One issue after another... constantly... but I won't let it discourage me

[tmagness]

Hello Friends, I hope everyone is as well as you can be. My motovlog journey so far has been plagued by one issue after another, mainly equipment related. I have overcome all my camera issues, what I am struggling with now is audio. I recently purchased the POS mic adapter from GoPro for my H5Black. I got one good video that I uploaded (which I will share for you to view if you'd like to) and was stoked for the group ride I had planned for the next day. I recorded 5 hrs of footage that I was going to make 2 videos out of, but when I got home I had ZERO audio. I found out later it was because I was using the quick capture feature on the camera. After testing out how to properly use the camera to capture mic audio, somehow I fried the adapter. I picked up a garmin virb 30 ultra that I was going to use, then after I got that I realized it didn't have a separate audio jack. So I can either run constant power or a mic. I have my cameras set up for constant power, but thats mainly in case anything happens on a ride, like an accident or something, I want the footage. I haven't figured out if there is a cable that will allow me to run power and a mic to the garmin or not. So in the meantime, I have decided to record audio on an old iPhone. That worked great for a day, but when I went out tonight to try to record an introduction video to post on motovlog social media pages, all I got was the sound of my bike.

So I could use some suggestions on what you guys are doing to capture separate audio that has worked properly the majority of the time. I have a purple panda lavalier mic that I am using. I wear an open face helmet, or no helmet sometimes, so I have the mic pinned to my vest or under the collar of my shirt. When I can get the phone to record, I get great audio, but tonight all I got was the sound of my bike. I'm not sure if its the app I am using or not. I was considering buying a voice recorder to use that to capture audio. Then I figured to be safe, I should just buy another mic and have two set up to record audio to make sure I got it. At any rate, I am open to suggestions from those of you who have already been down this path, or anything else you might want to share. Thank you all

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Hi @tmagness audio issues suck, guessing your GoPro adaptor died by running external power into it?

When I am doing trackdays, I am not allowed a helmetcam, so have to run a voice recorder if I want in helmet audio.
The voice recorder I use is a TASCAM DR-05, I've had issues with it in the past where the mic jack has come unplugged so now I tape it and strap it in place to stop it falling out.

 

[Moto Mengy]

I wear an open face helmet, or no helmet sometimes, so I have the mic pinned to my vest or under the collar of my shirt.

I wear an open face helmet too. Does the Hero 5 Black have built in mics? I just have my Hero 8 mounted on a curved arm which puts it out in front of my chin, which puts the mics right by my mouth, and with a homemade foam deadcat 3M'd over the mics I'm honestly getting decent audio. It's not the best possible quality but it's good and consistent.

 

[tmagness]

Hi @tmagness audio issues suck, guessing your GoPro adaptor died by running external power into it?

When I am doing trackdays, I am not allowed a helmetcam, so have to run a voice recorder if I want in helmet audio.
The voice recorder I use is a TASCAM DR-05, I've had issues with it in the past where the mic jack has come unplugged so now I tape it and strap it in place to stop it falling out.

I was just looking at TASCAM recorders last night. I was ready to buy that same one, but then I thought I should wait and hope someone here had something noteworthy to share first. Thank you for your input sir

 

[tmagness]

I wear an open face helmet too. Does the Hero 5 Black have built in mics? I just have my Hero 8 mounted on a curved arm which puts it out in front of my chin, which puts the mics right by my mouth, and with a homemade foam deadcat 3M'd over the mics I'm honestly getting decent audio. It's not the best possible quality but it's good and consistent.

It does have a decent mic, and picks up good audio under 40mph, but I am hoping to capture audio at highway speeds. The first time I got everything to work right, it worked great. I would like things to work like that everytime I go out, but for now its a struggle. But none the less, I am not going to let it stop me

 

[LoneWolfer]

I use my iPhone to record my audio, but I wear a full face helmet. Recording without a chin bar is rough at best, and I know very few that accomplish this well. Anthony Roberson some how makes magic happen with his open faced hemlet and mic setup. I use a powered mic, the trs to trrs adapter, and an app called Voice Record Pro.

My first suspicion on your issue of the mic not always working or sometimes picking up only the bike is the GAIN setting. The mic is possibly picking up only one aspect of the sound that is present, and is unable to process your voice or even unable to process any of the sound because it is overloaded. I turn the gain way down and keep the mic close to my mouth. Records my voice very well and gets the sound of my bike.

I have a video called "My Vlogging Rig" on my channel that shows everything I use including the settings I use on the app.

