I am planning to buy an AT835b external shotgun mike for my GL-2 and was wondering if it would make sense to buy and use two of them to get stereo sound? Most of the stuff I want to do involves interviews, but I would like to try my hand at some nature videography.

Other than the redundancy provided by using two microphones (in case one dies) is there any qualitative advantage to using two mikes? I was thinking about having one pointed directly at the main sound source and one pointed to pick up ambient sound. I figured I could adjust the relative levels between the two in post-production.

Or in situations where two people appear on the screen having the voice of the person on the left coming out of the left speaker while the other person's voice comes from the right speaker.... I guess what I am asking is "does recording everyday conversation or ambient sound in stereo add anything to the realism of the audio?"

Almost all recorded sound is monophonic. Any locating of a sound in a sound field is artifically set by the sound editor.

Speech is almost always directed to the center channel in a 5.1 system unless the character speaking is way off screen.

I think stereo is a lot of hassle in most cases.

Spend your money on a wind muffler which you most certainly will need. Maybe a shock mount and a boom pole too.

Bob,
Before you buy the AT835b be advised that Audio-Technica just released a New Shotgun mic the AT897 (www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/profiles/AT897.html) to either compliment or replace their 835b.

The AT897 (www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/profiles/AT897.html) is only 11" in length compared to 14.5" of the AT835b (www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/profiles/AT835b.html)

Thanks guys for the good advice. I will definitely check into the AT899!

Bob

Ooops. I meant AT897.

The new AT897 will compliment the AT835b and AT815b. This shorter battery/phantom shotgun mic was designed to work with the smaller camcorders such as the GL2, PD150, etc.