Do you need a mic with phantom power to use it with the S4

[rdej47]

I tried hooking up a mic to my S4 and it just seemed really quiet, do I need one with phantom power?

[Steve Zorilow]

S4 do not provide any Phantom power, what kind of MIC have you tried? Are you sure your XLR-1/4"" cable is ok?

[rdej47]

yes the cable is okay its and i've got all the necessary knobs turned up but i barely get anything from it.

[Steve Zorilow]

Weird... mmm... may I ask if you're using a balanced 1/4 jack (stereo) or a unbalanced (Mono) one?

[mostapha]

what kind of mic?

If you have a condenser, it needs phantom power, which the s4 apparently won't provide. If there's still a charge left in the capacitor, it could give you a really quiet signal without being powered…maybe.

Or your mic's broken.

Have you tried plugging your headphones into the mic jack and talking into them…it sounds weird, but it works…that might help you isolate whether it's the mic/cable or the s4 that's messing up.