My second suspicion is how far away you have the mic from your mouth, which is directly connected to my first suspicion of what is robbing you of sound. Having it on your your vest or on your collar works if your shooting something interview style, with little background noise, no wind and no motorcycle moving you though time and space at your prefered speeds. Is there no way for you to mount the mic to the cheek pad, or even in the cheek pad while you ride? When I started I used old iPhone earbuds with the built in mic, I cut the ear buds off and stuffed the mic portion in my cheek pad and I got decent audio from it by adjusting the gain in the app I use, Voice Record Pro.

There are also headset style mics like the one that comes with Sena's that can be found that have the arm that lets you position the mic in front of your mouth with a widnsock on it that would also be useful in capturing more of the intended ausio, your voice, for your motovlogs.

And as a side note, I understand the choice to not wear a helmet,. But from my experience wearing a full face is a necessity to motovlogging. It minimizes wind noise for audio and allows for mounting a camera that gives the preferred POV style of video and helps minimize vibration as your body absorbs a great deal of that.

 

[tmagness]

I use my iPhone to record my audio, but I wear a full face helmet. Recording without a chin bar is rough at best, and I know very few that accomplish this well. Anthony Roberson some how makes magic happen with his open faced hemlet and mic setup. I use a powered mic, the trs to trrs adapter, and an app called Voice Record Pro.

My first suspicion on your issue of the mic not always working or sometimes picking up only the bike is the GAIN setting. The mic is possibly picking up only one aspect of the sound that is present, and is unable to process your voice or even unable to process any of the sound because it is overloaded. I turn the gain way down and keep the mic close to my mouth. Records my voice very well and gets the sound of my bike.

I have a video called "My Vlogging Rig" on my channel that shows everything I use including the settings I use on the app.

My second suspicion is how far away you have the mic from your mouth, which is directly connected to my first suspicion of what is robbing you of sound. Having it on your your vest or on your collar works if your shooting something interview style, with little background noise, no wind and no motorcycle moving you though time and space at your prefered speeds. Is there no way for you to mount the mic to the cheek pad, or even in the cheek pad while you ride? When I started I used old iPhone earbuds with the built in mic, I cut the ear buds off and stuffed the mic portion in my cheek pad and I got decent audio from it by adjusting the gain in the app I use, Voice Record Pro.

There are also headset style mics like the one that comes with Sena's that can be found that have the arm that lets you position the mic in front of your mouth with a widnsock on it that would also be useful in capturing more of the intended ausio, your voice, for your motovlogs.

And as a side note, I understand the choice to not wear a helmet,. But from my experience wearing a full face is a necessity to motovlogging. It minimizes wind noise for audio and allows for mounting a camera that gives the preferred POV style of video and helps minimize vibration as your body absorbs a great deal of that.

Thank you sir for your input. There is so much about so many of the intricacies involved in this stuff that I know I don't know about, and learning the ins and outs has been a challenge. I haven't worn a full face helmet in so long, jumping on the bike and firing up a cigar has become second nature. I am going to see if I can push through these issues a bit more, but I am ready to admit when I am defeated and change course to continue moving forward.

 

[R-Rated]

My Hero 4 Silvers, I use the GoPro adapter with a Sony ECM stereo mic.
My Sessions, I use a Tascam Recorder with the same Sony mic.
My Hero 8 Black, I use the "brick" from GoPro with the same Sony mic.

I ride with a full face as long as I can but when the when the weather gets to swampass season, I break out the half helmet.

 

[Madlad]

Not sure if this will work for you, but what I've done is run a Lav mic inside the lining of my helmet and taped it to the chin bar. That is in turn, run directly to my phones voice recorder. Again, the issue here is I wear full-face

Now I just thought of this as I was typing, but if you didn't want to run a full-face helmet there are half helmets that have removable masks that could hold the mic when recording, which could be removed when you are not.

Observe my five seconds of work in MS paint

 

[tmagness]

I know this thread is a little old, @HippoDrone, I went with a DR-05x, and it is amazing. I appreciate your help more than I can convey. I wanted to post the intro video in the vlog section, but I read the guidelines and my video seems a bit long. So instead, I am going to make a "shoutout" video just for the forum. Now that I have overcome a few of my major hurdles, I feel like I can confidently provide help to other members.

 

[Hippo-Drones]

That is awesome to hear, we look forward to your help and advice!

 

[SighBored]

If I'm not mistaken I think the Hero5 is buggy, perhaps you should upgrade to a newer model.. As for running separate audio.. I don't do that so I can't offer solutions.. Good luck!

