problems with microphone on new video setup

briankeithsmith · 09-29-2005, 06:39 AM

I had sort of posted this question in another thread but figured I would start a new thread.

I have a new video setup with a lipstick cam, Canon camcorder, and I'm using a small microphone very similar to the ones that people here have bought from supercircuits.

Instead of using the 12 volt 8 AA battery pack that are sometimes used with these, I wired mine into my fuse panel to supply 12v power to it.

Only problem, I'm getting alot of buzzing on the microphone. Which is annoying on the video. I went to Radio Shack and bought a filter and ran the power wire for the mic through the filter. Made a slight difference I would say, but nothing significant.

Any ideas? I still have my 12 volt 8 AA battery power pack that I can wire it to, but would prefer to use the 12v supply from the car's power if possible. Then I just have to flip a toggle switch to turn on the lipstick camera and mic, and I'm good-2-go.

Any thoughts? What can I try?

Brian

John Rogers · 09-29-2005, 10:59 AM

Does the buzzing stay constant or does the sound change as the engine is revved? Mine changed as the engine reved and I bought a filter for my MSD system from them and the buzzing stopped.

briankeithsmith · 09-29-2005, 05:03 PM

Interesting...

Brian

briankeithsmith · 09-29-2005, 05:07 PM

Thanks John.

I have a TEC3 system with dual coil packs. I wonder if that could be it if your MSD box was your problem.

Yes, it oscillates with the revving of the engine.

Brian

John Rogers · 09-29-2005, 07:46 PM

I'd contact the TEC3 tech people and see what they have to eliminate electrical interference.

dtfastbear · 09-30-2005, 08:17 AM

There is a very good chance that the buzzing isn't electrical interference, but rather that you're "overloading" the microphone. The small one from supercircuits is a "high-gain" microphone that is meant for recording quite sounds, not for recording engine sounds...

I was never able to get my supercircuits mic to work in my car environment. I tried electical filters (like you did), I tried foam around the mic, I tried putting the mic in the middle of a towel and stuffing it under my seat - I tried everything - but never got decent sound.

I ended up having to get a microphone amplifier and mics from RaceCam, which works PERFECTLY. However, it was more like $150 as opposed to the $12 for the supercircuits mic, so it was a hard pill to swallow. But, now that I have it, it was worth every penny. I have two channels and I run one mic to the tail pipe and the other I stuff in my helmet so I get my sometimes-off color live account of the race

I'm going to wire the second channel into my race radios for next season.

Dean

briankeithsmith · 09-30-2005, 11:33 AM

Now that is some good info!

Thanks Dean!

I don't want to spend $150 either but I'll certainly check it out.

Brian

dtfastbear · 10-01-2005, 07:26 PM

One minor but very important correction - I had to get a microphone PRE-amplifier, not a microphone amplifier.

Dean