Can you record audio on camera mic and XLR?
 

Is it possible to record ambient audio on the camera mic AND talent audio on the XLR mic simultaneously on the Canon XL2? If so, what are the settings? Thanks.

Chuck

Heck yeah!

This conversation will sound like the famous VCR recording conversation on "City Slickers" if I try to explain it, so I recommend you just read page 51 in the XL-2 manual and read this thread , and this one.

But to really understand the XL-2 audio, read ALL of these.

12bit vs 16bit audio
 

If I understand the linked threads correctly which refer to 4 ch option on the XL2, the fix referred to only works if 12 bit audio is selected.
If you need the audio to be of highest quality, 16bit is always the recommendation.
Rgds, Ross.
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Ross,
You are correct. If you are recording to two separate mics, you will be recording on all four audio channels and the DV specification only permits 12 bit per channel when four channels are recorded. That is a DV specification thing and not a Canon thing. I think that would be the same if you were recording two mics on any other DV cam also.

For ambient audio on one channel and talent on the other, why not just get a decent cardioid mic and out it on a stand near the camera, pointed away from the talent? That way the mics plug into the two XLR ports and you just forget about the on-board mic altogether. I suggest cardioid instead of omni to help reduce phase effects caused by the talent being picked up on both the talent mic and then the ambient mic with a slight delay.

When you say "ambient" just what exactly are you trying to capture - crowd noises or industrial environments, that sort of thing, or are you trying to capture the "flavour" of the room? Since it's not likely to be sound coming from something visible in the shot, you really don't need to record it in sync on the tape, or even at the same time and place for that matter. You could record it separately as "wild sound" and mix it with your dialog tracks in post.