SPLITTING the Mic for STEREO ???

[George D.]

I assume that since I plugged in my mic to the Audio 1 socket on the Red-One Camera, is why I get sound from only one, left, speaker.

If I wanted stereo, I'd need two mics, or a stereo mic, and connect them to both the Audeo 1 & 2 sockets. Is that not correct?

Is it possible to use a splitter to send audio from the single mic to the Audio 1 & 2 sockets ? I realize it would not be true stereo.

Thanks.

.

 

[ericyoung]

You are correct. A passive splitter would reduce level on both channels and may introduce interference. You would be better going in via a mixer of some sort where the two mics levels can be controlled with convenience and where two outputs can be sent to camera channels 1 & 2.

Alternatively just record a single mic to one channel and duplicate the track in post - very easy. This is common practice for dialogue - with maybe some artifical panning of the channels in post to fake stereo.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

What Eric said is both correct and is common enough but not best practice.

A single speaker should be recorded with one or two mics as MONO audio, which is how you should set up your NLE.

If you have a sound mixer on set, they should provide a stereo mix to the camera, from mono sources. They should also be recording individual audio channels for every mic they are using. Some mixers may even make surround recordings- though I think that is still uncommon for on set work.

If you do not have a sound mixer on set, then you should use the camera audio recording as a two channel mono recording.

If you do this, your NLE should drive the mono audio to both speakers with equal levels, essentially creating a "centered" stereo image or a "center channel" surround image.

You can assign a track recorded as a stereo channel to be interpreted as mono in the NLE or the DAW. (And the opposite if desired.)

In post, you can pan the location of the audio for stereo or surround imaging if desired.

 

[jimhare]

Agreed. You don't have to record on two channels to make the audio appear in both speakers. Just record on channel 1 and then in Premiere pan the mono track to the center, which will make it appear equally in both speakers.

Simple as that!

 

[Dave Blackham]

There is an additional point here, I hope not too far off the thread topic.

Mixing on one speaker is a more accurate means of monitoring mono than on two speakers in what can be described as double mono. In effect you create a more accurate mono mix by monitoring on one speaker, any mono mix errors are much more obvious.

Monitoring in double mono ie on two speakers, mono mix errors are less obvious.

 

[Johnny Friday]

down and dirty style....i often record one track and then drop track one on track 2 audio....works great when doing youtube/vimeo etc...

 

[Tom Visser]

...If you have a sound mixer on set, they should provide a stereo mix to the camera, from mono sources. They should also be recording individual audio channels for every mic they are using. Some mixers may even make surround recordings- though I think that is still uncommon for on set work.

If you do not have a sound mixer on set, then you should use the camera audio recording as a two channel mono recording...

In post, you can pan the location of the audio for stereo or surround imaging if desired.

It sort of depends... if I know that the primary purpose of the camera mix is for simple viewing of dailies, that it won't be used in post, then I may very well do a dual mono (identical tracks) just for the simple convenience factor so that clips can get laid right to the daily deliverable for instant playback.

If I knew that my stereo mix would be the primary track, a combination of Dx and Ambience, I may do a full blown stereo mix with variable panning and fades to match picture. This is harder to do than it sounds, consistently in variable conditions.

What is more popular is a mono mix for "scratch" use, a simple guide for the post super to assemble the multi-track production sound, foley, and other music / Fx beds around. This is a deep integration of multiple media sources and can potentially provide the best results.

A sort of more modern hybrid to the traditional mix and heavy reliance of multi-track ISO's in post is the "boom lav split". It is what it sounds like. Most modern ENG mixers (hardware) are designed to deliver such a mix. Panning is hard LCR style, not variable and boom mic(s) are mixes on the L buss and wires are mixed on the R buss. You avoid phase issues mixing boom and wires together. Technically it is a stereo mix because it involves two channels, but in fact it is really a dual mono program. Situation A, boom sounds great, post uses the boom track, ignores wires. Situation B, boom sounds bad, due to operation error or location, and it is used as a guide. Post will then look at the wires track to see if they got what they need there. If no dice and multiiple wires were mixed together, perhaps they can pull the isolated mic they need from the multi-track ISO's. If still no dice, it gets marked for ADR.

