External microphone sound check report by McFingers

mcfingers
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:07 pm

Howdy Gang, I just received the Sony ECM-DS70P condenser microphone. After several tests videos of the sound, both on the Kodak Zi8 and just using the on board mic in the Zi8, I have to report major disappointment. :(
The Kodak's internal mic had a much better sound quality. The Sony had a lot of background hiss at all volume levels. The Kodak had virtually no hiss and had, to my ear, a much richer sound. Sorry guys, save your money on this one. I learned my lesson. Try before you buy. Or at least find someone that has the exact setup so you can listen for yourself.

I was going to post the test videos but really, there is little point. The sound difference is not even close. Why waste the bandwidth.

Cheers, Steve


izzyhara
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:31 pm

Is that mic the little one that plugs right into the camera? The one recommended? Good to know this. I am so struggling with amping and mics and such..... happy with the camera but want better sound. Thanks for the heads up. Izzy


mcfingers
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:28 pm

The sound is not horrible, it's just not as clean as the internal mic. Go figure.

Here is a pic of the mic I bought.

steve Image


d_dog
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:53 pm

Wow, I feel bad you wasted your money. I would look into taking it back.
I am going to do some tests myself with my Zi8 using a regular quality XLR dynamic mic that I have and an XLR to 1/8" adapter. I'll post the results later tonight.


mcfingers
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:15 pm

d_dog wrote:
Wow, I feel bad you wasted your money. I would look into taking it back.
I am going to do some tests myself with my Zi8 using a regular quality XLR dynamic mic that I have and an XLR to 1/8" adapter. I'll post the results later tonight.
Thanks man, with me it's never a total waste. I always find some way to use electronics so I am sure I find a way to make it work on something. As I did a little more looking I did notice that the sales info says NOTE: will only work with Sony MZ-NH1, MZ-NH900, and MZ-NHF800 MiniDisc recorders.

I don't know why that would make a difference but, dang! it seems too. Live and learn and spend.


d_dog
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:05 pm

Check this out: http://www.azdencorp.com/new/product.ph ... ctid=93302
It's a 3 mic mixer for camcorders. You plug this tiny little (3 oz.) mixer into your camera, and then you can add up to 3 microphones and mix them in. Sweeet!
One mic for your guitar and one for vocals! Image


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Music Junkie
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:31 pm

I found these, if anyone is interested...







I have been shopping for one lately as well...... :)

J


mcfingers
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:12 pm

d_dog wrote:
Check this out: http://www.azdencorp.com/new/product.ph ... ctid=93302
It's a 3 mic mixer for camcorders. You plug this tiny little (3 oz.) mixer into your camera, and then you can add up to 3 microphones and mix them in. Sweeet!
One mic for your guitar and one for vocals! Image

Well that looks interesting. But, I think I will let you test this one. ;) Can't wait to hear how it does.


Lavallee
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:37 pm

mcfingers wrote:
Howdy Gang, I just received the Sony ECM-DS70P condenser microphone. After several tests videos of the sound, both on the Kodak Zi8 and just using the on board mic in the Zi8, I have to report major disappointment. :(
The Kodak's internal mic had a much better sound quality. The Sony had a lot of background hiss at all volume levels. The Kodak had virtually no hiss and had, to my ear, a much richer sound. Sorry guys, save your money on this one. I learned my lesson. Try before you buy. Or at least find someone that has the exact setup so you can listen for yourself.

I was going to post the test videos but really, there is little point. The sound difference is not even close. Why waste the bandwidth.

Cheers, Steve
This is interesting because I was supposed to buy the Zi8 (last september) and did not because the microphone from the camera was hissing (I heard demos) and people were recommending to get a microphone. I ended up with the Zoom Q3. From your recording and Izzy's, Kodak has obviously fix the problem, now it is working fine without the microphone.

Marc


mcfingers
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Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:51 pm

Yes Mark, that's my experience. It's not studio quality but for our purposes I think it does a right nice job. Simple and easy to post vids. That's why I bought it. If I were to get another microphone I think I would go with my gut and get either the Sure sm57 or sm48. I was going to do that originally, but didn't. Darn, and I think the sm48 was about the same price.


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