RODE NTG-2 - ugly sharp sound; heareable noise

T

tom1597530

New member
Hello. I have a hug problem...

I bought a RODE NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone. I have SONY HDR-XR500VE handycam.

The microphone is conected with a 10m long cable with XLR connector on the one side and Mini-jack 3.5 (TRS) connector. I have recorded my friend speaking and copied the video into my PC.

When I played the video, I was shocked!

I could hear a noise almost the same like hearing with the built-in microphone AND the sound was very sharp, like when you have the TREBLE function on your speakers and turn it on maximum and set the bass to minimum...

I am really desperate about it... I haven't bought the microphone to edit the sound in a program... I expected a nice, clear sound with no noise/grain...

IS THERE ANY WAY HOW TO SOLVE IT? OR IS BUYING A FILTER THE ONLY SOLUTION FOR THIS?

Is it caused because of CAMERA, the CABLE, the MINI-JACK??

Please help me... I am really desperate :( :( :( :( :( :(
 
Are you sure that you weren't actually recording with the built in microphone? Some cams have 3.5mm jacks for both input and output jacks. Some make you choose which mode in the menus and just don't go with the mic if one is plugged in. Lots of could be guesses.
 
Yeah, I'm sure... the RODE is really HQ microphone... when I cleaned the sound in a software it was PERFECT...

... I've made a test yesterday... I've plugged the 3.5 minijack into the camera and plugged the XLR into the microphone... Next I've plugged my headphones into the camera... I could hear a noise. While I was speaking, I heard everything perfectly, however the noise was there... so I unplugged the XLR end of the cable from the microphone, BUT I LET the Mini-Jack end PLUGGED IN THE CAMERA. When I was speaking, of course, I could't hear anything in my headphones, BUT I HEARD THE SAME NOISE AS WHEN IT WAS PLUGGED IN THE MICROPHONE

So, my diagnosis is: I think the problem is in the cable - the audio is transmitted through Mini-Jack which, I think, reduces the quality and increases the noise.

Do you think this might be the problem?
 
So the noise as it were exists between the preamp and the headphone monitoring?

Every connector is a potential problem. If the noise is making the recording, then the issue is BEFORE the headphone out. Which makes that connector a non-issue.
 
Are you hearing the machine (camera) as it is working? That is have you tried listening in the paused position?
 
Yes... I tried listening in paused position and the noise is still the same.... but the noise is very simple to edit in Premiere Pro for example, but I have a much bigger problem... THE SOUND QUALITY

The sound is very sharp, I'd expect a nice deep voice from that mic but no... it's sharp, without bass ... I found a video on YouTube... one guy had the same problem (I can vertify that the problem is THE SAME as mine)... take a look at it... he compares the original audio and heavily adjusted in Premiere Pro and Soundbooth....

It didn't allow me to put the URL so I'll insert it like this.... please have a look at the video...

www[dot]youtube[dot]com/watch?v=Sh-1YHxfOXk

I like the result after adjusting the audio... but i can't get the same effect somehow... I don't know which plug-ins should I use and I don't know what settings should I apply on the audio...

Could you please help me with this? What effects/plugins should I use in Premiere Pro/Soundbooth to adjust the audio like that guy in the video did? And what settings/values should I use? Thanks
 
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sorry, I got lost while reading your thread, but have you tried recording with the mic directly to your daw or similar? no silly adapters? that's the first thing to do, diagnose where the problem is.

find out if it's the mic itself, or an xlr cable, or the adapter, or the way the camcorder (doesn't) work with the mic.

I suspect the camcorder isn't happy with the mic, or the mic isn't happy with the camcorder, or similar.
 
Odd sounding. Do you have any rolloff / pad switches enabled? If you do disable them. Since you're having to boost bass, it's likely that you've got the roll off switch on. And probably at the highest setting.

RØDE Microphones - NTG-2

You want the roll off on the lowest setting, so flat. Which looks like closest to the XLR plug (according to the picture) is where it should be set. Otherwise < 80Hz gets crunched pretty bad. 12dB per octave.

You might also try angling the mic and see how it differs based on how you address the mic. You might also try with phantom power and not the battery. If you're using both, take out the battery. You get more dynamic range on the 48V phantom power. And in theory better S/N. But your unedited sample seemed to be a rolloff issue. The rest just seemed to be an audio codec in a video file degradation.
 
How's the cable terminated? Is the jack on that cable stereo or mono? And is the input on the camera stereo or mono? I take it the mic it'self is mono?

