if i hook up a shotgun mic to my gl2 am i supossed to see l/r (indicators) and hear left and right in my headphones. i've used a beachtwek box and also an xlr to super mini cable. in both cases i only get a left or a right and the the other indicator shows very little. audio in one side only (headphones). what am i doing wrong?

Most shotgun mics only use one channel. So you're not doing anything wrong.

thanx ken. i was sweating bullets! i have a morning shoot and i was about to freak out.

mb4

why is it when i hook up this same mic (that only uses one channel) to a different camera (sony d30-dv cam) i can hear both right and left in my headphones? in the gl2 i only hear one side. does anyone know why?

mb4

I don't know that camera. But, off-hand, I'd have to say that the camera is set to either send 1 channel to both tracks or simply send audio to both cups of your headphones.

As ken notes, it dependis on how the camcorder handles audio. Some only have mono to headphones, some auto detect if one or two channel input is conencted and switch accordingly, some will have a manual setup.

Work around to left-only (or right-only) sound is to add the audio to the other channel in post.

I have a question for all of you on this subject. I am running auido out of one of the subs on a mixing board. I am having the same problem, when running a 1/4" to a mini jack I only get one channel of audio (the left channel always) and nothing coming in on the right channel. Is there a setting on the camera to have it come into both channels? I really need both channels occupied for my use. The only way around this is, that I am using a laptop to record the audio so I run the audio into my laptop to record the audio in Sound Forge. Then I run the audio though the headphone jack on the Laptop right back out to the GL2 through a mini to mini cable, and that seems to work fine, by giving me the two channels I need. But for now, I would like to just run the 1/4" to mini cable straight from the mixing board to the camera. IF that is possible (and still get the two channels), I would really appreciate advice on how to achieve that.

Thanks,

david.

David,

Sure is possible. You'll probably need to build your own cable but what you'll need is a "Stereo" (three contacts) 1/8" plug and a 1/4" plug. Wire it so that the ring and tip (the outer two contacts on the 1/8" plug) are both connected to the mic out of the 1/4". That will provide the same audio to both channels.

Michael, as Don points out - Do It In Post. I've done this with Sonic Foundry's entry level NLE: VideoFactory >$100USD, maybe even $60.00! You can Audio Pan the mono to a type of pseudo-stereo. Now I'm using SF's Vegas4 - I can add Audio-Panning points and have the mono even more workable to a type of stereo - if I want. Imagine a Steam train going from Left to Right - all recorded in mono. I can now have the audio approach from the left, stop in the centre, then move on to exit stage right - neat eh!

Grazie

Mono-to-stereo (actually 2 channel) adapters are readily available. You can probably buy one at your local Radio Shack.

Yep, the 1/8 to 1/8 mini adaptor you are looking for is available at Radio Shack for ONLY $2.99 and when you plug your shotgun's mini into that, and then that into the cam, you will get audio on both channels