Can I Use A Mono Microphone With My Stereo Camera

Most modern cameras, and recorders, provide a stereo microphone jack (a left channel and a right channel) but most microphones come with a mono (single channel) connector. All the cameras (and recorders) that we’ve worked with take that single channel and put on one channel (often the left channel). This leaves total silence on the second channel. How do I fix this?

There are three options. The first is to copy the audio from the first channel to the second channel during post-production (editing). There are way too many editing programs for us to discuss how to do this but it is an extra step we would rather avoid.

The second option is to purchase a mono-stereo adapter. These adapters connect the single channel coming from the microphone to both channel of the stereo connector. This provides a dual-mono signal and not a true stereo signal but it doesn’t require any extra work.

The third option is to purchase a microphone with a dual-mono connector. The Microphone Madness microphones that we offer are provided with a dual-mono connector. If you should happen to use your dual-mono microphone with a mixer or other audio device the microphone will be treated as a stereo device with two identical signals.