Possible to record two separate audio channels simultaneously with FX1?

[Jim Gunn]

I usually record stereo audio with a Sennheiser stereo shotgun mic mounted atop my sony FX1. But I wanted to confirm if it was possible or impossible to record two separate audio channels at the same time with the FX1 and how that might be done if so. For example, record one channel from the built in FX1 stereo mic or the Sennhesier external mic plugged into the audio input on the side of the FX1 and another with an external mic mounted on a boom and going into a Beachtek or similar adapter with XLR inputs.

[Adam Gold]

If you had two different sources going into the Beachtek, sure, but you can't use the internal built-in mic in combination with anything else; as soon as you plug anything into the 1/8" mic input, the built-in mic is disabled.

But you could certainly use the Beachtek or any other device as a mixer to combine two or more sources, but they all must come out of a single mini plug into the jack. All the Beachteks I've had, had a mini input as well in addition to the XLR inputs, so you could probably go with a camera mounted shotgun with either plug type, and then add a boom-mounted mic into the other XLR channel on the Beachtek. But again, everything goes into the Beachtek or other mixer, which then sends to your cam via the single 1/8" plug.

[Jim Gunn]

Originally Posted by Adam Gold

If you had two different sources going into the Beachtek, sure, but you can't use the internal built-in mic in combination with anything else; as soon as you plug anything into the 1/8" mic input, the built-in mic is disabled.

But you could certainly use the Beachtek or any other device as a mixer to combine two or more sources, but they all must come out of a single mini plug into the jack. All the Beachteks I've had, had a mini input as well in addition to the XLR inputs, so you could probably go with a camera mounted shotgun with either plug type, and then add a boom-mounted mic into the other XLR channel on the Beachtek. But again, everything goes into the Beachtek or other mixer, which then sends to your cam via the single 1/8" plug.

Adam, thanks again for explaining. I guess that's a limitation of a prosumer camera like this. The reason I was asking is because I previously had purchased and used a Beachtek DXA-FX XLR Adapter for Sony HDR-FX1 which I had connected to the 1/8" plug on the side of the camera. I had an external microphone mounted on a boom pole plugged into into the adapter's XLR inputs and relied on that alone for sound on a previous shoot. It sounded good, but within minutes even with fresh batteries the 9V batteries in teh adapter were dead and the audio cut out completely! I tried again several times with fresh batteries but the adapter must drain so much power that it killed all the batteries within minutes, leaving me with no audio for parts of my shoot. Needless to say this caused me a major problem and we spent a week micro-editing audio in post to fix it. I wish I knew why that happened. It seems like this must be a very common use for this Beachtek adapter specifically made for the FX1 series. I wonder if anyone else had this same experience?

[Adam Gold]

That's interesting... I've had a couple of Beachteks (including a DXA-FX on my FX1) and never had that experience with the batteries draining so quickly. I wonder if maybe you had a bad unit. Or maybe the mic was drawing more phantom power from the unit than the 9V could handle; in this case a mic with internal battery power (like the NTG-2) might be a better choice.

Maybe try a JuicedLink unit. They're getting pretty good reviews.

[Marcus Martell]

yep J-link are the best ones from what i read.....

[Giroud Francois]

consumer camera like the FX1 have stereo input so there is no problem to have 2 channel recorded.
But... since the AGC is working only for both channel together, it is very difficult to make good recording with different levels on each input. Manual control is ok if sound does not vary to much.