Wireless Mic Connection

[Vishad Dewan]

Hi,

I've been having a lot of trouble connecting my wireless Audio Technica Pro 88w wireless mic system to my XL2. For some reason the camera won't record the audio to the DV tape from these sources, but will record the Front Mic.

If anyone has used wireless mics (with the Rear XLR inputs) would you be kind enough to tell me stop-by-step what you did to configure your camera?

Thank you.

[Jonathan Kirsch]

Vishad,

I've had no problems with my Sennheiser G2 Evolution wireless mics. Plug them into the rear XLRs. Make sure Audio one is set to Rear, Channel 1. Audio two should be also to Rear. Don't forget, you can't have an XLR + built-in mic unless you record in 12-bit 32kHz, rather than the DVD standard of 16-bit 48kHz (you'd have to render the audio in your NLE). The built-in mic is a stereo piece o'crap, so just replace it with a nice shotgun w/XLR connector and then you can record both in the standard 16/48.

Jonathan

[Vishad Dewan]

If I set both Audio 1 and 2 to Rear, will that still record the front mic (I replaced my standard Canon mic for the Rode Videomic...quite a difference)? I haven't tried doing that, but I'll give that a shot.

[Jonathan Kirsch]

Vishad,

I haven't yet recorded with more than two mics at a time, so I haven't done the 4-channel stuff. How is your front (shotgun) mic connected? If you have an XLR accessory for the hotshoe, I guess you can do it. Sorry I can't be more help there. Maybe someone else knows?

Jonathan

[Jonathan Jones]

Originally Posted by Vishad Dewan

If I set both Audio 1 and 2 to Rear, will that still record the front mic (I replaced my standard Canon mic for the Rode Videomic...quite a difference)? I haven't tried doing that, but I'll give that a shot.

No, If you set both Audio 1 and Audio 2 to "Rear", you will not record the front mic, unless your front mic is plugged into one of the rear XLR ports.

Before I can offer any input on your original post, I would need a few details on how you have your Rode Video Mic connected.

Did you completely remove your stock Canon mic and put the Rode in its place?

Do you still have the stock Canon mic in place and simply attach the Rode up onto the hotshoe?

-Jon

[Vishad Dewan]

Okay, here's my setup:

I removed my stock Canon mic, and replaced it with the Rode Videomic; it's connected via the mini-plug input on the side of the grip handle (where the original stock mic connected). The Videomic has its own power supply, so the phantom power socket is not connected to the Videomic.

The rear XLR inputs connect my two Audio Technica Pro 88w wireless receivers via a specific Audio Technica XLR attachment.

The audio settings within the menu on my camera are set to 12-bit, 4 channel audio; and whenever I press the Audio Monitor button on the side I can monitor all four channels one-by-one; but when I transfer my footage to my computer I can either only hear the Videomic or the wireless connected to the 1/3 rear XLR channel. The 2/4 doesn't even record, even though I can monitor it fine during recording.

I've also tried to playback the footage on-camera, but have the same results.

[Jonathan Kirsch]

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the Rhode mic, but I think that the connection (which was also the connection for the original mic) is a stereo connection, and therefore not able to share a channel with the rear XLR mics (which is why, in previous posts, it was stated that you can't record both the front mic...or original mic...and an XLR at the same time). You'll need to get a different connector (XLR?) for your Rhode mic (if that's even possible) and connect it to one of the rear XLR connections or to the MA-300 mic adapter that goes on the hotshoe.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Jones]

Mr. Kirsch is right. If the Rode mic uses the same type of connectivity as the stock mic, then it is giving a stereo signal and is therefore taking up the ch. 1 & 2 tracks as a stereo track.

Since you are using the 4ch 32Khz setting for capturing 4 tracks of audio, then you need to keep your Audio 1 set to 'front' on the Audio control panel.

Then you need to set your Audio 2 switch to 'rear' in order to get your two XLR mics to record to ch 3 & 4. You need to use the Audio Monitor button (to the lower left of the master mode dial) to hear the incoming signals. Default will hear your stereo tracks 1 & 2. Pressing it once will allow you to monitor your XLR tracks 3 & 4. Pressing it once again will access a mix of 1,2,3 & 4.

If you are only hearing ch 3 without hearing ch 4 at this point, then there is something wrong either with your ch 4 mic, the receiver, the transmitter, or your cable. (or your headphones, but you should also be able to see on your viewfinder audio bar whether or not there is a ch4 signal. If there is a bar, but no signal, scrap the cans and get a new set. If there is no bar, follow your incoming signal thread to find the fault.)

To hear the recorded results, you once again need to use your Audio Monitor in the manner described above.

To capture these tracks to your computer NLE, the Audio Monitor setting is irrelevant. Capturing those extra channels depends upon the capture settings of your NLE. If you are trying to capture to a consumer app, such as iMovie, or Windows Movie Maker, you are probably out of luck, but if you are using a fuller featured application, you will probably find an audio capture setting in your capture preferences. By default, they are generally set to capture just your ch 1 & 2 audio tracks. It is general practice to reset them to Ch 3 & 4 and run a 2nd capture pass in order to get the extra tracks of audio.

Other posters have noted that Premiere Pro can capture all 4 tracks of audio, but I have not found confirmation that it keeps them all seperated upon capture, because typically NLE capture settings also allow a mix 1,2,3,4 single pass capture, but it still keeps 1 & 3 locked together on the left, and 2 & 4 locked together on the right. I can't think of any practical uses for this from an editors point of view.

Apparently Scenelyzer does allow for a 4 ch single pass capture. This is a Windows-only app, and from I've been told, it captures ch 1 & 2 as embedded audio in the dv track, and captures 3 & 4 as a seperate 2ch (stereo) wav file that it lays into a seperate thread for your NLE. Very convenient. To my knowledge there is no such solution available for the Mac (which I use).

For pretty much all other capture scenarios, you will need to adjust your audio capture settings preferences to capture just ch 3 & 4 in a 2nd capture pass and sync it up with your 1 capture in post.

-Jon

[Vishad Dewan]

Okay, so I need to get an XLR shotgun mic, and the MA300, then I can record all four channels, using only XLR inputs? Wow. I didn't even think about that. But it makes complete sense. Thank you for all your help, everyone. I've got the answer to my question.