LOUD Buzzing Noise from external MIC

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wjones717

Member
Hey guys i hooked up an external mic, an audio technica to be exact, but whenever i go into post production there's a loud buzzing noise that completely drains out my actors.

I had the mic volume set to maximum, that may be the problem, however when i went to shoot again, i put the volume lower, and the buzzing is still there draining out my actors horribly.

Is there a way to get this out in post production?

If i must re shoot please tell me how to get rid of this, i have no idea when it comes to sound.
 
try a new cable? Always bring headphones along and check sound! If not the microphone can be broken as well....
 
Yea i had headphones on me and you couldn't hear any buzzing, although you could barely hear the actors so i think the mic is dead or the cables suck,

if i was to re do the sound and just lay the audio track over the video, how hard is it to get it to line up with the original video?

How do i go about voice overs and dubbed dialogue
 
wjones717 said:
Yea i had headphones on me and you couldn't hear any buzzing, although you could barely hear the actors so i think the mic is dead or the cables suck,

if i was to re do the sound and just lay the audio track over the video, how hard is it to get it to line up with the original video?

How do i go about voice overs and dubbed dialogue
Click to expand...

you will have to set up a projector and build a dubbing setup, its being done all the time over here in Europe where all films are dubbed in the new language. You need experienced actors though who know how to lip-sync.
 
wjones717 said:
Hey guys i hooked up an external mic, an audio technica to be exact, but whenever i go into post production there's a loud buzzing noise that completely drains out my actors.

I had the mic volume set to maximum, that may be the problem, however when i went to shoot again, i put the volume lower, and the buzzing is still there draining out my actors horribly.

Is there a way to get this out in post production?

If i must re shoot please tell me how to get rid of this, i have no idea when it comes to sound.
Click to expand...


Need a lot more details to diagnose this. What sort of buzzing, is it a constant buzz like flourescent light buzzing or are the talent's voices breaking up with a buzzy-crackley sound? What mic, what camera, exactly how were they connected? Wired mic or wireless? Where was the mic - on the camera or boomed to the talent, how far away?
 
wjones717 said:
Hey guys i hooked up an external mic, an audio technica to be exact, but whenever i go into post production there's a loud buzzing noise that completely drains out my actors.

I had the mic volume set to maximum, that may be the problem, however when i went to shoot again, i put the volume lower, and the buzzing is still there draining out my actors horribly.

Is there a way to get this out in post production?

If i must re shoot please tell me how to get rid of this, i have no idea when it comes to sound.
Click to expand...

It's a terrible thing to have drained out actors, that's why I always carry a bottle or two to fill them up ;~)

You say in post, so your not hearing a buz when filming? If that's the case it's quite possible that your problem is with the sound system in post.



Yea i had headphones on me and you couldn't hear any buzzing, although you could barely hear the actors so i think the mic is dead or the cables suck,

if i was to re do the sound and just lay the audio track over the video, how hard is it to get it to line up with the original video?

How do i go about voice overs and dubbed dialogue
Click to expand...

If you could barely hear the actors with the gain cranked then something was very wrong. Those things could be lack of Phantom power, if the mic needs it, or the wrong kind of power (an old mic looking for T power) or a bad mic or a bad input section on the camera or input set to line instead of mic or booming from a great distance or thinking a shotgun is a telescope and not booming at all.

If your signal is really small and you keep gaining it to make it audible than the buz isn't the problem its the weak signal. There is always some noise in the chain and if you dump enough gain on it you will hear it.
 
As far as more details go:

- Canon GL2
- Audio Technica PRO 24 CM Stereo Condenser MIC
- Mic was on a boom connected to an extension cable that ran into the MIC out in Camera
- The boom was placed as close as possible to talent without being in shots
- It was a constant buzzing sound, as if someone cranked up stereo speakers without any music playing.
- Crackling happened every once in awhile

Hopefully that helps, what i wondered was that on the camera, the Left and Right dials were both at MAXIMUM, and i still couldnt tell if i was hearing the actors through the headphones or just in the room. That might explain the weakness of the mic/signal?
 
By the way, i had my headphones and everything seemed fine filming but when i imported to vegas that's when i was like "damn that's what was really going?"

I had headphones to make sure i heard everything, and if i did hear this buzzing i sure as hell would've filmed with the Canon's stock mic.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that mic has a 1/8" stereo connector. That means we're talking unbalanced signal, which is susceptible to interference, particularly on a longer run like from a boom to the camera.

Other random thoughts:
-Maybe the mic's battery was dead or low.
-Maybe you were monitoring the built-in mic while recording bad audio from the AT mic (Doubt thats possible)
 
Wjones717, can you hook up some headphones to the cam and playback a master tape?
Easiest to rule out any capture/system audio problems first.
 
why did you have to "crank up" the volume to MAXIMUM?

Right there is the easist thing to figure out the problem.
Either you had a major pad on the mic level..or had it in line level..
or your mic cable is bad and barely passing signal making you crank up to 10.

(assuming there is no actual problems with the microphone itself)
 
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I didn't push it to maximum right away obviously, but the audio levels weren't even visible until it was at the maximum level then i started to see some evidence that sound was being picked up
 
Well looking at some specs it seems there isn't a mic in on the GL2 so what wee you conecting the microphone to and what kind of adapter.

My guess now is your running a mic into a line in. That would give you the low level. You could avoid these things if well you know hired a SOUND PERSON.
 
Yea i would have, but i was working off a $0 budget for my student film so couldn't hire one and there werent any on campus available.
 
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