Settings for a single lav mic on HPX-170

[Micah Wolf]

There is no way to control both channels with one control. You would only get one channel of sound if you just record to channel one. What you can do is just record to one channel and then in post, duplicate the audio track so it is you both left and right.

[Fernando Mol]

Micah is right, I’ll just add that a good audio practice when recording same audio in both channels is to set the level for the second one a little bit lower, so if your audio gets hot you can recover it from the second “backup” channel.

https://vimeo.com/fernandomol

[Jack Niedenthal]

That is an excellent point, Fernando. Thanks. I think that is the way to go, use input 2 and record with 2 channels. Just a question, when I only record one channel, then throw it into FCP, I notice I get 2 audio channels, both L and R. Is the sound quality any better if you record with 2 channels as opposed to just one? if they both give you a L and R in FCP, what is the difference?

One issue I have is I recently had to record interviews for a news situation where we were doing a lot of stuff on the fly (did you see the Castaway story on CNN about the Marshall Islands? We shot all that initial footage. If you saw the Castaway on film walking around with hair and beard, that was us). When I had 2 channels to balance it was a real hassle, it would have been much easier just balancing one channel.

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands
http://www.microwavefilms.org
https://www.microwavefilms.org/Crickets.html
iMac i7 using Mavericks 10.9.x, HPX 170 using only one 64GB card
I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific, YOU are my only resource.

[Fernando Mol]

No quality changes in having two duplicated stereo channels or one mono channel. I guess you can go with what you feel more comfortable.

https://vimeo.com/fernandomol