I am capturing HDV footage from a Z1 but that capture does not capture two separate channels with the video... what do I need to do? If I capture with Connect HD or Vegas... shouldnt it create TWO audio tracks on the timeline when I drag the video up there? ... and yes, I am sure I captured two separate channels.

most apps capture 2 channels as stereo channels, so if you want them discreet, you must make them so.
In Vegas, simply duplicate the track, right click, choose Channels/Left Only, repeat on other track and choose Right Only, and you've now got two discreet, centered, audio tracks.

but I dont think you got what I was getting at... but Greatly appriciate your answer! Actually I am under the gun right now in Japan trying to capture some footage for my producer... When we shot we separated the channels for the onboard mike and a hand held boom shotgun mike... capturing the channels separate... thinking that if one mike didnt capture the audio we would have a separte track to use. Isnt this correct? Should there be two separate audio tracks? The Vegas video file and the Connect HD file only have one track... I want two!! aaa... the onboard mike and the shotgun mike tracks... Isnt this possible?

Refer to my previous answer, because I understood exactly what you are saying, and my answer is exactly the same.

*Most* NLE's capture audio from the camcorder as stereo.
If you have a lav on input 1, and a shotgun on input two of the camcorder, they are two discreet channels. But, the NLE sees them as stereo. Refer to the above post to separate them. There is no difference in audio quality, no loss, nada, when you do what I explained above. Premiere, Canopus, etc all work the same way.
It's essentially a 10 second process to give you what you want; you spent more time retyping the question than it would have taken to try my answer.

I see... I thought they would capture as separate tracks, but thank you very much for your explaination, I greatly appriciate it. And I will follow your advice in your previous post.

Carl:

You did check that both channels were set up properly in the XLR menu, and saw the audio bar display on both channels in the LCD viewfinder?

That's why I hate internal menus for audio...too many chances for things to be entered incorrectly.

I am sure I captured two separate channels.

Quick check - how does it sound off the Z1 with headphones?

Do you hear the gun mic and lav mic separated? Good - it's in software. Easily solved (but don't ask me - I'm an FCP nut).

Do you hear the same on both ears? Oh dear.

There's a Z1 setting to record input 1 to both track 1 and 2 - you can use two separate levels, or one on manual, one on auto, from the same mic. It's a Z1 101 thing, but have seen (heard) it happen when it catches some unawares. It looks like you get two channels, but no...

Yes, when we captured there were two audio bars capturing separately (bars reaching different levels when that specific mike was sound checked) & yes we used headphones and even there the sound was different. I guess it is like Mr. Douglas Spotted Eagle says... NLEs capture only one track and the separate audio tracks from the camera go to left and right channels... seems like a "loss" though... since it seems "half" the date is being scrapped?? (usually one channel captures to one track both left and right "stereo")... but now just one left for XLR1 and one right for XLR2...

seems like a "loss" though... since it seems "half" the date is being scrapped??

Half of the data isn't being scrapped and there is no loss whatsoever. I guess you're having a hard time wrapping your head around this simple concept. The camera recorded the mics on separate channels of a stereo pair. When you capture it into any NLE, it comes in as a stereo pair. If you follow Spot's advice, you will have EXACTLY what you asked for.

John

Wow. This shouldn't be that hard, but then, I've never used Vegas. On AVID, when you digitize, you have a choice of bringing in 2 channels off the Z1U. One for Ch 1, another for channel 2.

Then when you bring it to the timeline, you have several options: 1 to 1, 2 to 2, 2 to 1, etc. They're never mated as a stereo unit, unless you make them that way.

I find it hard to believe a fairly full-featured NLE like Vegas would create only a single track off two inputs, unless your digitize settings are whacked. If one of the mikes is totally MIA, I'd poke around your digi settings some more.

Wow. This shouldn't be that hard,

Hi Bill. It's really not hard at all. In Vegas it takes maybe 3 or 4 seconds to create separate mono tracks from a stereo track. So far, I've never found it inconvenient.

Richard

I had the same question when using Premiere Pro. Yes it captures as a stereo chanle L/R. Once captured, all you have to do is go to the bin and right click on the file and select Audio options. It gives it the ability to break it out into two seperate Mono Channels. It works Perfect. The only other thing I can say is to remember to have at least two mono audio channels available in your timeline. By Default, you have stereo tracks and not Mono tracks. Hope this helps