Recording intercom audio

[SweetTripl]

Thinking about recording intercom audio from my packtalk bold. My initial idea is a splitter cable one mic (purple panda) to my mouth for me talking and the second mic (also PP) to one of my speakers to pick up the comms. Is this the best way or has anyone got a better idea?

 

[R-Rated]

Thinking about recording intercom audio from my packtalk bold. My initial idea is a splitter cable one mic (purple panda) to my mouth for me talking and the second mic (also PP) to one of my speakers to pick up the comms. Is this the best way or has anyone got a better idea?

@LoneWolfer has some recent videos where he did that and the audio sounds really good. I have tried it using a Purple Panda and a Røde mic of same size. The Røde picked up the speaker a louder than the Purple Panda at my mouth.

@scooterwuf did a similar setup but I have not seen how his turned out yet.

 

[PhilTonic]

It's not the best way. Here is a diagram of how I do it. Insert any intercom for the Cardo.

Stereo splitter from the Cardo headset out. One to your speakers, one into a dual audio inline volume regulator. Why? Because the Cardo level is way higher than the mic level. For the Osmo Action 3 the mic level also needs reducing.

In order to have your voice and the intercom audio on two different channels, you WOULD need a stereo to mono splitter cable, but why make it complicated? Just snip the correct wires inside the inline volume regulator. Job done.

The good thing about seperate channels is: you can adjust the volume levels seperately and you can cut out the intercom audio if you don't want to have it in the video.

Of course you can go the two mics route, but you asked for the best way. And when talking about "best" I mean best lossless audio quality.

 

[SweetTripl]

@LoneWolfer has some recent videos where he did that and the audio sounds really good. I have tried it using a Purple Panda and a Røde mic of same size. The Røde picked up the speaker a louder than the Purple Panda at my mouth.

@scooterwuf did a similar setup but I have not seen how his turned out yet.

Perfect, thanks mate, I’ll check out both videos.

 

[tojjer29]

Decent audio on vloggin is the holy grail. I had a lovely set up coming from a GoPro, but the rain got into it and buggered it. The new Cardo edge has the ability to record all your comms, but I don't think it's brilliant.
Loads of videos on YouTube about this very subject, lots of different ways on lots of different cameras.

 

[SweetTripl]

It's not the best way. Here is a diagram of how I do it. Insert any intercom for the Cardo.

Stereo splitter from the Cardo headset out. One to your speakers, one into a dual audio inline volume regulator. Why? Because the Cardo level is way higher than the mic level. For the Osmo Action 3 the mic level also needs reducing.

In order to have your voice and the intercom audio on two different channels, you WOULD need a stereo to mono splitter cable, but why make it complicated? Just snip the correct wires inside the inline volume regulator. Job done.

The good thing about seperate channels is: you can adjust the volume levels seperately and you can cut out the intercom audio if you don't want to have it in the video.

Of course you can go the two mics route, but you asked for the best way. And when talking about "best" I mean best lossless audio quality.

View attachment 6920

Thanks mate, So do I need to be handy with a soldering iron to do this? Or is it all plug and play?

 

[SweetTripl]

Decent audio on vloggin is the holy grail. I had a lovely set up coming from a GoPro, but the rain got into it and buggered it. The new Cardo edge has the ability to record all your comms, but I don't think it's brilliant.
Loads of videos on YouTube about this very subject, lots of different ways on lots of different cameras.

Thanks mate will also have a peruse on YT.

 

[Drakhen99]

I think any time you can record directly from a source like @PhilTonic showed, you'll get better results.

I will say though, that I keep a splitter cable + 2nd mic in my tour pack in case I end up riding with someone and want to record comms. I also keep gaffer's tape in my tour pack to tape the 2nd mic in place over my 2nd speaker - so basically like you described in your original post.

It works OK in a pinch, and since the mics are the same and I always have my comms cranked up, they're about the same volume too.

You can see it here:

General - This forum really brings people together!

On his way home from Laconia Bike Week, @R-Rated stopped through my neck of the woods and we got to go for a ride together! Fun times were had, check 'em out in this video: Thanks again to @R-Rated for trusting me to not get him lost :D and to the forum itself for brining people together...

motovlog.com

-John

 

[SweetTripl]

I think any time you can record directly from a source like @PhilTonic showed, you'll get better results.

I will say though, that I keep a splitter cable + 2nd mic in my tour pack in case I end up riding with someone and want to record comms. I also keep gaffer's tape in my tour pack to tape the 2nd mic in place over my 2nd speaker - so basically like you described in your original post.

It works OK in a pinch, and since the mics are the same and I always have my comms cranked up, they're about the same volume too.

You can see it here:

General - This forum really brings people together!

On his way home from Laconia Bike Week, @R-Rated stopped through my neck of the woods and we got to go for a ride together! Fun times were had, check 'em out in this video: Thanks again to @R-Rated for trusting me to not get him lost :D and to the forum itself for brining people together...

motovlog.com

-John

Agreed, thought 2nd mic / splitter wasn’t the greatest option.

 

[L. Bilious]

The best way is probably as @PhilTonic said.
The easiest way is a splitter cable and two mics, which is what I have done. The result was good enough for me, but I will play around with the mic to earpiece location.

