XL 2 and Azden wireless, don't get it to work propperly
 

Hi, I tested a fairly cheap Azden mic for an interview the other day. By setting audion to manual, the voice of the speaker was so low it resembled a mere whisper in the wind.

So, to manual mode I went. Wireless plugged into front mic jack. And i had to turn the volume to nearly max to get reasonable signal inputs. Sounded ok in the headset as well. I also tried adding a XLR plug to the azden jack, and putting it on the XL2 rear. I still had to punp the volume to near max.

Anyway, back home, load up premiere and import the clips, on with the headset and .... well, the spoken words where actually quite decent, but it was a huuge. 'hhhssssssssshhssssssshhh' hiss.

This hiss is funnily enough not that hearable once transferred to DVD, and with some post, I got some workable sound. But this is not how it should be, should it ?

So, question:

1- Is it something with the xl2 ? The stock mic works perfectly and are about
100 times better than the azden. Automode sets the levels right, and no hiss

2- I also had the same experience with azden shotgun mic, so it cant be the wireless alone, can it ?

3- Did I miss a setting in the XL-2 that prevents me from using these mics correclty ?

4- Are the azdens so lousy that they cannot be used ?

5- Anything else ? Is the xl2 preamp set to magically only work on stock mic ?

the modelnumbers are AZWLXPRO and AZSGM1X, and I payed something like 300$ for them, so I think I could expect better results. That leads me to think It's me, and I just don't know how to use it propperly.

Any thoughts ?

The Azden although some might disagree are not as bad as some feel-I'm talking about the 500U and the 1000U - the shotguns not so much but better than some not as good as others. It's hot and tinny-the lower end VHF stuff nope not so good.

I'm not familiar with the Canon camera as I use Sonys and JVC but if you're looking to get decent audio get rid of the VHF stuff and either get GOOD vhf or something thats UHF and newer. The particular system you have is about as far down the line as you can get.

I've used the 500U Azdens for about 5 years and have done all kinds of events, interviews and commericals for TV as well as a complete TV show pilot with them and frankly have had great sound. As good as $2400 Lectrosonics-probably not but not as bad as some people make the Azden out to be. With the right mic on the body pak and controling your levels on the cam or mixer you can get very good audio.
As for the shotgun, perhaps in post you can tone it down a bit. As for the hiss-on AGC thats going to be there but you should be able to knock it down in post-as for levels it sounds like there's an attenuation problem-I think the camera in question has a switch to set -20db of attenuation , if so set it to off but like I said I'm not all that familiar with the XL2 audio.
Don

Hi Don.

You are quite right, there is easily reached switches for the attenuator. And upon looking at the camera, they are all set to 'att'.

I got the sound to a decent level in post, but figured I don't want to do this again. Think I'll go shopping for some new mics anyway, been subject for thought for far too long for me now :)

Thanks for the reply.

Hi Anders,

I'm using the twin channel Azden 200ULT with my XL2 and I find the quality excellent.
Don is right about the quality of wireless mics. I made the mistake when I first started using wireless and bought a $160 Audio Techinca PRO88W. Used it for a couple of jobs and I continually got intermittent noise & dropouts. The mic from the AT is great however the RxTx now adorns my shelf of useless equipment.

Azden & AudioTechnica make very good quality equipment, just stay away from their entry level stuff.

Cheers,
Paul

A little trick to keep from hitting switches you don't want to touch when shooting-GAFFERS TAPE- alittle piece to cover the switch and no OOOOPPPPSSSS!

Don

Gotta agree with Don, I use the 500U and get great results. I use it in all kinds of situations, and have never had a problem. I agree that you should go with a UHF one instead of a VHF. I recently used it at Daytona a couple of weeks ago, and considering all of the radio frequencies that are there, I never had 1 issue.

I have a very old pair of Azden wireless that I have used on a Sony, the Canon XL-1, XL-1s and now the XL-2. Never had a problem with them. I used them all the time for interviews.

Anders,

Using your xl2 with uhf wireless is the way to go. Here is a thought to keep in mind,I thought I would use the camera mic to pick up ambient sound and the wireless for vows and such, only to find my adobe 1.5 doesn't support four channel recordings!! To keep it simple plug the wireless into channel 1 and 2!!
I use an azden 100 lt and it works great!!

Azden wireless products do work with the XL series, but they are not high end quality. They are ok for event voice, e.g., weddings.

Hiss does become more apparent when wearing head phones. And Azden products tend to have a higher noise floor than higher end products.

Also, the output impedance on some of the Azden shotgun mics is a bit higher then other brands, causing some loss of level when fed to a 600 ohm input.

Check the input/output levels through the system. They should match.