Best 2 or 3 mic set-ups

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

I know that "audio" is just as important as obtaining superb visual images, but although I've got a lifetime of knowledge from working as a professional stills photograper to help give me the 'eye' for obtaining great film footage, I've still got quite a lot to learn about obtaining the very best and cleanest sound.

I've posted a similar post on the XL1/s section, but I'd also like to hear from anyone who uses more than one mic connected to thieir camera; and if their are any rules or best configurations for obtaining stereo sound from two mono mics, best placements in regard to subject and distance from camera etc. - or any pitfalls I may encounter.

Has anyone used two or three mics connected to an XL1 or XL1s or even their XL2...or any DV camera?? I’d be interested to know your favourite ways of mounting them to your camera, plus your preferred methods of connecting them up for producing the best sound, and even more importantly, your favourite setups for the internal Camera Menu, and Audio mic/audio 2 control settings.


To give readers some idea of the equipment that I'm using - I’ve got an onboard XL1s Canon stereo mic covered in a Reinhardt fur windshield, fitted inside a Light Waves Systems mini-mount, and connected to an LWS systems Isolator. I also have two separate Audio Technica AT815 Line + Gradient Super-Hyper-Cardioid microphones with a narrow acceptance angle for picking up long distance sounds.
The AT815 mics connect directly to the back of my MA-200 with XLR –XLR cables.

I’ve been thinking of trying different ways of using them during future filming – mainly outside work.

These are some of my thoughts, but don't be shy of telling me I'm wrong if I've missed something, or that you know of a way of improving my sound quality for outdoor audio:

I could remove the Canon mic and replace it with one AT815 mic, and then place the second AT815 mic on a small arm and clamp (connected to the LWS system bar or slotted into the hotshoe mount). This would mean that both AT mics are pointing at the same subjects as the lens; but if I needed to pick up a sound outside of the lens view (such as a bird in a tree etc) while still recording the main subject, I could adjust the second AT mic on the arm-mount to point at the bird.

Another option is to keep the Canon mic inside the normal onboard LWS mount, and then connect each AT815 microphone to two separate long XLR cables stretching in a forwards cone, from the left and right sides of the camera, and fitted to either small stands or short metal rods screwed into the ground.

I'm interested in any points that you might think worth mentioning with multi-mic setups that could be useful to help me obtain the best from my filming.