On camera mic for Komodo

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi all. . .

. . . long-time RED owner (back to 2008), but brand new Komodo owner.

I'm wanting to mount an on-camera microphone to my rid. I'm thinking of the Sennheiser MKE-600 since it appears the Komodo does not "do" 48V phantom internally. There is a cable for the MKE-600 called the KA-600, that ends with a 3.5mm cable. I'm curious if anyone has tried that out with the Komodo. I'd like to stay away from the A-box if at all possible, as that will just add more weight.

I have a 416 on our Scarlet, and that mic has saved us several times in close-shot action sequences. I'm looking for something similar for our Komodo.

Thanks!

Stephen

 

[yann LHENORET]

Too bad audio was not properly considered in this Little Dragon. I mean internally, I can understand that they don't have the technology/room to give us good preamps, but they could have designed an optional module at least...

You may need a Xvive Audio P1 for your 48V power.
https://www.xviveaudio.com/p1-portable-phantom-power-supply-p0085.html

I use a Sanken CS3-e and a Tentacle Track-e (European version) plugged in the Komodo. That way I can record 7-10 hours of 32bit Float a day with TC and monitor through the Komodo.

I am building a lighter configuration too (I have two Komodo...) with a Ambient Recording ATM216 Tiny Mike plugged in a Track-e and then directly in the camera.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

That's what I found attractive about the MKE-600. It's got an internal battery. I'm wondering if the Sennheiser KA-600 cable will plug directly into the audio port.

Stephen

 

[Daniel Porto]

if your looking for good quality audio i wouldn't run directly into the komodo. in fact the internal sound is better quality than using the 3.5mm jack with a mic. So if you want good sound you will need to use an external recorder as the komodos pre-amps arn't the best. i just got a tentacle sync track e recorder and aboslutely love it.

if editing with resolve easy to match the sound from your recorder to the internal recorded sound on komodo by syncing via waveform!!!

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

I do run a double-system approach with high-end audio gear (SD 788T, Schoeps mics, etc.), but I'm looking for something for on-camera use. I find it hard to believe that the 3.5mm jack with a good mic isn't better than the Komodo's crappy little scratch mics. That really makes no sense to me.

Stephen

 

[Phil Holland]

This harkens back to my Komodo Diaries and some of the audio exploration I was doing.

Long and the short, lots of different workflows. Some people do and don't want dual audio. But you do what +48V Phantom Power and a good quality preamplifier to use good mics.

The two strategies are:

- Using a decent Field Recorder (gets you Pass Through or detached audio and/or Dual Record)
- Preamp only (only allows for audio strait into Komodo)

Filed Recorder Pros: I have various field recorders from Sound Devices, Zoom, and Zaxcom. Those all work. Advantage really comes to not needing the recorder on camera or even near it if you are tackling things via timecode sync.
Cons: Usually requires "more kit", but also allows for a lot.

Preamp Only Pros: I'm currently and still using the Sonosax M2D2 for this workflow as it's size is fairly Komodo friendly (Beachtek and others make decent ones). Advantage is less kit really.
Cons: No backup recording and you'll need to rig that audio on camera.


Really depends on what you are after/need. More ENG and real run and gun I see Preamps used a lot, corporate work too for that matter. Film sets, whelp, Field Recorders are the business for that world.


One other note I should mention. I moved over to a 32-bit audio workflow fully for most projects circa 2018/2019. Can't do that over a Preamp yet as Komodo doesn't do 32-bit audio internally.

 

[Daniel Porto]

I do run a double-system approach with high-end audio gear (SD 788T, Schoeps mics, etc.), but I'm looking for something for on-camera use. I find it hard to believe that the 3.5mm jack with a good mic isn't better than the Komodo's crappy little scratch mics. That really makes no sense to me.

Stephen

I know it doesnt make sense but its a fact for my stormtrooper komodo

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

That, Mr. Porto, is shocking.

