Depends on a number of things. There is a good chance the audio output of the avionics are different than the XL-1's input. If you are looking for the best quality possible then you will need an impedance matching device.

Otherwise, you might be able to get by with an audio cable and some kind of decoupling capacitor inline with the audio. You can probably get most or all of this at Radio Shack or musician's supply store.

I used to fly with a "breakout box" intercom system. The David Clarks plugged into the box and the box plugged into the headphone output/mic input in the Cessna's instrument panel.

The box provided a voice-activated intercom which was overridden anytime the pilot pushed the radio transmit button on the yolk.

It also featured a 1/8" audio output jack into which you could plug-in a standard recorder or feed into a video camera.

It's then a simple matter of adapting the 1/8" connector to an XLR connector -- or one of the RCA jacks -- of the Canon XL1.

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

A potential issue may be the impedance and sensitivity of the headphones. Some commonly found headphones draw too much power for the XL1 to drive them adequately.

From the manual, the XL1s hardphone jack has a charactristic impedance of 120 ohms and can provide -25 dBV (aboput 56 mV) into 16 ohms, not very much nower.

Sennheiser Evolution 500
 

Can someone help? I have an XL1s with the MA200 attached. I connect the receiver xlr jack to the MA200 and I have the me2 mic attached to the transmitter. No matter what I do I can't get levels above -50 to -40 dBs. I've tried manual settings, and nothing seems to help. I've also cranked the receiver volume. Anyone have any clues?

MA200 Problem
 

Ok, I tried an XLR mic directly to the MA200 and it was still low. Then I plugged the receiver to where the onboard mic plugs into and I get good levels. Anyone know what to do about the MA200? It seems to be losing juice going thru the MA200.

Waste of Bandwidth
 

Ok sorry to waste the bandwidth but this was a RTFM problem.
I assumed that when you flipped the switch on the side of the camera it automatically switched the menu options as it appeared to do, but then under Audio1, instead of Line(default) you have to switch it to Mic.

:)

Don't feel bad. You have a lot of company on that issue. It is far and away the most common single user question regarding XL1 and 1s audio.

Yeah, if Chris Hurd had a nickel for every time that happened he'd own Canon!

In other words, you're in good company....

BTW, how do you like the 500? Is the 500's bodypack receiver a diversity system?

I have the same question, and I am still a little confused.

Basically, I have an MA-200, a Canon Xl1s, and a ME66 Seenheisser shotgun mic. That's all I have and that's all I'm going to have, can't afford another mic.

How do I get this one microphone to record stereo onto the camera, just like I was able to do with a Beachtek/ME66/ VX2000?
I have to do it in post? Tunstin, how is your method not 'true stereo'?

No idea how this works. Is stereo usually done with two mics running through a mixer?

Brad,
The answer's the same as Tustin provided, above. It's not true "stereo", as indeed, Tustin also noted, which requires a stereo mic. That is, a mic that's basically 2 mics in one. (Yes, the onboard mic on the XL1 is stereo.)

Hi Ken,
To clarify, if I got another Sennheiser shotgun mic, connected one to the left, and one to the right...both on audio 1, would it be true stereo? I've never done this before...which is why I'm so confused. I've always used the old beachtek adapter which I guess senses a single input and outputs it to both signals.

If one mic in the left and one in the right isn't stereo either, then would a mixer on set solve this? And if so, would you recommend an affordable one? (preferably something easy to use for someone like me). Or does this always have to be done in post?

(forgive my ignorance, these questions must be really basic, I am definitly NOT a sound guy and this is all new to me, thanks for any info).


EDIT - nevermind my very first question, I didn't read your post correctly. I now understand it will not be true stereo unless you get a stereo mic. The main question I have then is how to capture two signals and mix them properly I guess.

Brad,
Two shotguns would be stereo, in that you would now have two independant channels of sound. But you would be using two super cardiod, narrow-field mics. I don't think it would achieve much.

Is your goal to simply avoid duplicating a single channel in post, or is it to capture a true stereo sound field with accurate left and right channels?

Sennheiser does make a stereo shotgun mic (I think it's their MK416 model, but not sure). Also, Audio-Technica makes a very good stereo mic, their AT-822, which features a much wider field.

Two mics can be two channel, stereo is a special case of two channel in that it attempts to form a sound image that reflects the relative placement of the sound sources during playback. Go to the Shure.com web site and check their paper about mic pacement for recording.

http://www.shure.com/pdf/booklets/mics_for_music_studio.pdf

Ther are a numbr of other interesting papes there as well.

Ma 200
 

I think I made yet another stupid mistake... I got the MA 200 for my xl1s so that I could go BNC into my video card. I have a Voodoo 64 with SDI ins... was this stupid? or am I just missing some sort of setup?

Michael

The MA200 is really meant for audio (XLR) THe BNC is a nice little feature but all it is doing is converting the phono connection (A/V) into BNC. You could go down to your local Video store and pick up a Phono to BNC adapter for a couple of £'s/ $' that will do the same job.

Another thing the ouput on the XL1/s is composite and not SDI therefore it will not work.

SDI input/output are found on betacam equipment not DV.

Ed