Wiring mic...elementary help needed :-(

[Renton Maclachlan]

I mentioned this on another thread but I've had no response to my last post so will try a new thread...

I have a Rode ntg2 which I want to run to an iriver, and also to my cameras.

I'm doing something wrong with my connections as I can't get it to go connected to an iriver. Dumb I know...

Could someone please tell me which wires to connect where, at both the xlr end and the minijack end. Thanks

See photos at last post at

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...753#post875753

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

I mentioned this on another thread but I've had no response to my last post so will try a new thread...

I have a Rode ntg2 which I want to run to an iriver, and also to my cameras.

I'm doing something wrong with my connections as I can't get it to go connected to an iriver. Dumb I know...

Could someone please tell me which wires to connect where, at both the xlr end and the minijack end. Thanks

See photos at last post at

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...753#post875753

According to the Giant Squid website, if the iRiver detects a connection to both the tip and ring of the mic input jack it switches to stereo mode. To record a mono mic's signal in mono mode, it has to go to the ring of the iRiver jack only. So here you go...

Get out your magnifier and you'll see tiny numbers next to the XLR pins.

XLR pin 2 (+) connects to miniplug ring
XLR pin 3 (-) connects to miniplug sleeve
XLR pin 1 (shield) also connect to miniplug sleeve
Miniplug tip leave unconnected

This is the reverse of normal wiring where pin 2 would go to tip and the ring left unconnected.

Doesn't matter which colour conductor you use but the convention is white is left or positive and red is right or negative.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Thanks Steve...only I've discovered that it is more complicated and is perhaps beyond me. The NTG2 is balanced and the iriver is not...

I think I may get someone to make a lead up for me.

[Colin McDonald]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

Thanks Steve...only I've discovered that it is more complicated and is perhaps beyond me. The NTG2 is balanced and the iriver is not...

I think I may get someone to make a lead up for me.

If unbalancing the output of an NTG-2 while on battery power worries you I asked Rode UK about this and they said it would not harm the mic or the camera. (I was concerned about the possibility of the mic's battery putting 1.5V between the signal wires and earth/ground).

Mind you, I haven't actually done it yet :-)

[Renton Maclachlan]

Link helpfully given on another group:

http://www.rcrowley.com/CamAdapt.htm

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

Link helpfully given on another group:

http://www.rcrowley.com/CamAdapt.htm

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

Thanks Steve...only I've discovered that it is more complicated and is perhaps beyond me. The NTG2 is balanced and the iriver is not...

I think I may get someone to make a lead up for me.

Good link, HOWEVER, the iRiver is an odd-ball and it reverses the normal industry-standard tip and ring assignments. The instructions I gave you were for wiring an adapter to unbalance the mics balanced output, taking into account iRiver's deviant wiring scheme.

Perhaps it's a silly question, but at the risk of upsetting the loyal iRiver fans, I gotta ask why you are bothering to adapt a good mic like the Rode to use with a toy like the iRiver? It's kinda like fitting a steam engine to a row boat. Won't hurt the Rode any but the recorder is so marginal that you lose any advantage of using the good mic.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Because while I bought the NTG2 to go in a blimp I've bought (shock horror, from the Punjab), in which case it would connect to my camera, in some cases I would like to use it on a mic stand with an independant audio device. Irivers I find are extremely convenient for this sort of thing, I have them, and they are cheap. In the past I have just hung a Giant Squid Lav connected to an Iriver on a mic stand or shoved one on a lecturn to capture whoever speaks from there, and it has turned out OK.

Maybe they are like toys, but they are pretty darn good toys - or seem so to me.

And a steam engine in a row boat would certainly set the row boat apart from the rest!!

I'm just a peasant...and don't know you're not meant to do these things... :-)

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

Because while I bought the NTG2 to go in a blimp I've bought (shock horror, from the Punjab), in which case it would connect to my camera, in some cases I would like to use it on a mic stand with an independant audio device. Irivers I find are extremely convenient for this sort of thing, I have them, and they are cheap. In the past I have just hung a Giant Squid Lav connected to an Iriver on a mic stand or shoved one on a lecturn to capture whoever speaks from there, and it has turned out OK.

Maybe they are like toys, but they are pretty darn good toys - or seem so to me.

And a steam engine in a row boat would certainly set the row boat apart from the rest!!

I'm just a peasant...and don't know you're not meant to do these things... :-)

It's not that there's anything wrong with doing it ... it's just the iRiver or other low bitrate mp3 recorders are so marginal that it seems a shame to use a good mic and then toss away all the benefits at the recorder.