GH2 - Monitoring audio while recording

I got the Monster Cable Y splitter Sam Mallery suggested:



It cooled the headphone out of the H1 significantly. In casual listening I do not hear the hiss that was so apparent before without it. I have not done critical listening through headphones to hear just how low the the previous hiss now is. But for $3.30 delivered, I'm happy for now.

The price of the splitter has subsequently jumped to $17.65 - bummer.

But it looks like there is a nice black clone from Cables Unlimited for $7.00:



It was close to $15 when I ordered the other one two days ago.

I have the Sescom GH1 attenuator cable ordered. When it gets here after Xmas, I'll do some A/B testing to see if it is of further benefit for GH2 / H1 owners.
 
for $3.30 delivered, I'm happy for now.

The price of the splitter has subsequently jumped to $17.65 - bummer.
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That's whacky. Do you think this thread had anything to do with that? Is the world that small?
 
DvxHerb said:
The next, more prudent solution, would be to get the Senscom H4 / H1 attenuator with headphone monitoring. It would still need that Hosa 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter:


http://www.sescom.com/product.asp?item=LN2MIC-ZMH4-MON

Coming out of the H1 I'd have headphone monitoring and the option of going dual system if I were inclined.


Sescom does make a Zoom to GH1 attenuator:



But it has no headphone monitoring.

And according to John at Sescom, none is forthcoming. He said it just was not possible because of the size of the 2.5mm jack and the fact that the one they use is metal. What? You'd think if there was enough demand they could get a larger housing in plastic that was a right angle too!

I mentioned that I guess I could just use that Hos 3.5 to 2.5 adapter and John said: "You really wouldn't want to do that" To which I replied: "No, I wouldn't, but what else can I do?" He had no solution.

Now, adding more weight and bulk, I could use the DR100 with it's separate headphone and output, but Sescom is not currently offering a Tascam to GH2 attenuator cable...

I guess an option would be to get a 3.5mm Y spiltter, one side going to headphones, the other feeding the the Secom 3.5 to 2.5 Zoom to GH2 attenuator.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas?
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I just spoke to John at Sescom and due to popular demand they will be creating a splitter cable like the one above with a 2.5mm jack for the GH2. That will eliminate having to use a series of connectors which can be problematic. The cable should be available by Feb 1.
 
Here is my setup for monitoring audio. It is about as small as I could get it and still have access to both mic input levels and headphone output levels. About the only thing that could be done with the current equipment is to get a right angle XLR mic adapter to reduce the length. Sorry for the grainy iPhone picture:



Now if I were to buy the Hosa Que Audio mic, things would be different (about 40 seconds in):

 
I've had good experience with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 as You should look into the new revised Panasonic DMC-GH2 as I believe they finally updated
This camera is the next generation of cameras as it successfully blends the advantages of Point and Shoot cameras with the benefits of DSLRs and creates and incredibly small and powerful camera. Listed below are some of the benefits and weakness you get from this next gen camera.

It has ssome good Features
-40 fps 4mp shooting for up to 1 sec
-Touch screen focusing
-Best video in a combo-cam to date
-Multi-aspect 18mp (16 mp per aspect) sensor
 
jacksonzoya said:
I've had good experience with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 as You should look into the new revised Panasonic DMC-GH2 as I believe they finally updated
This camera is the next generation of cameras as it successfully blends the advantages of Point and Shoot cameras with the benefits of DSLRs and creates and incredibly small and powerful camera. Listed below are some of the benefits and weakness you get from this next gen camera.

It has ssome good Features
-40 fps 4mp shooting for up to 1 sec
-Touch screen focusing
-Best video in a combo-cam to date
-Multi-aspect 18mp (16 mp per aspect) sensor
Click to expand...

????
 
Yes.. I have had a good experience with that camera as well. Hey heres a question that just occured to me.. What do you do to monitor audio?
 
