Zack Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Was working a commercial shoot recently and had a female talent who had a very strong mid-range voice. I had a B3 in her hair (worked great), and boomed her with an AT-4073a. The AT mic has a fairly mid range brightness to it that I've usually found to work out fine in the end mix, except for this specific talent. There were plenty of times I could hear some of her loud areas crunch a bit as if it was peaking, however my meters were well within limits. Since I don't have any onboard EQ control with my ENG mixer, would this be a case of needing an option for another boom mic of a different characteristic? Perhaps this might be a quality issue with my mic pres? I guess there's a bigger chance of simple operator error too . I'm expecting the senator to quote that last sentence heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Trew Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Was working a commercial shoot recently and had a female talent who had a very strong mid-range voice. I had a B3 in her hair (worked great), and boomed her with an AT-4073a. The AT mic has a fairly mid range brightness to it that I've usually found to work out fine in the end mix, except for this specific talent. There were plenty of times I could hear some of her loud areas crunch a bit as if it was peaking, however my meters were well within limits. Since I don't have any onboard EQ control with my ENG mixer, would this be a case of needing an option for another boom mic of a different characteristic? Perhaps this might be a quality issue with my mic pres? I guess there's a bigger chance of simple operator error too . I'm expecting the senator to quote that last sentence heh. The 4073a is a fairly neutral mic as short shotguns go, so I doubt that it was an issue due to the microphone model, and EQ is not a solution for loud areas that "crunch a bit as if peaking". The problem probably had to do with gain structure somewhere in the chain, or possibly too low of a phantom voltage. Glen Trew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted March 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 The 4073a is a fairly neutral mic as short shotguns go, so I doubt that it was an issue due to the microphone model, and EQ is not a solution for loud areas that "crunch a bit as if peaking". The problem probably had to do with gain structure somewhere in the chain, or possibly too low of a phantom voltage. Glen Trew Hummm... well I actually used two different phantom sources with the same occasional issue. At first the boom was hardwired to my ProMix6 getting phantom from the mixer, and other times when went wireless boom, I had the op wear a Deneke PS-1A. The only thing I was able to really do to help alleviate was pointing the boom more off axis of the talent. Thanks for the help Glen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Trew Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Hummm... well I actually used two different phantom sources with the same occasional issue. At first the boom was hardwired to my ProMix6 getting phantom from the mixer, and other times when went wireless boom, I had the op wear a Deneke PS-1A. The only thing I was able to really do to help alleviate was pointing the boom more off axis of the talent. Thanks for the help Glen. That rules out phantom power issues and leaves either gain structure or a faulty mic. GT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 " or a faulty mic " crap happens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted May 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 Had a situation today with input gain overloading during shooting using the same mic (hard lined) to my ProMix6. Input level was set to "C", which according to the manual is a condenser mic input level. This particular scene was a very loud dramatic part between three characters, two of which were screaming at full capacity. I was experiencing input clipping no matter how high from the performance I could reach.... it's was just impossible to get a tolerable signal while trying to keep the proximity close to the mic to match the camera. I used a separate Deneke 48v device for powering the AT4073a on the second take, and still experienced the over modulated input issues. A third attempt I set the mic input level to line, which stopped the input clipping of the mic, but at that point the s/n ratio seems too low that the quiet sections just vanished once the loud parts were over. So now I'm trying to get an opinion about how to handle or resolve this for the future. Would having a PAD option on my mixer helped/solved the issue? If so, maybe I would be better using a separate pre-amp like an MM1? Am I using the wrong type of microphone for the situation? I didn't get time to wire up the actors for this scene and opted not to due to the physical nature of the scene and risk Tx's getting into the shot with the limited time left to shoot. .... I'm a bit discouraged today that I couldn't really come out with a solid piece of sound from this scene I was happy with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted May 14, 2010 Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 Perhaps you need a better mixer. Lot's of used Sound Devices 442's around or a new 552. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted May 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 Lot's of used Sound Devices 442's around Eric That's been going around in my head so far tonight....... arg $$$$$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted May 14, 2010 Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 That's been going around in my head so far tonight....... arg $$$$$$ It seems that you've had the same type of problem 2x in the past 2 months. I'm not familiar with the pro-mix 6 to know the gain structure settings but with the 442 you can set your gain staging to suit the conditions. With both input & output limiters on the 442 you can prevent overloading the input preamps which seem to be your problem. Think of the cost of a 442 as an investment in peace of mind for you and your client. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProSound Posted May 14, 2010 Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 The Pro mix 3 and 6 mixer are both low cost mixer meant for one man band style productions and novice sound people. I had one in my student rental inventory and it wasn't even good enough for that IMHO. If your a professional audio person you should have a higher quality mixer like a 442. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted May 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 Ya, I know you guys are right.... Guess I'll have to find a good used one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted May 14, 2010 Report Share Posted May 14, 2010 Ya, I know you guys are right.... Guess I'll have to find a good used one. Trew Audio has a bunch on their consignment list. About $1900. Check it out. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted May 15, 2010 Report Share Posted May 15, 2010 Before you bail on your mixer...try an inline pad? 10 or 15 db? Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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