Phantom power is a DC voltage supplied through a balanced microphone cable and is used to power the electronics of the connected microphone. Most professional cameras, mixers and audio interfaces with microphone XLR pre amps have the ability to supply phantom power.

Most commonly, phantom power is supplied at 48V. This is the optimum voltage for Azden's microphones. It is possible that your connecting equipment supplies a different voltage and each Azden microphone has a recommended voltage range that can be used. Be advised that microphone performance will degrade with lower voltages and damage to the electronics could result when using voltages in excess of this range. It is recommended that you consult the manuals of any equipment you intend to use with the microphone beforehand. Please note that the warranty does not cover damage caused by using phantom power beyond what the microphone is rated for.

In general, if your Azden microphone does not have a battery compartment it will require phantom power to work. Some microphones have the ability to use a battery for power or phantom power, while others may only work on battery. Check your manual or the product page for your model on azden.com to be sure.

Phantom power is not used at all with lapel, headset and DSLR camera microphones. These microphones do need a power source, but it is a much lower voltage. This type of power is typically called plug-in power (PiP) and is usually provided on mini-jack inputs on cameras and wireless transmitters. Attempting to use phantom power on a microphone that need plug-in power will very likely result in damaging the microphone element.

All of these terms are used to describe a microphone’s polar or pick-up pattern. The simplest being omni-directional, which means the microphone will pick up sound equally from all directions.

Cardioid and uni-directional are two interchangeable terms that are used to describe a microphone that is most sensitive to sound coming in directly in-front of the microphone element (on-axis) but will reject some sound coming from the sides and nearly reject all sound coming in from behind. These microphones are better at isolating a sound source in a noisy environment and are best used on a speaking subject up close.

Super-cardioid is a hyper-directional pick-up pattern, which is very sensitive to all sound in the front of the mic element, and does a very good job at rejecting sound coming in from the sides. Sound sensitivity from the rear is somewhat reduced but not totally. This kind of directionality is found in many of Azden’s shotgun microphones and is best suited for focusing in on sound sources from a distance but can also be used up close.

Any of Azden’s microphones with a 3.5mm mini-jack output can be made to work with a smartphone or tablet using the HX-Mi TRRS Mic/Headphone Cable. Compatible Azden microphones include EX-503, EX-503L, EX-505U, EX-50L, ECM-44, HS-9, HS-11, HS12, CM-20D, SGM-990 and SGM-DSLR. Azden’s stereo microphones can work with the HX-Mi but only in mono, since mobile devices do not have stereo microphone inputs. These microphones include SMX-20, SMX-10 and SMX-5. Also available is the SGM-990+i which comes complete with an adapter cable to make it compatible with mobile devices.

Yes we can. See the Service And Warranty page for details. We recommend you give a call first to see if we can troubleshoot your problem over the phone.

First make sure your camera does have a dedicated 3.5mm microphone input.

Azden makes a line of camera mount microphones specifically for these types of cameras. The current models are SGM-990, SMX-30, SMX-15, SMX-10 and SMX-5.

Yes. You can find these items and more for sale on our website www.azdenproshop.com.

No. While the microphone itself may work for your application, Azden’s headsets do not have a speaker or earpiece for phone use.

A low-cut filter is designed to reduce the volume of low frequencies as recorded by the microphone. This can be handy to reduce low frequency background noise such as wind, HVAC systems or traffic. It can also be used to reduce increased bass response due to proximity effect.

The design of the filter is different depending on which microphone. On the SMX-10 for example, engaging the low-cut reduces low frequencies at 6dB/octave below 200Hz. On the SGM-250, the low-cut rolls off at 160Hz at 3dB/octave.

Azden’s microphones are not waterproof but should be able to stand up to a little moisture and light rain if exposed infrequently. If you must use your microphone in the rain, it’s best that you try to keep it covered.

Azden’s SGM line of shotgun microphones are designed for this application. The SGM-3416 and 3416L are Azden’s high performance shotguns, designed to deliver the high quality that any broadcast professional or filmmaker would demand. The SGM-250 and SGM-1X are both great choices for boom work or studio use and were designed with the budget-conscious filmmaker in mind. The SGM-PII and SGM-PDII are great choices for on-camera mounting, with their shorter barrels designed to stay out of view of the camera lens.

We recommend using standard alkaline batteries. We do not recommend using rechargeable batteries with any of our VHF and UHF wireless units, mixers or microphones. In general, rechargeables will not last as long as standard alkaline batteries.

