How to Use Canon XH A1 Audio Auto Levels

Video Transcript

"Now I want to talk a little bit about levels and, essentially, automated levels vs. setting your own manual levels. First off, on the XH A1, let me show you where you set auto levels. It's right here on the back of your camera. You can see audio level and then there's an A and a N, it's right next to your menu button. When it's set to A, that means you've got auto levels which means the camcorder is adjusting the sensitivity of the microphone according to the audio conditions. If, all of a sudden, it got really loud, it would try to turn it down and bring those audio levels into the right range. If it got really soft, you might start to hear a little bit more static in the background, that's because the mic is trying to pick up more noise because there's nothing there. That's about auto levels and, really, if you're watching this series and learning how to set up your audio correctly, you should probably be setting manual levels which I'll show you next. But, before we move on, just to point out where you can actually see your levels. You can see them on your paradial, right here. As I'm talking you can see them coming up right there. But that's kind of hard to see and not really convenient for you. Most likely, where you'll be watching your levels most of the time, is on your LCD screen or your view finder, there just right there on the bottom right. You actually have the option to turn this off in your menu, but I would never do that. I always and always watch an audio levels. You should be too, because good audio is essential to good video. I can't stress that enough."