Setup for Capturing the Best Sound while Riding

[bernhtp]

If any of DJI, Insta360, GoPro, etc. made a camera having 3.5mm audio input with really good (and configurable) AGC, they would make a killing. All motovloggers have this issue. An external audio recorder like the Tascam sucks for me because:

1. It’s yet another thing I need to buy, charge and setup.
2. I normally ride with a race suit that doesn’t accommodate a lump in my chest, which is uncomfortable and even dangerous.
3. A wire from the suit into the helmet is kludgey and fragile.
4. I hate having to sync and mix audio separately in post. It’s such a PITA.

Years ago Sony had it right with the FDR-X3000. It had an audio jack and decent AGC built in. I only needed a 4” cable between the in-helmet mic and the back of the camera. Unfortunately, Sony long ago discontinued it and hasn’t made a successor. I loved that camera, but it fell victim to a broken mount as it bounced down a cliff.

I got the GoPro 9 with Media Mod thinking it would address the issue, though I hated having a cage around it that made replacing the battery a big pain. But it doesn’t work anyway because it has no AGC and so once I go over about 40 mph, the audio degrades into useless crackling and popping.

Sadly DJI didn’t put a mic input into the new Action 2. The Cynova adapter for the previous Osmo Action again lacked decent AGC, so the audio was useless. If they made an Audio module for the Action 2 that had audio input, great AGC and the big battery, they could take my money.

Alternatively, a company like Cardo could put audio recording into its next generation Packtalk. It would pick up not only the in-helmet audio, but also the intercom audio to send to the phone for recording. It would still have the disadvantage of requiring sync/mixing in post, but would be better than a separate audio recorder.

 

[YBGuy]

I keep my mic with a sponge on it under the helm just to the side of my mouth. It has the least wind noise, picks up vocal audio quite well, and still picks up just enough engine roar to be well mixed, but not overpower my soothing voice.

Wow, nice description! Sounds like that setup works well for you.

 

[TwistyM]

Help please.

I ride two different motorcycles and want to record sound and video on either.

I have a Hero8 black for video
PPanda mic and phone for voice recording
Hn1 for engine sound external sound less wind

I usually ride for long periods and want to record some parts of the ride but not continously so I can save batteries.

Tempted to get a GoPro mic adaptor or media mod so voice and video recording is synced and operates from just one button. I am happy to run the Hn1 separately.

Am I going in the right direction here or have I missed a better solution? And mic adaptor or media mod?

Apologies for opening a tin of worms.

Grateful for any user experience you can share.

 

[Skipshift]

My recommendation would depend on the GoPro you're using. The Hero 9 for example had issues connecting with the external mic adapter and would sometimes give you clips without audio. The Hero 10 in my testing was connected 100% of the time.
I would say for the motovlog aspect, the external mic adapter giving you synced audio from the start is definitely a good thing. Also using the external for bike and ambient sounds will be good for the adjustability of gain etc.
That is my biggest gripe when it comes to using the external mic adapter on the GoPro. It's almost like it tries to auto-level volumes and can cause hotter/more sensitive mics like the Purple Panda to crackle and peak out causing distortion. That said, there are quite a few people that make that exact setup sound really good. I think mic placement and helmet have a lot to do with it, since a small helmet space and mic position close to your mouth will contribute to peaky crackly audio.

Overall I'd say you have the right idea. It may just take some testing and tuning to get the results you're after.

 

[Drakhen99]

I use a half helmet, so I get a lot of extraneous noises in my mic, but if I want to use engine noise only, I just stop talking and it records it fairly well. The auto-gain on the GoPro cameras seems to work just fine for me. As to mic adapter versus Media Mod - if you get the Media Mod, it's got all the other microphones for off-bike recording, which I think is a bonus, and the extra ports on the back give you USB/charging capability without having to take the camera out of it - but it does make battery swaps take a bit longer. Also, you have to make sure the camera is snugly connected to the Media Mod.

For recording just part of your ride, use a Hero 9 or 10 and GoPro's "The Remote" to start/stop recording, and if you're using a Media Mod, then your audio and video will be synced automatically.

Also, you can check out some of my videos - especially my Moto Vlog Gear playlist on my channel, for how I've got everything set up.

TL;DR: Get the Media Mod and The Remote and happy vlogging!

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

You have the Hero 8, so you can either get the Media Mod for it (I have a second hand spare you can buy if of interest), or you can use the microphone adaptor from the 5/6/7 and then buy a replacement battery door from Ulanzi to allow you to connect the USB-C from the mic adaptor to the camera, you don't need that door for the Media Mod. You can then connect the PP mic to the Media Mod or Mic Adaptor to get audio from helmet straight to GoPro. You can synch up the audio from the audio recorder with the camera by making 3 loud claps at the start and then align the audio peaks of the two when editing. You'd need to do that each time you started recording.

 

[Drakhen99]

You have the Hero 8, so you can either get the Media Mod for it (I have a second hand spare you can buy if of interest), or you can use the microphone adaptor from the 5/6/7 and then buy a replacement battery door from Ulanzi to allow you to connect the USB-C from the mic adaptor to the camera, you don't need that door for the Media Mod. You can then connect the PP mic to the Media Mod or Mic Adaptor to get audio from helmet straight to GoPro. You can synch up the audio from the audio recorder with the camera by making 3 loud claps at the start and then align the audio peaks of the two when editing. You'd need to do that each time you started recording.

