Audio from XLR mic missing

[Thijo van Beek]

Hi there,

I recently bought a n XL2, as my XL1s died.
But something seems to be different during capturing.
With the XL1s I just connected the cam by firewire to the computer,
and all 4 audio channels were captured.
Not with the XL2. I followed a reporter for a day,
using a mic, connected to the XLR.
Camera-mic was off. But now I try to edit the whole thing,
but I don't get any audio at all!
What's different on the XL2, that makes this difference?
What do I do to capture the audio aswell?

Thijo from the Low-lands

[Thijo van Beek]

PS The camera is during capturing on VCR,
audio selected Mix Ch1/2 - Ch3/4
Whe I plug in my headphone, I can hear the audio very well.
So there is only 1 channel audio. Mono-mic on the left XLR, Ch1/3
No MA 300 was used.

[Ryan Mueller]

What NLE are you capturing in? Are you sure that you have audio selected in your capture settings?

Just a thought.

[Thijo van Beek]

NLE? What's that? Does it mean the software I'm using?
That's a program you might not know in the US, I don't know.
It's called Magix Video de Luxe 2007 Plus

[Ryan Mueller]

NLE stands for Non Linear Editing system, and yes it could basically be interpreted as editing software. I have not heard of Magix Video, but I know in Final Cut Pro you have to make sure that audio is marked for capture in the capture settings. The only reason I asked was because that is usually the problem when my audio doesn't capture.

[Thijo van Beek]

I am about to throw everything out of the window, and take fisshing for a hobby!
The Canon-helpdesk told me to use their own capturing software, called DV-PC Recorder.
That only allows me to capture video ón the tape ánd the harddisk at the same time.
Meaning: I have to stay connected by firewire, so I can only film the church in front of my house!
I can not find a function to capture fróm the tape to the harddisk.
I also tried other camera's to capture, same result.
Windows Movie Maker does not capture it either.
Helpdesk also told me to connect the s-video cable ánd the
composite audio cables.
Also does not work. Sofar.
Camera settings for capturing, wrong editing software, I'm done. Almost.
WHO CAN HELP ME OUT, PLEASE?

Thijo

[Jonathan Jones]

The problem is not with the camera. It is with your NLE (or your editing software application). I have never heard of the one you are using but in order for it to be able to capture audio on your ch 3 / 4 channels, you will need to be able to set that up in the preferences for your application. Having your XL2 set to Mix 1/2 & 3/4 won't make a difference during capture to your computer. Those types of settings in the camera are only set for recording the separate audio channels while you are actually video taping the content onto your miniDV tape. At that point, the audio is already laid down, and you don't even need to extract it using a multi-channel camera to capture from. Any standard miniDV camera or deck will do fine, so don't worry about the cam settings at this time, other than setting it to VCR mode (which you have done.)

As far as the application, if you are using a consumer level editing application, such as iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, or a few others, it is unlikely that you will be able to set audio capture preference settings. However if you are using a more full-featured application, you will need to go to the audio capture preference settings and set them to your needs -

the default will be CH 1/2. You can also set them to CH 3/4, or as a full 1,2,3,4 mix for your capture.

If you editing application doesn't allow for this, you might be able to do it using Scenealyzer (sp?) if you are on a PC.

Or you may be able to do it using Quicktime Pro 7, in which case you may need to record to a QT movie file (even though it is just for audio) and then export your .mov file as a 48Khz aiff file.

Hope this helps. I just wanted to set you on the right track by looking at your software instead of the camera.

-Jon

[Thijo van Beek]

So it's the application.
This is what I've been thinking. But:
Why did the previous camera, the XL1s
pass all Channels, with the same editing program?
I've used the external mic on that one too,
and al of that was captured very well by my software!

Thijo

[Jonathan Jones]

Originally Posted by Thijo van Beek

But:
Why did the previous camera, the XL1s
pass all Channels, with the same editing program?


Thijo

That I cannot say as I have not used the XL1S and don't know specifically what the proper settings entail. The only thing I might imagine is that either the settings for the app were at one point correctly set to capture the separate channels, or perhaps all the channels were recorded through the camera as a mixed 2track stereo that would end up being seen as such by the application in its default setting anyhow - in other words, perhaps 1 & 3 were recorded together on the left, and 2&4 were recorded together on the right - but I don't even know if that is possible with that cam so I'm just guessing.

-Jon

[Thijo van Beek]

So yoday I tried to capture this tape on another computer.
That also did not work.
I try to find other Dutch XL2-users on the Dutch forum,
but they all seem to be on holiday.
Or they don't feel like helping me for some reason.
I got the DVPC application the helpdesk told me to use,
but that keeps saying: Switch the cam to a recording-mode.
I realy can't find how to get it working for capturing from the tape.
This has been using a week of my time now, just to get this one tape captured.
And I wanna use it so much.
People have been asking about it so many times now.
Have to give them NO for an anwer each time...

Thijo

[Jonathan Jones]

I just realized that you noted in post #6 you mentioned trying to capture into your computer using other cameras as well, and that none of them worked. You likewise tried capturing into Windows Movie Maker, also without success. It seems likely that your firewire cable is bad or perhaps your firewire port may be bad.

Have you tried a different cable?


-Jon

[Thijo van Beek]

Yes, I tried 2 cables here, and another one in the studio today.
I don't think it's that, on the rest of the tape is a recording I made with only the Camera mic on, and that is easy to capture. Als would not work if it was the cable or the port, in my opinion.

Thijo

[Jonathan Jones]

When you listen to the tape in the XL2 using a set of headphones, and you press the 'audio monitor' button to monitor only ch 3/4, are you able to hear your wireless mic track completely independent of the audio you recorded via the front mic?
-Jon

[Thijo van Beek]

Yes, I can.
Also in the mix 1/2 3/4

Thijo

[Jonathan Jones]

Were you able to set your preferences in your Magix application to specify capture from ch 3/4?
-Jon