Strange microphone issue with A6500 when using Imaging Edge?

[Johnhoward28]

Here's the setup. I use my A6500 for in-studio video recording while connected to my laptop running the Sony Imaging Edge for Desktop. I also use it with the Smartphone Imaging Edge APP if in my outdoor studio setting. I use an external Rode Shotgun mic that is connected to the camera for audio capture in some cases.

While using the above setup, with either the desktop or the Android app, if my microphone sensitivity is set to anything higher than 5 in the camera, I get an audio loudness boost that virtually ruins the audio of the recording. Now, let me explain that last sentence a little, What I mean is, the camera automatically increases the sensitivity of the microphone to the maximum level during times of silence. For example. Say I read a line from my script and then pause for five seconds to read the next line before speaking again. During that five-second pause, the sensitivity of the microphone will boost all the way from level 6 to level 30. So when I start talking again, the volume will be at max loudness. Now as I keep talking the mic will adjust back down to level 6 (or whatever I have the mic set to) and stay there as long as I keep talking. But as soon as I stop talking, even for one second, it starts going back up again.

A couple of things about this problem.

1. It only happens when using the app to control the camera. I use this same mic on this camera all the time in the field while using the on-camera buttons and I do not have this issue.

2. It does not happen if the mic sensitivity is set to 5 or below.

I have looked everywhere for a fix.  Yes, I know the workarounds of keeping the sensitivity at 5 or below or recording on a separate microphone, but both of those workarounds increase the workload during editing. I am hoping that the is a real fix for this problem that I don't know about. 

 

[Pieter]

Similar issue here, so it's a known problem. Unfortunately, no solution provided:

 

[Johnhoward28]

5 hours ago, Pieter said:

Similar issue here, so it's a known problem. Unfortunately, no solution provided:

 

It seems to me that Sony has just abandoned the a6500.  You can still buy the a6400 but it seems the a6500 is an orphan model and Sony never had any intention of supporting it.