Monday, January 25, 2010

Azden CAM-3 / 3-Channel Mic Mixer Review

Not much bigger than a Mini-DV tape case the Azden Cam-3 on-camera audio mixer is a handy unit to have when you need to mix more than one microphone signal into your camcorder. I recently purchased one of these for event videography and this is my review of the product.

I do have a few reservations about it however, over all I would recommend it. We will get to the reservations later. First let me say it is built well and does what it is supposed to do, mix audio.

Before purchasing the product I had some concerns it would be cheap plastic and constructed poorly. After all it is tiny and does not need a battery or any amplification. But looks (such as the photo above) can be deceiving. The unit is very well built and heavier than expected. The control sliders move smoothly and freely without sticking. Adjusting the sound volume of each microphone is easy and precise.

Because it is not amplified you will have to use powered microphones. I use the unit to mix a wireless mic and shotgun mic. There are three inputs and one output. You can feed output either in stereo or mono with the two supplied cables. The Azden CAM-3 makes it a breeze to mix and set the audio of each microphone to the same levels and send that sound into your microphone input on your camera.

It is small and will not take up much space in your camera bag, making it portable and good to have on hand for any shooting conditions. The unit comes with an extra belt clip, some Velcro for mounting and the two cables; mono to stereo and stereo to stereo. if you have ever tried to get good sound from your on-board camera mic with the subject at a distance, or multiple subjects you will love having this gadget available. Mixing on the fly is easy.

Now for the reservations.

I would have preferred a shoe mount rather than the belt clip attachment. Frankly the belt clip would probably last about 10 seconds on my belt before breaking. The instructions recommend attaching it to your shirt pocket. Probably a good idea. Another idea is to mount it to your wrist strap on the camcorder. However this may cause your hand to be encumbered by the dangling wires from the microphones and output cord.

I recommend you either build or buy an attachment bar for your camera that will allow you to offset and attach other devices to the camera and use that. Either Velcro it or use a trusty rubber band. Just make sure it is secure. You can cable tie the cables and make it neat, or as neat as you can depending on your camera configuration. Gotta love those ties, I keep a bundle with me in my camera case at all times.

Another slight peeve I have is the inputs and output are on the bottom edge of the unit. Good for hanging the unit vertical but the cables get in the way if the unit is horizontal. My plan is to build a plate to extend behind the camera with the mixer mounted horizontally on it. Alas, the mixer will be easy to see and use but the cables will be in the way. Though I must admit just about any configuration I come up with, I will still have to deal with the cables.

We live in a wired world so I expect this and it's not that much of an issue.

I also discovered that depending on which input I use, the levels may not be as strong. For instance the first input appears to have less volume than the last two. Any microphone plugged into that input is weaker than the next. After a bit of experimentation I found that the shotgun is best in the middle port and the wireless is best in the third input next to the output. The process of elimination caused me to assume the closer to the output, the better the signal input. Perhaps because the first input is further away from the output it suffers some sound loss?

Either way, that is more of an annoyance than a issue. I'll just keep in mind to use the last two inputs and put my stronger source on the first slider if needed. I'd rather do that than haul a huge mixer around with me. After all, the idea is to be portable, and the Azden Cam-3 is totally portable.

Because the unit is so tiny mixing is easy with either a simple finger push on the slider or use your thumb. The audio crescendo and diminish is smooth as silk. With a good pair of headphones you will be mixing and adjusting with ease. As with anything, practice make perfect.

One more thing, if you have been using mono to stereo adapters for your mono microphones to connect to your camcorders stereo input you will find the mixer will make that unnecessary. I still keep the adapters in my case but the mixer will reduce the need for them.

You can get an Azden CAM-3 mixer at Amazon.com, B&H Photo and plenty of other outlets on the web. I purchased mine from UBuyCheap on eBay. The specs read as follows;

This miniature 3-channel microphone mixer allows you to add and mix sound from 3 microphone sources simultaneously. The mixer features 3 MONO 3.5mm input jacks and 1 STEREO 3.5mm output jack. Only 3 1/4" x 1/4" x 2 1/8", it weighs 3 ounces, uses no batteries and can be attached to the camcorder or the handstrap. Comes with a STEREO-to-MONO output cable.

Overall, I do recommend this product despite the obvious shortcomings such as cable spaghetti and lack of a shoe mount. For non-powered mics you will find it limited if not useless. But for powered mics, it's all that and a bag of chips!
J.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi there,

Great blog, just what I was looking for. I'm shooting a Canon 7D and looking at passive, portable mixers to go with a Rode Videomic. This seems to fit the bill.

Also looking in to making a bracket for accessories, as the shoe is taken by the Mic. Not much choice in the NZ market, but improvising a lot.

