On Tue, 1 May 2001 13:17:35 +0200, "Wolfgang Neun" wrote:

>I want to separately record surrounding sounds ('atmo' - at least in
>German) for a wildlife docu. As I am on a budget I would rather avoid
>buying a DAT now. So I am considering to record the audio only on my
>camcorder (XL1) with the iris closed completely.

Why not use an inexpensive Mini-Disk recorder for this...?

>Unfortunately I am not familiar with any NLE (my next big deal). So I
>would like to ask if there are any difficulties to separate the audio
>from the (black) video in postproduction and attach it to the wildlife
>footage? Or is it even possible to record only the audio tracks into the
>NLE software?

Not much problem, and the XL-1 sound and mic are
likely good enough... (why close the iris? ;-).

>And what about the quality? Can I expect DAT-like quality recording with
>16bit/48kHz or is the audio compressed together with the video?

The audio is not compressed, but it is not necessarily as
good as DAT, either (or Mini-Disk) due to the level of
the electronics employed. Video audio is not up to
"audiomaniac" standards, but since the product is video,
it doesn't need to be...

>Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

You mentioned dual shotguns later. I use this often without
problems, and it gets me somewhat more "isolated" sound
than a stereo wide-coverage "MS" mic would (essentially
what is built into most camcorders...) - though a good
MS mic for wide-area ambience recording would be fine.
Depending on the level of quality you want, and the level
of skill you have in optimizing sound, you may (or may
not) be able to use mini-plug mics for what you want to
do. With some sound editing and adjusting on your part,
the results from using inexpensive and simple gear can
be quite good...