 

[Drakhen99]

The best way is probably as @PhilTonic said.
The easiest way is a splitter cable and two mics, which is what I have done. The result was good enough for me, but I will play around with the mic to earpiece location.

Yeah, that certainly makes a difference - as does the comms volume.

-John

 

[Drakhen99]

Agreed, thought 2nd mic / splitter wasn’t the greatest option.

No, but in a pinch, or if you're only recording comms once in a while, it can be just what's needed.

I found that I got some sort of click or secondary noise in the system when I had the dual mic setup going but my comms were off... so I removed the setup and just install it when needed.

-John

 

[R-Rated]

I think any time you can record directly from a source like @PhilTonic showed, you'll get better results.

I will say though, that I keep a splitter cable + 2nd mic in my tour pack in case I end up riding with someone and want to record comms. I also keep gaffer's tape in my tour pack to tape the 2nd mic in place over my 2nd speaker - so basically like you described in your original post.

It works OK in a pinch, and since the mics are the same and I always have my comms cranked up, they're about the same volume too.

You can see it here:

General - This forum really brings people together!

On his way home from Laconia Bike Week, @R-Rated stopped through my neck of the woods and we got to go for a ride together! Fun times were had, check 'em out in this video: Thanks again to @R-Rated for trusting me to not get him lost :D and to the forum itself for brining people together...

motovlog.com

-John

Great example if the setup indeed.

 

[R-Rated]

No, but in a pinch, or if you're only recording comms once in a while, it can be just what's needed.

I found that I got some sort of click or secondary noise in the system when I had the dual mic setup going but my comms were off... so I removed the setup and just install it when needed.

-John

Oh that click is from those guys from DC Free Beer Inventory following you.

 

[scooterwuf]

@LoneWolfer has some recent videos where he did that and the audio sounds really good. I have tried it using a Purple Panda and a Røde mic of same size. The Røde picked up the speaker a louder than the Purple Panda at my mouth.

@scooterwuf did a similar setup but I have not seen how his turned out yet.

The results look (sound) pretty good, though I expect to do a decent amount of normalization, compression and/or add a Declipper effect for any sounds/voices that are too loud. I'm using Adobe Audition, but the same kind of effect may be used in other Sound editing programs, or a digital film editing program with good sound editing tools.

- Wolf

 

[scooterwuf]

It's not the best way. Here is a diagram of how I do it. Insert any intercom for the Cardo.

Stereo splitter from the Cardo headset out. One to your speakers, one into a dual audio inline volume regulator. Why? Because the Cardo level is way higher than the mic level. For the Osmo Action 3 the mic level also needs reducing.

In order to have your voice and the intercom audio on two different channels, you WOULD need a stereo to mono splitter cable, but why make it complicated? Just snip the correct wires inside the inline volume regulator. Job done.

The good thing about seperate channels is: you can adjust the volume levels seperately and you can cut out the intercom audio if you don't want to have it in the video.

Of course you can go the two mics route, but you asked for the best way. And when talking about "best" I mean best lossless audio quality.

View attachment 6920

I made a similar set-up with my Drift XL Pro, only I split the mic to have one for my mouth at the front of the helmet, and one next to one of my Sena headphone speakers set in a factory installed pocket in my helmet's inner lining. I recorded both my voice and those connected to the Sena network, in this case @R-Rated and @LoneWolfer. I don't think my Sena mic is compatible with my Drift camera.

- Wolf

 

[Drakhen99]

The results look (sound) pretty good, though I expect to do a decent amount of normalization, compression and/or add a Declipper effect for any sounds/voices that are too loud. I'm using Adobe Audition, but the same kind of effect may be used in other Sound editing programs, or a digital film editing program with good sound editing tools.

- Wolf

Good point! Some post-processing may be needed.

FWIW, I use the Clarity Vx plugin on my audio [for dual mic recording, it's still in the same track] and Alex Audio Butler to do my leveling and some vocal stuff. Oh, and I use the Dialog Processor to add a bit of bass back into my voice. The trifecta of clean motovlog audio, as far as I'm concerned.

And it all works in Resolve and takes literal seconds to apply to each video

-John

 

[Drakhen99]

Great example if the setup indeed.

It worked well! I had done a couple of phone call recordings a week or two prior, so I'd heard that it worked - but recording the comms from another rider worked way better than the phone conversations.

-John

 

[PhilTonic]

Thanks mate, So do I need to be handy with a soldering iron to do this? Or is it all plug and play?

You can go the plug and play route, but it can get very tight if you are planning to dump all the cables inside the helmet. Hence why I've soldered my stuff. You could even reduce the number of connectors by splitting the headphone cable instead of using a splitter, but I wanted to be able to revert everything back to normal.

At the moment only the male end of the volume regulator is peaking out at the front of my helmet. TRS to USB C adapter then goes into the OA3.

 

[nophix]

It's a bit hacky, but you can use one of the dual lav mic setups, and toss one in next to the comms speaker. On my drift, with the adapter, it picks up my voice on one channel and the comms on the other, then I just merge them in post. It's not great, but it works well enough.