AV News 194 - November 2013
Why Won’t My Mic Work?
Howard Gregory
Over the years, I have been asked a lot of questions related to audio
matters. Many of these form the basis of the tutorial CD-ROMs which have
been mentioned from time to time in these pages. In response to requests
for more technical material in AV News, we thought we'd try a series of
'Question and Answer' articles. I'll start with one which crops up with
monotonous regularity:
Question: "My XXX microphone works fine with my old YYY
recorder/camcorder/soundcard, but won't work at all with my new ZZZ
recorder/camcorder/soundcard."
Let's take a big step backwards and explore the whole area of connecting
mics to recorders (I'll use the word 'recorders' to mean ANY recording
device.)
Modern equipment tends to be pretty reliable. If something doesn't appear
to be working, the possible causes, in order of likelihood are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
It isn't switched on or the battery is flat
You are not operating it correctly
You are using the wrong connecting lead(s) with it
You are plugging a lead into the wrong socket
A connecting lead is faulty
There is a genuine problem with the equipment.
Instruction books, an open mind and common sense should take care of 1,
2 and 4. Let's deal with 5 next.
All decent audio connectors in common use unscrew so that you can check
the internal connections. Look for wires not connected to anything,
terminals with solder on them but no wire attached, wires which look bent
or strained, stray cores of multi-stranded wires which are shorting to an
adjacent connection etc. Gently prod everything to check that all is firm.
Make sure that no stray wires can short to the metal cover when it is
screwed back on.
Is there a means of clamping the lead to the connector or can pulling on
the lead strain the soldered connections? Check that the lead itself is
undamaged. If there are kinks, bulges, cuts or cracks, be suspicious. If it
looks as if it has been strained or bent abruptly, particularly adjacent to the
connectors, suspect that cores may be broken internally.
You'd be surprised how often these simple checks can identify the cause
of a baffling problem and save a lot of time and hassle. Try another lead,
but be aware that, whilst it is unlikely that both will be similarly faulty, it is
quite possible that both are wired (incorrectly for the proposed use) in the
same way.
Page 14