it was bound to happen - the Mic question

[Fred Potts]

I have the Sennheiser mic which works great with the Red Epic and the after market attachments. how can I use it on my Komodo? I have some filming coming up with no dialog but need the other sounds of movements and we are in the gun and run situation with minimal Crew - so need to use the on board mic recording.

 

[Dustin Schmidt]

Some additional info from you might be helpful to answer this question regarding your Sennheiser mic (which one exactly???).

But without that info I can say that I personally use the Tascam CA-XLR2d-C XLR Microphone Adapter as a preamp for my Komodo build to power a shotgun mic that requires phantom power. I like to use a Sennheiser MKH8060 for my shotgun mic.

Since the Komodo's preamps aren't up to the quality I'd like for recording sound, I just use the Tascam as a relatively low profile preamp that I can rig anywhere on my build where I can put a cold shoe.

The Tascam then provides phantom power to my shotgun since the Komodo can not provide phantom power. The Tascam takes AA batteries (easily sourced anywhere if you run into any issues forgetting them or needing fresh batteries). It has two XLR inputs so it provides the same number you'd get on most professional camera bodies.

The audio is run out of the Tascam via its 3.5mm stereo out and into the Komodo's 3.5mm audio input jack.

I've done this successfully for multiple projects since I purchased my Komodo and the audio has been great. This includes sit-down interviews, run-and-gun audio and everything in between. No issues.

You would get better audio of course out of a dedicated mixer like a Sound Devices Mixpre-3 for example, but that unit is bigger and harder to mount to a shoulder rig or handheld rig. The Tascam is the right balance of size and usability for me.

 

[M Harvey]

Dustin Schmidt is right on the money about the type of device you might want. The Tascam does have an excellent form factor, I really like Sony's version of the same concept (though it's designed mostly to work with Sony cameras).

Just to widen the field: if you're looking for full featured devices that offer both phantom power (for a traditional shotgun mic) and quality preamps, and that also offer physical controls (rather than the menu-based audio controls of the Komodo), popular options are available from Tascam, Zoom, Beachtek, Sound Devices, and Sonosax. From even the humble Zoom F3, they'll have better audio quality than the Komodo's built-in.

Depending on the demands of your project, there are two other options to consider:
-a battery-powered mic. This is probably the simplest option. They're generally battery powered, and they send sound out via a 3.5mm cable (direct into Komodo) or XLR (just add xlr-->3.5mm converter cable). Sennheiser, Rode and others make them. They're not going to have the very best possible audio quality-- but they're designed for exactly your purpose, and so are pretty decent given the limitations of on-camera mic placement.
-an "all-in-one" unit with built-in mics. Zoom, Tascam, Olympus and Sony make good ones. Less fussing with cables, better preamps than the camera. You can either run the "line out" into the camera or hit record on the recorder (though it's easy to forget to do that).

If you're new to this kind of audio equipment, you might want to check out reviews and recommendations in the tools section of transom.org, which is focused on radio/podcasting/news recording, but has detailed reviews of audio quality and design.

 

[Fred Potts]

Thanks, I will check out those options

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Here the Sonosax M2D2 I use. Not cheap but incredibly versatile. The Swiss knife for sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrm8koDIPvk

Patrick