brightnight

Thanks for the link and to quote that post: "Wow! Well i didn't even know that this kind of top tier forums exist in the first place. Good to hear that. Now i understand and will adapt myself accordingly. 👍" That's fair. I've spent a lot of time researching mics and preamps but my network is small and there's no way I can have time to even begin catching up to people on this forum. Man it's tough getting started, most of the time it feels like there's too much information out there, lots of conflicting reviews, opinions, etc...but that post has links to some good channels and I now follow them. I will post on other forums, continue to read here, and maybe look for someone I can bounce audio ideas off of. My day job is an electrical engineer so maybe someone in audio will want to bounce design ideas off me and we can both benefit.

I have two different systems for recording audio which are both run into the 3.5mm jack on my GH5 camera and I’m looking to get more recording systems. Before pouring a ton of money into additional expensive system systems, I want to make sure it makes the most sense for my application. I will be recording natural sounds in the environment and I’m not using an audio recorder for the extra cost/complexity of syncing thousands of clips. What’s the best way to compare these microphones/systems? I’m guessing rather than playing various frequency sounds which could depend on my speaker quality, I should I just put them both in the field and record what I'll actually be studying to see if I can hear a difference between the two, or maybe even upload audio clips here. I’ll be recording video for a wildlife documentary but don’t know how big of a difference the audio quality will be between the two. It’s possible the internal GH5 audio recording quality might be so bad the nicer system won’t make a difference. My system will be left in the field weeks at a time turning on and recording with motion and I will preset the levels when I leave the system out. 99% of the sound I expect is very quiet, literally crickets in the background, but occasionally I expect loud noises in front of the camera such as howling or barking. If I set level to record the quiet sounds I’m guessing I’ll be clipping for the really loud ones. If I set for loud I’m guessing the quiet ones will have too much noise when I bring the audio power up in post. 1) The expensive Setup: Diety S-Mic 2 with a Beachtek pre-amp 2) The Cheap Setup Rode VideoMic 1) How best should I compare the audio from these systems (without an anechoic chamber or fancy equipment)? 2) Is there a way to preset levels for mostly quiet but occasionally very loud nearby noises without compromising the quiet noises or the very loud ones? 3) Do you think there will be a big difference in sound between the two systems, as in noticeable to a TV audience?

I'm looking to record wildlife sounds ~2ft to 15ft in front of me and off to the sides as well. I was really liked the Deity Microphones S-Mic 2based on the reviews I saw and the build quality even if the price was pretty steep. Now that I'm taking a second look I see a lot of people speaking into it from only a few inches away and I'm wondering if it has the reach to get out for sounds 2-15ft away. It's a shotgun but wasn't sure if the mic is what gives me the ability to listen to sounds up to 15ft away or if that's something I just control with my mic. Is there an Omni mic with the same sound quality out there? I will be leaving it in the woods for long periods (days) so the gains will be set before I leave and not changed so I won't be able to adjust on the fly. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1424787-REG/deity_microphones_smic_s_mic_shotgun_mic.html

I could but Ideally I'd like to be able to replace the mic in the field if something happens to it. Maybe I should consider this option as it cuts down on connectors.

I'm going to be recording sounds outdoors for months at a time and have a recorder in a waterproof box, but my mic will be outdoors outdoors and I need a way to get the 3 pin XLR cable into the box and keep it water proof. I’m looking at XLR bulk connectors similar to the attached picture. In terms of audio quality, are all bulkheads or connectors created equal, or is anything from Amphenol going to work well in terms of quality? Lastly, if anyone has a suggestion on a waterproof bulkhead male/female XLR connectors that are waterproof-ish and won’t cause any audio issues I'd love to head it

I’ve posted here a few times for advice on my audio recording requirements but trying to finalize the last parts of my audio setup. I purchased for testing and plan on using a Diety S-Mic 2 (a moisture resistant mic) with a foam windscreen connected to a preamp that’s fed into a remote motion activate camera and will be recording video. I will visit the site once a month to swap memory cards, but the setup will be deployed 365 days a year..so wind, rain, snow, heat, etc. The camera and preamp will be in a waterproof case but the mic will be outside in the elements. A microphone technical support agent suggested that I need to create something that stops the mic and windshield from getting wet but didn't have any suggestions on how to do that. I’m wondering how or what types of types of material I should use to create something that would protect the mic from getting wet while allowing me to record great sound. I can build a weather screen above the mic and run tests but don’t have the best experience for audio quality even though I need to record high quality audio. I was wondering if some type of cloth/canvas or tarp awning above the mic would allow sound to travel through but stop rain and snow. Since this is located in the woods I have the added challenge of trying to make it as inconspicuous as possible. Wouldn't want to make it too simple Any advice appreciated.

