Recording with 2 mics

[Luis Rolo]

Hi everyone.
Anyone knows if it's possible to record with the built in mic and another one at the same time with the A1? It seems every time i connect the XLR mic, i get no sound from the built in one.

Thanks.

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Luis,

The XH G1 and A1 camcorders can record two channels of audio. The built-in mic is a stereo mic, therefore it always requires two channels, leaving no other channels available for other mics.

When you connect an external mic to one of the XLR jacks on the camera, you're using one of the two available channels, leaving only one additional channel free. Since the one remaining channel isn't enough for the built-in stereo mic, the built-in mic is disabled as long as the other mic is plugged into the XLR jack.

To put it another way, using the built-in stereo mic plus another mic at the same time, would require three audio channels and only two channels are available on the XH A1. This is different than the XL H1 camcorder, which allows for four-channel audio recording. On that camera, you can use the onboard stereo mic plus one or two additional mics. That's one of the advantages that the XL series camcorders have over the XH series. Hope this helps,

[Jason Strongfield]

i dont know why you would want to use the onboard mic for the exception of run and gun close interviews.

The onboard mic picks up all the mechanical noise from the front lens.

Just Get you 2 mics and 2 c stands or 2 assistants

[Bill Pryor]

If you need a camera-mounted mic for recording, say, ambient SFX, get a short shotgun and mount it with the included mic mount. I use an old Sony mic off a retired Betacam camera for that purpose.

[Luis Rolo]

Thanks for the input. I thought the camera supported more than 2 channels of audio.
I shoot weddings and i wanted to use the camera's mic to record the ambient sound in the church and the other mic it would be a wireless one to record B&G. Using a shotgun mic is not an option because i would get the signal in mono and i wanted stereo for the ambient. Mono ambient sound sucks big time... (OK, i could use a stereo mic, but that way i would loose the other channel again...).
I guess my only option is to record the B&G separately to my laptop and synch the audio later.

Thanks anyway.


EDIT: Thinking again, maybe i could mix all the channels outside the camera on a mixer and feed the camera with the mixer output.

[Bogdan Tyburczy]

Luis -

I would suggest getting small digital recorder like M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 or Zoom H4. Recording events, you could connect it to main soundboard and enjoy full freedom with the camera, or set it up in some safe spot to record backgrounds and do everything else with the cam. It may be used in many ways depending on what's available on location.

It is extra cost, but you will find such recorder priceless in many situations and often more convenient than mixing live audio. It's better to record on separate tracks and do the final mix in post.

[Luis Rolo]

Thanks for the suggestion, but for multitrack recording i rather use a DAW with my laptop. I'm a Protools user, and i know my Mbox only has 2 audio inputs, but i rather spend 700€ on the new Mbox 2 pro with 4 inputs than 500 € on the Microtrack.