Getting sterio audio with a Mic & Shotgun.

sheeep

sheeep

Active member
My friend has a shure sm-58 mic (I think). Just messing around with the audio levels on the dvx, I got it working fine, but I'd much rather have the mic audio and the ambient audio on both channels.

I guess I don't really know how to go about doing this. I'm guessing getting a shotgun/omni directional sterio mic would give sterio-sound for both L & R, even when attached to only one of the dvx's XLR's? What microphones would be able to accomplish this too?

It's late, I'm tired, and I feel like I'm rushing this question a bit, so I hope this makes sense. Thanks a bunch.
 
I'm not quite sure what you're looking for. Are you trying to mix the on-camera stereo mic with the SM-58? I'm not certain that that can be done.

As for your second question, no, you can not plug a stereo mic into just one of the XLR's and still record phase-accurate stereo. For one thing, many stereo mics require phantom power for both mic capsules (often via a dual XLR-3 to XLR-5 adapter cable). Moreover, even if the stereo mic is properly powered, only recording one of the two channels will just give you a mono track.

If you really want to record a phase-accurate stereo image (eg. a stereo mic pair) and a mono mic (eg. up-close vocal mic or dialogue boom) simultaneously onto a stereo recorder (eg. a camcorder), then you're going to need a mixer.

I'll use the example of a live lecture where I would want to record a stereo image of the audience along with a dry feed of the podium mic:

A 3-channel mixer like the Sound Devices SD302 or Shure FP-33 can do the trick. I'll assume that the podium mic is a Shure SM-58, which will be on channel 1 of the mixer. Channels 2 and 3 will be for the stereo pair that will be recording the audience.

If I'm using a pair of cardioid mics in an X-Y configuration for the stereo pair (or an X-Y stereo mic like the Rode NT-4), then I'll Pan ch1 to the centre, ch2 hard left, and ch3 hard right. That way, I'll have a nice wide stereo image from the X-Y mics (keeping ch2 and 3 at approximately the same levels), with the podium mic up close in the centre.

If the stereo pair is going to be an M-S pair (or an M-S mic like the Sennheiser MKH418s), things get a bit more complicated. In this case, ch2 (the mid mic) is still hard left, and ch3 (the side mic) is still hard right. Unlike the first example, ch1 will be panned hard left (in with the mid-mic). The reason for this is that when the matrixed signal is decoded to X-Y stereo, the podium and the mid mic will both wind up in the centre of the stereo image. Ideally, I'll be able to gang ch2 and 3's faders together, so the stereo image remains stable. Also, its helpful to be able to have the option to decode the M-S stereo on the headphones (an option available on better mixers). Its also going to be neccessary to ensure that the picture editors and sound editors down the line are familiar with M-S matrixing, otherwise all that hard work recording phase-coherent stereo will go to waste.
 
Isnt 1 XLR = 1 channel = mono? For stereo you will need to use an XY paired XLR like Rode Stereo VM or something expensive..
 
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