I am having serious difficulties coming to grips with the audio side of my XL2. When I use the stock mic, I usually get acurate reproduction with just a bit of fiddling(and only some minor annoyances that come through). But, when I use an external mic, although I do get crisp dialog...there is a certain lack of ambience. So I wanted to run a wired mic for interviews, but still capture some ambient sound from the camera mounted mic. Using the manual, the audio block diagram, and alot of trial and error....I still am unable to acheive this.

As well...I have recently filmed a few gigs and tied into house soundboards. Whoa! That sucked. I was able to make due with some of the comedians I worked with...but I have 4 unusuable(audio-wise anyhow) tapes of the band Seven Mary Three, with one song being an awesome cover of Elenor Rigby. Ruined in my estimation, although the footage was hot, I really like the band and it showed in how I shot it. I am hoping that their sound guys recorded the show on DAT so I can salvage at least some of it.

I read the posts about sound for live events(such as the Grammys), and it was a bit informative...but I could really use some specifics. Thanks in advance.

Hi AJ,

<< So I wanted to run a wired mic for interviews, but still capture some ambient sound from the camera mounted mic. Using the manual, the audio block diagram, and alot of trial and error....I still am unable to acheive this. >>

Try taking a quiet moment with no distractions and sit down with the camera, the manual, your mics and a pair of headphones. Be sure to set the XL2 to record 12-bit audio within the Audio Setup menu. Then on the audio panel on the side of the camera, set Audio One (the first stereo pair) to the onboard mic, and Audio Two (the second stereo pair) to your other mic, however you plug it in (either with the RCA jacks or XLR jacks). It's fairly straightforward and just a matter of familiarization with the camera. Keep at it,

I promise I tried all that, albiet, not in a quiet location....but still...I cannot get any audio when using the mic. Just as clarification, isnt ch 1 and ch 2 combined to make one stereo signal? I did figure out setting the camera to 12 bit, and I tried every combination of the switches and using both XLR inputs, but still nothing.