ATTENTION Wranglers and XL-1 Pros

[Eric Lian]

Hi Folks,

I hate to repost this here, but my very important question regarding whether you can get audio from the XL-1 factory mic and a lav connected through an MA-100 "at the same time" is not getting a lot of traffic in the Canon XL1 / XL1S Microphones & Audio.

Can I use the XL-1 factory mounted mic AND a lav connected to an MA-100 and hear sound from both mics at the same time without rewiring, adapters, or further modifiations? I'm talking about the factory mic plugged into the default stereo plug, and the MA-100 plugged into the Audio 2 RCA jacks.

I say NO. In my experience, whenever I engage the lav through the MA-100, it knocks out the factory mic.

Here's what I'm doing.

1. I turn the XL-1 on.
2. I set Audio Mode to 12 bit ST-1,2
* AUDIO 1 IN ---
*Audio Input Select switch set to "MIC"

** I can hear sound coming into my headphones from the factory mic.

Now...

* My Azden 500UDR receiver is connected to the AUDIO 2 RCA jacks in the XL-1 handle.

3. I scroll down to THE AUDIO 2 menu selection. I enter the selection > Choose MIC.

** I can hear the lav in my earphones, but the factory Mic is disabled.

This happens everytime.

If your suggestion is to rewire the stereo plug into the open MA-100 connection - fine - I can live with that.

But the question remains, is it possible to use the factory mic and an external mic (lav) at the same time without having to rewire or buy another adapter.

I say No.

There's an outside chance that I was born stupid, so if the answer is yes, how do you set it up?

Thanks!

[Adam Burtle]

from memory, so i may be slightly off.

in the audio setup menu (in viewfinder) select ST 1,2

Audio 1: ---
Audio 2: LINE IN

Plug RCA's into audio2 RCA INPUTS. Leave OEM mic plugged into it's minijack. open the audio door on the left side of the camera, and make sure the input lever for audio 1 is set to mic.

then, on the audio monitor, select MIXED to hear both the audios running. as a reminder the audio monitor is a button located at the top of the "Red" part of your XL1(s) near the dial you use to select auto/manual/spotlight/etc modes. It is right next to the little LCD readout that shows you your audio levels. press it to toggle through audio 1, 2, and a mix of 1 and 2. Perhaps this is the problem.. you are actually getting four channel audio, just didnt have the monitor set to listen to both mics simultaneously?

[Eric Lian]

Thanks, Adam.

The audio monitor is the key.
If someone goes through all of the setup and fails to engage the audio monitor to listen to to ST 1 and 2, the supossed result is that the lav overides the factory mic.

I'm sure there are others that will benefit from that information as well.

[Chris Hurd]

We have a detailed and complete guide on the Watchdog that outlines exactly how to do this. See http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article71.php for configuring the XL1 / XL1S for 12-bit four-channel recording (onboard stereo mic plus one or two XLR mics). Hope this helps, and for archivepurposes I'm moving this thread to the XL1 Audio section where it belongs.