JK Electronics Mic-J 044

[CDA441]

I have tried almost every microphone that was in my budget and in my reach except for the Purple Panda microphone where some people just swear by it.
However I also have heard about Giant Squids and the JK Electronics Mic-J 044 (also featured in the C2W helmet build in august 2017)

I know that CycleCruza uses the Giant Squid lav mic, but that one sounds a little harsh.
Reading some reviews I think that the Mic-J 044 sounds good too, but I still don't know if that's true at speeds above 85mph.
Having used a Philips LFH 91740 mic, which sounds for a fact very good without wind, a 2$ chinese lav mic (that also sounds very good) and a 7$ speedlink microphone, I can't seem to find a microphone that doesn't suck above at least 80mph.
The purple panda isn't available in my country, except for unreasonable prices for shipping. I can only ship it to Germany on Amazon.de, but not to Belgium.

The only thing that comes even close to a motovloggers helmet microphone is the JK Electronics Mic-J 044 (which is of course used in C2W's video). I'm keen to try that out, but what if it doesn't work out? Do I have to get a new helmet or is my camera setup just unusable to vlog normally? Even my microphone is packed in with foam and fur, in front of my mouth, within the chin curtain.

There's a dude I know who's subbed to my channel and vice versa
(example video: )

who uses an FDR X3000 with a cheapo Rusee omnidirectional mic, and as you can hear in the video, it sounds spotless and clear. At 43 mph it also sounds better than mine lol, or is it because he's riding a naked? He just has it clipped behind his chin curtain.

Anyways, I'm receiving my new mic tomorrow so I can check that out. I hope this will be the last microphone I'll ever buy

 

[HippoDrone]

I've found it is more to do with mic location, than the microphone itself. I use a £3 mic and love how it sounds mostly, works great in my dirt bike lid and on my Triumph 765R Street Triple. What is your issue, is it wind noise or bad voice audio?

 

[HippoDrone]

Your bike has a fairing, I bet that is your main issue, it will cause wind buffeting and turbulence. Try (if you are able) a naked bike and see what it is like!

 

[CDA441]

@HippoDrone It was the microphone Now at speeds up to 95mph the microphone still picks up my voice and almost no wind noise. The problem though is that it's clipping/making my voice vibrate in the wind. I was testing that with fur only. Now I have put in an extra foamy to insulate it from the wind gusts a little more, but I hope this is the better solution for clearer audio. However now the audio seems to be missing from the right channel, so it's back to filling right with left in Premiere Pro

 

[HippoDrone]

I use a really simple video editor so can't help with tips on that I am afraid, glad you have a solution though

 

[CDA441]

To add on this story, I went and got an ermax aeromax windscreen, one that looks like the Zero Gravity Double Bubble one. Seems like this one should cut down the turbulence a lot.
My bike had an MRA Vario windscreen (one with a pop up windflap) and that caused turbulence too, so I hope this Ermax one will cut down the wind and noise altogether.

 

[CDA441]

The experimentation continues! I now have placed the microphone closer to the visor instead of more downwards to the chin curtain; I haven't got time to test it out because the wind is blowing very hard, which also isn't really recommended to ride in. I've also put back the Sena 20S mic to try that one out (just plug and play) so I don't have to mess around with wires, tape and fur.
The fur is placed so high that it begins tickling my nose, but it also has more breathing noise, but that's a problem to solve later.
Having no option to adjust the gain or sensitivity on the input of the mic it seems like I have no other option to stop breathing altogether

 

[HippoDrone]

I moved my mic well out the way of my mouth and nose, no one wants to hear breathing all through a vid

 

[SighBored]

Unless you breathe like Darth Vader then sure that would be cool to listen to.. Hahaha..

 

[CDA441]

Ok, so the quality is a little bit better when it's mounted closer to the visor, however the "clipping" seems to not go away... I'll try this one more time using the Sena mic, and I swear to god, if this doesn't work out, I'll lose my mind!

 

[HippoDrone]

Can you move it further from your mouth? (Assuming it is the voice that is still clipping?)

 

[CDA441]

Yeah sure, I can move it away from my mouth but I think it's the wind noise that makes the voice clip afterwards, but that's a known(?) problem of the Mic-J 044. I'll check that out tomorrow with both the Sena and 044.

 

[CDA441]

Haha yes! Seems I got rid of the wind noise by a lot by moving the Sena closer to the visor! Clear voice at 134km/h!
The Mic-J 044, well.... that one has a lot of problems to get fixed. I don't think that the Mic-J is suitable for the motovlogging world. However, it's a nice to have lav mic for interviews.
These experiments surely helped me understand aerodynamics, microphones and placements inside the helmet. I'll make a vlog about that in a few!