GH5 Recording a Safety Track with the XLR Microphone Adapter (DMW-XLR1)

Bern Caughey

Bern Caughey

Veteran
Audio recording is not my forte, & I almost always have a SoundPerson to handle the task. Previously I’ve only recorded Scratch Tracks on the GH cameras, but recently had a couple of close calls, & now want backup on my cameras, plus the ability to occasionally capture dialogue without the assistance of a Recordist.

To this end I just picked up the DMW-XLR1 Microphone Adapter, & am thinking of using a XLR Splitter to record a normal track through Input #1, & a Safety Track through Input #2, but have some questions I hope to get answered before running tests later today.

When utilizing a Shotgun Mic that requires Phantom Power is it safe to set both Input #1, & Input #2, to +48V, or would that damage the Mic?

Does a simple XLR Spitter ‘Y’ Cable such as Hosa’s significantly degrade the audio signal?

Would adding another XLR Splitter to send the audio to two GH5(s) be feasible, especially is both cameras had their own Spitters attached so they could record normal, & Safety Tracks? If it is possible would all four Inputs be set to +48V?

Also wonder if anyone’s used a XLR Spitter when receiving Line Level from a Mixer, or is that analogous to wearing Suspenders, & a Belt?
 
How much you can split a signal before degrading is dependent on a lot of factors, most important length of cable run, and quality of cable shielding. Also, remember, each new "touchpoint" is an opportunity for grounding problems (yes, "balanced" connections can still have grounding problems.)

What do you mean by a "Safety Track through Input #2" ? If you mean purposely lowering the levels to prevent clipping, a Y-adapter right at the camera should be fairly safe (assuming a reasonable signal.)

A portable mixer/distributor is the safe way to route signal to multiple points with the least chance of problems.
 
Bern, I don't own the DMW-XLR1 adapter ( I will at some point ), but looking at photos of it I can see that you can split the channel 1 input across both camera audio inputs by setting the "INPUT 1/1" switch in the center of the unit to the "INPUT 1/2" setting. Very likely you can also set separate audio levels for both channels recording the input from channel 1, which can be useful when you are concerned about the audio going to too loud and clipping, so you can set one channel to record 10 - 20 dB lower than the other channel. This also looks like you can set phantom power / gain / lowcut filters for each channel separately.

GH5_DMW-XLR1.jpg
 
I don't own it either, but that's exactly what you can do with the JuicedLink Riggy Micro. One input is split internally, and you can choose to make the second channel a -10 db safety.
 
Some other advantages of the DMW-XLR1 are the quick mount on the top, very helpful when using a motorized slider and other situations, and 24 bit audio option
 
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