rca audio

Tigeba is right. A mic puts out "mic level" signals which are measured in mV (milliVolts) and "line level" is measured in volts, which is 1000 times as much. A line level input such as "RCA inputs" is going to see a mic level signal as just a tiny, tiny bit of something waaaay down there. The mic preamp that tigeba mentioned will amplify the mic level signal up to line level.

Some mic preamps can be quite expensive. Depending on your requirements, you could maybe get away with a small, inexpensive mixer in the 100-200 dollar range.

You mentioned using a condenser mic. They need phantom power. Many will take a battery (1.5-9 volts) and work "ok" in which case, a mixer without phantom power (cheaper) would be fine. But 40-48 volts phantom power will usually give you better quality sound from the mic but that will only come from a mixer that has phantom power capability. Even that won't be too expensive though on the low end of things.

Larry
 
larry is correct, although for mics designed for battery operation, they do work a lot better than "ok". take the me66/k6 for example. it has better dynamic range when on phantom, but i wouldnt say it drastically changes the mic. (i do still run phantom when i use battery mics though, so larry's point is very valid)

just out of curiosity... WHY do you want to run this way? :)
 
thanks for the input guys. The reason I was asking if this was possible is that I need somehow to get an external mic working. The condenser mic I have is just a cheap one that I used for my old camcorder and has a mini stereo plug. I have heard that you can get adapters that are mini stereo female and XLR male which would work, but I imagine that you would lose quality.

I may just upgrade to a shotgun mic for quality and simplicity.

Thanks again for the replies
 
upgrade, dont waste your time with stereo mini mics... especially if shooting dvx or similar... you'll be glad you did.
 
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