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Author
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Topic: Audio Technica ATR55
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deaf to reason
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posted 01-30-2001 10:04 PM
I need to buy a mic to record mostly dialog. I have heard this is a good mic for the money. I'm currently shooting on a Sony digital8. Will this mic work good for me? How long is the mic cord it comes with, and is there a length of cord that you don't want to go over? If not what should I buy? One last thing, what are some reasonably priced websites that sell the ATR55 and other mics? |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-30-2001 11:23 PM
I looked at b&h videos site and I don't see the ATR55 where can I find this mic for sale online? |
Prism
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posted 01-31-2001 01:51 AM
Try these websites:
www.fullcompass.com www.musiciansfriend.com www.zzounds.com www.8thstreet.com www.sweetwater.com Hope that helps.  Isaiah ------------------
Isaiah Eyre, Sound Guy "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley <Begin Shameless Self-Plug>
Visit iEyre.com!
</End Shamless Self-Plug> |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-31-2001 11:36 AM
Ok, I don't know if I am just stupid or what, but I just looked at all of those sites and could not find the ATR 55 mic anywhere. Any other sites I might try? Also what is the average price of this mic? Thanks for the help. |
Prism
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posted 01-31-2001 01:41 PM
Man, I thought for sure Full Compass would carry it. Anyway, I found someone else who has it: http://www.abesofmaine.com/productpage.cfm?pku=ATATR55
It goes for $80. It has a switchable pattern, which is cool. That means you can have a little more flexibility if you wanna tweak it around a bit.Isaiah |
Prism
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posted 01-31-2001 01:43 PM
Oh, and here's one on eBay. It's at about $30 now and there's 7 hours left. You might be able to get a bargain!
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1210206053 Isaiah |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-31-2001 02:01 PM
Thanks a lot! That was what I was looking for. |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-31-2001 02:18 PM
Just an update... I just picked a brand new ATR55 mic up on ebay for $61. So if anyone else is looking for one keep an eye out on the one that prism mentioned above. Thanks again for the help. |
Prism
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posted 01-31-2001 03:06 PM
Awesome deal! See how it pays to buy used stuff? I bought my Tascam 688 last year for $350 shipped. Most folks are spending $600+ on the same exact thing. It was $3,500 new.Isaiah |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-31-2001 04:22 PM
Wow, that is a good deal. The mic I bought was not even used. It is new in the package. The guy has a website that sells video equipment, and I guess he is selling soem stuff on ebay. Even if it were used i'd be happy with it for $60. |
deaf to reason
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posted 01-31-2001 06:56 PM
Hey, one question I had... Do you know how long the cord is that comes with the mic? If it is below 10 feet in length where can I get a longer cord? |
dss
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posted 02-05-2001 08:34 PM
The cord is short, about 3 feet. I have a prob here, I just got the mic.. I have a Sony TRV310 and has been working great with my Pinnacle DV300 firewire capture card for some time. It seems now that the Audio Technica ATR 55 is having issues. The audio records fine on tape and can hear it played back on camera in VTR and on headphones. But when I capture it onto my computer, the parts of the video where the microphone is used, you cannot hear anything. This is strange, please help! Also, why is Telemike mode in Mono? -DSS [This message has been edited by dss (edited 02-05-2001).] |
deaf to reason
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posted 02-06-2001 01:46 AM
Three feet is too short for my needs. Where can I get a cable to lengthen it to at least 10 feet in length? Any idea how much it'll cost? |
dss
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posted 02-06-2001 08:34 PM
You can get a stereo miniplug extension from Radio Shack that would work. Someone please help w/ my problems in the above post. Thanks! ------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
Prism
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posted 02-06-2001 09:39 PM
The only thing I can think of is maybe your camera has a stereo mic input, and the mic you're using is mono. So, that would mean that your audio (when the external mic is in use) would only be recorded to one channel. (Usually the left one, I think, but in this case, it might be recording to the right channel.) So, check your audio outputs and your PC's audio input settings to make sure you're recording both channels. Otherwise, I really can't imagine why it would do that.Isaiah ------------------
Isaiah Eyre, Sound Guy "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley <Begin Shameless Self-Plug>
Visit iEyre.com!
</End Shamless Self-Plug> |
dss
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posted 02-07-2001 12:37 AM
Well Its strange because I keep on recording video, and monitoring the audio w/ headphones and its stereo. I even play back in-camera and hear it stereo. But none is recorded when captured on computer. I even played back the captured footage back onto the camera, and there was no sound. That would mean that it is really never captured. I'm totally dumbfounded here. I got this mic off eBay open in package, so its pretty new.
Any other suggestions? Pinnacle Systems emailed me back on this and they said: The DV300 will only capture stereo. If you are coming through a
microphone, is this mono? You will need to put your audio into both
channels to make the DV300 "think" it is a stereo signal. The mic (when in regular mode, IS stereo) not mono. I've used mono mics before on my camera and the audio was captured fine. I need to try again, but when the mic is in TeleMike mode (which seems to be mono), audio IS captured. I have a mini-mixer for 3 miniplug mics (Azden CAM-3) and I'll try plugging the mic in there first, and maybe it will make the audio signal captured. Strange stuff going on here..
------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
Prism
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posted 02-07-2001 03:41 AM
What kind of connection is used to transport audio to the capture device? Is it RCA to 1/8" phono plug?Isaiah ------------------
Isaiah Eyre, Sound Guy "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley <Begin Shameless Self-Plug>
Visit iEyre.com!
