Ch. 1 lav, ch. 2 internal, no stereo?

[evolvnyc]

I think I'm missing something here... I plugged the xlr from the lav mic into channel one and switched the input to "mic" for channel 1, I left ch. 2 on "internal" and I could hear both fine, set the levels, and realized after that the lav mic was only in the left and the internal was only in the right.
Also, is there a site or book anyone could reccomend for total morons such as myself; like how to place/hide/use a lav mic (can it actually be invisible and under clothes?) and other gems like: If one channel is a lav and another channel is ambient (internal or shotgun of someone else talking) should they both be the same levels or should the ambient be much quieter? It shouldn't matter as long as neither one is spiking because they can be adjusted individually in post right? In the headphones it sounded like i was in an empty warehouse, maybe it's because of the above issue though... any thoughts? Thank you!

 

[Duct Tape Films]

Generally speaking, location audio is not recorded in stereo, rather it is mixed into the stereo (or multichannel) field in post. As far as setting levels go, if this is for your own production, decide what works best for you, or if this is something someone else is going to be editing/mixing, find out what they want. Sometimes that could be shotgun ch 1, lav ch 2 or in doc productions, ch 1 gets a hot signal, while ch 2 gets a safe signal. Whatever you do, do it consistently, and label your tapes as such....

 

[evolvnyc]

Oh, so when I have a mic in one channel, it should only be heard in one ear of my headphones? That doesn't seem right to me for some reason...

 

[thisiswells]

You Got It!

You Got It!

when I have a mic in one channel, it should only be heard in one ear of my headphones?

EXACTLY. Channel One is "left" and Channel Two is "right"
Channel Two input can also be recorded to Channel One as an option,
but you can't "mix" the sounds of both channels to come out both ears
of your headphones unless you do it in post. That's the way it works.

 

[evolvnyc]

Sorry to beat this issue, I just want to be sure (and I appreciate y'alls input) So if I want to have one person wearing a lav, and have a shotgun in the other channel to boom on other people, it is standard and very easy in post, to make it sound normal and not have one coming from one side and one from the other? How am I supposed to accurately monitor the sound in the headphones if it's a wierd reverb because of the left/right thing, or am I only supposed to be able to tell "Yes it's flatting out or no it isn't" and be done with it? Thanks again!

 

[Duct Tape Films]

Sorry to beat this issue, I just want to be sure (and I appreciate y'alls input) So if I want to have one person wearing a lav, and have a shotgun in the other channel to boom on other people, it is standard and very easy in post, to make it sound normal and not have one coming from one side and one from the other? How am I supposed to accurately monitor the sound in the headphones if it's a wierd reverb because of the left/right thing, or am I only supposed to be able to tell "Yes it's flatting out or no it isn't" and be done with it? Thanks again!

Very easy to deal with in post. You simply pan both channels to the middle, instead of 3 & 9 o'clock, or hard panned. As far as on location, you should be "hearing with your eyes" almost as much as with your ears, meaning, watch those meters & make mental notes of HOW something was recorded. By all means, wear them cans, if only to insure you are getting signal to tape. Understand that you CAN reposition those separate tracks later on in the process. What you can't do again is get a good signal to tape.

 

[Barry_Green]

How am I supposed to accurately monitor the sound in the headphones if it's a wierd reverb because of the left/right thing

If you're shooting on a DVX100A, in 24P mode, you will hear echo. The 24p/24pa modes have about a 2-frame delay in the headphone output. If you don't have absolutely sound-isolating headphones, you're going to hear an echo when you record (which is to say, the echo comes from hearing the noise delayed through the headphones, and live "leaking" in from the real world). If you play it back from tape you won't hear any echo.