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Super CMIT and Zaxcom ZHD 743 setup


deiansound

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Would any recordists or users of Schoeps Super CMITs paired with Zaxcom ZHD 743 be willing to discuss their settings please? Had a worrying phone call from a dialogue editor who is unhappy with the audio he’s getting. Complaints of hiss on quiet dialogue, audible companding due to possible poor gain structure. I’m also suffering from a 6kHz whine (cured by taping aerial to boom pole) and occasional droput even though signal strength is high. I would be extremely grateful for any advice. Here are my current settings:

 

Super CMIT set to ‘normal’ output (not +30dB). High pass ‘on’, low pass’off’, dsp 1. 

ZHD:

Transmitter gain +15dB

Transmit modulation - Stereo (to receive inputs of both mic signals)

Filters off

Zaxnet off

788T - digital input with approx +20dB gain. No EQ, high pass at approx 90Hz. 

 

Thank you very much in advance. 

 

 

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Hi Deian, I have this exact setup. Mine is dsp 1. But, I use the high cut on the transmitter. I have listened to that in post a lot. I think it sounds great. You mention gain on the trans, do you not change that? 

Whoa. Wait. I don't think you can send both the dsp and non dsp via 743. Are you sure your doing this? How? The aes42 cone is not stereo.

What does "filters off" mean?

You have thrown me another loop with inputting it into an SD, and not a Zaxcom. That will be the wild card in this discussion. I've never done that. But, hmm. There is a misprint in the original 788T manual, that I discovered, and SD was going to rewrite that. It was an aes42 mistake. Maybe that is part of the problem? 

I also notice you have another high pass in the mixer? Hmm.

Ok, let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

 

Sincerely, Martin

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8 hours ago, MartinTheMixer said:

I don't think you can send both the dsp and non dsp via 743. Are you sure your doing this? How? The aes42 cone is not stereo.

 

Yes you can and yes it is. AES3/42 always transmits two channels and you have access to both on the receiver. I seem to remember an oddness with the order of the two channels in the tx or rx, I don’t remember, but you can change them in the factory menu - iirc. 

 

The 788 settings are correct, too, just make sure you have Digital input activated, but keep the AES42 power off. The AES coming out of the QRX is a regular AES3 stream

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49 minutes ago, Constantin said:

 

Yes you can and yes it is. AES3/42 always transmits two channels and you have access to both on the receiver. I seem to remember an oddness with the order of the two channels in the tx or rx, I don’t remember, but you can change them in the factory menu - iirc. 

 

The 788 settings are correct, too, just make sure you have Digital input activated, but keep the AES42 power off. The AES coming out of the QRX is a regular AES3 stream

When you say aes42 "always transmits 2 channels" , are you saying the Zax transmitter always transmits 2 channels? The mic doesn't transmit anything.

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41 minutes ago, MartinTheMixer said:

When you say aes42 "always transmits 2 channels" , are you saying the Zax transmitter always transmits 2 channels? The mic doesn't transmit anything.

 

AES transmits digital info from one point to another. Wireless or not. To put it in other words, AES3 and 42 always consist of a 2-channel data stream. 

In the case of the 743, yes it can transmit the two AES42 channels. 

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28 minutes ago, MartinTheMixer said:

Transmits is a bad choice of words when you are talking about a mic output. A beginner reading this is going to think there is some transmit function in an aes42 device. 

 

Someone who works with a SuperCMIT, a Zax 743 and a QRX is unlikely to be a beginner. 

 

The more important message here is that the OP can easily achieve what he wants with the gear he has. 

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32 minutes ago, Constantin said:

 

Someone who works with a SuperCMIT, a Zax 743 and a QRX is unlikely to be a beginner. 

... 

 

Your point is valid, but so is Martin's.

 

Beginners typically don't use such a rig, but they do read internet misinformation and then spread that by pretending to be knowledgeable. 

 

Clarity matters. How about:  The mic "outputs" and the 743 "transmits."

