RODE Microphones VideoMic User manual

(EMC, LVD) N3594

VideoMic

Instruction Manual

www.rodemic.com

- 2 -

Introduction

Thank you for investing in the VideoMic.

Those of you who are ﬁrst time customers,

may be interested to know that is one of the

largest and most respected professional microphone

companies in the world. Our studio microphones are

the ‘tone’ behind some of the biggest hits of the last

decade, and our award winning live performance

microphones are on tour throughout the world.

The VideoMic is a very special product. Like many

great inventions, it is the result of a need that

was not being met. I bought a high quality MiniDV

camera, and went looking for a shotgun mic.

The choices were either totally useless low-cost

rubbish, or mics not designed for MiniDV cameras that

cost a fortune.

I was amazed that no one offered a quality product

that worked and was affordable. This made

me decide to design and build the deﬁnitive

video microphone.

I wanted a microphone that would provide the same

level of sound quality and low noise speciﬁcations as

high cost professional models, and be easy to use and

mount. The VideoMic delivers on that aim!

How can achieve this when others can’t?

It is simple. spends millions of dollars on

R&D and automated machinery. When you invest in

high volume production technologies, the costs

drop dramatically. We pass on these savings to

our customers. We have been doing this with our studio

microphones for the last 16 years, and continue to win

international awards for performance and quality.

Please take the time to read this manual so that you can

get the best out of your microphone.

If you have any questions or comments, you can log

onto our web site at www.rodemic.com where there

are answers to frequently asked questions as well as

our contact details.

Peter Freedman

Microphones

Sydney, Australia

- 3 -

Speciﬁcations

Acoustic

Principle:

Line plus Gradient

Directional

Pattern:

Super-Cardioid

Frequency

Range:

40Hz ~ 20,000Hz

selectable High Pass Filter

(HPF) @ 80Hz 12dB/octave (see

graph)

Output

Impedence:

200Ω

Sensitivity: -38dB re 1V/Pa @ 1kHz

(12.6mV/Pa @ 94dB SPL)

±2dB @ 1kHz

Equivalent Noise: 20dBA SPL

(per IEC651)

Dynamic Range: 114dB (per IEC651)

Maximum SPL: 134dB (@ 1kHz, 1% THD into

1kΩ)

Signal/Noise: 74dB SPL (@ 1kHz, rel 1Pa

per IEC651)

Power

(supply voltage):

9V alkaline battery

Current 5mA

Battery Life: >10 0 h ou r s

Output

Connection:

3.5mm stereo jack plug

Net Weight: 176g (no battery)

- 4 -

Speciﬁcations

Frequency Response

Polar Responses

dB re 1 V./Pa

1 0

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

20 Hz 100 1000 10 000 20 000

0˚

90˚270˚

180˚

0.0

-2.0

-4.0

-6.0

-8.0

-10.0

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0

-20.0

-22.0

-24.0 -25.0

dB rel. 1V/Pa

+5.0

0˚

90˚270˚

180˚

0.0

-2.0

-4.0

-6.0

-8.0

-10.0

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0

-20.0

-22.0

-24.0 -25.0

dB rel. 1V/Pa

+5.0

0˚

90˚270˚

180˚

0.0

-2.0

-4.0

-6.0

-8.0

-10.0

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0

-20.0

-22.0

-24.0 -25.0

dB rel. 1V/Pa

+5.0

Super-Cardioid - 250Hz

Super-Cardioid - 1kHz

Super-Cardioid - 4kHz

- 5 -

Features

• Studio recording quality

• Rugged ABS construction

• 9V battery operation

• Custom designed integral ‘wind’ screen

• Condenser microphone

• Low noise circuitry

• Low handling noise

• Integral ‘camera shoe’ mount

• Designed & manufactured in Australia

• Full 10 year guarantee*

Powering the VideoMic

• The VideoMic operates on a standard 9V battery

(ANSI:1604A or IEC:6LR61). We recommend you

use either Alkaline or Lithium batteries for the

longest continuous operating time.

• The VideoMic will run continuously for over 100 hrs

with a good quality Alkaline battery. It is however

important to understand that battery performance

can vary dramatically with ambient temperature

and shelf life.

Actual operation times will vary, and we suggest

you always carry a spare battery.

If the application is critical and where there is no

opportunity to ‘re-shoot’, we suggest that you use

a fresh battery.

*Online product registration required.

- 6 -

• To install the battery, simply place your thumb on

the ribbed section of the cover, in front of the gold

circle (ﬁgure 1).

Figure 1 - Sliding open the battery cover

Press down gently and slide back the cover until it

is fully removed (ﬁgure 2).

Figure 2 - The battery compartment

• Insert the battery with the “+” Positive terminal to

the top as shown in (ﬁgure 3). You will ﬁnd that you

cannot reverse the battery, as the compartment

won’t allow this.

Figure 3 - Inserting the battery

• Once you have installed the battery, slide the

cover back into position and you are ready to

fasten the mic onto the camera.

