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Can some electronics guru please pontificate on...
Can I jack the output from a standard headphone jack into the input jack on a Sony camcorder without blowing the thing up? I would, for purposes of recording into it, just split the headphone output with a Y cable and run one side to the headphones and the other to the mic in.
I don't want to screw up a $500 camcorder. But I'd rather not have the ambient noise of furnace, bathrooms, computer fan, snowplows, ambulances, medi-vac choppers (who go right over my house 4 times a day at least) and my daughter having a melt-down about her contacts, boyfriend, having to make supper, her acne, her hair, her missing pencil..well if you had a teenage daughter you'd know. LOL...
John Conley
Musica est vita
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The answer is, "it depends on the impedance of the mic input jack as well as the ability to turn down the volume on the headphone jack."
Most times, you can get away with it as long as you are very careful about that headphone volume issue. Impedance won't rear its ugly head simply because the output impedance of most headphone jacks nowadays is lower than the input impedance of most mic inputs.
But that level problem is something to be a bit careful about. i doubt that a few mistakes such as leaving the headphone output volume of whatever device turned up too high will do anything other than create a very clipped and distorted sound file on the camera's media, but there does exist a slight possibility that you could damage the input circuitry of the mic preamp if you left it running like that for a longer period of time than necessary to set and get good levels.
Expect to have to turn the headphone volume WAY DOWN to match the kind of signal voltage level that a microhone input is designed to accept. You can get a fell for this by simply listening to the audio recorded. If clipped or distorted, the headphone volume is likely set too high.
For best signal to noise ratio, you ideally want enough drive from that headphone output to overcome noise but at the same time you don't want to clip the input circuits on the mic preamp. At some point you will also have to address any mic record level setting in the camera also. With a bit of trial and error you should be able to find a setting that works. Make a note of the two settings for future setup.
If that camera has a Line or Record input at all on it somewhere, use that instead. If not, try the Mic input as outlined above.
--Mac
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What if I ran the output from the Bose to my small Behringer mixer, and plugged in the headphones and started really low with the output and went from there? Is that safer?
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Nothing is inherently safer, because that really depends upon YOU.
But I don't think you would have any real problems either way, John, for you are pretty savvy enough.
For example, the noob (and the idiot) tends to turn the big knob up ALL THE WAY when they don't hear anything. That's not a good thing to do while troubleshooting. If they then start to diddle with connections and the connection gets made suddenly for whatever reason -- BAM! -- and the end resulting audio transient can damage anything and everything from preamp to tweeter and worse.
Personally I always like to have as few active inserts as possible in the signal chain, for that will be the least amount of thermal noise.
Inactive inserts are another story. For example, if you really wanted to do this right, you would obtain a Line Level to Mic Level Stereo Attenuator Pad and insert that between the headphone output and mic input. But if you are savvy enough, you don't really have to go to that expense. Just always start with the headphone volume turned down very low first and don't raise it any higher than needed to obtain good clean audio at the camera.
--Mac
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John, I've been using the Behringer Mixer approach... I take the RCA outputs through a Y adapter which ends with a 1/8" stereo jack and plug that into my CAMCORDER's Mic input. I was concerned about the record level as there was no apparent level control knobs on the camera, but upon reading the full manual on-line (not the short version that came with the box), I found out there is a software controlled Mic Level which can be activated from the Cam's Menu and displayed on the cam's screen while recording... that way you can control the record volume without haveing to guess too much or have to resort to trial and error. My cam is a cheap Canon FS200.... I am sure Sony will have as good or better option somewhere burried in the Menus too. Good luck.
2008 Gibson ES-339 Custom & 2010 Les Paul Traditional. Fender SCXD Amp
BIAB/RB 2015 UltraPAK + Ketron SD2
Windows 7/64 Intel i5 3550 PC, Tascam USB144MKII
Behringer X1204 Mixer
Bose Companion 3 and/or L1 II w/T1 + SM58 MIC
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You are likely being smarter to control the mic level in the analog domain before the signal gets presented to the A-D in the camera.
Digital level schemes have to take place AFTER the critical input preamplification circuits and A-D, which means that if the clipping takes place anywhere up to that point, then the digital level control cannot correct it, it can only turn a nasty sounding clipped signal down below a certain setpoint.
Now that you bring that up, using the mixers makes a lot of sense here.
--Mac
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!
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