GoPro Microphones?

[MoPho]

So Croc, did you do anything to get rid of the wind noise? Using the same mic as you are all I get is wind noise, can't even hear the car. I tried it wrapped in foam and behind the seat and out of the wind, also on a long extension in the footwell and no luck. I am wondering if it is even working

[ronnie]

Thank Ronnie. I was curious about the 170 degree field of view. Is it really distorted? (fisheye) Some of the sellers on EBay offer replacement lens with smaller fields of view. Wondering if that would be a good option.

 

Tom

 

In most scenes it does not look odd, unless you are filming something very close.

 

look at the opening seconds 0:16-0:26 of this video, when the car exits the garage.

 

 

There is a five stage zoom function that probably lessens the effect, though I have not tried it.

[Croc]

So Croc, did you do anything to get rid of the wind noise? Using the same mic as you are all I get is wind noise, can't even hear the car. I tried it wrapped in foam and behind the seat and out of the wind, also on a long extension in the footwell and no luck. I am wondering if it is even working

 

 

I did nothing special - you saw the GoPro2 test video link I posted up front in this post [EDIT - no I did not so added link]. With that cheapie mic, I plugged it into the GoPro2, ran it down under the rear boot tonneau and taped it to the rear vertical chassis uprights in the middle of the boot (trunk?) area. I did not add any foam wrap - just used the little foam sock it came with. The real problem I have now is diff noise - hear mine clank and rattle and whine on lift off. Supposedly I have a "quiet" diff....yeah right!

 

 

 

Oh one thing that might make a difference - I sealed up the internal mic hole on the camera itself. I was told by GoPro that this remains operating all the time even after you plug in an external mic. Some of your wind noise could be from this?

 

I can confirm that in a number of frustrating attempts, I tried up under the dash (both near and far), under both seats, behind both seats and those positions gave greater wind noise than the under the boot tonneau location.

 

I also tried using Cyberlink wave editor (came with the video editing software) to "clean" up the sound but it really did not improve it that much. Then again I am not a sound editor.

 

My next attempt once this cold weather disappears is to buy one of the powered mics suggested in this thread by Jim and others and try that to see if I can get a better result.

 

I am amazed how little I can find on the web about sound recording in open wheel cars so I can improve what I am doing.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Croc
Added link

[MoPho]

Yours sounds great compared to what I am getting, I can't even hear the exhaust at nearly full throttle over the wind and I had the mic right over the exhaust. I also tried it taped to the back of the seat out of the wind and also on an extension into the footwell and it was all just wind noise.

I will try covering up the built in mic, I assumed it would turn off with an external mic (what are they thinking?!)

 

thx

[MoPho]

To add, the diff noise is cool! (mine sounds like that too )

[Croc]

Yours sounds great compared to what I am getting, I can't even hear the exhaust at nearly full throttle over the wind and I had the mic right over the exhaust. I also tried it taped to the back of the seat out of the wind and also on an extension into the footwell and it was all just wind noise.

I will try covering up the built in mic, I assumed it would turn off with an external mic (what are they thinking?!)

 

thx

 

 

It must be the internal mic still recording wind noise. I was baffled when I discovered this little design flaw. Their excuse was that it provided stereo sound! :banghead: I would also try the boot under the rear tonneau as that was the best location I found after trial and error.

[MoPho]

I think I got it figured out

 

 

 

 

 

.

[biquet1957]

Auto Technica ATR 3350

[Croc]

MoPho - what did you do to make it work so much better this time?

[MoPho]

I have the lcd bacpac on it and assuming that the ext mic would cancel out the built in mic so I was using the standard back door cover which had a couple of vents in it. So I switched to the waterproof housing and covered the built in mic with foam and tape ( I had drilled a hole in the case for the ext mic) and ran the mic on a long extension cord and taped it up under the dashboard.

I am going to play with mic position some more, I would like to get a bit more exhaust sound.

I also need to find the rattle I am getting when I lift off throttle, I think it might be the clamps for the skid plate.

[Mondo]

Now if it could eliminate rattle noise along with windnoise I"d be all over it;)

[Croc]

I also need to find the rattle I am getting when I lift off throttle, I think it might be the clamps for the skid plate.

 

Nah...nice try with the excuse. You're over 40 so it must be your bones! :jester:

[MoPho]

Nah...nice try with the excuse. You're over 40 so it must be your bones! :jester:

 

Touché :rofl:

[jimrankin]

GoPro strikes again. As I've noted before that are really experts at shooting themselves in the foot. Why they would leave the camera mike active "for stereo" is somewhat lame, since the microphone plug-in IS Stereo! Oh well, just got a pair of stereo mics, did not get time to play with them this weekend, too busy adding an "add on" muffler so I can hopefully get down to 92BD for Montery. Car was almost pleasant sounding but I am afraid it may have cost me quite a few HP. Will report on any progress as it happens.

