RODE Video Mic Pro

Tysonator

Tysonator

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Hi,

I have purchased after a long time deliberating I finally abused the plastic and purchased a RODE Video Mic Pro.
Using the RODE Mic I have noticed that there is a hiss on the recording.
After reading some reviews on the web I was aware that could be a problem.
However I was more than hopeful my EOS 7D would not suffer from this issue.
Some of the reviews I have been reading reviews were the hiss not occur with EOS 5D MKII. This was due to a firm ware up date which include a sound level adjustment.

So after a long explanation ( sorry ) I am wondering is there a way / method to sort the hiss out on my EOS 7D ! ?
 
I imagine on the 7D there are no audio gain controls? I'm guessing that would be the problem. I only have a basic understanding, but you could do either of the following:

1. Use a computer program such as Audacity to remove background noise
2. Record audio separately using something like a Zoom h1 and control the sound recording manually.

There are probably other options but I don't know them! Option 2 is considerably more expensive than 1, seeings as audacity is free! Hope that helps
 
Well I did suspect that a separate model / unit of some description might be required to adjust the gain input of the audio level.
Of course the issue is £'s !
I know th e EOS %D MKII did have a firm ware update which included a sound level input adjuster. Which would be helpful on my EOS 7D at the moment.

The on board mic is tinny and picks up sound all around, so thta is why I got the RODE Pro.

I am off to F1 soon and was hoping to get really good quality sound to go with video.

Audacity is that a free / trail software ! ?

I have look at the Zoom H1 & H2 on Google and I think the H1 will be fine.
So, can I use my RODE mic as an input source and then have the output from the zoom go in my DSLR.
That why I can sync the sound from the Zoom onto my video clip in some software later ! ?
 
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Tysonator said:
I have look at the Zoom H1 & H2 on Google and I think the H1 will be fine.
So, can I use my RODE mic as an input source and then have the output from the zoom go in my DSLR.
That why I can sync the sound from the Zoom onto my video clip in some software later ! ?
Click to expand...

yes you can. or if you dont mind syncing later, stick headphones on the h1 and you can listen in as you record off the rode pro into the h1.
 
Tysonator said:
OK,..headphones will be a great addition to recording.

Could I use the H1 and mount it on my hot shoe and then have a cable to my DSLR ! ?

Reason being I am off to F1 soon
Link to thread.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=4583451#post4583451
Click to expand...

it only has a screw thread hole on the underside so you would need something else like a shock mount to put it onto the camera's hotshoe (unlike the rode which goes straight on and has a shock mount incorporated). there is only one ouput socket, so either hook it up to headphones or feed it to the camera (unless you can get an adaptor to split the output signal).
 
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kman said:
it only has a screw thread hole on the underside so you would need something else like a shock mount to put it onto the camera's hotshoe (unlike the rode which goes straight on and has a shock mount incorporated). there is only one ouput socket, so either hook it up to headphones or feed it to the camera (unless you can get an adaptor to split the output signal).
Click to expand...

Mounting the H1 on my hot shoe is no problem as I have a 3/8 screw thread with a flat base plate which fits the hotshoe.
http://www.coollcd.com/Hot-Shoe-Adapter-with-3-8-quot--to-1-4-quot--thread_p814.html

I also have 3.5mm jack cable splitter so no problem with the head phones and the camera.
http://www.ebuy9.com/ProductDetails...3-IC163420-As picture.html?currency=0&lang=EN

When the DSLR goes in movie record mode does the zoom H1 automatically start recording or do I have to press a record button on the unit ! ?
 
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I use a zoom H1 with a lapel mic for my YouTube videos.
Easiest way I find to sync the audio is to clap once loudly. Providing your camera is also recording the audio, when you import the files into your software, you can just line the peaks up and then fine adjust it from there.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I use a zoom H1 with a lapel mic for my YouTube videos.
Easiest way I find to sync the audio is to clap once loudly. Providing your camera is also recording the audio, when you import the files into your software, you can just line the peaks up and then fine adjust it from there.
Click to expand...

I have seen a YouTube video on this techique.
Can I use Audacity to match / sync the sound to the video ?
I own a PC and not a Mac so no iVideo which seems to be the best !
 
I use Sony Vegas on a pc. I haven't used audacity, but I would image its possible.
I just load the video with its separate audio track onto one track and then the zoom h1 audio onto another track.
You can clearly see the spikes from the claps, so just zoom in a little and line them up.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I use Sony Vegas on a pc. I haven't used audacity, but I would image its possible.
I just load the video with its separate audio track onto one track and then the zoom h1 audio onto another track.
You can clearly see the spikes from the claps, so just zoom in a little and line them up.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I have watched a youtube on how to do this and it seems you need a clap to sync the video and audio together.
My problem is I will be at a F1 race so clapping might be difficult in the heat of moment and the abient noise from the crowd and the racing ! !

SONY Vegas, is there a demo / trial version ! ?

I might have to put a request out the Wanted section for a Zoom H1 !
 
You can download a 30 day trial here http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware

I downloaded and then bought the Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite from Amazon for £34. Some people seem to have issues with it crashing, but it's worked a treat for me and is an absolute steal for the money.

There's a Pro version for lots more money, but I think you'd have to have some pretty serious demands to need it.

