Double momo/"Fake stereo" audio on single channel device phases itself out??
I record news reports for school, in which I stand in front of a camera with a microphone.
My setup:
I use this microphone, which plugs into this adapter, to go through this cable, and then into my camera, which has a stereo mic jack.
This method takes a mono signal and splits it into two identical channels, or "fake stereo" if you will.
The problem:
When I watch these videos on my computer or on a TV, or any device with stereo speakers, everything is fine. HOWEVER, when they are played on a one-speaker device, such as a smartphone, the two identical channels are played through one speaker, and they phase eachother out. So other than some faint squeaking, my voice is almost entirely gone!
I like putting my videos on Youtube, but some of my friends complain that the audio is messed up when they watch them on their phones.
The question?
What can I do to avoid this problem? I'm fine with mono sound from my microphone, I just obviously can't have it "doubled" and I don't want to use a mono cable which will only give me sound in one channel.
Example:
Here is one of my videos that has this problem. Watch it on a one-speaker phone, or something else with one speaker, and you will see what I mean. But it plays fine on a computer.
Littering PSA (DON'T WATCH ON A PHONE) - YouTube
I record news reports for school, in which I stand in front of a camera with a microphone.
My setup:
I use this microphone, which plugs into this adapter, to go through this cable, and then into my camera, which has a stereo mic jack.
This method takes a mono signal and splits it into two identical channels, or "fake stereo" if you will.
The problem:
When I watch these videos on my computer or on a TV, or any device with stereo speakers, everything is fine. HOWEVER, when they are played on a one-speaker device, such as a smartphone, the two identical channels are played through one speaker, and they phase eachother out. So other than some faint squeaking, my voice is almost entirely gone!
I like putting my videos on Youtube, but some of my friends complain that the audio is messed up when they watch them on their phones.
The question?
What can I do to avoid this problem? I'm fine with mono sound from my microphone, I just obviously can't have it "doubled" and I don't want to use a mono cable which will only give me sound in one channel.
Example:
Here is one of my videos that has this problem. Watch it on a one-speaker phone, or something else with one speaker, and you will see what I mean. But it plays fine on a computer.
Littering PSA (DON'T WATCH ON A PHONE) - YouTube
You are probably connecting an unbalanced source to a stereo input as though it were a balanced input. You therefore have identical sound on each channel, but inverted on one. This is not 'fake stereo', but antiphase mono. Adding them back together again in true mono and you get nothing as they cancel.
You need an adaptor which puts the two stereo channels in parallel.
You need an adaptor which puts the two stereo channels in parallel.
another case of not understanding "balanced" audio connections,i guess the three pins in an xlr connector can lead to a lot of confusion.
DF96 is on the money about your losing (phasing out) of your audio track.
what model camera are you using and does it have a built in mic(some broadcast field cameras do) so you would also have to determine if the on board mic is in phase with auxiliary/external mic your hand holding.
most broadcast type cameras are indeed capable of stereo recording so panning,phase and connector pinning are all important.
did you try muting or lowering either the left or right channel levels to see if the sound comes back when mono'd that would verify that phase across the stereo tracks is messed up.
p.s. after listening to the littering vid i can tell your tracks are out of phase just by panning the audio on my computer!
DF96 is on the money about your losing (phasing out) of your audio track.
what model camera are you using and does it have a built in mic(some broadcast field cameras do) so you would also have to determine if the on board mic is in phase with auxiliary/external mic your hand holding.
most broadcast type cameras are indeed capable of stereo recording so panning,phase and connector pinning are all important.
did you try muting or lowering either the left or right channel levels to see if the sound comes back when mono'd that would verify that phase across the stereo tracks is messed up.
p.s. after listening to the littering vid i can tell your tracks are out of phase just by panning the audio on my computer!
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies. I use two cameras. My personal camera is a JVC Everio E505, and for some projects I have borrowed my school's much nicer Sony HDR-cx580v. They both have built-in mics, but I offset them when using a plug-in mic. And both cameras give me the same problem with the doubled mono audio.
In regards to turk 182's question about tweaking the one of the channels, I have figured out that that is a solution. In my editing software, if I zoom way in and offset one of the channels by a fraction of a second, that fixes the problem. But that is still a lot of effort when the project has many video clips. How can I actually record the audio so that this problem won't occur? I am willing to buy some new equipment but I don't want to break the bank by simply buying a stereo mic. I don't even think they make stereo mics in the "ice cream cone" shape.
In regards to turk 182's question about tweaking the one of the channels, I have figured out that that is a solution. In my editing software, if I zoom way in and offset one of the channels by a fraction of a second, that fixes the problem. But that is still a lot of effort when the project has many video clips. How can I actually record the audio so that this problem won't occur? I am willing to buy some new equipment but I don't want to break the bank by simply buying a stereo mic. I don't even think they make stereo mics in the "ice cream cone" shape.
Hi,
This has something to do with "fake stereo" if I'm
correctly reading between the lines of what is
going on. Turn the option off on the camera.
You want mono or real stereo settings.
The "fake stereo" setting is very poor for speech
news, in all respects the best is proper mono.
Even in stereo the "best" for vocal news is mono.
rgds, sreten.
rgds, sreten.
This has something to do with "fake stereo" if I'm
correctly reading between the lines of what is
going on. Turn the option off on the camera.
You want mono or real stereo settings.
The "fake stereo" setting is very poor for speech
news, in all respects the best is proper mono.
Even in stereo the "best" for vocal news is mono.
rgds, sreten.
rgds, sreten.
At some point in your system you need an adaptor or cable which is wired as follows:
Mike end: :Camera end
T: :T+R
R: :S
S: :S
That puts the mono signal in phase on both stereo channels, and crudely converts the balanced to unbalanced.
Alternatively, use an audio editor to simply invert one of the channels.
Mike end: :Camera end
T: :T+R
R: :S
S: :S
That puts the mono signal in phase on both stereo channels, and crudely converts the balanced to unbalanced.
Alternatively, use an audio editor to simply invert one of the channels.
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