Can't get Sennheiser G2 wireless settings to work
 

Ok, I followed Guy Cochran's awesome Vimeo tutorial to the letter with a sensitivity of -10.

Within the Sony menu, I go to Men>audio mix>push sel/push exec.scroll down to mix/line in sel/push exec.yellow "ext mic is highlighted yellow, then I push sel/push exec one last time, then switch right side power switch to camera.

I plug in my Sony MDR 7506 headphones to the Mic/line port on the FX1 lower right.

Just prior to plugging in the Sennheiser EW100 G2 jack into the Mic/Line input, I sure hear the onboard Sony mics coming through loud and clear. As soon as the wireless transmitter jack is plugging into the mic/line jack, the headphones go silent.

Now when I take the Sennhesier lavalier mic and put it right up to my mouth and talk loud, the levels on the lower right of the fold outviewfinder show the L channel as going up about 1/4th of the total. I can barely hear anything in the headphones. If I turn the audio level knurled wheel on the camera back to 10 on manual setting I can hear it a little better, but there is hissing static in the headphones, and now the L channel sound meter will go halfway halfway on the scale.

I do have the volume all the way up on the FX1 button under the fold out monitor.

Ok, considering the mic will not be right at ones mouth, what do I need to do to get some volume out of all this?

I later tried Level -24 on AF out on the transmitter with -20 db on the receiver with no luck.

" I plug in my Sony MDR 7506 headphones to the Mic/line port on the FX1 lower right"

The Headphones should not be plugged into a mic/line port, this is where the receiver should be plugged it. I don't have an FX1 here, but you need to find the headphone jack and plug the phones in there.

Ben

Sorry, my mistake, I meant to type I plug in the Sennheiser wireless receiver output jack into the mic/line in on the front lower right, and the headphones plug into the rear side headphone jack.

If you are plugging into the camera's line input, you need to turn up the output level of the receiver.

Level -24 out on the transmitter is the highest it will go, unless I set it the wrong direction and it needs to go in the + side

Output from G2 receiver is mic level.. plug into cam mic in, not line in.

You need to use proper names for everything so we can understand what the problem is exactly.

Transmitter - Where you plug your mic into.. It doesn't have an AF Out menu item, only Sensitivity. These are in 10 db increments. (it has the mute switch at the top of it)

Receiver - This is what you plug into your camera.. This contains the AF Out menu item, and is in 12 db increments. (it says AF out on the top of it)

Next, keep the transmitter volume up. As long as you have it near 00, that should be enough for you to troubleshoot your receiver and camera. You want it towards the + side of things. When you turn the volume up on your stereo, you will go up to increase the volume, you don't go down to increase volume.

Like Brooks said, try mic level.. The G2 is capable of line level, but I find it difficult to get correct levels at that range.

I wonder if you simply have the transmitter and the receiver mixed up. This would be an honest mistake as they look almost identical.

The transmitter is the pack on the body with the mic/line labeled jack to the lav, the receiver is the one with the AF Out jack and that is what I have attached to the videocam shoe.

I think Dave may have misunderstood what these -20, -10 settings do. They are reductions in sensitivity, for inputs to the radio mic transmitter that are too ..... 'hot'. So if the speaker is talking at normal speaking volume, with the mic a foot away from their mouth, then that's not very loud, so you do not want any sensitivity reduction. Dialing in -10 or more dB will cut the audio output level from the transmitter to the reciever quite a bit, and would certainly mean meter levels will be low, and any exra gain you use at the receiver end to bring them back up produces plenty of background hiss.

If you have the mic very close to their mouth and they are shouting, then this is when the attenuation is useful - or the transmitter distorts badly.

Do your test again, with no transmitter attenuation, then you should have a solid signal to start with - then you can experiment with matching the receiver output to camera input. In my case, I usually keep the camera input set to mic, not line, and then use the receiver output control to match the levels. At least these experiments will be at decent headphones levels, so getting it right can be done by ear.

With respect, Dave, if you're referring to the AF OUT Level here, it is on the RECEIVER, not the transmitter.

I also think you've interpreted this figure the wrong way.

-24 is the LOWEST it will go; try a high number like +18?

-24 to -6 produce low/quiet/mic levels into camera; 0 to +18 produce high/loud/line levels into camera.

I used the Vimeo tutorial and the setting listed as the base starting point, I will give it all a retry with different settings. I am not a tech guy so the learning curve is slow so the hand holding here is very much appreciated.

