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GH2 Audio Hacks
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  • izashizash

    @Jspatz please post an Ebay link

  • JspatzJspatz

    @gameb I ordered the mic on ebay. The audio quality is very good, slightly bright. Pickup pattern and noise are also very good. For under $20, incredible. I just ordered 2 more.

  • MirrorManMirrorMan

    @thepalalias busy at the moment but I will try to do more tests next week...

  • RamboRambo

    Mpgxsvcd, basically levels 1 and 2 have no noticeable auto gain even during silence and the in camera meters are much more accurate and useful. Levels 3 and 4 agc is noticeable. It's nite and day difference between original and modified.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @mpgxsvcd It does not affect sampling rate or bit-depth, but it leaves you the option of changing bitrate (if you don`t mind losing in-camera playback). Gain behavior and metering are what are being modified.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    Can someone sum up what these audio settings changes do? Is this just trying to improve the gain of the audio or is it also affecting the sampling rate and bit rate?

  • palefacepaleface

    @gameb Thanx for your mic suggestions! Are you able to collect some scenes with the different mics to show off their audio quality? I'd like to check their sound by listening to some demo audio...

  • gamebgameb

    @thepalalias Thanks for your great work. Looking forward to test your Pasadena Audio settings on Cluster when I find the time.

    Here a few cheap microphone tips working perfectly with the GH2. Throw me out if I am off topic. By accident I dropped into these supercheap microphones which I was/am using on my last few documentaries plugged directly into the GH2. They work noiseless, very nice level, no need of preamp, changed plugs to $8 high quality metal 2.5mm stereo plugs, don’t use 3.5-2.5mm adapters (tried out half a dozen) always could give you some bad contact issues.

    Vivitar TVM-1 shotgun, $20, astonishing excellent sound, perfect for documentary midrange distance on-cam or on-boom, needs battery, looks big on GH2, became my main working on-cam mic, prefer it to sennheiser MKE 400 and sennheiser K6 module mics, use it with “normal” mode (“tele” mode is crap) hard to find on ebay. On the following ebay-link it is sold as a different brand, but I am convinced this is identically the same (not 100% sure so don’t kill me, mine has a screwable 3.5 Mini-Jack not XLR ) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Professional-Shotgun-Interview-Condenser-Uni-Directional-System-Microphone-Mic-/110834733639?pt=PCA_Speakers&hash=item19ce43d247#ht_4760wt_986

    Sony ECM-CS 10 Lavalier stereo clip-mic, nice and clear sound, I paid $12 including shipping for it (now its around $20), I use it directly into the GH2 or into my Olympus LS-10 digital recorder. No need of expensive and complicated radio-mics any more. Person to be interviewed has the ECM-CS 10 clipped on and the Oly LS-10 in the pocket, afterwards pluraleyes it.

    Vivitar VM-1 short shotgun, same type as TVM-1 but shorter, less cardioid characteristic, good for handheld, news type interviews, not for midrange distances. Hard to find, I paid $15, plugged in directly into GH2

    Next days I will upload some sound/video example footage.

    EDIT: Here is some footage out of a documentary shooting situation, I am shooting right now in Central America, no postpro, not a test. Remember: mic is on-cam and directly plugged into the GH2. @paleface here is the link

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Thanks @Rambo, I think it will be helpful to people to have a starting reference for how others are using combinations like that. Great that you and @MirrorMan are getting the ball rolling.

  • RamboRambo

    Results of Pasadena Pulse Audio V2 Beta 2

    Well here are the settings I've stored in my iphone notes for the different mics i own and use with the GH2 and H4n for interviews. These were selected after reviewing in Sony Vegas Mixer for levels and by ear. None distort and no audibly noticeable AGC presence of background (except Level 3 Internal mic).

    The camera meters are now a very good guide, if you just hit the first red indicator with peaks when doing a sound check that's about the correct level.

    Sennheiser K6 shotgun  - Level 1 if used as an interview mic @1ft,  Level 2 as a boom from 3ft way.

Sennheiser Lav ME2 - Level 2 

Rode Video Mic Pro (No Boost 0db) - Level 1 if quiet room/location, 2ft to interviewee, Level 2 if noisy location.

