Sennheiser ME66/K6 low levels

[Tony Lorentzen]

I'm experiencing some extremely low audio levels with a Sennheiser ME66/K6 setup using the phantom power from the K6. I've tried fiddling with the settings in the Video->Audio and System Settings->Audio menus, but haven't gotten any better results. Everything's working fine with wireless systems I've used on the RED. Any ideas?

Oh - and the ME66/K6 combination works great on my HVX, btw.

My camera doesn't have the audio board update yet and I'm running Build 17.

[Jean Déraps]

I never got that combination to work (even with the battery in the K6) without using some kind of preamp before getting the audio board update.

[Brian Ferguson]

I don't know what the problem is but that series of Sennheiser has been problematic with the Red One. I don't know why. Still working on it.

[Marcus Olsen]

We've using the ME66 since the 90's and love it, best mic for the money

[Marc Berger]

Tony,
I´m not the audio specialist, but I know ME66/K6 Sennheiser exists in two versions, the older one which had too much output to use with camcorders like HVX, and the newer one which have a around -18db filter. I have the new one which is with its low level useless for the Red1 (with the old audio board). Works fine with mixer, line in.

Cheers

Marc

[HD Hildebrand]

I have the me64/k6 and the 416 - both have worked fine with both old and new board. No idea (as Marc said) there were two versions of the me66/k6 though. Mark - is that 2 versions of the me66 or 2 versions of the k6?

[Johnny St.Ours]

Can you elaborate more on what it works fine with? I have this mic, bought it last spring, about 2 or 3 months before my Red arrived. Got great sound on my JVC- then it... useless. Not a single sound (except fuzz) on the Red. I have to lug the 2 cameras around anywhere I want sound, which is tricky in some of the run-and-gun situations I get into. For scratch audio, I've just been using a crappy old Audio Technica till the audio update. Can I use my Sennheiser now?

I should note, that my audio on the Red ALWAYS sucks- do others not share this condition (pre audio baord update)? The Sennheiser makes no sound, but my Sony lavs barely make any, and everything else I've plugged in has made lots of noise. When I switch on phantom power, the fuzzy noise turns into a Emergency Broadcasting Signal!

I'm sorry, I'm not an audio guy whatsoever. What's a minimally priced mixer that could make this ME66/K6 baby work?

[Tyler Black]

I have the me66 and the RED with the new audio board. I get great levels from this mic. I have used it battery powered, not phantom. I'm not an audio guy, but from my crude audio tests on the RED, as long as I ride my levels past the last mark on the meter, my levels are doing okay. Until the meter becomes a solid red line, it's not overmodulating. So I keep everything in the dark yellow to deep orange colors and it sounds good.

[Marc Berger]

I have the me64/k6 and the 416 - both have worked fine with both old and new board. No idea (as Marc said) there were two versions of the me66/k6 though. Mark - is that 2 versions of the me66 or 2 versions of the k6?

I can´t find the manual, so I can´t tell you more about it. If you still have your manual you can find out if yours is the -18db version or not.
Marc

[Marc Berger]

Can you elaborate more on what it works fine with? I have this mic, bought it last spring, about 2 or 3 months before my Red arrived. Got great sound on my JVC- then it... useless. Not a single sound (except fuzz) on the Red. I have to lug the 2 cameras around anywhere I want sound, which is tricky in some of the run-and-gun situations I get into. For scratch audio, I've just been using a crappy old Audio Technica till the audio update. Can I use my Sennheiser now?

I should note, that my audio on the Red ALWAYS sucks- do others not share this condition (pre audio baord update)? The Sennheiser makes no sound, but my Sony lavs barely make any, and everything else I've plugged in has made lots of noise. When I switch on phantom power, the fuzzy noise turns into a Emergency Broadcasting Signal!

I'm sorry, I'm not an audio guy whatsoever. What's a minimally priced mixer that could make this ME66/K6 baby work?
Johnny,
I bought the Sounddevices mixpre, which is a two channel mixer. It works great with the Sennheiser-Mixpre-line in, and I think the smaller one channel preamp MM-1 from Sounddevices is as good and cheaper (349.-$)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/292989-REG/Sound_Devices_MM1_MM_1_Single_Channel.html
Marc

[Johnny St.Ours]

Hey thanks, that looks great.
When you said Sound Devices I got a little worried. But this looks like it's just what I need

[Marc Berger]

Hey thanks, that looks great.
When you said Sound Devices I got a little worried. But this looks like it's just what I need

I think somebody sold (or is still selling) his MM1 after he got the audio board upgrade. Look in the hire/FS section.
Cheers,
Marc

Looks like is still available: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26842&highlight=mm-1

[Johnny St.Ours]

I think somebody sold (or is still selling) his MM1 after he got the audio board upgrade. Look in the hire/FS section.
Cheers,
Marc

Looks like is still available: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26842&highlight=mm-1

Thanks again! I sent him a pm

[Mike Paul]

"...and the newer one which have a around -18db filter"

You're talking about the K6-CL, which does have a 18db pad built in to reduce the output to devices that cannot handle the relatively hot output of the K6. Both the K6 and K6-CL are current models offered by Sennheiser, but the K6-CL is not as common, and is usually a special order item (at least here it is). There is also the K6P, which is Phantom only (no switch), but that is another story.

A -18db pad, while certainly reducing your levels, should not make it inaudible to the Red, so there is likely something else at play here. You would be surprised how many people bring in K6/ME66's for service only to have me point out that the little switch needs to be in the "ON" position, or that a battery must be inserted for it to work.

