rode videomic pro levels low

[Steve Bleasdale]

My new rode video mic pro seems to have low levels on my 6d. I have put the settings to +20db and then manual in camera 6 notches from the left like recommended settings people say. 5 yards away not bad, 10 yards away faint, 15 yards away terrible. help i have four weddings coming up next week to end of Feb..steve

[Shaun Roemich]

15 yards is nearly 50 feet.

Show me ANY non-parabolic mic that performs even REASONABLY well at that distance.

Get closer.

In the immortal words of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott:

"ya kinnae change the laws of physics"

[Shaun Roemich]

Even with serious mid-level "pro" mics like Sennheiser ME66 and Rode NTG-1 or -2, I find the performance outside of 15 INCHES to be unusable in most cases. 9" away from the sound source if I can.

[Steve Bleasdale]

ye i know what you mean Shaun i have my zooms and recorders for sure but was worried i can get at least some audio even 8ft away which still seems low. will do some test tomorrow cheers

[Rick Reineke]

Did other mics have more gain? Have you checked the battery?
In any case, a camera mounted mic can't be expected to adequately pick up anything other than ambient sound anyway.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

ye i know what you mean Shaun i have my zooms and recorders for sure but was worried i can get at least some audio even 8ft away which still seems low. will do some test tomorrow cheers

Shotgun mics are NOT 'telephotos got sound' in that they do not magnify distant sounds. What they do is suppress surrounding noises so the sound at which they are aimed is less affected by inference from the environment. Good sound at 8 feet from the subject is wishing for the impossible, it's just not going to happen no matter how pricey the mic. That clear, natural "Hollywood Sound" you hear on broadcast TV and theatrical film is obtained by placing a directional mic such as a shotgun or hyper-cardioid about 20 INCHES away from the actor's mouth, or by using lavs, perhaps wireless for mobile shots. Your $200 Videomic at 20 inches will sound better than a $2500 Schoeps at 8 feet.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Suppose your right, will just keep on with my zooms and lavs then

[Graham Bernard]

None of them understand Steve, Scousers speak very clearly, from far away too. "Ah they do, don't they do, they do, don't they do . . . "

Grazie

[Steve Bleasdale]

Haha nice one Graham

[Taky Cheung]

Shotgun mic will reject side and rear noise so it picks up sound from one direction. It doesn't mean it pickup sound far away.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Taky Cheung

Shotgun mic will reject side and rear noise so it picks up sound from one direction. It doesn't mean it pickup sound far away.

Taky, I can hear you all the way over here in London UK! - Your single statement should be written large at the top of this Forum.

Look, if you haven't yet received/captured the Sound Energy over 50' distance, then a shotgun wouldn't do it any better. What you WILL hear, if you are lucky, is a very very quiet version of what you are aiming that "tube" at. Then you go on to amplify that weak signal with pre-amps and so on and you end up with Noise over Signal. How big is the diameter of that "tube"? Not larger than 3/4"? How much Sound Energy do you think you are getting into that orifice? I'm more than willing (is that a Willet listening?), but, IMHO, the industry calling these devices a "shotgun" is a misnomer. A shotgun, the last time I looked, is a weapon that shoots a spray of lead pellets that increases in its radial pattern over distance. Now how does that even relate to a device that is meant to receive Audio Energy over a narrow distance? To me, it's as if the originators for shotties - FYI, I have plenty of the Sennies - kinda got the wrong end of the stick from the get go. Something like this:

"Hey, what would YOU call a tube device that could clear away all the side influences from an audio source that was spraying waves in all directions and being confused with other side audio sources? Yeah, yeah, as if it was being shot at by a shotgun! Yeah we will call it an anti-shotgun tube device! Nah, let's call it a shotgun instead!"

I digress, but you get the image I'm trying to convey (oy-vay!).

Anyhow, to do this, as has been said, you'd need to gather that distant audio energy using a BIG "scoop". A scoop or bucket, shaped like a parabolic dish. This then literally focusses the wished-for audio source to a point receiver - that'll be the mic. Look at the end of your ShotGun? How big is that hole? Not gonna get much audio energy into that? Now, and at a stretch, if you got a bowled shaped plastic washing-up bowl and reversed your shotgun into the it and pointed the open face of that basin AT the sound source, you'd jump outta yer skin! I know, I've done exactly this on the rolling African plains, picking up sounds of the majestic wildebeest and farting elephants! - Oh yeah, and scrabbling ants too.

Please, somebody, put me outta my misery on the Shottie-naming-convention thing? Please?

Cheers

Grazie

[Steve Bleasdale]

Mmmm just made a space ship of a bowl im guna try that one, cheers graham or anyone got any links to something someone is selling to spray that voiceeeeeeee from that rodeeeee