If you simply connect the 3 pin mono lay out of an XLR plug to the three pins of an unbalanced stereo input you may get signal, but you can get ground problems, weaker signal, etc. becuase it's not the same.

And IF the 3 pin mono lay out of the XLR plug is terminated correctly to a mono jack (for a mono input that is) you may still have problems 'cause it can short cirquit "cold" and "ground" on one of your two stereo channels, while sounding fine on the other one.

But it could also be that it's just a matter of connecting "ground" to the chassis inside the XLR plug.
 
chrisghost said:
How's the cable terminated? Is the jack on that cable stereo or mono? And is the input on the camera stereo or mono? I take it the mic it'self is mono?

If you simply connect the 3 pin mono lay out of an XLR plug to the three pins of an unbalanced stereo input you may get signal, but you can get ground problems, weaker signal, etc. becuase it's not the same.

And IF the 3 pin mono lay out of the XLR plug is terminated correctly to a mono jack (for a mono input that is) you may still have problems 'cause it can short cirquit "cold" and "ground" on one of your two stereo channels, while sounding fine on the other one.

But it could also be that it's just a matter of connecting "ground" to the chassis inside the XLR plug.
Click to expand...

I recon this is heading in the right direction,

The mini jack will be Tip Right, Ring Left, Sleeve Ground, making an unbalanced stereo connection designed for 2 mono unbalanced mics or an unbalanced stereo mic.

The XLR is pin 2 hot +, pin 3 cold -, and pin 1 ground. A balanced mono connection.

The adaptor you are using is probably, XLR pin 1 to mini jack Sleeve, XLR pin 2 to Mini jack tip, and XLR pin 3 to mini jack ring. When you plug in the adaptor (cable) you have, you get a half signal from each of the balanced legs to each side of the stereo.

What you need is to have pins 1 and 3 at the XLR bridged, and pin 2 of the XLR going to the tip and ring of the mini jack. Pin 1 XLR connected to Sleeve of mini jack as it should already be.

Alan
 
Wow.... I just have to say... what? :D This is too difficult for me, cause I'm not a technician, but I think that I'll have a call with the technician who made the cable... I will ask him for these tips... :) thanks guys. You really helped me...

Regards.
 
tom1597530 said:
Wow.... I just have to say... what? :D This is too difficult for me, cause I'm not a technician, but I think that I'll have a call with the technician who made the cable... I will ask him for these tips... :) thanks guys. You really helped me...

Regards.
Click to expand...

Just print of what I said and give it to him, he will understand.

Alan.
 
Audacity -- select audio -- Analyze -> Plot Spectrum

It looks like around 26 seconds (your unedited audio) there's rolloff starting at about 600Hz. The mics switch starts at 80Hz. Most preamps start < 200Hz. So that is a weird one. Did you do a high pass filter near 600Hz? What software are you using. A high pass near 60Hz would be better suited. 600Hz is way to high if you want to keep anything lower in pitch than a female. I would suspect software more than hardware with that value. But you've got some filtering going on there. Ideally you'd have only a ski slope, not the whole mountain image on the spectrogram. If you're using that wide of a range to remove unwanted noise, you'd be better off using a notch filter on the specific noise in question IMO.
 
well, too difficult for me :D BUt I've called the technician and he told me the witzendoz's way might work and fix the problems... so I sent him the cable and I'm impatient to test it out :D
 
I have the same mic it does have a low roll off feature. When I first opened the box it was turned on. You can turn it off by using a tiny flat head screw driver or tooth pick and switch the slider down to where the straight line is. You could also have a faulty cable which I have had experiences with causing problems in which you described. I have also noticed with my Rode NTG2 that it does not like being close to light fixtures. It tends to get a compression effect that is not desirable in a production scenario. Hope this was helpful good luck.
 
I've used an NTG 2 as my back up mic to a Sennheiser 416 for years and it's a nice mic--similar frequency response to the 416 and certainly not noisy.

As others have said, I'd be looking at the conversion from XLR to mini jack. Working the way you are means that whole 10 metre cable is unbalanced (therefore subject to noise) and a wrongly made cable could also be playing havoc with your frequency response. Finally, is your camera providing a 5v bias current for a domestic condenser mic as some do? That could also be part of the problem.

I'd certainly be looking to solve the root cause rather than talking about filters. This sort of thing happens when you try to interface pro level gear into unbalance amateur connectors.

Edited to add: Sorry, missed that this had gone onto a second page...but Witzendoz's description of the cable you need sound spot on--and your "technician" should have known that.

Bob
 
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