 

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1 hour ago, John Blankenship said:

 

Your point is valid, but so is Martin's.

 

Beginners typically don't use such a rig, but they do read internet misinformation and then spread that by pretending to be knowledgeable. 

 

Clarity matters. How about:  The mic "outputs" and the 743 "transmits."

 

 

Agreed. Just to clarify, though: it was not misinformation. It just wasn’t worded in the most un-ambiguous way. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, MartinTheMixer said:

Yes, beginners don't read.

 

Once again missing the point. I wasn’t responding to a beginner‘s question, I was responding to you. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think you are a beginner. 

 

When I respond to someone‘s thread, I am not always trying to dumb it down enough so that absolutely everyone gets it. 

 

And as John often liked to point out, this forum is for working professionals and I‘m sure 99% of regulars here know that the SuperCMIT does not have a radio transmitter built in.  

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9 minutes ago, MartinTheMixer said:

There are people on here who have English as their 2nd 3rd or 4th language.  

 

Such as myself? 

Fine, I‘m done debating the „transmit“ portion of the response. I think the intended meaning has been made abundantly clear.

 

9 minutes ago, MartinTheMixer said:

 Do I need to copy and paste the email from Zaxcom that says it won't do this?

 

I had hoped you would focus on the actual discussion, rather than spending time debating the meaning if the word transmit. 

 

So Zaxcom said the SuperCMIT won’t transmit audio with a built-in radio transmitter? I don’t think you need to copy/paste that email

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2 hours ago, deiansound said:

Many thanks for your replies. Yes- in the stereo transmit mode the 743 will give you both mic signals. My question is whether I have my gains set correctly.

 

The gains depend to a degree on the action you‘re trying to record, of course. 

The 30dB gain on the mic is the only stage where it might be worth applying gain, but to be honest I don’t know if those 30dB are applied digitally or if they affect the analog portion of the mic. 

Gaining in the trx and recorder has no real impact on the signal - or shouldn’t have - since it’s all digital already. Zaxcom‘s tx compress the signal, I don‘t know if a higher level helps. 

All other gain stages in the digital realm have no effect on the signal, unless it hits the limiter somewhere 

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1 hour ago, Constantin said:

 

Such as myself? 

Fine, I‘m done debating the „transmit“ portion of the response. I think the intended meaning has been made abundantly clear.

 

 

I had hoped you would focus on the actual discussion, rather than spending time debating the meaning if the word transmit. 

 

So Zaxcom said the SuperCMIT won’t transmit audio with a built-in radio transmitter? I don’t think you need to copy/paste that email

Supercmits don't  have built in radio transmitters.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/22/2018 at 1:36 PM, deiansound said:

Complaints of hiss on quiet dialogue, audible companding due to possible poor gain structure.

 

Good day, I would also like to know if anyone else has experienced audible hiss with their ZMT Phantom units? I understand that there will always be internal "hiss" but there seems to be an audible hiss in the background regardless of gain setting on the transmitter. Zaxcom told me that it is normal for there to be a noise floor because the ZMT is not companded or noise reduced like Lectros or other analog processed wireless. Still it seems quite noisy for a transmitter with that pricetag?

 

Thanks

 

 

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the supercmit non-processed signal has been noticed by others to be not as quiet as having the analog version of the microphone.  i stopped using my supercmit since repairing the microphone can take months (3 months the first time, 2 months the second time).  the other option would be to get a second one, but the show i am presently on doesn’t have the consistent height on its sets to successfully use it, so i haven’t done that either. while the  742/743 works well with the supercmit,  3 lithium batteries will only power the unit for about 3 hours.  hard to get a production company to get on board with that expense,  despite the fact that 742 battery use is one of the smallest expenses on any large production...

 

when i was using the microphone regularly, not having a digital version of “neverclip” was a problem.  one production cared less about the dialogue in one scene,  and criticized not having loud noises (car doors closed enthusiastically, even loud slates would overload the microphone

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