Recording one channel via mic

B

becausewemust

Member
When I am using one mic to record, it records in mono (only plays through one speaker ), so I have to make it stereo in edit. How do I make it so using one mic records in stereo? I've read the manual, and looked in barrys book. If the answer is in there, maybe I'm not fully understanding the language.

CH1 Select is on input 1
CH2 Select is on input 2.

Input1 off
input2 off.

I have the internal mic off.

Help?
 
You have to run the mike into the channel 2 XLR port, then switch CH1 to input 2 and CH2 to input 2.
 
Page 49 of the user manual.

Also, it's pretty easy to change this in post....I usually record the on-board mic on L and the shotgun on R...that way if one of the mics stops working or is set too high/low, there's another audio source.
 
becausewemust said:
If the answer is in there, maybe I'm not fully understanding the language.
Click to expand...

To clarify some other language, it's important to understand what "stereo" actually means and how it applies here.

When recording one mic to both channels, you aren't actually recording in stereo. It's dual mono. "Stereo" (aka binaural) refers to two audio channels working together to create a dimensional image. In terms of playback, if the same source is playing out of both channels (or speakers) at the same level, it is mono (monaural). Even if the playback system is capable of stereo, and the audio is panned to the center, it's still monaural audio.

One mic cannot record in stereo. It's a monaural source. To truly record in stereo, you would need to have either a stereo pair of mics, or a stereo mic (which is really two mic elements housed in a single device). Further, if recording a shotgun mic to Ch1 and a wireless lav to Ch2, whether or not the mics are pointed at the same source, there is no stereo imaging. Likewise, a two-person interview with two lavs recorded to separate channels constitutes dual mono, not stereo.

Standard practice in production when using a single mic is to record that mic to two channels, but to set the second channel -6dB lower than the first as a safety. Should a sudden and loud peak overmodulate (distort) the first channel, the second (safety) channel has a little more headroom and may avoid the clipping. In post, the audio is captured/imported as independent, mono tracks. Only one is used in the edit and is panned to the center, and it's generally the primary audio track. The safety track comes into play only in cases where the first is unusable due to clipping.
 
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