If you are in a line input, I think you may have problems indeed -- I could not get my G2 to create usable audio at that level (on an EX1 camera). Try to set the input's sensitivity to Mic (as opposed to Line), if this is supported. While others have expressed cautious optimism about the G2 being able to generate a line-in level, I am not sure mine would ever do it.

tone

I adjusted the Sennheiser levels so that when the lav mic is in the upper chest region as recommended in Cochran's Vimeo video.

When speaking in a normal voice, the "AF" LCD display graph on both the transmitter and receivers are close to peaking when I speak with the lav mic.

Still no audio in the headphones even though turned all the way up on the volume control under the fold out display. Now keep on mind this is with the audio on the rear of the videocam set to manual, and the audio level set to 5. if I turn it all the way up to 10, it introduces major hiss, although I can start to hear the lav mic now, albeit still unacceptably.

In view of the AF meters showing both levels near the highest, I am at a loss for why this is still not working. I do have two really cool new electronic paperweights though!

I tried switching the onboard menu function between mic/lin and ext mic to no avail.

Dave: Again: Is AF OUT on the Receiver set to something like +18????????????????

Martin,

I tried the suggested -18 on AF out on the receiver, cant hear a thing, then I tried the maximum + level on AF out, which is +12. At that setting, I can hear a little bit in one ear only and only when I have the lav mic right up to my mouth.

Have you plugged anything else into the xlr inputs of the camera and had success with good levels? Could you plug a known working mic into each xlr and see what you get. Mic level of course. If another audio source works properly into the camera input then you know its probably not the camera. Another thing to check. Is the mini plug to xlr cable from the receiver to the camera perhaps not functioning properly. It sounds like the audio either isn't leaving the receiver, or the camera isn't taking it in. I had a friend who had dead xlr inputs on his camera out of the box. Not likely but a possibility.
Bernie

Well, it is a Sony HDR FX1, so it does not have XLR inputs, only a single mic/lin jack.

When I use the onboard microphones, I sure hear it loud and clear on the Sony headphones.

I do not have another mic to check it with. I may bring the whole thing to a meeting of videographer types and see if my Sennheisers work with their vidoecams.

Have you gone into the menu and set the Mic/line jack for Ext. Mic?

Ah - if you're connecting to an FX1, you're using a 3.5mm-jack to 3.5mm-jack cable, right? Are you using the original Sennheiser-supplied one? A generic one is no good here.

Is it also maybe possible to use the cable between the Receiver and camera backwards? There's a 3.5mm stereo jack plug at both ends, but a screw collar on one end only (for the Sennheiser receiver end). The cable's internal wiring is not symmetrical.

Try it the other way round?

(Not sure if the screw collar will let you, though.)

This is correct.

+18 and go into the line input.

If you go into a mic. input you will have to turn this down.

I hope this helps.


On the transmitter the sensitivity settings are:-

• 0 = the most sensitive for speech
• -10 = for loud speech
• -20 = for singing (or someone shouting)
• -30 = the least sensitive for loud vocals

The supplied Sennheiser mini-jack to mini-jack is wired:-
Screw jack at receiver end to normal jack at camera end:
receiver tip to camera tip and ring
receiver ring not connected
receiver sleeve to camera sleeve

This puts the receiver output onto both lefta nd right channels of the camera.

just tried that.....

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner! The mic is [i]quite[/] sensitive now. Finally! lol.

This will be one of those things where 10 years from now, I will pray nobody prospective client ever finds this thread..sort of like when they find your photos from your high school yearbook and you're wearing a tuxedo with frilly, flamboyant peacock crap spilling out between the jack lapels. ;)

Glad you got it sorted, Dave!

Perhaps Sennheiser should take note: and label the apparently reversible cable with 3.5mm plugs at both ends, which end is the Receiver, and which end is the camera! (Although the screw collar should give a clue!)

To hear an accurate portrayal of my level of competence in this particular matter,
click here

While resisting the urge to go crawl under a rock, I wanted to thank everyone for weighing in. I thought of this place as soon as I hit a roadblock.

Martin, the odd thing is, I did screw in the knurled collar on the bodypack transmitter thinking it was kinda cool that they made it so that it can't be accidentally pulled out mid-interview. You would have thought I would have ported over that rather glaringly obvious concept on the cable where it connects to the receiver.

But they have a saying in engineering; "If you have to read the directions, there is room for improvement".

Now for my next challenge, I am going to try to convince Chris Hurd to go into the admincp and enable members to edit their posts for at least some reasonable length of time, as I congenitally refuse to proofread my posts when I am on a mission. ;)