OR, you could manually sync like I do Seriously, do the clap method like Hippo said - it's way easier.

FWIW, The Remote works with the Hero 8, if you want to start/stop recording on the fly [which is what I do].

I still recommend the Media Mod - I've got 'em for my 8, 9, and 10, and they make my life easier. The cold shoe mounts on them are handy as well, if you need a bit of extra lighting, or have a cold shoe-mounted mic, or in the case of the Hero 8, the flip-up screen.

-John

 

[TwistyM]

You have the Hero 8, so you can either get the Media Mod for it (I have a second hand spare you can buy if of interest), or you can use the microphone adaptor from the 5/6/7 and then buy a replacement battery door from Ulanzi to allow you to connect the USB-C from the mic adaptor to the camera, you don't need that door for the Media Mod. You can then connect the PP mic to the Media Mod or Mic Adaptor to get audio from helmet straight to GoPro. You can synch up the audio from the audio recorder with the camera by making 3 loud claps at the start and then align the audio peaks of the two when editing. You'd need to do that each time you started recording.

So here come the newbie questions!

If I have a Media Mod or Mic adaptor, does the GoPro still record from its internal mic or can that be switched off?
When you talk about synching the audio recorder, you mean the Hn1 recording with the GP?

 

[HippoDrone]

If you fit the Media Mod, the camera will record audio from the Media Mods built in microphones unless you plug in an external one like the PP, you may have to select it in the options or it may do so automatically. If you use the microphone adaptor, you have to plug in an external mic, like your PP mic else it will have no audio at all.
Yup, syching up the HN1 to the GoPro audio and if recording it separately, the PP in your phone

 

[TwistyM]

Thanks all, this has been really helpful.

Just found out the Hn1 will only work with a SDHC micro sd card under 32G!! FFS

One day, soon hopefully, someone will find a 'simple' solution for us all.

 

[HippoDrone]

32Gb on an audio recorder will last a million years though, so you don't need to worry about it filling up!

 

[rattlinjak]

Try attaching your mic to the back of your helmet... best place is underneath the back of the helmet, hard up against the back of your neck...
No wind noise at all in my experience...
Just plenty of exhaust sound...
Also picks up voice audio, at slower speeds....

 

[rattlinjak]

Re previous post......

 

[bernhtp]

Try attaching your mic to the back of your helmet... best place is underneath the back of the helmet, hard up against the back of your neck...
No wind noise at all in my experience...
Just plenty of exhaust sound...
Also picks up voice audio, at slower speeds....

I need it to pickup voice/narration. I still haven't found the best mic for the task - unidirectional with short cable.

I would also like to get a good solution to recording the Cardo Packtalk intercom.

 

[HippoDrone]

I need it to pickup voice/narration. I still haven't found the best mic for the task - unidirectional with short cable.

I would also like to get a good solution to recording the Cardo Packtalk intercom.

For your in helmet camera audio, this is what I use: https://amzn.to/3lv2e8b

 

[rattlinjak]

I need it to pickup voice/narration. I still haven't found the best mic for the task - unidirectional with short cable.

I would also like to get a good solution to recording the Cardo Packtalk intercom.

I don't do any narration "so to speak"... But I sometimes run two lav mics, one at the back of helmet for ambient, engine audio and one that sits inside the helmet for voice pickup...
I use a mic splitter cable to run the mikes into my Hero 4 cameras..... Works well on those cameras...
I've also used the twin mic setup on my older GoPro hero 2 cams, as well as my Contour Roams..
Had to hack in to the on board mic on the Roams to use external mics.....
I don't think I can post vids here, otherwise could dig up some samples....

 

[bernhtp]

I don't do any narration "so to speak"... But I sometimes run two lav mics, one at the back of helmet for ambient, engine audio and one that sits inside the helmet for voice pickup...
I use a mic splitter cable to run the mikes into my Hero 4 cameras..... Works well on those cameras...
I've also used the twin mic setup on my older GoPro hero 2 cams, as well as my Contour Roams..
Had to hack in to the on board mic on the Roams to use external mics.....
I don't think I can post vids here, otherwise could dig up some samples....

I have a Media Mod with analog input for the Hero 9. For voice you obviously want the mic near your mouth so you have a high signal/noise.

I don't understand the restrictions on posting YouTube links here. It seems to counterproductive and pedantic.

 

[HippoDrone]

Rules on posting videos that are vlogs/review/ramblings are they go in the Members Vlogs section and have a few easy rules to follow to be able to do that.
If you wish to post a YouTube video outside of that section, most will get flagged until I get online and can vet them. Reason for that is the forum will turn into a spam fest if unrestricted.
What I go by is if the video clip is to show a noise or angle set up for example, it should be under 1min in length, and not be for any other purpose than to add value to a post, so not a vlog etc. So if someone posts a 10 min vlog up here for example to show wind noise, or in helmet audio, or fancy camera angles, it'll get pulled or moved to the members vlogs section. If they edited a vlog to a 1min clip to show that footage, it would not get pulled generally.

 

[rattlinjak]

Try attaching your mic to the back of your helmet... best place is underneath the back of the helmet, hard up against the back of your neck...
No wind noise at all in my experience...
Just plenty of exhaust sound...
Also picks up voice audio, at slower speeds....