Zoom H5 and mono lav (3.5mm)

K

kymira

Member
Hi guys

I was playing around with a friends cheap mono 3.5mm lavalier (JK mic-J 044) and tried it with my H5. I was trying to see if I could do L/R link and mono mix to get sound for both channels. I was unsuccessful.

Besides fixing it in post or getting an adapter, is there a workaround to this internally via the L/R inputs with the H5?

*sry if stupid question, Im very new to audio.
 
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Does "unsuccessful" mean that you couldn't record anything?
Or does it mean that you could record on only one channel and not BOTH?

Back in the days of analog recording we would frequently record the SAME signal on BOTH channels for redundancy so that if something happened to the tape, we had a better chance of recovering the recording.

However, in the digital world the channels (ALL of them) are recorded ALL TOGETHER in the SAME digital bit-stream. So there is ZERO advantage in recording an audio track in more than one "channel".

Or course, when you get to post-production editing, you typically break out each track so that you can independently manipulate the levels, pan them into the proper place in the stereo panorama, etc. So recording things on BOTH channels of a 2-channel ("stereo") recording gains you essentially no advantage.
 
A mono 3.5mm 'TS' plug will sometimes short out both channels resulting in no sound at all. Otherwise, most pro and semi-pro lavaliere mics are wired mono and just feed the tip (left) with the ring terminal disconnected (floated). Also many portable recorders have a software switch to enable/disable 'plug-in power' (aka, bias voltage) which most lavs require.
 
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