Mic setup

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tweek

tweek

Wannabie Member
I'm pretty settled on using the Contour roam and think I've finally gotten the mounting sorted. The magnet idea was cool, but velcro rules. My latest video is even has a flat horizon - no longer slanted off to the left - which is a total misdirection with me.

The problem now is the microphone. I'm no Sean Conery and I'm never going to have a voice that draws people in. But right now I sound really really really bad. I'm overdriving the mic, you can hear tons of wind noise and other stuff. How do you guys do it? m13, spicy, gardensnake, just about everybody else sounds fine. What are you guys doing? Do you just ride around recording with the video camera and then voice track it when you get home? You know that is cheating right?

I've ordered windscreens for the mic. Is there anything else I can do, besides hiring Seth McFarlane, to make my videos sound a little better?
 
Hahahahaha. You and most other vloggers bro.

I've been messing with my mic set up on my Drift since I got it months ago and still havent sussed it. Its find when I try it day ay home or even ridding at anything slower than 30mph, anything over that and I sound like im shouting, even on the lowest setting.

This is the question that gets posted on here every week.

Many advice would have this: set your Mic on the lowest pIck up setting possible short of off and then just 'trial and error' to find 'your' optimum recording spot.

Theres too many variables that effect why some people achieve it straight away whilst other's like us seen to struggle. Type of bike, riding position, Faired or naked bike, size of rider, speed, helmet etc etc etc

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
duh. I have several cameras and was confused. I am using a Drift HD for my helmet camera.
 
sounds like you are having the same problem as me :(
got the mic positioned about on the right eyebrow and that seems to have sorted the wind noise out but i'm constantly overdriving the audio with my Drift HD on the lowest setting.
the best thing drift could suggest (and i have ordered just to try) is an inline volume control on the mic cable.
hopefully this will cut down the overdriving !
note i did say hopefully!
if nothing else it was only £5 from amazon :)
 
I can setup a patch cable with a resistor pretty easily. Not a bad idea. I'll have to find out what the signal ratings are so I can get the right size.

Thanks for the idea. The positioning isnt a bad idea either. I have my mike in buried in the cheak pad now and I've added a windsock thingy (American for 'I don't know what to call it') and that has cut out most of the wind noise and helped with the overdriving.
 
if it's any help, this is the reply i got from drift when i asked for help....

Hi *****

Beyond positioning, the only thing I can suggest is to add an inline volume pot, to allow greater control of the signal level.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Headphone-Earph ... 542&sr=1-3

You can use an adaptor cable like this to connect the mic to the volume pot:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Femal ... 954&sr=1-2

And this cable to connect the volume pot to the camera:

http://driftinnovation.com/accessory/dr ... m-adaptor/

Alternatively, you could add 2.5mm male and female TRS connectors to the volume pot cable, to eliminate the need for adaptors. Although the Drift HD features mono audio, you can use a stereo jack as one terminal remains unconnected.

Hopefully we will see a further reduction in the sensitivity of the first setting in a future firmware update.

Kind regards,

Adam
Click to expand...
 
Amazing when you actually start mashing buttons on the camera and look at the settings and menus that are offered!
I turned the mic volume down 1 and it improved the audio quality quite a bit. It's still too fuzzy but I'm not blasting the mic so bad. I think I can go down 1 more before I have to start hacking with pots and stuff to trim the signal more before it gets to the camera.
 
Not building confidence there buddy ;)

The videos from my ride today are better but not where I want. I have the Drift's setting down to one bar (0 mutes the mic). If I get a chance tomorrow I'll shoot another video. I've moved the mic up next to my eye. There might be more wind noise if I open the lid, but hopefully the few inches of extra distance will buffer my voice enough to not overdrive the mic.
 
Did some footage at the weekend with a slIght but major tweak to my Drift and I've cracked it. I need to try one last option but apart from that I've got good audio now with my vlogs.

How?

Simple. I took out my Foggy face mask thing from my helmet and place the Mic in the top left hand cheek pad, in the front near the chin bar.

Im in the process of doing a vlog dedicated to this and take into account that it could be specific to my helmet.

Il let you know when I've done it.

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Considering that material I'm working with (my voice) I think I'm really really really close to having the mic problem sorted out.

My street helmet is a Scorpion EXO-750. I'm using a drift HD and the drift mic. I have the mic placed at the top of the face shield under the plastic bezel thing. I also have the mic wrapped in two foam socks. The drift's mic setting is set to 1 bar (the lowest value available).
The setup seems to work. There is still too much bass, but that is probably a combination of the helmet and my voice. However, I can be understood and based on what I can hear in some other vlogs it's not bad.

Here is my latest posting:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmslxbJ-KKU[/youtube]
It's not bad, but not great either.

My next trick will be to setup an enline pot to see if I can trim the signal a little more. I'm not sure what effect it will really have though
 
i also got the drift HD with an external mic, i place that one behind the cheek padding & wind & overdrive are not soooo bad, but as stated it does have a truck load of bass, i usually put a high pass effect on the audio afterwards while i'm editing... it's so hard that when i play the audio in my car (got 2 big subs in the back) the sound of my bike has a deeper bass than my car itself... it's insane to hear it rev up though...
 
BVG has really clear audio and did a vlog on his camera/mic setup a wee while back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW3Mi2zS66g

I have a similar setup with the mic in the cheekpad and the chin bakini thing, but I use a GoPro H2 as my cam.

I tried a sterio mic, but the GoPro was messing up the audio pretty badly.
I switched to a mono mic which was recorded much better and I get a lot less buffeting by pushing the mic much further back into the cheekpad.

I just picked up a Hero3 and the sound quality should be much better, but I've yet to test it
 
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