Splitting/combining lavs into one channel?

[hepler]

I do some outdoor sunday morning hunting and fishing show stuff and I usually have two wireless, lav mics on the guys. And I also take a h4n for ambient sound. I was considering, but didn't know if I should, just getting a splitter and combining the two lavs into one of the xlrs on the camera and using my fluffy on the camera for the other xlr input so I would have some more realistic sound without having to match audio from the h4n latter in post.
Any thoughts would be great.
thanks

scott

 

[Alex H.]

So, just to be sure I understand... you're wanting to use an XLR Y-cable to combine both wireless receivers into a single XLR input on your H4, and then record from one of the built-in mics on the other channel simultaneously, yes?

A) This is just a bad idea. Combining lavs into one channel is going to cause problems, not the least of which is what happens to the signal if one of the mics drops out or takes an RF hit? When one mic is hosed, both mics are hosed. Plus, you're stuck with the mix, so if one mic is overpowering the other, what do you do?

B) Is there a reason that you want to record an internal mic at the same time? That's not audio that you're going to be able to use, as it will have a more distant version of the dialog which won't mix very well with the clean dialog. Focus on getting your two talent recorded cleanly, and separately, during production. Grab ambient beds later using the internal mics if you need to get ambient beds. Dialog first, ambiance later.