Canon XL2 Audio problem
 

Hello,

I have a Canon XL2 and I recently purchased a Rode Videomic to use as a mono mic while I use wireless lavs connected to the back of the camera by an XLR cable.

I seem to be able to hook up the lavs to go to one channel but I can't seem to hook up the mono mic to go to one channel - it always goes to 2 channels. It seems that where you plug the mic in (I am using the front mic port - the front stereo mic that was included with the camera) the port splits the audio into stereo anyway - is this a correct assessment?

I read a few posts on this list that addressed Canon XL2 audio but didn't find a definitetive answer. The Canon support line was unhelpful - they told me to do this I would need to use the 12bit 4 channel setting (Most people recommend never using 12bit audio).

My question is - is this possible on the Canon XL2? Do I need some sort of adapter to get a mono track for this Rode mic? Do I have the wrong setting somewhere on the camera? Will I be forced to use 12 bit audio to record both these channels?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As I mentioned, the Canon help line was unhelpful, and the Canon manual leaves much to be desired.

Thanks,
Jenny

Jenny, the 1/8th-inch minijack (where the onboard mic plugs in) is definitely a stereo input.

If you want to use that input *in addition* to the XLR inputs on the back of the camera, then yes you will need to switch the Audio Setup menu to four-channel 12-bit audio.

You could convert the mini plug to a XLR and plug it into the rear XLR along with the wireless, go on the side audio controls and switch the mike inputs to rear, you will have 1 channel the wireless and the other the mike, and you could leave it in 16-bit