 

[tmagness]

If I'm not mistaken I think the Hero5 is buggy, perhaps you should upgrade to a newer model.. As for running separate audio.. I don't do that so I can't offer solutions.. Good luck!

my issue was recording audio with the GoPro, I use 2 hero 5’s and a max while recording audio separately now and everything is dialed in perfectly.i get little to no wind noise when cruising at 45mph, and even when I’m on the highway, you can hear my voice just as well as someone wearing a helmet. The link to my channel is in my bio, or you can search #smokedmedia on YouTube to see what I’m talking about. I’m going to work on a clip to post here that meets the standards..the link I shared on my post above was removed

 

[Drakhen99]

my issue was recording audio with the GoPro, I use 2 hero 5’s and a max while recording audio separately now and everything is dialed in perfectly.i get little to no wind noise when cruising at 45mph, and even when I’m on the highway, you can hear my voice just as well as someone wearing a helmet. The link to my channel is in my bio, or you can search #smokedmedia on YouTube to see what I’m talking about. I’m going to work on a clip to post here that meets the standards..the link I shared on my post above was removed

I watched your Vlog Intro video, and I gotta say - the audio is amazing! I too enjoy smoking cigars while I ride my Street Glide, so I also wear a half helmet.

So far, I have: GoPro Hero 8, Media Mod, Purple Panda mic. I have yet to find a combo of settings that works. I have the PP mic gaffer-taped to my SENA mic boom, and it works OK on my bobber (no windshield), but on the Harley, it's horrendous!

I saw in another post that you're using a Tascam DR-05x, right? Where did you mount the mic? Any other setup tips?

Also, are you editing the audio in post? There's almost no wind noise in your video!

Thanks,

-John

 

[CVentures]

Hi @tmagness audio issues suck, guessing your GoPro adaptor died by running external power into it?

When I am doing trackdays, I am not allowed a helmetcam, so have to run a voice recorder if I want in helmet audio.
The voice recorder I use is a TASCAM DR-05, I've had issues with it in the past where the mic jack has come unplugged so now I tape it and strap it in place to stop it falling out.

What do you do after that, somehow sync the audio and the video up in post ? You do this vs a mic into your GoPro ?

 

[Drakhen99]

I know you didn't ask me, but I know so I'll give my answer: You can easily sync up audio and video in post. I use HitFilm Express, and it lets you strip out the audio from the GoPro and import an audio track you recorded on your phone or external recorder.

I saw it on some YouTube videos where the filmer clapped their hands a few times in succession, which gives spikes in the audio waveform in the editor, which you then drag to sync up.

-John

 

[CVentures]

Drakhen, do you keep that recorder in your pocket and run a mic to your helmet?

 

[Drakhen99]

Drakhen, do you keep that recorder in your pocket and run a mic to your helmet?

Well, when I started, I was recording audio on my phone from my SENA mic... and that sucked. Wayyyy too much wind noise. It got better when I got the Purple Panda, which I run to the Media Mod for my GoPro Hero 8. Still too much wind noise though. I think I need to close the vent on my Harley or swap the windshield out for something different.

To more concisely answer your question though: yes, audio recorder in my pocket. If I got a Tascam, I'd put it in my jacket pocket or something though - I think it's too big for a pants pocket.

I hope tmagness jumps in and gives his input though - it looks like he's got it figured out!

-John

 

[Teh Purp]

As a test you can even run however many splitters and converters n run an app on your phone if you want to try it without buying one, you can get some moderately cheap Sony recorders if this is the route you want to go down.

Reason I say adapters n splitters is because most phones now don't have headphone ports, and use a trrs, then again some mics just use that, so one less splitter.

 

[Drakhen99]

As a test you can even run however many splitters and converters n run an app on your phone if you want to try it without buying one, you can get some moderately cheap Sony recorders if this is the route you want to go down.

Reason I say adapters n splitters is because most phones now don't have headphone ports, and use a trrs, then again some mics just use that, so one less splitter.

So maybe (maybe?) I'm dumb, but is there a difference between recording audio on your phone from an external mic, and recording directly on the GoPro with an external mic?

FWIW, I used the Parrot app on my phone (free!) to record from my SENA, but somehow it was missing all the magic the SENA has to produce usable audio.

At this point, I don't even care about audio quality at highway speeds, just < 60mph. Hopefully the weather breaks and my replacement windscreens show up tomorrow so I can go for a quick ride and do another test with the fairing's vent closed. Both my wife's SENA windscreen and my Purple Panda screen went flying yesterday. The only thing I have for my mic now is a dead cat that came with it... and in previous audio tests, it was worse than the foam one.

I am REALLY curious where tmagness is mounting his mic - he's not wearing a helmet, and mentioned that he has a PP mic, so I wonder if he clipped it to his riding vest or what?

-John