Customer Reviews

AZDEN CAM-3 On-Camcorder Mini Audio Mixer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ok - you're all set to record an interview. Your interviewer has one radio lapel mic and their subject has been mic'ed with your backup radio mic on a different frequency, but they have the mic way too close to their mouth and dwarf the interviewer. You have a stereo shotgun mic on your hotshoe mount for B-roll footage and you're ready to go.....

Except for the fact you have 3 microphone sources and your camcorder has one stereo mic input - plus your two radio mics have different output levels causing one channel to clip occasionally as your two radio mics have unequal levels and you must unplug everything to use your shotgun stereo mic, which isn't easy to do with today's tiny cameras.

That's where this comes in. There are 4 jacks and 3 sliders on this compact product just slightly bigger than a DV tape in its case.

You have inputs 1 and 2 which are left and right mono inputs great for radio mics, each with their own amplitude slider to get your levels equalized and bring two separate mono sources to a stereo output. Input 3 is a stereo input for a stereo microphone that you might use in shooting b-roll footage. If you want to kill it from the interview mix, just slide the volume for mic 3 all the way down and its gone. You can also mix in some of the ambient sound with a touch of the 3rd slider.

Sure it would be nice to have a mixing board on the back of your hand strap to manage audio, right? This is the only product I could find that even comes close. The next step is a 4 channel audio production set which dwarfs the size of most camcorders today. On the back of this case is a clip which can be rotated 90 degrees into 4 positions to clip onto anything and hold on tight.

Since everything is passive and well shielded noise is not an issue, but be sure your mics are powered (most video cameras want separately powered mics anyways, even if it is a button cell in the mic case). The very low output from unpowered dynamic capsules won't do as well as a condenser mic with a button cell inside giving you 7mv RMS or so of output.

The mixer comes with 2 cables, a mono-stereo and a stereo-stereo to connect it's 4th jack (stereo mic mix out) to your camera's stereo external mic in. All jacks are 3.5 mm, 1&2 are mono, 3&4 are stereo (with 4 being the mix output and 3 being the stereo mic in)

This is a great accessory for anyone with more than one mic in use on a portable camera and at the price it's a very affordable solution for the convenience in setup it offers. If you have ever cursed that your camera doesn't have 3 mic-inputs with knobs for each, then this is the next best thing, and easier to use while shooting than the camera's controls.

There is one really minor negative that won't affect most users - being a passive device not requiring a battery, this mixer will not output a signal higher than the input signals from your sources. If used with powered mics this is not a problem, but really low level outputs will be low level going into your camera. If you know you want to record a weak signal (say an electric guitar) you'll want a pre-amp to go on that signal. You can attenuate strong signals down with this to get equality.

My unit stays with my 2 radio mics and receivers in their case and gets used every time I hook up external mics to my camera. It is a clean and lightweight solution to a messy cable problem in the field. I give it 5 stars because it handles most everything in an elegant simple manner with a minimum number of parts and is designed for today's smaller HD camcorders. Form definitely follows function in the product design.

I've had the opportunity to use the azden cam-3 for the first time at a wedding anniversary and I plugged in my three mics to it; on channel 3 I plugged in my stereo shot gun mic and I moved the slider on the Cam-3 all the way up to increase the audio signal and I notice that this mic was my weakest one, so I increase the audio levels on my camcorder accordingly.The wireless and the interview mic had stronger audio signals so I moved the sliders down for channels 1 and 2 to adjust the audio for each one of them accordingly. It gave me the flexibility to open and shut each mic just the way I needed.
I was hesitant about buying this audio mixer because of the first bad review that this person gave to the Azden Cam-3, but now that I myself used it I can tell that he just did not know what he was doing, that is why I took the time to post this review. Great product at a great price. Keep up the good work Azden.

It does just what I need it to do which is balance two microphones. It does not amplify the weaker, but lets me control the one that is always too strong.

I agree with one of the other reviews. The sound is good on one channel only and does not work or is weak on the other two. Sort of defeats the purpose. It worked the first time I used it and has not worked since. Get a Nady MM-141. It's half the price and works great. The only difference is it requires a 9 volt battery.

This works to level off the stronger inputs and increase the weaker inputs. I've used this on a combo of an Azden Shotgun mike connected with an XLR-3.5 and two Azden FM lav mikes. It boosted the lav mikes volume slighly enough to give me a clear input signal. With the Panasonic DVX100B, this works best because of the amount of control the DVX100B offers for professional audio recording. You should have this as an option for on-camera recording even if you have a separate recording kit (data-recorder, boom etc).

Has no preamp and not battery powered so all passive. Volume on channels has to be turned up so high that you barely hear anything and full of shhhhhhhhhhh (white noise)

Don't buy it.

My wife and I do street interviews for our web sites, and I needed something to lower the volume of my wireless mics. I was reluctant to purchase the Azden Cam-3, because of some of the very negative reviews it received. But I took a chance anyway.

Here is my response to the negative feedback givers:

It's definitely possible that you received one that was DOA. However, those who gave this product negative feedback for other reasons, don't understand what the Azden Cam-3 does, and does not do.

1. It does NOT increase the volume of a microphone. How can it? It is passive--no battery and no electrical connection.
2. It does NOT hum, or add any other noise or interference. Let me restate this--it's passive, so it can't add hum or any other extraneous noise.
3. What it's meant to do, it does perfectly! It adjusts the volume of a microphone that might be louder than others that are connected, to create a uniform volume. It does NOT increase the volume of the others, just lowers the volume of the overly load one.
4. It's a perfect size--a little larger than a Digital Video Cassette. I easy attached it to the side strap on my Panasonic DVC30.

I do wish that ALL the inputs were stereo, but it's not that big a deal. As it is, inputs 1 and 2 are mono, and input 3 and the output are stereo.

Bottom line: It does exactly what the AD says it does!!! My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

I bought this mixer in the hope that I could start using some of my mono mics with my Kodak Zi8, and it did not turn out so great. I plugged in my Audio-Technica ATR35 in the 3rd hole (the one that take any audio feed and turns it into a stereo one), and the result was sub-par. Sure, the recorded sound was in stereo, but a fair amount of static white noise was also added in comparison with plugging the mic directly in and getting audio only on the left channel.

I ended up having to clean up the audio anyway.

This is a great little device and their is no need for batteries which is a real plus. The only other thing you could use besides this is a "boggie box" for xlr inputs from Beachtek, but could cost you 5 times the price. Its compact and fits on the right side of your camera sliding neatly over the adjustable hand grip. I use it on a a little sony HD camera (SR11) and use it with the sony bluetooth radio mic's and a handheld stereo mic. Great little gadget which lets you play with your levels up and down. If you want your videos more professional you need this. You can't go wrong with it priced under 50 bucks.

This mixer is worth for more than the price. It gives you the ability to mix two mics in mono or one mic in stereo. I shoot a local interest tv show. This helps me control the volume as well as ad an additional mic for interviews. This is a simple and well designed product that I highly recommend.