BeachTek DXA-SLR Cuts Overall Audio Signal In Half?

S

scrow9

Member
I am testing out the DXA-SLR for use with my Canon T2i and have a couple of important questions/issues which I don't understand

1. AGC Disable Function - The entire reason I got the unit was for this feature. With the AGC Disable feature ON the only thing I notice (besides the tone added to the LEFT channel) is that the overall audio signal level is cut in half as compared to when it is OFF - I am not actually hearing any difference in the noise level during quiet passages other than the reduced signal level. What might I be doing wrong if anything?


2. I have my Rode NTG-2 microphone connected via XLR to the Beachtek and then I have the output of the Beachtek going into the audio input jack of the T2i. Of course the Beachtek has 2 XLR inputs a RIGHT and a LEFT.

If I plan on using the AGC disable function should I then always only use the RIGHT XLR input since the LEFT track has the tone added to it?
 
I had a BeachTek once, added hiss to everything, sold it.
Since you are using a T2i, and you dont like what is going on with the BrachTek..Sell it and get Magic Lantern on there.
You get AGC control, Zebras, Focus, False Color, Clean HDMI out ect...
 
Sadly THAT'S how defeating agc works.

Think about it. You are tricking agc by playing a loud tone on one channel. This works because agc adjusts for the volume and stays there as long as the tone does.

In order to prevent it from coming back, it needs to be louder than whatever is being recorded, which means your recording is going to be softer.

This is less than ideal. See my audio thread for info and an example of how magic lantern gets around all this very well.
 
Thanks everyone...after lots of back and forth with BeachTek Tech Support it looks like the issue is related to the Rode NTG-2 mic not delivering a very strong signal. It helped when I removed the windmuff from the Mic but I found I still had to crank the volume up on the mic (through the BeachTek box) practically all the way before the BeachTek could could even "work with" the audio signal it was being given. By that I refer to the little green lights used to tell you that you have a strong incoming signals - those didn't come on until I removed the Wind Muff AND cranked the volume way way up. There's still more hiss/noise being generated (by the mic I assume) than I would like.

I am still concerned that with this Mic setup I have to get very close to the subject in order to get a decent audio signal and for documentary work that's not ideal.

It occurs to me that this particular Mic is most often used for voice overs where the talent is working very close to the Mic - for that it's a great Mic - for documentary field work I am concerned. I am going to try using the Rode VideoMic just as another test but the last time I tried it I couldn't hear anything out of the earphone jack - but I will be giving that another shot for comparison.
 
Yeah the Rode VideoMic is working MUCH better than the NTG-2 I was trying earlier. So that's going to be my documentary solution for right now.
 
If you're still using the beachtek to work around AGC, you are going to have less control of your audio volume in the camera. The best solution is still to disable AGC with Magic Lantern, turn all gain levels to zero in the ML settings, and then turn your mic as high as it can comfortably go without overblowing the volume.

I explain it more detail in this thread, and have an example I shot of myself to demonstrate:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?240822-The-Canon-DSLR-Audio-thread
 
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