Audio-Technica AT897 problem

K

kuranyi008

New member
So I recently just bought an Audio-Technica AT897. I had heard great things about it and was expecting it to be great right out of the box. When it came I popped a AA battery in and plugged it into my 60d. I took some test shots and uploaded them to my computer. but while playing the clips back the audio seemed to sound like it was coming from a walkie talkie. Am I doing something wrong when recording or what? somebody please respond.
 
How are you connecting the mic to the camera input?
Is the microphone mounted to a boom close to the subject, or mounted to the camera?
 
its mounted to the camera with a shockmount, and I'm connecting it using the xlr to 3.5mm connector that came with the mic
 
The 60D has a stereo 3.5mm jack. That means it is expecting there to be signal at the tip and ring of the connector. When you plug in a balanced microphone through the XLR to 3.5mm cable, the camera gets one signal on the tip contact, plus its complete opposite-phased twin on the ring contact. Its not the stereo signal the camera was expecting.

Get a beachtek or some other balanced to unbalanced adapter. You will be able to meter levels and control gain live, without menus. Or for a super low-rent option, desolder pin 3 on the xlr connector. But doing so will restrict the useful length of cable to a few feet before you start to get noise and interference, (the whole point of buying a balanced mic over a Rode Videomic in the first place).

Your cable will work fine on an XH-A1 for example, which has a balanced 3.5mm jack, not stereo.

Craig
 
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Are you using an impedance matcher (transformer) to translate the low impedance signal of the AT8987 to the high impedance signal expected by the camera?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/589872-REG/Pearstone_8111240_LMT100_Low_to.html

The TRS 3.5mm connector at the end of this adapter will send the audio signal your camera is expecting in the proper stereo format. There will still be a fair amount of hiss and the possibility of distortion or other audio artifacts as the audio implementation of DSLRs is quite substandard, at least from an audio geeks point of view.
 
What's the difference between the transformer and the connector that came with the mic though? it looks exactly the same
 
Impedance is not the problem, it's the pinout of the audio connector that's the issue. Stereo (60D) does not equal balanced (AT897), even though they both have 3 conductors.
 
So you're saying that sending a low impedance signal to a high impedance recording device without matching the impedance will have zero effect on the audio signal?
 
No you are saying that.

I'm saying that a balanced input to a stereo jack produces terrible results. Correct me if I'm wrong by all means, but is not the problem the stereo input on the camera? Is the AT897 a stereo mic? Does the impedance-matching cable supply stereo? Nope.

It's still balanced where the pinout of the jack on the 60D expects stereo = problem not solved.
 
I'd say get a recorder that can take advantage of your mic, (and future professional equipment)... as in a unit with XLR inputs.

Best
Craig
 
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