Oktava audio problems

M

minkster

New member
Hello, I recently purchased an Oktava MK012 to attach to my Sony HDR-SR1 camcorder and I am having loads of trouble recording any sound. I have it hooked up through 48V of phantom power, but it seems as if I'm not getting enough power. I have to literally put my ear to the speakers of my camera to hear the faint sounds picked up when I was talking loud. Any suggestions guys? Thanks-minkster
 
what kind of ph adaptor do you have ,
check if you have mic /line switch on the camera or in the menu for externa; signal
 
Thanks for the quick comments.

@mumin: The only adjustments I can make on my camera is the micref setting. I can either set it to normal (which is fixed to make things sound louder) or low (which means the audio isn't tweaked by the camera). And neither seem to help the low sound I am recording.

@ Oleg: The Phantom power adapter I'm using is called the ART Phantom III here: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Phantom3/

I also bought a microphone cable adapter to a mini stereoplug to fit into mic out on my camcorder here: http://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=AdptFxMsm&preadd=action

I hope this information helps. Thanks guys I appreciate it.
 
into your mic out?:-)
check if your camera input is mono
it may be you need short the ring to the ground (1+3 ) to the ground
2 to tip
 
that's a very strange addapter, I'm not sure what it would be used for. Is your mini plug in a mic or line input, or perhaps the headphone jack? Mono or stereo? If it's stereo and you use that adapter and your listening back in mono (as in a little speaker on the camcorder) then you should hear almost nothing because the L & R will cancel out. If it's a line in you will hear almost nothing because your sending it a mic level and that's something like 1/1000 of a line level signal. If it's the head phone jack, you won't be recording much, shold not record anything but I have seen systems that had enough bleed through that you got something. Oleg's rewiring would put all you audio on one track (if the mini jack is stereo) and that would solve the monitoring problem if it's a mic in. You could also wire it so your hot lead goes to both tip and sleive. That would give you an in phase signal on both channels.
A quick test to see if this would work would be to go to Radio Shack (or similar) and get a "stereo miniplug to mono mini plug" adapter. If that does the trick then rewire your cable the way Oleg said. You don't want to use the adapter as it will put way too much strain on the connector, but for a couple of bucks you can see if rewireing will help.
 
Noiz2 said:
that's a very strange addapter, I'm not sure what it would be used for. Is your mini plug in a mic or line input, or perhaps the headphone jack? Mono or stereo? If it's stereo and you use that adapter and your listening back in mono (as in a little speaker on the camcorder) then you should hear almost nothing because the L & R will cancel out. If it's a line in you will hear almost nothing because your sending it a mic level and that's something like 1/1000 of a line level signal. If it's the head phone jack, you won't be recording much, shold not record anything but I have seen systems that had enough bleed through that you got something. Oleg's rewiring would put all you audio on one track (if the mini jack is stereo) and that would solve the monitoring problem if it's a mic in. You could also wire it so your hot lead goes to both tip and sleive. That would give you an in phase signal on both channels.
A quick test to see if this would work would be to go to Radio Shack (or similar) and get a "stereo miniplug to mono mini plug" adapter. If that does the trick then rewire your cable the way Oleg said. You don't want to use the adapter as it will put way too much strain on the connector, but for a couple of bucks you can see if rewireing will help.
Click to expand...

Thank you! My miniplug is going into a mic input as shown here: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-HDR-SR1-Camcorder-Review/Audio--Playback--Connectivity.htm
(it's next to the focus ring)

I was thinking that I might have needed a mono mini plug; I'll pick one up at Radioshack and tell you the results.

Thanks again for the help!
 
I'm stumped. Unfortunatly this is a very consumer camera with respect to the sound options. The Oktava is a pretty hot mic. Borrow a stereo mic with a mini plug end and see how that works. You may have a problem with the audio section of the camera.
 
do you sure that when you shout in to the mic you hear the octava or what left from the camera mic ?
find some other recording device to check where is aproblem
i can put a 1$ its the stupid camera or the cable wich connect into
 
Yeah, you guys are probably right. I wish a year ago I knew I was going to really get into filming, then I would have bought a professional camera. Oh well, I guess I'll have to return the equipment :(
 
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