</End Shamless Self-Plug> |
dss
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posted 02-07-2001 06:36 AM
I'm using a firewire capture card, so the audio and video is captured through that. In case I was not clear, the mic is plugged into the camera and recorded on the tape, not directly plugged into capture card.------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie [This message has been edited by dss (edited 02-07-2001).] |
Prism
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posted 02-07-2001 12:20 PM
Oh shoot... well that blows my theory. 
I really have no idea what the problem could be. I am unfamiliar with firewire systems, so I hope someone else can solve this mystery!Isaiah |
dss
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posted 02-07-2001 12:22 PM
Oh this just sucks SO far every mic I have used works flawlessly, but now the "high quality" Audio Technica mic has quirks.
------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
deaf to reason
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posted 02-07-2001 12:40 PM
Now you got me thinking... The ATR55 in normal mode is stereo? Is the mini plug on a video camera stereo or mono? I know I could look in the manual, but I am at work right now so I can't look. If the plugin on the camera is in mono and the mic is stereo (or vise versa) will that mess anything up? I need to know that way I know if I need a stereo or mono extension cable for the mic. |
dss
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posted 02-07-2001 01:36 PM
The plug-in on my camera is stereo. I just called Audio Technica for support and they say the mic is totally MONO (I'm surprised because that is not mentioned anywhere) and that if I can hear it on both sides, its MONO that is copied to both channels. I'm really bummed that the mic is Mono. So far my best mics (stereo) is the built-in mic on my camera and the Sony ECM-907C external mic. ------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
Prism
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posted 02-07-2001 02:01 PM
That's too bad. You could probably resolve it with an adapter, but I think you'd have to build it yourself. I'm gonna doodle around on paper until I get it figured out, but there should be a solution.Isaiah ------------------
Isaiah Eyre, Sound Guy "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley <Begin Shameless Self-Plug>
Visit iEyre.com!
</End Shamless Self-Plug> |
deaf to reason
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posted 02-07-2001 04:58 PM
So if it records two channels of mono is that going to sound terrible or will it still sound good? I thought I read somewhere that most shotguns were mono? Is that wrong? |
Paul D
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posted 02-07-2001 07:51 PM
yes most shotgun mikes are mono, though i belive you can buy stereo shotgun mikes but these are very expensive.I have 2 atr55 mikes and 2 Cannon gl-1 cameras both work really well.
[This message has been edited by Paul D (edited 02-07-2001).] |
deaf to reason
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posted 02-07-2001 08:34 PM
Thanks for the info Paul. Oh, by the way I have another question... I know, do I ever not have a question? Anyway, Is there a limit on the length of a cable you should use with this mic (or any mic). After a certain length of extension cable does it cause problems? If so what is a safe distance to stay under? |
Prism
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posted 02-07-2001 09:56 PM
I wouldn't go any longer than 10 feet with a high-impedence cord.Isaiah |
Cranium
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posted 02-14-2001 05:49 PM
Hey...
I know it's getting to be an old topic, but I'm gonna throw out a guess on the DV300 thing. THe external mic is probably getting recorded on ST2, which most firewire capture devices won't recognize. |
dss
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posted 02-14-2001 06:00 PM
What is ST2? I forgot to tell you guys that it now works w/ my DV300. I don't know why it did not work before, but now it does.
strange...------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie [This message has been edited by dss (edited 02-14-2001).] |
dss
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posted 02-24-2001 02:56 AM
Help! I'm trying to boom this mic but the cord is really short. I still have that mini plug MONO extension and when its used, there is an insane buzzing sound. How can I avoid this? Two other kinda-related questions: Since the mic IS Moni, it only has sound on one side of the audio track. Now Is there a way to "copy" the sound from one side, and put it on the other in editing? Remember how I said the in Normal mode, it sounded stereo? Well Audio Technica told me that its just the Mono audio on both sides. For some reason, on Tele mode, its only on one side. Since audio is important to me, I may need to move onto XLR mics and plugs. I heard that BeachTek makes a converter where you plug XLR into it and you have an output to miniplug. Does this work well? Also, does sound humming occur over long XLR cord lengths? ------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
jackass
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posted 03-10-2001 01:22 PM
Hey everybody,I just got the ATR-55 and was experiencing the same problem that dss was experiencing. Ater alot of fiddling I found that if I recorded in 16bit mode instead of 12bit mode then the firewire can capture the audio. This will ensure (at least how I understand ir) the audio is recored all 16bits instead of leaving those extra 4bits which were causing the problem. I would like to say that this is a great mic for the price and I recomend it to anyone. As for the issues about it being noisy I havent noticed it at all. I hope I helped somebody out there. -Jamaal
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dss
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posted 03-10-2001 06:12 PM
I had a feeling that would capture it. I just never tried as my equipment has not been with me for a while. The reason why I'm probably going to return it is because it's mono, short cable, reverts to lower quality 12-bit audio, and has noise. Of course someone is going to tell me that every shotgun is mono, which is partly true. I'm getting a pro shotgun mic using XLR instead of miniplug and using a XLR adapter for my camcorder which can put mono on both left and right audio, simulating stereo. And I can have long cables with just about no noise. The is an expensive method, but comes out being worth it.------------------
-DSS- Director, Producer,
Editor, and Actor of
Counter-Strike: The Movie |