Different shooting environments would expect different styles of mixing. Docs or reality would be well suited for boom-lav splits. Traditional set piece narrative would be more inclined to require a proper mono (almost always acceptable) or stereo mix (only required if production sound is expected to capture a lot of ambience).

The heavy reliance on ISO tracks (recording every mic) is great, popular because of the capabilities of modern recorders, increasingly used as a reaction to quicker production timetables, the reduced importance of good technical scouting, shooting more on locations and less on stage, and the general "fix it in post" rush / haste / multi-cam shooting styles and attitudes that have replaced the old-school style. Certainly recording of ISO's is not a given, though. The mixer / recordists might not have been paid to provide such a service or gear, the mixer might actually be expected to do his "job" as a mixer and post is in fact expecting to mostly go with production sound track for at least the Dx part.

 

[Tim Duran]

What are your takes on the new Senn sterio mics. I have not used them. It seems to me that for the price, you would do better with two mics. I've read the specs and have a hard time understanding how a microphone pointing away from the subject gives you better sterio reception. Thoughts? What am I missing?

 

[Paul Russell]

I'm about to take delivery of an Epic-M and, while most of the audio will be recorded with Lavalier mics to an off camera source, I'd like to attach a stereo mic (a Rode SVM) to the camera for scratch audio and easy sync in NLE. Can anyone recommend a way of getting from the small stereo mic jack plug into the two Epic channels? I could make up the cable myself but I'm just getting lazy in my old age.

 

[Tom Visser]

I'm about to take delivery of an Epic-M and, while most of the audio will be recorded with Lavalier mics to an off camera source, I'd like to attach a stereo mic (a Rode SVM) to the camera for scratch audio and easy sync in NLE. Can anyone recommend a way of getting from the small stereo mic jack plug into the two Epic channels? I could make up the cable myself but I'm just getting lazy in my old age.

The Rode stereo mic is 3.5mm TRS (TipRingSleeve) with T=left, R=right, and S=gnd. The Epic inputs without an I/O module are dual 3.5mm balanced. The proper wiring arrangement would be Rode T = Epic left T, Rode R = Epic right T, and Rode S tied to the Epic left R and S and Epic right R and S. I may have left right swapped, but easy enough to just swap inputs if I got it backwards.

 

[Tom Visser]

What are your takes on the new Senn sterio mics. I have not used them. It seems to me that for the price, you would do better with two mics. I've read the specs and have a hard time understanding how a microphone pointing away from the subject gives you better sterio reception. Thoughts? What am I missing?

I just noticed your reply, and your not missing anything. Stereo mics are not appropriate for dialogue capture unless you are using an M-S stereo mic (potentially ignoring the S component and just using mostly a mono signal). Step 1 point the microphone at the subject.

 

[Paul Russell]

The Rode stereo mic is 3.5mm TRS (TipRingSleeve) with T=left, R=right, and S=gnd. The Epic inputs without an I/O module are dual 3.5mm balanced. The proper wiring arrangement would be Rode T = Epic left T, Rode R = Epic right T, and Rode S tied to the Epic left R and S and Epic right R and S. I may have left right swapped, but easy enough to just swap inputs if I got it backwards.

Thanks, Tom. I think it'll be quicker for me to build a couple of patch cables (one for use and one for spare) than to try hunting around for them.
Cheers

 

[nigelsmith]

I just noticed your reply, and your not missing anything. Stereo mics are not appropriate for dialogue capture unless you are using an M-S stereo mic (potentially ignoring the S component and just using mostly a mono signal). Step 1 point the microphone at the subject.

I agree.
Once worked assisting a guy who used an M-S mic for boom. He would add the [phase inverted?] side signal in post to help cancel out 'off axis' sound.