HPX170 - Can you turn off audio tracks 3 and 4?

[Chris Messineo]

When recording I have my shotgun mic set to tracks 1 and 2. When I import the footage into FCPX it comes with 4 tracks of audio, tracks 1 and 2 (which I want) and tracks 3 and 4 (which are the audio coming from the camera mics). Is there a way to turn that second set of audio tracks off?

[ggrantly]

No, it's just the way it is. Shouldn't be a problem to ditch them in post, just a couple of clicks. If you think about it, those spare tracks can be useful if your primary mic clips due to close proximity or a handling snafu.

Grant

[Chris Messineo]

Thanks for the answer.

[wgzn]

yeah. those extra tracks - which can admittedly be annoying in edit - have saved my bacon at least a couple of times.

[Run&Gun]

I would leave them ON. You can always turn them off/down in post. No harm, no foul. They can save your butt, but not if they're not ON. I shoot a lot of ENG and I leave my nats(cam mic) on 3 & 4 on my 2700's. ALWAYS. And it saved me earlier this week. We were in a gang-bang sound situation and there was an issue with the wireless going to 1 & 2(no sound period). BUT I knew I had the shotgun on 3 & 4 and we were close enough(maybe two feet) it would be fine. Yes there was still a screw-up, but there was a back-up and we got what we needed despite "user error", because of extra audio channels built into and accessible in the camera. Use the tools they give us to their fullest.