[Kitcat]

Any consensus at this point on what external mic is best and, what are the conclusions as to powered vs non-powered external mic?.

 

Also, have others tried the "Mofo Fix" to block the internal mic so it doesn't faithfully record unwanted wind noise? And, does his fix work for you?

[Croc]

Conclusions after much trial and error, experimentation and consultation:

- best sound comes from a digital audio recorder sync'ed to the video in afterwards editing. At least thats what Gopro have partly admitted to in some of their promotional videos. However this is a complication you will not want so....

- Since that is a lot of faffing then for the external mic you want a powered mic.

- put a piece of electrical tape over the internal mic hole or silicone it to stop wind noise. I was a believer in this even before MoPho independently reached the same conclusion from his experimentations.

 

For a cheap powered mic buy an Audio Technica ATR 3350. It is a lapalier type so you can run it around the car looking for the best position. It is the one I was using on your car in June. If the cord is not long enough then you can buy 3.5mm extension leads to get the mic forward and under the bonnet. If you want to run it under the dash then you will need a dead cat wind cover for the mic since I find you still get wind noise there.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Croc

[MoPho]

So Mike, did you notice that the powered mic actually made a difference vs the non powered one?

 

I am using the non powered Olympus ME-15 you started with combined with a stereo jack adapter and have had pretty good results so far. http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7755

[Croc]

I thought the sound from the unpowered mic was ok but that I could get better. I back to back tested the Olympus and the AT powered one with two cameras on a track session and flipped back and forth listing to work out which one was better. The powered mic won - it was appreciably better (to my ears) and at $19.95 was not too expensive.

 

I have experimented with a more expensive AT899 mono lapalier mic proving you get what you pay for as it produced some very good results - louder, less distortion. Next step is to try out a digital audio recorder to see if that makes any difference.

 

 

 

 

The following video (watch in HD) has some a variety of sound samples you may be interested in:

• start to 1.35 - AT-899 lapalier mic mounted next to where the heater box is on a Caterham. Volume is (not surprisingly) notably louder in raw audio state from this location with whatever mic you use - I did not alter it in post production as I could not work out how to! I did duplicate the mono single track into a second 'stereo' track in post production. If I did not then you would only hear audio from the right speaker.
  
• at 2.05 to 3.15 - Kitcat is using the ATR3350 mounted in the boot box of the Birkin under the rear tonneau. The Birkin has a plastic boot box and so resonates differently to the Caterham boot area example listed further below. Another example of Kitcat with this mic in same position is at 8.25 to 9.20.
  
• at 8.57 - Steve in the green and ali crossflow is using my camera with just the inbuilt mic as I did not have a spare external mic for him - my fault. This will show others just how bad it is - you already know!.
  
• 10.00 to 11.19 - ATR 899 mounted in my Caterham boot under the rear tonneau.
  

 

To compare the ATR3350 in a Caterham boot box under the rear tonneau you can look at:

 

 

My older video with the Olympus mic on a GoPro was taken offline (as it was such a bad editing job!) so I cannot compare that. However, I have a Vio POV camera using the Olympus ME-15 example mounted in the Caterham boot under the rear tonneau at:

 

 

It produces more static/clipping and distortion as if it cannot handle the audio range. The louder volume comes solely from the Vio POV cam as it processes audio better than a GoPro. Using the ME-15 on a GoPro I find it has lower volume than the Vio POV.

 

So to sum up - for spirited blats on roads I think the Olympus mic works perfectly well if you shield it from wind as you prove in your nicely "arty" example. If you want to use it on track then it I think it fails in the far more demanding audio environment. This is where a powered mic in a GoPro has the advantages. Even then with powered mics - you get what you pay for. For $20 I think the ATR-3350 offers a pretty good balance.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Croc
got boobtube embedding to work

[Kitcat]

Croc: if you do a digital audio recorder, is that plugged into the GoPro unit? Or, is it a stand alone that has to be synched up later w/the separately recorded vid? I mite just keep my GoPro1 and its non existent sound as the vid quality is excellent. Tho, "faffing" around w/synching up electronics is not something I especially have the time/talent/interest in doing.

[Croc]

Croc: if you do a digital audio recorder, is that plugged into the GoPro unit? Or, is it a stand alone that has to be synched up later w/the separately recorded vid? I mite just keep my GoPro1 and its non existent sound as the vid quality is excellent. Tho, "faffing" around w/synching up electronics is not something I especially have the time/talent/interest in doing.

 

The digital audio recorder has to be sync'ed with the video in a post production editing process. It does not hook into the Gopro. I do not mind this since I sync the data from the Racechrono Touchscreen to the video anyway. Given your techy prowess I would not recommend this option and would recommend that you stay with a GoPro external mic solution (or other camera with an external mic - lots of other cheap ones on the market now plus I very much like the Drift HD that Tom uses because of its standard remote).