GH2 Internal mic - Level 3, used to sync H4n.

    Hope they are of use to someone. Although i need good audio, my requirements are not critical, i shoot on beaches and outdoor locations. Thanks Per for the settings.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @MirrorMan Try using something to attenuate the input to the GH2. That's where the distortion happens and the firmware can't fix. We can bring it down in level, but it still distorts even when it records at a low level for inputs like that. Pad cables are a popular solution, but check the dB because many are too strong. You can also try using a cheap "knob" based attenuating volume control and see if that works.

    @Rajamalik Still testing. Pretty happy with mic level 1 and 4, but still working 2 and 3. Plus, testing to make sure everyone is happy with the new scale. Hope to be out of beta soon!

  • rajamalikrajamalik

    @thepalalias good test by mirror cant imagine how good u r patch is even for the internal mic,..sure one day this beta 2 will get final version i believe,..still under testing after all this goodies???

  • MirrorManMirrorMan

    @thepalalias good catch. I fixed the second title. re-uploading now...

    What is clear is that all mics used on the GH2 need to be tested to see what kind of levels they need for louder and quieter situations. Most people will use small shotguns but some may want to experiment. I do a lot of ambient field recording so I need to work with different stereo setups.

    The last test I need to make is to figure out if your settings will handle the line out signal from my MixPre preamp. Last time I tried it severely distorted with the stock settings.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @MirrorMan Great demos! Nice to hear some options other than the internal mic and mono shotgun mics on there. :)

    You might want to double-check the title-cards, though. It seems like the mic level may not always be accurately labeled.

    Glad to see you experimenting with Mic Level 2 and 3, too. 1 and 4 were the ones I felt we nailed best.

  • MirrorManMirrorMan

    Another test, this time using adjusted settings (from 'Pasadena Pulse Audio V2 Beta 2') but for higher sensitivity, with 2 different mics; Audio Technica AT822 stereo mic and DPA 4060 omnis.

    Here are the original values and adjusted settings for this patch next to it: AGC 3 128 > 128, AGC 2 160 > 144, AGC 1 176 > 160, AGC 0 203 > 203

    Each setting runs for 10 seconds. I also recorded some clips with my NTG-2 but the levels were really low and muted which means the battery was low.

    I attached the DPA omnis to the sides of my hat in a 'Binaural' array. This gives a very realistic effect of "being there" if you wear headphones.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @thepalalias

    Send info to Nick or any other authors, and they'll work on it.

  • rickerricker

    @thepalalias Thanks a bunch for your answers. From initial tests the sound coming through is amazingly more controlled and sounding sweet. Thanks again

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Would anybody be willing to help with/handle the Wiki update? Like I said earlier, I haven't really spent any time doing it on this site and I'm a little busy with patch testing recently.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Also, I forgot to say thanks to @MirrorMan / Optic Influx for the mic tests. The AT822 sounded pretty darn good in that demo compared to the recent demos for something like the Mitra 3D Mic, factoring in the price difference.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @Ricker Here is the link to all the settings used and what they correspond to.

    http://perlichtman.com/pasdenapulse/wordpress/2012/03/14/panasonic-gh2-audio-settings-file-pasadena-pulse-audio-v2-beta-2/

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    But here's the short version:

    • The meters start at -66dBFS and end at -3dBFS.

    • The settings leave the bitrate at the default but you can change if you want.

    • There is around 37/38 dB of gain difference between mic level 1 and mic level 4.

    • You don`t need to apply the patch to Sedna because it is already included.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    All of it is explained on my blog at http://www.pasadenapulse.net (I'm typing from my phone or I`d give you the link to the specifc page) in the article on "Pasadena Pulse Audio V2 Beta 2".

  • rickerricker

    oh and do you need to tick the "audio encoding bps" checkbox in ptools?

  • rickerricker

    So kinda confused on what the mic levels are set to via the patch, or do you put in the levels you want via ptools?

    i.e whats the mic bars representing? red bars = 0db? or -6db?

    How much gain does each level add?

    Awesome work though!

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @MirrorMan Interesting. Has anyone else had that experience? I hadn`t noticed it elsewhere before.

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