Installing the battery

- 7 -

• The VideoMic incorporates a standard camera-

shoe adaptor on the underside of the suspension

shock mount (ﬁgure 4).

Figure 4 - Camera-shoe adaptor

Designed to reduce camera borne motor and

handling noise, the shock mount has a 3/8” x 16

and a 1/4” x 20 threaded insert for mounting on

tripods and poles.

• You will ﬁnd older model and low cost cameras

produce more motor noise, which the VideoMic

can pick up. If so, switch on the High Pass Filter

(HPF) to reduce this (refer to page 9 for more

details).

You could also notice that your camera’s inbuilt

microphone may not pick up this noise and wonder

why. On-board mics are for general-purpose use,

and designed to do a basic job. They can cancel

out certain sounds such as motor noise at the

expense of tone and directional characteristics.

The very latest cameras incorporate low noise/

vibration motors, making them relatively silent.

• Before sliding the camera-shoe into place, turn

the knurled tightening ring anti clockwise to make

sliding the camera-shoe into place much easier

(ﬁgure 5).

Now turn the knurled ring in a clockwise direction,

gently tightening it so the VideoMic base is seated

ﬁrmly in place. The actual microphone will exhibit

Mounting the VideoMic

- 8 -

some play, due to the shock mounting system.

Figure 5 - Mounting the VideoMic

The VideoMic has eight cable clips to eliminate

noise transmission and secure it in place once

connected (ﬁgure 6).

Figure 6 - Correctly mounting the cable

• The VideoMic delivers a mic level signal to the

video camera via a stereo mini jack audio lead.

The mini jack should be connected to the camera

via the camera’s “Audio-In” socket (ﬁgure 7) - refer

to your video camera user manual.

Figure 7 - Connecting the VideoMic lead to your camera

knurled

ring

- 9 -

• Now that you have the VideoMic securely fastened

to your camera and the audio output lead

connected, you can switch the mic on.

On/Off & High Pass Filter Switch

• The power/HPF switch is located on the end of the

mic body (ﬁgure 8).

Figure 8 - The High Pass Filter (HPF) switch

The High Pass FIlter (HPF ) is a low frequency

cutoff setting, which you can use to remove rumble

or other low frequency noise while recording. It will

affect the tone slightly but in some situations it

is required.

L.E.D. Power Indicator

• The power indicator L.E.D. ﬂashes RED for 0.25

seconds when the mic is ﬁrst turned on. This

changes to GREEN indicating the battery has

adequate charge.

When the battery runs low the LED will change

back to RED and you should replace the battery.

The mic will work for approximately 1 hour once

the RED indicator is lit, however with reduced

performance.

• It is now time to set the camera’s audio level.

To ensure the optimum signal you will need to set

the VU meter on the camera to read around “3/4”

or “75%” on the sound peaks (usually conﬁgurable

from the menu of most cameras - refer to your

video camera user manual).

VideoMic controls

L.E.D.

BATTERY POWER OFF

MIC MUTE

MIC ON - FLAT FILTER

MIC ON - HIGH PASS FILTER

- 10 -

• You should try and set the level using the sound

source you will be recording, or a sound source of

similar level, before starting to record or you could

distort the input if the level has been set too high.

Please consult your video camera user manual for

more details.

• The Video Mic has been optimised for high

rejection of radio frequency interference, but we

suggest you keep all transmitters, cell phones,

pagers etc. at least two metres away to reduce the

possibility of interference ruining your recordings.

PAD Switch

• The VideoMic comes with a three position PAD

switch which is located in the battery compartment

(ﬁgure 9).

Figure 9 - Locating the PAD Switch

The PAD switch provides a 10dB or 20dB

reduction in sensitivity which will reduce the

amplitude of the output signal to your recording

device (ﬁgure 10).

Figure 10 - Setting the PAD switch

Popular Microphone manuals by other brands

IK Multimedia

IK Multimedia iRig Stream MIC PRO user manual

DAPAudio

DAPAudio RM-101 user manual

AKG

AKG CHM 21 User instructions

Sennheiser

Sennheiser evolution wireless series EM 100 instruction manual

Sony

Sony C-48 operating instructions

GIGAMEDIA

GIGAMEDIA GGM PAMICUHFG user manual

Shure

Shure WH30TQG user guide

auna PRO

auna PRO MIC-900 manual

AKG

AKG D 3800 User instructions

Shure

Shure KSM141 user guide

MAIIN SOUND

MAIIN SOUND IIN style instruction manual

Earthworks

Earthworks TC25 user manual

Sennheiser

Sennheiser evolution D1 user manual

Alesis

Alesis MicLink Wireless user guide

DSPPA

DSPPA D6234 manual

Monacor

Monacor IMG STAGELINE ECM-300B manual

Ansr Audio

Ansr Audio Scan16 user manual

Shure

Shure MXA710 Series user guide