Help a newb with a shoot in just a few hours... D800 and Mix Pre-D.

Fluoro

Fluoro

Well-known member
It's just a last minute thing for a friend hence the reason I'm not already organised. I am busy for those next few hours as well with something else so I can't spend them researching...


My friend is performing in a two person band in a LOUD pub in small quarters. He just wants me to get a rough and ready shot to post on the band's facebook page. Anything better than iPhone quality will be a plus. The band is a punk/country hybrid. LOUD and fast songs. He doesn't want me to be too serious about it. But I'd like to do the best job I can with my gear in order to improve. It will just be me handholding my camera.


I have:

~ Nikon D800
~ Mix Pre-D
~ Video Mic PRo

I'm imagining the biggest challenge is working out what to set the levels at on the D800. Once you start recording you can't change them.

If someone can give me simple how to...

Set D800 level to this...
Use this setting on mix pre-d...
etc

I would be very grateful. (I understand it's probably not that simple...)

If not, no worries. Thought it was worth a try.
 
I don't know much about the D800 metering, but send a 0dB VU signal from the mix pre, into the D800 at -20dBFS (provided the D800 has meters).
 
Pedantic Sound said:
I don't know much about the D800 metering, but send a 0dB VU signal from the mix pre, into the D800 at -20dBFS (provided the D800 has meters).
Click to expand...

It isn't that simple. At all.

The D800 has only a 1/8" mic-level input, so you need to be careful in how you feed the MixPre-D into the camera. I'm assuming you have the TA3F>1/8" cable for using the mic-level direct out from the mixer? If not, you have very few options on short notice. The other 1/8" output (Tape Out) is too strong to feed your camera's mic-level input. The XLR outputs can be switched to mic-level, but you'd need some adapters to get from mixer to camera that way.

Next, does the D800 have manual audio level controls? Does it have Automatic Gain Control (AGC)? Can the AGC be turned off? If you can turn off AGC and you have manual audio input control, then you're a step ahead. And is there any kind of audio metering on the screen of the D800? Is there any way to monitor audio recording from the camera?

As for the VideoMic Pro (I assume you're talking about the RØDE mic?), you're going to have a heck of a time feeding that into your MixPre-D unless you have the adapter for taking the mic's 1/8" TRS (two-channel mono) to a single XLR connection.

So, if you don't have the XLR adapter for the VideoMic Pro, and/or you don't have the TA3F>1/8" cable for the MixPre-D, it looks like the MixPre-D needs to be taken out of the equation. Do you have any kind of extension for the VideoMic Pro? If you don't, you're stuck putting the mic on the camera, which is a terrible place. If you have an extension, you may have a few more options.

So, in order to get you a better answer:

- Do you have an XLR adapter for the VideoMic Pro?
- Do you have the TA3F>1/8" cable for the MixPre-D?
- Do you have an extension for the VideoMic Pro?
 
Alex H. said:
It isn't that simple. At all.

The D800 has only a 1/8" mic-level input, so you need to be careful in how you feed the MixPre-D into the camera. I'm assuming you have the TA3F>1/8" cable for using the mic-level direct out from the mixer? If not, you have very few options on short notice. The other 1/8" output (Tape Out) is too strong to feed your camera's mic-level input. The XLR outputs can be switched to mic-level, but you'd need some adapters to get from mixer to camera that way.

Next, does the D800 have manual audio level controls? Does it have Automatic Gain Control (AGC)? Can the AGC be turned off? If you can turn off AGC and you have manual audio input control, then you're a step ahead. And is there any kind of audio metering on the screen of the D800? Is there any way to monitor audio recording from the camera?

As for the VideoMic Pro (I assume you're talking about the RØDE mic?), you're going to have a heck of a time feeding that into your MixPre-D unless you have the adapter for taking the mic's 1/8" TRS (two-channel mono) to a single XLR connection.

So, if you don't have the XLR adapter for the VideoMic Pro, and/or you don't have the TA3F>1/8" cable for the MixPre-D, it looks like the MixPre-D needs to be taken out of the equation. Do you have any kind of extension for the VideoMic Pro? If you don't, you're stuck putting the mic on the camera, which is a terrible place. If you have an extension, you may have a few more options.

So, in order to get you a better answer:

- Do you have an XLR adapter for the VideoMic Pro?
- Do you have the TA3F>1/8" cable for the MixPre-D?
- Do you have an extension for the VideoMic Pro?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your detailed reply.

The D800 does have manual audio control and does show meters. Unfortunately it does not allow for adjustment whilst recording which is the main reason I want to use the Mix Pre-D.