 

[william howell]

We shoot for project documentation and have been using the Diety v-mic d3 pro on our Gemini since opening the box a couple of years ago. It’s nice, because you can charge/power it via usb, which means you can power it directly from vmount batteries or the USB port on the vmount expander I/O... all that to say.... we just received our Komodo last week and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to incorporate the Diety, since the canon batteries don’t have a USB port.

We can charge the mic when we’re not shooting, but having it mounted permanently on our dsmc2 powered by the USB port on our camera has been a set it and forget it luxury.

I haven’t had the opportunity to look into powered monitors yet, but I’m hoping that there’s one with a USB port that can provide power to the diety. That way we only have to worry about batteries for the komodo and monitor.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

We shoot for project documentation and have been using the Diety v-mic d3 pro on our Gemini since opening the box a couple of years ago. It’s nice, because you can charge/power it via usb, which means you can power it directly from vmount batteries or the USB port on the vmount expander I/O... all that to say.... we just received our Komodo last week and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to incorporate the Diety, since the canon batteries don’t have a USB port.

If you are willing to give up your Canon batteries, you can use the Tilta V-mount battery adapter (which I highly recommend), as it has a USB output to power your Deity microphone. The CORE V-mount also has a USB output.

Stephen

 

[Matthew Rowe]

I know this is a post from July, but I'm just replying here that I've stared using the older ME-66/K6 as a camera mount mic and it's actually really great for me.

My background is in ENG, and i'm doing short documentary pieces lately. The Komodo has been really good in that setting. I'm running dual audio but I've been able to pick up nats and MOS type audio from people and it's mixed well with mic'd talent, and in these instances, it sounds much better than the scratch mics, probably because people's voices don't carry that strongly over to the scratch mics.

The audio sounds as good as it would on an ENG camera, as long as the person talks at a normal volume. I'd love to be able to change volume from a knob, and I'd love to be able to forget about the battery (as it is, I usually leave it on), but it's working really well for my needs.

 

[Jason Gorman]

I personally am getting NTG3 for when i use a preamp (i got the beachtek alexa thing just for when i want that delicious audio AND need RF rejection) but I also plan to get an NTG4+ since it supports phantom and battery power, so i can use it with its internal battery and just a mini plug when i wanna go lightweight, or use it as a proper mic when needed. I wish there was a powered NTG5 just cause the RFBias is so nice when there is so much damn RF noise.

That's why the newly "leaked" "big komodo" (lets be real, it looks like they moved the screen on the komodo to the side, and increased its size a bit so m4 became 1/4th screws and such, and it has more ports and such things) is sooooo appealing. I doubt it has a global shutter with 8k120 cause that just seems like moonshot (though amazeballz if true). And It helped reaffirm my choice to get the komodo with them moving to normal memory cards, CFExpress is sooo much more sensible than all these dang SSD/m.2 drives in $1000 shells like EVERYONE is doing. Even the super fast SSD expansion for the xbox series X appears to be a PCI4.0 CFExpress (though no idea if there is a standard for that yet), but given it like triples or better the bandwidth available to write, and 8k data is not THAT much larger than 6k data, it seems quite potent.

I'm super currious what price point its gonna be at, but with how much I'm liking my komodo, I think i'll have no choice eventually, especially if they give it the same pogo pins, and make stuff cross compat (i still wanna know what all it can do with SOOOOO many pins, cause it can't just be 1-2 things, for example USB-C HAS 24 pins, but it only actually requires 16 wires cause ground and vbus are on 4 pins each and D+ and D- are all on 2 each. Add 9 for the expansion port, and you end up with 25-33, 3 for stereo input, 3 for stereo output, that's 31-39, (and again 1 pin each time is ground). At worst there could be another 2 pins for the antenna, 2 pins for some sort of direct power output (for a display or something) and another 2 ports for SDI passthrough, but that still only gets to 37-45 at best. While it's unlikely, maybe it really does have some way to take balanced audio or control servo motors or something. The komodo link itself uses 28 pins, which seems odd given it only has USB, but at best that's 4 wasted pins (for now). and still only brings us to 41-49. I also assume if they built it smart, the pins can be rerouted, so it SHOULD be quite a versatile port, and I'm hoping it will start to see more toys to use it with the big brother coming along.