Microphone setup for Video Camera

I have been having trouble properly using my little clip-on microphone with my video camera. The mic is only about $20 off of eBay so I can’t really complain, but I have been working on new and better system for using the mic in videos

The Problems

The first problem is the mic requires phantom power, which my video camera does not provide. The other problem is the mic produces stereo audio, but only for one channel (left).

The Solution

The solution is rather simple, it is the use of my Zoom H4n portable audio recorder. The recorder, because it is advanced, has options to fix both of these problems. I am able to turn on a feature that turns on phantom power to the mic inputs. Then I am also able to turn on another feature that turns stereo audio (2 channels) into mono (1 channel) output, which allows for proper audio into the video camera.

The New Rig

I had gotten this attachment with my DSLR for using a flash off the camera. It is about 10″ long and screws into the bottom of the video camera (tripod hole). It then allows me to screw the audio recorder in a similar way (tripod hole again). To top that off, this little attachment then allows me to screw it into a tripod, completing this new rig.

To get the audio from the mic to the video camera, I just need to have the mic plugged into the external mic input on the audio recorder, then another short cable from the output to the mic input on the video camera. I can than monitor the audio levels and quality with the headphone jack on the video camera.

I really like this new setup, although there are some downsides. It is not as portable as if I just had the video camera and is twice as heavy. I now am also dealing with 2 devices that need to be charged on a regular basis. One more positive I forgot to mention is, now I have the ability to record audio only, or have an audio backup. This is great for doing video interviews that can then be used as podcast segments.

Let me know what you think.