastic exterior to get a good connection.
 
Aaron Neal Trout said:
I purchased the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter from radio shack and plugged it into my GH1.

I've read all the other audio threads, and really have no desire to run a second system (i.e. Zoom H4n). This camera is for inexpensive, single man commercials & web content, nothing more. I'll shoot the RED and hire a sound guy for anything narrative. I'm looking into a juicedlink or beachtek mixer. Has anyone successfully used these with the GH1 or is it only speculative that it will work?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

1. Yeah, make sure your 3.5 to 2.5 adapter fits snugly into the GH1. Some adapters are apparently too large to be a good fit.
2. I highly recommend the JuicedLink. Works wonders.

Check out the samples below:

http://rapidshare.com/files/280867443/Rode_Videomic_with_juicedlink.mp3

http://rapidshare.com/files/280867442/Rode_Videomic_no_juicedlink.mp3
 
i have a Zoom H2. Just finished making my 3.5 to 2.5 adapter and yes, had to shave off some plastic from 2.5 adapter. My idea was to feed output of zoom to GH1 AND record on zoom as well... but after some tests i will NOT feed audio into GH1... auto gain is much worse than with onboard mic... i was thinking of buying a rode mic to feed into GH1 + recording ambient surround on zoom but after these tests there's no way i'm feeding anything in the gh1. Am I doing something wrong? onboard mic isn't that bad after all and agc isn't so invasive... plug in an external mic and things do really get bad....
 
It's a matter of getting the level fed to the GH1 correct. Feeding it with an H2 is theoretically a bad idea because you are feeding the line level output from the H2 into the mic level input of the GH1. Obviously you'll have the level sent from the H2 substantially reduced (using the H2 volume control) but you may need it almost all the way down to get a good match. Much experimentation required! And careful note-taking.
 
yes peter you are correct... it' s probably a level/impedence problem. Had to lower volume of H2 to around 40 in order to not get any distortion... anyway i have found a rode videomic at decent price so i decided to get it anyway so i'll feed the rode to the gh1 and record separately with zoom ..... then i'll have fun in editing....
 
I picked up a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter at Fry's electronics. I also picked up a bare male 2.5mm and two female XLRs to try and make my own adapter. Hopefully it was just an impedance issue with the cell phone adapter.
 
So I made the cables and they seem to work!

Too bad I don't have the latest final cut pro to import the clips and actually see how it sounds over some real speakers.

I'm going to look into maybe making my own little box to monitor sound going into the camera, I could also easily make a voltage reducer to turn down the levels. Making an amp to turn up the levels is a little tougher. I'm going to call some people about it tomorrow.
 

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