If the sound of your mic when plugged into the camera is low, muddy, garbled, or all of the above (but it works fine everywhere else), try putting a phase barrel inline and see if that does the trick.

[HD Hildebrand]

Can you elaborate more on what it works fine with? I have this mic, bought it last spring, about 2 or 3 months before my Red arrived. Got great sound on my JVC- then it... useless. Not a single sound (except fuzz) on the Red. I have to lug the 2 cameras around anywhere I want sound, which is tricky in some of the run-and-gun situations I get into. For scratch audio, I've just been using a crappy old Audio Technica till the audio update. Can I use my Sennheiser now?

I should note, that my audio on the Red ALWAYS sucks- do others not share this condition (pre audio baord update)? The Sennheiser makes no sound, but my Sony lavs barely make any, and everything else I've plugged in has made lots of noise. When I switch on phantom power, the fuzzy noise turns into a Emergency Broadcasting Signal!

I'm sorry, I'm not an audio guy whatsoever. What's a minimally priced mixer that could make this ME66/K6 baby work?


I used the mic with either phantom or battery power on the previous audio board (1st generation) as well as the updated board. How I did the phantom and avoid the buzz on the first board - I had a custom cable made that took the phantom power from another channel, but the actual audio was going through a different channel where phantom power was turned off. Great, clean audio. I mainly did this for the 416. Otherwise for the K6/me64 I could also just turn on the battery power on the mic.

Alternatively, if you want an external mixer you can go with Sound Devices (as mentioned) or a Wendt X3 or X2 - check out this unit (clean sound, good deal):

http://cgi.ebay.ca/WENDT-X2-MIXER-for-location-sound_W0QQitemZ120390495234QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_D efaultDomain_0?hash=item120390495234&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1215%7C66%3A4%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318

I just bought an X3 off this guy and it is really nice.

[Johnny St.Ours]

Maybe my particular audio problem is worse than others? My sound really sucks. The Sennheiser mic doesn't work at all (with RED), battery or phantom. I shot a couple of interviews the first week I had my Red and my lav lines were recorded so low I had to put a +50db gain on them, then clean up the noise!
I got my camera right around the end of August/beginning of September, so as I started trying to figure out what was wrong, the announcement of a new audio board came out. I thought, oh, this is a big problem, guess I got to wait in line. But if you guys have gotten ANYTHING useful audio-wise with your Red, maybe my problems are not going to be fixed by a mixer after all. Like a basket of not-so-perfect apples, mine seems to actually have worms in it.

[Jeff Kieffer]

I'm experiencing some extremely low audio levels with a Sennheiser ME66/K6 setup using the phantom power from the K6. I've tried fiddling with the settings in the Video->Audio and System Settings->Audio menus, but haven't gotten any better results. Everything's working fine with wireless systems I've used on the RED. Any ideas?

Oh - and the ME66/K6 combination works great on my HVX, btw.

My camera doesn't have the audio board update yet and I'm running Build 17.

Hi,

I've got the same problem. But I really want to avoid to stick an MM1 on the camera, just to get a decent ambient sound, that won't be used 90% of the time anyway.

So I hope that the Audio Upgrade Board fixes this issue.?

Jeff

[Marc Berger]

Maybe my particular audio problem is worse than others? My sound really sucks. The Sennheiser mic doesn't work at all (with RED), battery or phantom. I shot a couple of interviews the first week I had my Red and my lav lines were recorded so low I had to put a +50db gain on them, then clean up the noise!
I got my camera right around the end of August/beginning of September, so as I started trying to figure out what was wrong, the announcement of a new audio board came out. I thought, oh, this is a big problem, guess I got to wait in line. But if you guys have gotten ANYTHING useful audio-wise with your Red, maybe my problems are not going to be fixed by a mixer after all. Like a basket of not-so-perfect apples, mine seems to actually have worms in it.

Johnny,
my audio board is exactly the same. I also got my Red1 last August. I even couldn´t get enough sound with setting the gain to max. It just increased the noise. Without Mixer there was no way to get usable sound, with which mic. ever. With a Mixer I get perfect sound with all different mics.
Marc

[Sidney L. Plaut]

strange... i have the me66 k6 too - used it on my RED w an upgraded board with the "old" muted audio cable and i got great levels!? - Tony dont know why this should work but have you tried it with the "muted" RED audio cable for the old soundboards?

[David W. Jones]

After you record enable an audio channel, make sure that you select "Microphone" for the input type. Remember, if you are powering your mic from the red, anytime you cycle power on the Red, phantom power will be disabled, and will need to be turned back on in the menu for the audio channel you are recording to.
Also the default audio setting is 32dB, and will more than likely need to be turned up for a microphone.
Good Luck!

[Johnny St.Ours]

Johnny,
my audio board is exactly the same. I also got my Red1 last August. I even couldn´t get enough sound with setting the gain to max. It just increased the noise. Without Mixer there was no way to get usable sound, with which mic. ever. With a Mixer I get perfect sound with all different mics.
Marc

Thanks Marc, that's a comfort.

I certainly noticed the phantom power option deselecting when power cycling, and have tried the full range of levels, and the full range of input types (mic/line). The camera hasn't been idle these 7 months.

Now I'm gonna try a mixer.

Thanks again, guys

[Tony Lorentzen]

strange... i have the me66 k6 too - used it on my RED w an upgraded board with the "old" muted audio cable and i got great levels!? - Tony dont know why this should work but have you tried it with the "muted" RED audio cable for the old soundboards?

I still have the old sound board and the old cables, so that's what I've been using. The input is set to microphone on the RED and I am getting something in the camera - just not a whole lot.

I hope my camera will be upgraded soon enough. This is really an annoying problem.