When most people hear noise in their video recordings, they assume it must be the fault of the connected audio equipment. While this is entirely possible, it is not often the case. The most likely culprit is actually your camera’s low quality microphone pre-amp.

Why is your camera’s pre-amp not so good? Camera manufacturers tend to put their development dollars into the functions related to photography. Sound is usually an afterthought and unfortunately the mic inputs on most DSLR cameras are designed to be good enough to work, but are far from being a professional audio input.

Why is the pre-amp adding noise? A microphone pre-amp adds gain (volume) to a connected microphone. And all pre-amps have an inherent noisiness, called a noise-floor. Low quality pre-amps tend to have a higher noise floor and when gain is utilized to increase the volume of the microphone, it also increases the level of the noise floor. This usually manifests as a hiss or white noise being audible in the soundtrack of your video.

What’s the solution? Whether using one of Azden's DSLR microphones or professional XLR shotguns microphones with a 3.5mm adapter, the best options for better sound quality are to use an audio adapter/mixer (like the FMX-DSLR) or to use an separate portable recording device.

In both cases, these devices use better, higher quality microphone pre-amps and should reduce any inherent noise present in your video recordings.

Any of Azden’s microphones with a 3.5mm mini-jack output can be made to work with a smartphone or tablet using the HX-Mi TRRS Mic/Headphone Cable. Compatible Azden microphones include EX-503, EX-503L, EX-505U, EX-50L, ECM-44, HS-9, HS-11, HS12, CM-20D, SGM-990, SMX-15 and SMX-30 (mono mode). Azden’s stereo microphones can work with the HX-Mi but only in mono, since mobile devices do not have stereo microphone inputs. These microphones include SMX-30 (stereo mode), SMX-10 and SMX-5. Also available is the SGM-990+i which comes complete with an adapter cable to make it compatible with mobile devices.

i-Coustics® is a sub-brand of Azden products designed to work with smartphones and tablets. Learn more at www.azden.com/i-coustics.

Popular mobile devices such as the iPhone®, iPad®, Samsung Galaxy S®, Galaxy Tab® and most other Android™ devices are all compatible with i-Coustics® products. You can see a full list of compatible devices here.

Not necessarily. Any mobile device with a TRRS microphone/headphone jack will be compatible with i-Coustics™ products. An easy way to figure out if you’re device is compatible: check to see if the earbuds that came with your device have a microphone on them to allow you to make hands-free calls or video chat. If they do, then Azden’s i-Coustics® products will most likely work with your device. If your mobile device did not come with earbuds, check the owner’s manual and see if it has the capability to accept an external microphone. If it does, it is most likely incorporated into the headphone jack with the standard TRRS connection, which will work with i-Coustics™ products.

Technically you can use an HX-Mi TRRS Mic/Headphone Cable to record to a mobile device with an Azden mixer. However, it is important to note that you will not be able to mix in stereo using this cable into a smartphone or tablet. For best results, on the FMX-42a/42u pan your mixer’s channels hard left. For the FMX-32a/22 make sure your channel’s pan switch is set to L (left). On the FMX-DSLR, you will be limited to using the MIC 1 input.

Yes. You can make your current single channel PRO, 105 or 310 Series system compatible with a mobile device by using the HX-Mi TRRS Mic/Headphone Cable. Technically, a dual-channel PRO Series or a 330 Series system will work too, BUT in order to use both channels you’ll need an additional adapter to sum the stereo output to mono. In this case, however, you will not have the 2 channels of the receiver separated on the left and right channels of your audio/video recording.

No. At least not with out using an additional adapter. If you connect the stereo output cable from your dual-channel receiver to the HX-Mi cable, you will be able to record audio using channel 1 only. This is because mobile devices, and thus the HX-Mi cable, only accept a mono microphone input. However, you can get around this by using a 3.5mm stereo female to 3.5mm mono male adapter between the stereo output cable and the HX-Mi. This will sum the 2 channels of the receiver to 1 mono signal.

No. Mobile devices, and thus the HX-Mi cable, only accept a mono microphone input. You can still record into your mobile device using a stereo microphone (SMX-20/10/5) and the HX-Mi cable but the recording will be mono.

For video, the standard video recording app included with iOS and Android devices works seamlessly with i-Coustics® products. Most third party video recording apps should work just fine as well.

 
For audio alone, just about any recording app should work when using i-Coustics® products. Here are some that we have tried and like. For iOS devices: Apple’s Voice Memos App, SoundCloud App and GarageBand. For Android devices: Smart Voice Recorder, HD Audio Recorder and the Soundcloud App.