Anyway, thanks for the review.

Sarah said...

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your review of this product. I bought the CAM-3 portable audio mixer together with the Azden WMS-PRO wireless MIC system. I've been testing it with my laptop's mic input instead of a camera. I couldn't get sound to come out clearly from the wireless mics at all. After reading your post, I plugged the receiver into channel 3 and both mics, plugged individually into the transmitter, were fine.

The problem is I cannot get the mics to work directly with the mixer - i.e without the wireless receiver.

I am not sure whether the handheld mic in my Azden kit is powered or not because when I tried to use it as a second mic and plugged it into one of the other channels, i couldn't get the sound to work.

Just check again (:-) The handheld doesn't use any batteries so i suppose it's not. Just didn't foresee any hiccups with getting the two products together. I might have to return the mixer because i do not have any power mics.

I think a mono adapter/splitter will serve me well for now.

Sarah Dee said...

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your review of this product. I bought the CAM-3 portable audio mixer together with the Azden WMS-PRO wireless MIC system. I've been testing it with my laptop's mic input instead of a camera. I couldn't get sound to come out clearly from the wireless mics at all. After reading your post, I plugged the receiver into channel 3 and both mics, plugged individually into the transmitter, were fine.

The problem is I cannot get the mics to work directly with the mixer - i.e without the wireless receiver.

I am not sure whether the handheld mic in my Azden kit is powered or not because when I tried to use it as a second mic and plugged it into one of the other channels, i couldn't get the sound to work.

Just check again (:-) The handheld doesn't use any batteries so i suppose it's not. Just didn't foresee any hiccups with getting the two products together. I might have to return the mixer because i do not have any power mics.

I think a mono adapter/splitter will serve me well for now.

Paul G. said...

Yes, as he mentions in the article above. You must use powered mikes with this unit. Unpowered mikes will not work.
This unit is a keeper for easy use and portability. i keep one in each camera bags. Jay gives good advice.

Tom said...

Hey Jay,

I recently bought this mixer. However, when I plugged all the necessary cords with the Rode Videomic (my Azden WMS-PRO wireless MIC system is in the mail right now), there is just a lot of static and buzzing when I plug the headphones in. What am I doing wrong here? How good does the headphones have to be? I mean, the buzzing starts when I plug it in. But even without the headphones plugged in, there is still a hum when I playback.

My camera is a Sony VG10 just so you know. So the audio controls (fully automatic on the camera) might have something to do with this? Any help is good help.

Thanks.

Jay Michael said...

There shouldn't be any buzzing. The unit is passive, it just passes the signal through. Plus it contains no battery or power source to generate a buzz or hum. Check your mics and your camera.
I know on the HV30/40 you have to set the input on the menu for AV or mic, so it will accept something plugged in. Your Sony may have something similar to set.

I also have a Azden WMS-PRO and it works fine on mine. It should on yours too. Wait till the Azden comes in and put them both on it. If it continues to buzz or hiss, send it back and get a replacement.
If you plug the Rode directly into the camera, does it buzz?

Tom said...

Jay,

I checked the camera out and the only setting for audio is turning it on or off for recording.

The main problem it has is when I plug in my headphones and I receive feedback from the headphone jack. No one can stand that hissing sound nonstop. However, it becomes worse if the channel that the mic is on is cranked all the way up. But for some reason, turning the other two channels (without anything in them) down actually makes the feedback on the headphones worse. If that makes any sense.

And also, since the VG10 doesn't have audio levels on it, how would you recommend going about finding out the correct levels that goes on in the camera?

Jay said...

Hmmm, without being able to test it myself and from your description of the issue I'd have to guess you have a defective unit.
When I plug mine in it's quiet. I've not experienced any hiss or noise. Have you tried different mics and headphones to eliminate them as the cause? How did the wireless work with it?
I'm probably going to pick up another soon because i have a new camera (hv40) and I'll need one for both cameras.
I wonder if any other readers have experienced this? If so please post here.
J.

Anonymous said...

I have a JVC camcorder with a microphone input. When I plug my Yamaha mixer into the microphone input, I get a buzz. What I have discovered is that the voltage from the mixer is too high for the input in my camera but it works perfect for the input in my computer. What I am curious about is if the Azden cam-3 reduces the voltage in it's output for camcorders. I am curious if that's the problem Tom is having.

Jay Michael said...

The Azden mixer will only pass through so I doubt it would step down any voltage. You may want to look into an XLR adapter instead. http://tinyurl.com/3lnc8ns It will take the micro plug from a mic and XLR plugs. These have grounding circuits and balance the audio. It will get rid of the buzz.