View Full Version : Sound questions of XH-A1s


Benjamin Maas
February 24th, 2011, 11:42 AM
Occasionally I borrow this camera from a colleague when we film their concert performances. I have very little experience with it, but I've noticed some issues with the sound on it when operating in HDV.

I have to dump the tapes into Premiere CS5 which usually goes without a hitch, but I've noticed a couple things happen:

1. I'm running a stereo mix into the camera, but the audio in Premiere is in Mono. Seems like a mono sum rather than one side only. I have audio on both channels, but it is the same.

2. A couple tapes have dumped without audio recorded at all. When the camera was running, saw levels and everything. In one case, the first half of the show was mute and the second half was in mono. The only thing that changed was the tape.

My question is as follows- are these camera issues or Premiere issues? Being that I'm not very familliar with the camera, I'm not sure if we have something set incorrectly. What seems very strange is the video that had no sound...

Ideas?

-Ben

Allan Black
February 24th, 2011, 02:52 PM
If you can play all the tapes on the A1s, listen on headphones and find the stereo audio is as it should be .. right to the end, then the issue is with Premiere or the way you're capturing it.

You list a number of problems and I assume you're capturing from the A1s not from another cam and using USB? Try using another Firewire cable, don't buy one off Ebay.

Cheers.

Jay West
February 25th, 2011, 12:30 AM
I agree with Allan. I've never had this problem with pulling stereo audio from the XHA1 into PPro CS2 through 5. Check your project presets and also check your default audio settings in preferences.

Steve Wolla
February 28th, 2011, 02:02 AM
Once you capture your footage into Premiere Pro, do you "see" the audio track and just don't hear it, or is it a flat line?

Benjamin Maas
March 2nd, 2011, 10:26 PM
It wasn't there- no waveforms whatever.

Still haven't had a free moment to check the original tapes.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
March 5th, 2011, 12:16 PM
So I finally had a moment to check the tapes. The sound on the tapes is a mono sum of what I was feeding it. Not sure why that was happening. I don't have a manual to this camera and it isn't mine so I don't use it often. I checked the settings that I could find, but I couldn't find anything that outwardly looked like in HDV, it should sum audio to mono.

Is there a manual online that I could have access to or is there somewhere that you would suggest to find such a setting?

--Ben

Chris Soucy
March 5th, 2011, 03:08 PM
Manual available here:

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : XH A1S (http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/professional_camcorders/xh_a1s#BrochuresAndManuals)


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