Question on Audio

[Jon Medjeski]

Quick question,
I have the A1S and am confused on a few things.
I am using the camera to record hunts, and have a sennheiser me66 shotgun mic, along with the ew122 series wireless system. I can get them both to work at the same time, but what i'm confused on is the shotgun mic recording to channels 1/2. How do I do this? If im not using the wireless on xlr port 1, then how can i get port two to record to to both channels? If someone could explain this to me, i'd appreciate it!

[Allan Black]

Hi Jon, you have 2 mono mics there, so recording 16bit 48kHz mode, you should feed the me66 to the A1s channel 1 and the ew122 to channel 2.

In post you can pan both ch.1 and 2 to the centre if required. HTH.
Cheers.

[Rob Harlan]

I have a related question about external mics on the XH-A1S:-

I have a Rode shotgun mic with 3.5mm jack plug connection only, and also a wireless radio mic system with jack plug or XLR output - this wireless currently also connects to my camera with jack plug into 'mic' socket. What I would like to do is have both of these microphones recording at the same time, one on each channel - there is only 1 'mic' stocket so I wish to take advantage of the XLR inputs.

Having found an XLR cable it seems straightforward enough to hook up the wireless mic that way into 'channel 1'. However I'm not having much luck in finding a lead with a 'female' jack socket (to take the Rode mic) and 'male' XLR (to plug into the camera).

If I can't find such a lead, can I have the XH-A1S recording channel 1 (or 2, whatever) through the wireless mic connected by XLR, and the other channel through the shotgun connected by jack plug in the 'mic' socket?

[Allan Black]

Rob, you should be able to record your wireless mic (XLR) to Ch 1 and the Videomic to Ch 2 (via its 3.5mm plug into the mic socket)

If you're recording voices using 2 mics as you describe, each mic is very likely going to be in audio range of the other .. there will be a time delay between the 2, resulting in an unwanted echo on the voices.

In post you could put them on separate tracks and mute the opposite track to cancel that echo. That's quite a job and the voices can't overlap each other in the recording. HTH.

Cheers.

[Battle Vaughan]

If I understand your question, you sometimes want one xlr mike to record to both channels? See page 51 of your manual:

[Rob Harlan]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

Rob, you should be able to record your wireless mic (XLR) to Ch 1 and the Videomic to Ch 2 (via its 3.5mm plug into the mic socket)

If you're recording voices using 2 mics as you describe, each mic is very likely going to be in audio range of the other .. there will be a time delay between the 2, resulting in an unwanted echo on the voices.

In post you could put them on separate tracks and mute the opposite track to cancel that echo. That's quite a job and the voices can't overlap each other in the recording. HTH.

Cheers.

Thanks - Rode shotgun in 'mic' socket and wireless in XLR channel 2 worked just fine.

Yes I am recording (wedding) voices, but I'm not quite sure what you mean about time delay/echo. I simply record the shotgun on channel 1 using this method, and the wireless on channel 2. Because both channels are captured in the editor from camera, I just select which channel I want for each situation - the wireless in channel 2 is priority for wedding vows etc, and the shotgun is essentially recording as backup. I don't think any microphone interferes with the other as such.

One thing I noticed in my experiments: I was hoping to connect the Rode's 3.5mm jack plug to XLR also, instead of the mic socket. To achieve this I am using 2 adaptors - the first adaptor takes the jack plug and converts to a bigger 1/4" plug, and the second adaptor takes the 1/4" plug and goes into the XH-A1S XLR socket (the only configuration method I could find, since there are apparently no leads taking 3.5mm jack female to XLR male).

However I could not hear much through the mic when connected, and I suspect it may be problematic trying to convert the Rode's jack plug to work correctly in XLR socket?

[David Dalton]

Rob,
This is what you need for the connection.
RØDE Microphones - VXLR
There are plenty of suppliers in the UK.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Rob Harlan

I'm not quite sure what you mean about time delay/echo. I simply record the shotgun on channel 1 using this method, and the wireless on channel 2. Because both channels are captured in the editor from camera, I just select which channel I want for each situation - the wireless in channel 2 is priority for wedding vows etc, and the shotgun is essentially recording as backup. I don't think any microphone interferes with the other as such.

Ok. For others .. the 'time delay' thing would occur if a person was using a wireless lavalier mic clipped to their shirt and he/she was standing close enough to be heard clearly by the shotgun on the camera.
The actual 'time' the voice takes to reach the shotgun is 'the delay' causing an echo on the sound .. that is, if you use the sound from both those mics together. HTH.

Cheers.