external audio:help setting the levels
 

hi all,
I'm feeding a z1 with a sure fp24 mixer via a senn wireless.
reference tone from the mixer, wich level at the camera? -20?-12?
i just had the camera and the audio stuff, tried by setttin the reference tone at -20 but seems like audio is way too low, always between -30 and -20 on camera display even when reaching 0 or even +4 on the mixer meter.
any input? the fp24 limiters seem to be very good, do you think i can dare seting the tone at -12?
thanks in advance!

Tone should be at -20, but that's for reference when you send it out, or set up the mix/post. What are your dialog averages hitting? You are looking at peaks for dialog, yes?

sorry, not a good english speaker here..
I'm checking the peaks of course, but at the mixer meters. they reach 0 or max +4, which is supposed to be right. What I can't see are the levels in the camera, since I'm connected cia wireless. after shooting a few minutes I realized that the level in the z1 were very low, always between -30 and -20.
shall i set the tone at -12?

You should also check the following:

Which output of the mixer are you using, XLR or Tape Mini? There's a 10db difference between the two connections and one is balanced mono (this connection can be wired from the factory two different ways depending on the age of your unit) and the other is mini unbalanced stereo.
How the cable between the mixer and the transmitter is wired? The Sennheiser transmitter input can be connected two different ways for line or mic level input.
The transmitter input gain? This is a menu setting so the signal you're feeding into the transmitter is handled correctly.
The receiver output level? Use this to match to the camera's input sensitivity.
Camera input sensitivity? Not sure if the Z1 has an Attenuated mic-level setting on the XLR connectors for hot mic signals, or if it's just a choice between Mic/Line.

If your camera level controls aren't somewhere in the middle third of their range, you may need to adjust one or more of those 5 listed above.
If you feel the 5 listed above are all good and you can raise your levels with a moderate adjustment of the camera level controls, then I'd set tone at -12db on the camera meters. Then have someone monitor closely with headphones attached to the camera for distortion on the loudest portions. Remember you can have distortion even if the camera meters don't hit zero level.
You can also adjust the threshold of the limiters on the FP24, although it takes a tiny screwdriver and a lot of patience and care not to damage the control. The limiters can act either independently or linked and this can influence when the limiting starts depending on your input sources.

thanks jay, problem solved.
somebody set the whole kit in a strange way. the sennheiser receiver linked to the camera was at 0 while the camera imput was set to line. put it at +12 and now it is ok. still a bit low, tomorrow i'll set the tone to -18 and eveything will work.
thanks again
pietro