Splitting wireless signal to camera and audio device

G

Gwerd

Well-known member
For documentary style work, I often mic up talent with a Sennheiser ew100 lav mic and feed the receiver into the camera and wish I could split the audio from the receiver to feed a portable audio recorder. Is this as simple as using a y cable? And what options for very small/lightweight audio recorders are recommended?
 
You could do this with a Y-cable. I’d recommend calling Remote Audio and asking them to custom-wire you the exact cable you need.

Or keep the recorder completely untethered to the camera and buy a second ew100 receiver in the same band. This is a more expensive option, but it makes the setup a little less clumsy.

As for small, lightweight recorders... take a look at the Tascam DR-60DmkII. It can mount under the camera (I don’t recommend this... it makes things a little wobbly), but it can also function perfectly well in a small bag.
 
You could also skip the Y cable, and just daisy chain the devices. Receiver into recorder, recorder out to camera. The Tascam DR60ii has a 3.5mm line out to feed into a DSLR.
 
A Y-cable will work, but it will drop the audio to each device by 50%. Two receivers will work and not affect the audio level. My company can make up a Y-cable for you, and I guarantee we'll beat Remote Audio's price.
 
Another option would be to use a field mixer to split the signal such as a SD MixPre or 302. This has a bunch of advantages over the other suggestions, but does cost $$.

Grant
 
I use a Whirlwind 1x2 mic splitter which does the job really well.
More expensive than a y-cable but should give you a better signal.
 
edinc90 said:
A Y-cable will work, but it will drop the audio to each device by 50%. Two receivers will work and not affect the audio level. My company can make up a Y-cable for you, and I guarantee we'll beat Remote Audio's price.
Click to expand...

I question this, though admittedly I'm not an EE so... A line level is not "powering" the input as say would happen with a speaker. It is hitting a high impedance input that should not be much of a draw on the signal. In other words while the Y does mean that only 1/2 of the power is available to each input, the power available greatly exceeds the power draw of the input so effectively there is very little impact. Just as a "power strip" splits the available power among all the outlets in the strip, as long as all the connected devices requirements do not exceed the power available you won't see a loss of power with any of them. This also matches my experience. You should see a bit of a signal hit but not a lot.

My main issue with a Y cable is that you have direct interaction, so a problem with either is a problem with both. So as a rule I would like to see a buffered splitter of some sort so the feeds are not interactive. But practically speaking once you have the set up working you will probably not have any issues and a buffered splitter might well just complicate things.
 
spinkscapes said:
I use a Whirlwind 1x2 mic splitter which does the job really well.
More expensive than a y-cable but should give you a better signal.
Click to expand...
I have a few or those, they have direct and transformer outputs as well as a ground lift. They work great, but it's like carrying a brick around.

Most of the new GHz band wireless systems, do not allow more than one receiver / per transmitter, since they are 'paired'. The G2/3/4 work good for multiple camera hops and there is no limitation on the number of receivers with one Tx.
 
Gwerd said:
Great suggestions, I knew this would open up some discourse! I'm also looking at this as a loop through option (Sennheiser wireless receiver to PDR, PDR to camera)

https://www.lectrosonics.com/US/PDR/product.html

This option offers the most light weight factor...a big consideration when using a camera all day...
Click to expand...

If you’re going that way, take a look at the Tascam DR-10L. Much less expensive, wired for Sennheiser-compatible 1/8” cable, headphone out for pass-through, similar form factor to the ew100 receiver.

But you could get a MixPre-3 for less than the price of a PDR. Much more bang for the buck if you’re already entertaining that price point.
 
The link is to the DR-10X plug-on recorder, which is for XLR dynamic mics. I do not think the 10X has an headphone (HP) output either. The DR-10L is for lavaliere mics (with 3.5mm plug), that has a HP out.
BTW, headphone level is too hot for a mic level input, so the input should be set to line level. The HP output is also unbalanced, so a custom cable will be needed when feeding a balanced XLR input.
 
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