hey guys,
i'm working on a short and i am wondering if i have been recording mono on audio on my camera. i'm sure this is not the case as i see both channels working on the lcd screen but when i import into final cut and drag it to the timeline it says it's mono. when i hear it on the headphones i here sound out of both earphones. am i going crazy? this is of course some reason to concern as i am thinking that i either did something to the settings on final cut or i broke the camera. any help would be awesome. thanks.

It is possible to record mono sound (i.e., same audio on both channels so both channel meters will move in step) with the XH-A1. How did you have it configured when you did the recording? How does it sound when you play it in the camcorder listening with earphones?

If that is OK, then you likely have an issue with your capture/editing software

Hi Don,
I am hearing audio out of both speakers on the headphones when i am using the camera. i am also using the internal mic and have all the settings on normal and/or automatic. you know what? there was one setting in the audio set up menu where the "audio M" option was "normal" or "line out" and it was set to "line out". could that be it? are there any setting on the camera that will inadvertently record in mono that i am not aware of? thanks answering

Try listening with headphones while playing back in the camcorder to see if it recorded stereo sound. You should be able to hear a stereo effect if the sound source has sufficient spatial diversity in it.

I believe that the built-in mic only records stereo. However, you can set the XLR input to record the mic connected to CH1 to both CH1 and CH2 (mono).

You can also set the audio output (analog audio output) to mono (one recorded channel only) using the menu - see page 100 in the manual.

I cannot speak to Final Cut.

Not sure if this is your issue, but the default import when using log & capture is to take a dual mono for the audio, you have to chain them together to get the joint stereo track.

See this image:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1748/dualmonort2.jpg

Hi Jo,
thanks for the input. i actually tried that and imported some footage and chained the two circles as directed. when i tried to take the clip and put it in the timeline there was an error saying that this is not a movie... i'll try again later today.

Hi Jo,
thanks for the input. i actually tried that and imported some footage and chained the two circles as directed. when i tried to take the clip and put it in the timeline there was an error saying that this is not a movie... i'll try again later today. also since there is a way to record mono on the camera what is the correct setting for the in camera mic to record in stereo in case i set something up accidently. thanks.