How to deal with mono sound

[Mazb]

My camcorder has only mono sound; that is, only one audio channel which I connect to the left input of my ADVC110. After transferring to digital video and playing back, I have sound from one speaker which is not surprising.

What do I need to do to get sound from both channels? I understand that the sound won't be stereo, but how do I get the same sound from both channels?

Is this something I should address while capturing? For example, does it make sense to rig up some kind of Y-cable (or maybe use a pre-amp) to send the audio into both L & R channels of the ADVC110?

Or, is this something best dealt with in post-processing the transferred digital video?

Any suggestions?

[THoff]

I'd be very surprised if your camcorder is mono -- that's unheard of in this day and age unless you're using an external mono mike or have some wiring or settings wrong.

You can correct it in post by duplicating the channel so you've got the same audio coming from the left and right speakers. How you do that depends on your NLE.

Another thing you can do if your NLE supports VST audio plugins is to use something like the Kjaerhus Classic Chorus filter to add stereo separation so you get something more akin to true stereo.

[kbosward]

I have the same problem with my Video8 camera. The best solution is to make up a Y cable as you suggested. I just grabbed some parts from my local electronics store, but you may find a cable already made up.

You can duplicate the channel in your video editor (when I tried this I used an audio plugin to pan the L channel across both channels), but you will find that it slows down your editing as the editor must render all the audio. I found it was much quicker to have it done in hardware during capture!

THoff, I'm sure there are still plenty of camcorders that are mono. I have friends who still shoot family videos using an old Sharp 8mm mono camera. And I'm still in the process of converting all my old 8mm (mono) tapes using my trusty old Sony Video8 (mono) camera! Only recently I had an enquiry from a work colleague who has some 17 year old family 8mm tapes. His camera died many years ago and he now wants me to put them onto DVD for him. I'll do so -- at the appropriate price :)

Ken.