What's the best way to capture sound using an XL1? I've read a lot of articles of patching in a good mike through the XL1 unit, but what about recording the sound separately on a DAT or using NAGRA? If I did this, do I have to worry about getting additional equipment for synching?

-- Sandeep Mody (byogihakti@aol.com), February 13, 2002

Answers

as a pro sound engineer, not a video producer who also owns an XL1s, i can tell you there is no advantage to using a DAT or nagra, when recording in the stereo 16bit mode. digital is digital and the quality is the same; there are extremely small differences in the analogue to digital converter that all systems require. (all sound starts off as analogue and must be converted to digital) using an external capture source such as a DAT requires your camcorder to be genlocked to the audio recorder which is a hassel, while usind the built in recorder in the camera is of course recorded in perfect sync, real time. i have also recorded the XL1s using all 4 tracks which can be mixed down separately, with slightly less quality, but still good results. the built in stereo mic is great for general or ambient sound, (it picks up everything) and produces excellent results when used in conjunction with a direct feed from an audio mixer which is captured on tracks 3&4. an example of this is recording a concert using tracks 1&2 for stereo mic (ambient sound) and 3&4 being fed from the house audio system.

-- Keith (soundchaser2000@hotmail.com), July 12, 2002.

keith again: i also forgot to tell you that using a combination of a high quality condensor mic (such as close micing a speaker) along with the camcorder's built in mic also produces excellent results. the XL1's built in stereo mic is only good for ambient sound and lacks the articulation of a high quality studio microphone, but it has excellent response reproducing the 'general background' sound because it closely simulates the human ear--meaning it picks up everything in proportion to how we hear. think of a wide angle lense as opposed to a telescopic lense; the wide angle simulates human vision; the telescopic zooms in detail and isolates objects similar to the studio mic.

-- keith (soundchaser2000@hotmail.com), July 12, 2002.

Honestly and Truly, if you know what youre doing in post production, you really dont need to worry about recording the sound separately, just as long as you keep the mic on the camera on, and you slate to a handclap. I dont care what anyone says, the xl1s sounds like dogshit. Its prosumer crap, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not really "professional".

-- adam (xsonic_reducerx@yahoo.com), September 12, 2003.