External microphone sound check report by McFingers

[mcfingers]

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]

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]

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

[d_dog]

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]

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]

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!

[Music Junkie]

I found these, if anyone is interested...







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

J

[mcfingers]

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!

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

[Lavallee]

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]

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.