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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Audio Cable for Epic X

Brian Ferguson

Brian Ferguson

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I was trying to find the proper cable to take XLR to the mini plug on the Epic X before a interview shoot this week. I got some help from a man wise with Red knowledge, (he can come forth if he wants to) and he loaned me these cables which worked great. I shot a photo of the front and back so you could see the package. The best thing is this is a part that could be ordered almost anywhere with the part number. The package has a pinout diagram which might be helpful to the handy types. I think this is on the appendix of the Epic Op manual also.

The Epic has a unbalanced mic input so I had to drop my Sound Devices 302 down to Mic level which is a journey into that mixer's menu system which is a series of flashing LED's. Once I had the mixer set to mic out I just adjusted the Epic sound inputs to get the VU meter looking similar to RED One which was all green and just a bit of yellow showing (using the 1k tone generator). I had to call Sound Devices tech support because we were about to ship the gear out and I was in a rush, I have never changed the output and the instructions are not that clear, the SD support was awesome. Never learn anything as well as you do under pressure!

After I do this run & gun job on Wednesday I have more info on how it sounds, but I know I was getting good levels in my quick cable test. We tried a similar cable made for one of the still type/motion cameras and it didn't work at all. It was wired wrong. It looks right but it didn't work.
 

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I'm using the Mogami mini-jack to XLR cables. They're made very well and work great. About $40 each with free shipping from Amazon and B&H.
 
I just placed an order for the Wooden Camera A-Box. After four years of using the audio XLR to Mini XLR adapter cables on my Red Ones I'm done with not having a solid place on the camera to plug my XLR Cables into. A-Box looks small but solid. I hope when it comes in that I'll love it.
 
Mark Crabtree said:
I just placed an order for the Wooden Camera A-Box. After four years of using the audio XLR to Mini XLR adapter cables on my Red Ones I'm done with not having a solid place on the camera to plug my XLR Cables into. A-Box looks small but solid. I hope when it comes in that I'll love it.
Click to expand...

You will :)
 
Brian Ferguson said:
I was trying to find the proper cable to take XLR to the mini plug on the Epic X before a interview shoot this week. I got some help from a man wise with Red knowledge, (he can come forth if he wants to) and he loaned me these cables which worked great. I shot a photo of the front and back so you could see the package. The best thing is this is a part that could be ordered almost anywhere with the part number. The package has a pinout diagram which might be helpful to the handy types. I think this is on the appendix of the Epic Op manual also.
Click to expand...

Brian, thank you very much for that. Just the info I was looking for :-)


Regards,
Antony
 
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The A box from wooden camera is awesome, very strong, mounts anywhere and good value for money.

And no.. I wasn't paid to say this!
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I'm using the Mogami mini-jack to XLR cables. They're made very well and work great. About $40 each with free shipping from Amazon and B&H.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know if these are balanced cables? I heard there are problems with some cables not being balanced when they should be....
 
R. Schorman said:
The Epic will accept both balanced and unbalanced signals.

We make an adapter box that will adapt balanced XLR microphones and line-in to Epics mini TRS connectors. You can see it here: http://woodencamera.com/store

Ryan
Click to expand...

Yes the Epic brain will take balanced and unbalanced mics, I don't own any unbalanced mics but the Epic brain input is unbalanced. The above cable is for balanced to unbalanced. I wanted to get a Woodencamera adapter but the job was last minute and there was no time for shipping. Until the pro input module arrives the Epic brain inputs are unbalanced.
 
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Yep, those Hosa cables work. Need stereo TRS cables. I had a mono TRS and it didn't work. $8.50 per cable at filmtools.
 
Also since my Sanken CS1 short shotgun is phantom powered I have to use my 302 mixer to power it since the Epic doesn't have phantom power. I had to drop the output from the mixer to mic level (directions in the Sound Devices 302 PDF) which I had never done before. The results sounded great, it is a totally workable way to record audio on the Epic.

BTW I would never use a mic without a preamp or mixer on the RED One or Epic unless I just wanted a nat sound track, it is controllable that way.
 
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Be careful guys - if / when Red enables phantom power on those TRS connectors, not all cables that work now, will necessarily work properly. Also power may flow where it shouldn't, potentially damaging certain types of microphone and/or the phantom power circuit in the camera.

I think anything that gets plugged in there should ideally be correctly wired for balanced audio, and phantom power compatible, to be safe.

[Edit - the Epic phantom power will probably have to have built-in short circuit protection as the TRS connector is inherently likely to be short circuited when being connected/disconnected - but it would still be sensible to use correct balanced cabling and mics]
 
While the manual says that it will take balanced or unbalanced audio via the front connectors, apparently they were having problems with people using the wrong cables. So the current version only works with unbalanced.
 
David Fairbanks said:
While the manual says that it will take balanced or unbalanced audio via the front connectors, apparently they were having problems with people using the wrong cables. So the current version only works with unbalanced.
Click to expand...

1.7.9 gives you the balanced option.
 
I looked at the menu map and the manual and it still looks like phantom power is disabled.

I'd also like to see the pinout for the front audio jack when set to unbalanced. Specifically, is the ring "NC" no connection when the jack is set to unbalanced?
 
So it's early adopter R1 all over again. Well I'm used to it by now.
Sure would be nice with all the critical information in one place. Maybe like a yes/no diagram that telephone support people use:)
 
R. Schorman said:
We make an adapter box that will adapt balanced XLR microphones and line-in to Epics mini TRS connectors. You can see it here: http://woodencamera.com/store

Ryan
Click to expand...

That A-box looks like a great solution. Do you also have something like that to mount directly on a cheese plate instead of 19mm bars?
 
Brian Shephard said:
+1 I imagine I'll be using the Epic handheld sometimes just using the Side Handle. Is there any way to mount the A-box without rails?
Click to expand...

It comes with a bolt-on rod that works with any 1/4-20 hole (there's some on the top of the Epic).
 
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