So using the zoom as your recorder would you guys reccomend using

a) the hosa Que Audio mic
http://www.nextwavedv.com/hosa-technology-introduces-que-audio-mini-shotgun-mic/

-OR-

b) the mic phillip bloom reccomends, the "Rode Video mic Pro"
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/all-things-audio/490160-rode-videomic-pro.html

They both seem like good shotgun mics with the hosa being a lot smaller. But what about sound quality and compatibility with gh2 and zoom?

One other question... with these mic, why is it advantageous to include a zoom or other feild recorder into the mix? Why is it any better then going straight from mic to camera?
 
Rode VideoMic Pro without a doubt. It's got 20db of gain it does! That allows you to turn your levels down, resulting in less hiss.

Also as our friend with the sick rig showed in his video above, the DR-100 is nicer with switchable gain - and for the same price. Better pres too.

My question: Is the AGC defeatable on the GH2? I just saw a Vimeo vid of a guy saying he can't turn off AGC. If the audio is manual, then there is no AGC. So are we only monitoring the audio levels with meters? Or are we manually adjusting the levels?
 
Chadfish said:
My question: Is the AGC defeatable on the GH2? I just saw a Vimeo vid of a guy saying he can't turn off AGC. If the audio is manual, then there is no AGC. So are we only monitoring the audio levels with meters? Or are we manually adjusting the levels?
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The GH2 is has manual control not AGC, you have to go into the menu to adjust the level. You cannot adjust the levels during recording, but the meters are great to have.
 
Ram S.O.S said:
The GH2 is has manual control not AGC, you have to go into the menu to adjust the level. You cannot adjust the levels during recording, but the meters are great to have.
Click to expand...

I don't have the GH2 so someone please correct me if I'm wrong- but it is my understanding that there is "audio level" control however there is still a compressor of some sort (AGC). So in order to defeat the AGC one would have to dial input level down to '1' (lowest setting), as to not trip the AGC. Then of course using a RODE w/20db boost or a pre-amp/xlr box of some sort (dt-454) with manual gain control you can up the incoming signal.

Do I have this right?
 
I'll be very interested in this as well, I don't understand why there would be a manual audio level control as well as an automatic Gain control. That does not make sense to me. And my GH2 is sitting front of me now.
 
Well usually that is something you switch between on video cameras. I thought there was manual control, but I saw this guy's video and he threw me off.

 
I have been testing the same setup all day and then ran across this video. I have not tested outside but I agree, the best indoor setting is set at 0 with GH2 at 1. But I find it odd that at +20 it sounds horrible even at 1. So much hiss. I get the same results. Then when he took it outside the audio just broke apart at +20 especially. I have been testing vs. my Olympus LS10 24 bit recorder and all that hiss is missing. The audio is simply cleaner. I hear you on syncing, its a pain, but I think I will stay with the Rode into my recorder. I think maybe the GH2 compresses audio to fit into smaller size on SD card because its a consumer camera. You can read about the "consumer" technology here: http://dolby.com/​professional/​technology/​pc/​dolby-digital-stereo-creator.html
 
Oh, I can also state with surety that the Rode is much better than the Sennheiser MKE 400. Mine is auction on ebay as we speak. The Sennheiser has more hiss and sounds more tinny. The Rode somehow clears away alot of that. However, for pure talking sound, I like the Sony UWP V1 wireless lav for interviews. Its cleaner then the Rode, but then again the two things are apples and oranges.
 
rubberbandito said:
I have been testing the same setup all day and then ran across this video. I have not tested outside but I agree, the best indoor setting is set at 0 with GH2 at 1. But I find it odd that at +20 it sounds horrible even at 1. So much hiss. I get the same results. Then when he took it outside the audio just broke apart at +20 especially. I have been testing vs. my Olympus LS10 24 bit recorder and all that hiss is missing. The audio is simply cleaner. I hear you on syncing, its a pain, but I think I will stay with the Rode into my recorder. I think maybe the GH2 compresses audio to fit into smaller size on SD card because its a consumer camera. You can read about the "consumer" technology here: http://dolby.com/​professional/​technology/​pc/​dolby-digital-stereo-creator.html
Click to expand...

AGC (automatic gain control) will try and boost the volume when there is no noise and thus the high hiss.
 
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