07Mar Lower price alternative to the Sescom Microphone Attenuation Cable
The Sescom Microphone Attenuation Cable does what it’s supposed to do. It reduces the headphone output of the Zoom h1 to a level that the Camera’s microphone input can handle, but the price has always seemed somewhat unreasonable at $27. That’s a quarter of the price of a new Zoom h1 itself.
Many of you have asked me if there was a lower price alternative to the Sescom cable that would provide you with the same effect. Well here it is, the Koss VC-20 headphone volume controller.
The Koss VC-20 actually does something better then the Sescom Microphone attenuation cable, It provides a volume control wheel that allows you to dial the volume level from the Zoom h1 into the camera from 100 % all the way down to 0% (no audio reaching the camera at all) and everywhere in between. This means you can control your audio levels from the Zoom h1 on the fly. But the best part is the price. At $7.77 (as of this writing) the Koss VC-20 is a much more affordable and useful option then the Sescom cable.
You will still need a cable to go from your camera to the Koss VC-20 volume controller but you can pick up a low price 3.5mm cable for $1.60 on amazon which still keeps the price under $10. Most of you will probably have one laying around the house. Above I have the Koss VC-20 clipped to my personal advanced Zoom h1 shock mount using the little shirt clip on the back of the VC-20 and a twist tie around the extra cable. My Shock mount is blue so that I don’t accidently sell it.
One thing to keep in mind is that it’s better to use as short a cable as you can on the output of the Koss VC-20. Once the signal has been reduced by the volume control, the cable is more likely to pick up noise the longer it gets. The cable and setup is on my video review list, so stay tuned.
March 8th, 2012 at 10:39 am
Brilliant. I am ordering it from Ebay right now. It’s going to take almost a month until it gets here from China but anyway. Thanks Deejay!
March 16th, 2012 at 10:31 am
could you use this to for VOL controller on the rode videomic pro ?
March 16th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Yes you can. I’m working on a video for it this weekend. It works best with the +20 db switch activated.
March 16th, 2012 at 10:46 am
thought so! i got one to
March 23rd, 2012 at 9:13 am
I found a cable on ebay that controls the left and right chanel independently and it’s cheaper than the koss volume control cable. I don’t have the link for the item but if you search “balance+ volume cable” on ebay it will come up.
Now my question is, will this be a cheap way to add 2 indipendent channel levels to zoom h1?
Also, is it possible to connect the rode videomic pro to a mono to stereo jack adapter and then use this cable to get 2 independent levels from the rode videomic pro?
I have ordered the item as it is cheap enough for me to try it whether it works or not. I’ve been following you videos for awhile and if this works, this would be a good topic for another video ^^
May 1st, 2012 at 12:33 pm
With the caveat that I don’t own the items in question, are you aware that headphone outputs are the wrong impedance for a microphone input? This means your frequency response will be skewed. If it sounds fine to you, it’s fine but technically this is not recommended unless there is impedance matching circuitry as well.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/746645-REG/Sescom_LN2MIC_ZOOMH4N_LN2MIC_ZOOMH4N_Line_to.html
You are unlikely to hurt anything, though. Most products these days are designed in the knowledge that mismatches will happen.
May 1st, 2012 at 2:22 pm
The impedance matching is achieved with a resistor. The Koss VC-20 uses a variable resistor to adjust the volume. When the output is balanced (impedance matched), half of the signal is dropped across the resistor in the cable and half is sent to the input of the device. With the variable resistor on the cable the math is pretty simple, when the variable resistor reaches the impedance of the mic level input you’re effectively balanced, adjust above or below that and more or less signal is sent to the input of the camera. Your frequency response wont be effected (you might be able to see the difference with a test set) until you reach either the top or bottom end of the scale. At the bottom end it doesn’t mater because your effectively muting the audio into the camera. At the top end of the scale you’ll be distorting because your signal level will be to “hot” for the camera’s inputs. So the problem of a balanced impedance, kind of solves itself.
November 26th, 2012 at 12:03 am
I’m as noob as noob can get, but isn’t this only a problem when using auto level on the Zoom H1? Or does the manual input level not affect the line out?
December 5th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Anyone got an anwser for my newbie question?
December 5th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Not really sure what you mean.
January 31st, 2014 at 6:57 pm
I’d like an answer to this question as well. I have a 70D and set the camera’s mic input to manual and then one tick above 0 and a standard line cable from the Zoom H1 to line out directly to the camera. how will the attenuation cable help?
January 5th, 2015 at 10:38 am
I bought the attenuation cable, but I find it introduced a lot of noise. I find it much, much better to just use manual audio levels one tick above 0 and just connected directly.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:35 am
How do we know the exact setting to use on the VC20? My DSLR has no monitor of any sort so I think it’s like guesswork on how much to turn the dial to prevent any damage to the mic input.
February 21st, 2014 at 10:15 am
I have a Canon 60D. When patching from the Zoom h1 is it possible to use a splitter cable at the mike output to allow earbud earphones to be used to monitor sound coming out of the mike while being patched into camera? Does such an adapter exist and will it work?
March 23rd, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Clifton,
It can be done using 2 separate cables.
I’m using a H4n and bought the APH-4n accesory pack with it.
This pack came with both a cable splitter and an attenuator cable.
Hook up the splitter first, then run one end to the headphones, and the other end to the attn cable, which feeds the mic input of the dslr.
March 23rd, 2014 at 7:52 pm
I am using patching a Sony PCM M10 recorder to the Canon 60D Mike input. I am wondering if I should use a -25db or -35db attenuation cord.
March 28th, 2014 at 5:28 am
Clifton,
I just purchased the same accessory pack. But when I connect the attenuator to the camera the camera records loud hiss with only the faintest signal in the background. Have you encountered this problem? I am using a Nikon D3200.
Aaron
March 28th, 2014 at 9:21 am
I have not purchased a cable yet so I do not have an experience to share. I will buy the integrated one piece splitter attenuation -25db cable made by Sescom and sold on Amazon or BHphoto when I get around to it.
May 20th, 2014 at 3:07 am
Does anyone know how can I connect my dslr 3200 Nikon with the tascam dr d60 and record to my dslr camera without noise cause now with a simple mic cable to dslr and mic to camera out to the tascam lots of noise.also I bought a sescom cable line to mic.did use it from line out tascam to mic dslr.same noise.when I record only to the tascam everything is fine
February 22nd, 2015 at 5:48 am
hello. do you know if this will work with an olympus LS-10 recorder. the LS-10 fits so nicely on my canon T3i with the cold shoe I recently purchased and I love the idea of having more control over the sound input. thanks