I don't have the TA3F>1/8" cable but I have XLR to mini stereo adapters... They would work right?

So...

Should I use "mic" level for both input and output on the Mix Pre?

Pedantic said to use -20db on the D800. That seems low...

Should I use the limiter on the Mix-Pre?

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
Well I made the recording. I had to ditch the Mix Pre-D. For some reason I just couldn't get any sound coming into the mix pre-d. I checked it with my shotgun and the mix pre seems fine so I don't know what it was. So I recorded straight into the camera which left me with the major headache of trying to adjust the levels between songs with the pause in recording. It was a nightmare because I would make the adjustment but it wouldn't be enough or too much. In the end I recorded a couple of songs with automatic gain on and it even clipped at times with that. Luckily their musical sound was a kind of constant clipping- lots of distortion. So it it really doesn't matter too much that I made a meal of the audio. God knows I'll be more prepared next time though!

I just wish I'd had the time to get one piece of advice that I'm sure someone would have offered up for live punk rock: take earplugs. I hope I didn't damage my ears too much. I'm very pissed off at myself for not thinking of that.
 
Fluoro said:
...

I don't have the TA3F>1/8" cable but I have XLR to mini stereo adapters... They would work right?
...
Click to expand...
Maybe so, maybe not. It depends on how exactly they are wired, ie, what connection on the TRS side connects to what pin on the XLR side.
 
Steve House said:
Maybe so, maybe not. It depends on how exactly they are wired, ie, what connection on the TRS side connects to what pin on the XLR side.
Click to expand...

I just plugged everything back together and now it's working. I don't know what happened before?

So I'm going to try and use the Mix Pre-D set up with another live singing thing I'm shooting in a couple of hours... God it will be so nice to be able to adjust the levels whilst recording!

Hopefully it will work and I'm not missing something in my rush... I'll do some further testing before the shoot.

AND YES I WILL HIRE A SOUND GUY WHEN I SHOOT SOMETHING SERIOUS!!

Thanks for people's input.
 
Scrap that. I'm getting weird phasing and feedback coming and going. I'll leave the Mix Pre until I've sorted the right cords and learnt how to use the thing properly...

Okay this thread can now die its deserved death...
 
Fluoro said:
Scrap that. I'm getting weird phasing and feedback coming and going. I'll leave the Mix Pre until I've sorted the right cords and learnt how to use the thing properly...

Okay this thread can now die its deserved death...
Click to expand...
You need a TA3F-to-1/8 stereo TRS cable such as the CS-3 or CS-3R link cables from Sound Devices to connect the MixPre's unbalanced mic level output to the camera's mic input.
 
The -20dBFS setting is for the reference test tone sent to the camera from the MixPre's tone oscillator.
Yes, a simple XLR to 1/8" adapter would not work very well unless the signal is the right level to begin with. Mic to mic or line to line. An attenuation pad is often used if a mic level output is not available for preamp/mixer to DSLR configs.
 
Rick R said:
The -20dBFS setting is for the reference test tone sent to the camera from the MixPre's tone oscillator.
Yes, a simple XLR to 1/8" adapter would not work very well unless the signal is the right level to begin with. Mic to mic or line to line. An attenuation pad is often used if a mic level output is not available for preamp/mixer to DSLR configs.
Click to expand...
The MixPre-D offers a switch for mic or line levels on the main balanced XLR outputs plus an unbalanced mic level stereo output on a TA3 connector. Using the either the TA3 or setting the switch to mic level and using the XLR main outs eliminates the need for a padded patch cable.
 
Fluoro said:
Well I made the recording. I had to ditch the Mix Pre-D. For some reason I just couldn't get any sound coming into the mix pre-d. I checked it with my shotgun and the mix pre seems fine so I don't know what it was. So I recorded straight into the camera which left me with the major headache of trying to adjust the levels between songs with the pause in recording. It was a nightmare because I would make the adjustment but it wouldn't be enough or too much. In the end I recorded a couple of songs with automatic gain on and it even clipped at times with that. Luckily their musical sound was a kind of constant clipping- lots of distortion. So it it really doesn't matter too much that I made a meal of the audio. God knows I'll be more prepared next time though!

I just wish I'd had the time to get one piece of advice that I'm sure someone would have offered up for live punk rock: take earplugs. I hope I didn't damage my ears too much. I'm very pissed off at myself for not thinking of that.
Click to expand...

check these things first:

48v phantom
mic/line swith
volume
headphone volume
headphone plugged in
cable ok
 
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