Thanks for all the input. I have previously posted about this, but need additional input. Something like the Sound Devices 788T is above my budget and too risky to leave in the woods with moisture in the case, and I'd like to find something with a smaller form factor. I can layout and build circuit boards, which is what I do for a living, so maybe I’ll take a peak at what some of these devices do under the hood and seek out out additional resources if that isn't too bad. “How can we shoot in total darkness while underwater??" I wish this was the situation as it would be easier for me to solve with my skillset Good thought but unfortunately I can’t narrow down the times I’ll be recording as the animals I film are active throughout the day and night so the system has to be ready to be active and ready 24/7. I only need it to record when there is motion, so I will modify it to start recording only when there is activity which will only be a 2-4 hours a week of actual record time so 99% of the time the system will be in standby. Originally it I thought using the recorder only as a pass through to the camera would be the best idea as I’ll have hundreds of clips a month and didn’t want to sync the sounds up manual. However, It seems like I’d get much better audio quality if I recorded directly on the recorder and just forget about passing it onto the camera to record on the video? The GH5 cameras I will be using records audio in LPCM 2ch 48kHz/16-bit (which I'm guessing isn't that great compared to the amp quality and 16/24 bit rate of the Zoom H5). Is there a way to automatically sync the sounds to the videos for a few hundred clips at a time? I’ll be deleting 80% lot of the videos clips that don’t have great footage so would like to sync everything up and then go through and delete things so I can delete sound and video at once rather then individually and then accidentally miss one. I can add a solar charger and big battery which would help and the aim is to only check the system once a month. The DR10X uses about 4.5X less power then the Tascam 60D so will have to look at that in more detail, thanks for the suggestion! Still pretty massive amount of power compared to the camera on standby but that’s what I get for trying to use tech in situations other then the intended purpose.

I need help finding a recorder to use with one XLR mic (mic TBD). I’d like the recorder to output to a digital camera. I will be filming wildlife using remote motion activated cameras and would like high quality sound for my videos. The recorder will be sitting in the woods with a camera or cameras in a waterproof case for weeks at a time. I'm good with electronics so modifying recorders/programming devices to turn on a recorder and record when I want would not be an issue. I need a recorder this is either: 1) Able to sit on standby/sleep at very lower power ready to record in an instant (once recording it can use a lot of power as long as it doesn't during standby/sleep) 2) Passing an audio signal continuously to the camera using very little power (the camera will be off or asleep until it's recording and "using" the audio signal) 3) or, a recorder that has a very fast start up and record time from being powered off but it would have to be 1/10 of a second from the time power is hit (probably unrealistic) In general, there won't be much sound recording so it's all about finding a recorder that uses power very efficiently (has a low power standby/sleep), but once it's recording and active it can use a lot of power because that will only be for short periods every day. All the reviews I read suggested that the Tascam-60D records great audio but I didn’t realize that it uses a lot of power on standby and thus is not practical for my application (4.5 hours of recording on 4AA hours). I've been looking at the Zoom H5 as an option but wondering if there's a better option out there (15 hours on two AA's). My ideal recorder would take an XLR input, output to a camera via a 3.5mm port (I might output to two cameras via a short 3.5mm Y harness), have great battery life, have a small and rugged form factor that can handle moisture, and provide phantom power. I will modify whatever recorder I use to run off external power so even if that feature isn’t part of the recorder I can add it in.

I received some really helpful feedback from my previous post but had a few follow up questions I was hoping to get advice on. To recap: I’m filming outdoors with remotely triggered cameras but need professional quality audio. The camera will be housed in a waterproof Pelican case, triggered to record on motion, and there will be hundreds of clips every week. The simplest way to include audio with the video would be to record the sound on the camera because syncing up the sounds for hundreds of clips a week would add significant time and complexity so I’d like to avoid that path if I can record at the same or similar audio quality. Unfortunately the main camera I will be filming with (Panasonic GH5) films great video but only has a 3.5mm stereo jack for an audio input. There is a camera hotshoe XLR mic adapter but it’s expensive (DMW-XLR1 audio adapter is ~$400) and I’ll need multiple setups so that approach will be cost prohibitive. If I used something like a Sennheiser 416 which has an XLR plug and used an XLR to 3.5mm adapter to connect it to the camera, would I be losing noticeable audio quality or is there a better approach? Sennheiser KA 600 adapter: https://en-us.sennheiser.com/ka-600 I would pass the Sennheiser 416 XLR into the waterproof case that houses the camera with some type of waterproof XLR panel mount female to male connector to get the mic signal inside the Pelican case, then use the KA 600 adapter to get the XLR audio signal into the 3.5mm jack in the camera.

I’m looking for advice on audio equipment. Application: I’m filming wildlife with a motion triggered Panasonic GH5 camera. Basically I leave the camera in the woods and whenever something moves it starts recording. Then I come back in a few weeks to check the batteries and exchange memory cards. I’ll be recording video for a wildlife documentary and want my audio to be the same quality as my video. The camera will be housed in a waterproof plastic case and I can bring a mic cable out of the case and run it a few feet from the camera. There are many ways to tackle this and I'm not sure what the best one is. I could place a wire mic outside the case and shield it from rain with a small roof, but I’m no sure how this will impact the sound. I’m an engineer and could modify an external recorder to turn on and start recording sound when the camera starts recording but I don’t know how I would sync the sound up later. I could use a mic with phantom power and have a circuit that only turns the phantom power on when the camera is going to record, or I could also do some type of waterproof mic but I’m guessing my quality would suffer. I can’t leave the power on all the time because everything is on batteries but I can modify something to power on when I need to. Wireless mics would use too much energy. I also expect my subjects (wildlife) to be 3-10ft away from the camera. Any advice appreciated!