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I own a Sony HXR-NX30U which has two XLR input ports. I would like to use both, the directional built in shotgun mic and a lapel mic.

Is that possible? In other words:

  1. Does the camera support it?
  2. If so, would both channels be in the same mp4 file?
  3. Will iMovie see both channels?

Thank you in advance!

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Pages 41-43 of the HXR-NX30U manual tells you exactly how to do this.

First of all, the "superdirectional boom mic" is an accessory that overrides the "builtin mic" (which is much smaller and not a boom mic).

Secondly, if you want to use both the boom mic and a lapel mic, you definitely need to use the XLR adapter, which will override the builtin (non-boom) mic.

If you set the switches correctly so that the boom mic is going to one channel (perhaps Ch 1) and the lapel mic is going to the other channel (perhaps Ch 2), then yes, both channels will be recorded to the media file that the camera records. And iMovie will see both channels within the clip. You might have to fight with iMovie to explain that the audio is dual-mono, not stereo, but that's an iMovie question, not a SONY question.

Make sure that if your microphone needs phantom (+48v) power, that phantom power is enabled on that channel.

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  • Thank you. Just a quick terminology question: does "channel" mean "stream"? I intuited, perhaps incorrectly, that "channel" meant left/right, while "inputs" corresponded to "streams". I'm confused by the fact that there are two "inputs" and two "channels".
    – Wynne
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 1:51
  • I added confusion when I used stream instead of channel in my answer. Inputs are physical jacks on the camera. Channels are the logical elements of the clip/media file. I'll clean up my answer. I also cleaned up the question to use more standard terms. The use of the word "streams" in the question led to this confusion.
    – Michael Tiemann
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 9:54

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