Audio Confusion
 

I just recently switched from the Sony HC1 to the A1 and I have been using a beachtek adapter for xlr on the H1. Today is the 1st time I tried to use the built in A1 xlr's (both at the same time) and I need some help. How do you get xlr 1 to play in both left and right headphones and xlr to play in both left and right headphones? I know I am missing something simple. Great forum!

Dave

Hi Dave, welcome aboard!

See page 48 of the manual. In the camera menu, go to Audio Setup and set XLR Input to On. Then check the switches on top of the XLR input block. Set the input channel selection switch to CH1 - CH2. This will insure that the audio coming in to the Channel 1 XLR input is fed to both channels at the same time. You don't have this feature on the Channel 2 input though. If you have two separate inputs, each one will go to its respective channel; they can't be mixed in the camera. If you need them mixed together, that'll require a portable field mixer between the XLR input jacks and your incoming audio sources. Hope this helps,

If I do that I get no sound from the 2nd lav. I am really bad at explaining things. Basically I plug in both xlrs. Through the headphones one xlr comes in the left speaker the other in the right. How do I get both xlr's to come in both headphones


Dave

The labeling of the mono/stereo switch in the XL and XH cameras isn't necessarily intuitive. The long name of button 12 on p11 of the manual is "Where you want the output of the Channel 1 XLR jack to go." If you set that button to Ch1+Ch2 you'll get mono from XLR1 and XLR2 will be dead, whereas if you want stereo from the XLR's, set to Ch1, and then XLR1 will only record to the left channel and XLR2 will record to the right channel. The headphones will monitor whatever that setting is. As Chris indicated, you can't mix the two channels in-camera; the jack is for monitoring the audio output.

Yeah, sorry but it's not possible to mix the two channels together in the camera. If you want both audio sources mixed together so that they're both going down each channel, you'll need a portable field mixer as I said. Shure makes a good little unit with three inputs and two outputs that will do what you want.

Thanks guys! My audio knowledge is weak. I just found it strange that I could plug in my Beachtek xlr adapter and get what I was looking for. I suppose you copy paste in post to achieve "stereo" like results. Thanks for taking it easy on the newbie!!

Dave

When you shoot with two separate mics on two separate audio channels, you generally want them to be separate on the tape. That way, if one channel is hotter than the other or if one picks up some noise, it doesn't affect the other.

Later, in your editing software setup, you should be able to choose whether your two channels of audio are dual mono or stereo. You want them to be dual mono -- and then also make sure the "pan" setting is in the middle if you want both audio tracks to be in both the left and right channels equally. The "pan" setting controls where you hear each channel -- you can have either channel all the way left, all the way right, or anywhere in between. You can control your soundstage with the "pan" control -- you can have #1 person on the left, in the middle, or on the right, and also the #2 person can be anywhere you want -- hopefully so it matches what you see on screen. If you originally record with the channels mixed together, they'll both be dead center, and you can't change that.

If your Beachtek gives you both channels in both ears, you've got the m/s switch set wrong or the plug doesn't match the camera -- it should keep them separate as well.

It may not make sense, but to get the "stereo" sound from two mics on two different people, you want your edit program sound set to dual mono, and not stereo. The stereo setting is only when you're recording the same thing with two of the same mics, at a distance from each other, but at the same levels -- like the way your ears work.

And to bring this back to the XHA1, you need to set the switch on top of the xlr box have the sound from xlr1 be separated from xlr2.

chuck

Thanks! I did have the Beachtek set wrong. (Lack of knowledge) I used the xlr's off of the A1 last night and they we're split meaning 1 into left 2 into right.

Now in Final Cut is the pan setup easy to find/grasp? I am not in front of FCP now so I can't look at it. I alsays assumed if you had audio from a source that you brought in and it was only on 1 side you just copy/paste and ta da dual mono. Right?

Dave

In Final Cut, I think the dual mono channels have the "pan" setting set to the middle by default, so even if you have sound only on one channel, you'll hear it in both. No cutting and pasting required, unless you have it set to stereo instead of dual mono.

In the "modify" menu, there's an "audio" submenu setting to pan a clip left or right or center, or there's a slider in the viewer window.



chuck

Thanks a lot Chuck!


Dave

No Independent Volume When 1 Chnl Into 2
 

Well, tonight I ran into a serious drawback to the XHA1 audio.

On most cameras, you can run a single shotgun mic into both channels and then set the volume separately on left and right. This is desireable when you have widely varying sound levels -- you can set one channel higher than the other and then choose which one you use in post.

On the XHA1, if you run the xlr channel 1 into both channels, you can't control the volume independently. I hadn't needed to use it before now and was very surprised to find out it wouldn't work.

aaaarrrgh


chuck

That's news to me. You're saying that when Ch1 - Ch2 is selected, the Audio 2 pot is disabled, and whatever level you set for Audio 1 is duplicated to Audio 2. Bummer. Good to know that however. Thanks for pointing this out Chuck,

Correct. I couldn't believe it and spent way too much time going through menus to try to find a way to override, but no go. The attenuation switch on ch2 doesn't do anything either, when ch1 xlr input is set to Ch1-Ch2.

Wow, that sucks, but I guess it could be worse, at least you can get an XLR splitter and run the one mic to both channels via the splitter. But at a camera at this price point you would think that would be a givin, especially since all of the previous canon cameras with XLR's had this function.

Right -- but when you really really need that feature, you're in run-n-gun panic mode and don't have time to dig out a splitter.....