16 & 12 bit Audio
 

Hi, I am using a Canon Xl-1s system and due to some technical problems which can't be fixed for a while(it's a long story), I have to start recording audio in 12bit mode on my camera. The problem is that I am in the middle of shooting a feature length film and all the audio prior to this has been in 16bit mode. Does this sound like it will be a problem? I have two choices here basically, to record the field audio in 12bit, or record it in 16bit, but have to deal with headphones cutting out all the time. It sounds confusing probably, but I have figured that these are the only two choices. So is 12bit audio really going to be a problem?

If it's anything but dialog, yes, it will be a problem. More noticable when it comes to edit time. In terms of hearing 12 bit next to 16 bit on dialog, you won't notice a difference, it's in the editing stage if you are going to be doing fades, processing, etc. It will generally sound weaker, or less robust, but again, if it's dialog only, you shouldn't really notice this. You may want to consider carrying a 16 bit device, or using a tool such as DV Rack to record with?

That's what I thought. I will have a way to record the audio signal, but it's on a very old Digital8 camcorder. So I wonder how it's 16bit audio stacks up to the Xl-1s?

Also Premiere seems to have a lot of trouble mixing different
audio pieces correctly so if you are working with that system I
would definitely not do it.

16 bit is 16 bit. just as 44.1 is 44.1, and 48k is 48k. The relative response isn't about the numbers involved, it's about the converters involved. I don't know what your Hi8 cam's converters will sound like compared to the Canon, although the Canon's converters are pretty good on the scale of DV camera converters.
Using 12 bit vs 16 bit is like comparing a 150dpi image to a 72 dpi image. The greater the resolution, the more you can effectively accomplish with the image.