All the best
Andy
 
can I kidnap this thread ?? :)

Im going to get d800- video is one of the reasons, as I plan to record video of classical music players.
Need to get the good audio for it.
Am looking at two options :
1- get Sennheiser MKE 400
2- get H1 and RODE VideoMic DVCam Camcorder Directional Condenser Microphone - or RODE NTG1 Directionl Condenser Microphone

in 2nd way, mic goes to H1 and then H1 to camera ( right ??)

or shall I be looking on other options ??
all advice welcome :)
thanks
 
In my ( limited admittedly ) experience, you may be disappointed with an on camera mic. I use the Rhode Video mic and find that on camera to get good sound quality you need to be withing 5-6 ft of the source. I can cheat and put the mic on a stand and have an extension cable to the camera.

Depending on the sound source, Full orchestra or simply a few players, could determine the mic you go for. The NTG1 is designed to work on a boom so you could place it above the sound source, if it is only a few players. Not sure why you are going via the H1
as the NTG1 needs either 48 volt or 24 volt Phantom power source , which needs to come from a mixing unit.

You could try using the Senheiser on a boom with a short extension cable. You'll need an adapter for the hot shoe to connect to a boom. Don't forget to get a dead cat windshield. Mikes have a cut switch for wind but it doesn't work that well. You may not need it indoors though.

If you thought choosing a camera was a difficult choice, welcome to audio.

I'd also try and not to rely on the cameras AGC system asit can really screw things up, particularly in quiet passages, and then when you get a loud transient, it's still thinking about it when it all over.Plus you can get a lot of amp hiss in the quiet passage relying on AGC. One of the good things about the 5D Mk3 is that you have a headphone out jack so that you can monitor the sound and manual controls for levels

You might want to check out the Nikon forums over at dvxuser. Lots of useful stuff there

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/
 
Chappers said:
One of the good things about the 5D Mk3 is that you have a headphone out jack so that you can monitor the sound and manual controls for levels

You might want to check out the Nikon forums over at dvxuser. Lots of useful stuff there

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/
Click to expand...

Same with the D800, which kind of takes away the need of the H1 in between.

However the H1 is more flexible in that you can just stick it somewhere close to your audio subject and shoot from far. The Rode mic is really short - can't be taken off the camera without additional extension cables.

I put the Rode on camera and monitor through the D800. good in that everything is synced up already. I use the H1 as a backup, or I plug a lav mic into the H1 when needed to (interviews etc).
 
most of the times, I would record either 1 player or maybe a quartet. tht awill be for personal use of students when they have to send out video of them playing for competitions etc

I read that some connect h1 to rode to have extra recording backup and that it records better than d800 (?)

I know some of them use H4n to record themselves so that may be an option as well.

I could get boom with longer cables and set it up above them/stage...

thanks for all advice

will look in to that forum as well
 
You might want to consider whether you want to record in stereo or not - I believe the rode video mic is not
 
bastic said:
is it not ? really?
Click to expand...

I was going to point this out as well. All of the Mic choices above are mono. The Rode Video Mic Stereo is as it's name implies a stereo device.

If you only have the H1 available by way of an external recorder, I would be inclined to mount that on a mic boom stand and place it centrally to the performers, preferably at height. I definitely wouldn't camera mount it or have it anywhere where it can be easily knocked, as the H1 suffers from horrendous handling noise.

You will need to try and have the performers arranged so that quieter sections are nearer the mic.

For the price, the H1 is OK, but if high quality sound is a must, I personally would be looking at other solutions. Perhaps a better solid state recorder (Tascam D100, Zoom H4N etc), a dedicated digital multitrack recorder, or a good and tested laptop with a multichannel audio interface. Such set-ups used with a selection of good external mics should get better results and give you more flexibility to balance the sounds during mixing/ post-production.
 
specialman said:
Don't know if this any help with regards to monitoring audio....

http://vimeo.com/19722790
Click to expand...

Interesting!

Although I see a couple of major flaws with this approach.

1. At the start of the video, a title says "Hear what you are recording". With the method demonstrated, you are only monitoring the input (in fact, the mics output), when what you want to be hearing is what's actually being recorded by the camera. Since few DSLR's have headphone outputs, this isn't usually an option. You could be going happily along filming all day only to find that something was set wrong and the audio is at best poor, or at worse nonexistent!

2. I counted that the mic's signal would have to pass through five connections before reaching the camera, including two splitters in the signal path. Each connection slightly degrades the audio signal passing through it and the cumulative effect of five connections and splitters is likely to result in less than ideal audio by the time it reaches the (already likely to be inferior) camera signal path.

In all but the most basic instances, I would opt for recording off camera every time when using a typical DSLR.
 
It works out at just over £20 for the full set-up so not a major loss if it doesn't work that well but I get your drift - it's not true monitoring, just grabbing the signal before it reaches the camera...

There does seem to be a USB-to-composite hack, connecting that cable to a headphone amp to monitor the signal being recorded by the camera, but the video doesn't make it clear if this is a Canon-only hack and I suspect it's only relevant to users of Magic Lantern...

http://www.dslrfilmnoob.com/2011/02/25/more-on-adding-audio-monitoring-to-your-dslr/
 
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I like the look of that. Would be good if as you said it worked with other cameras. I'm going to look into it further.
 
I have my RODE mic and as I have mention my 7D does not have a sound level adjustment like the 5d MKIII has.
So I think I will need to get an H1 to record the audio of my F1 GP coming up soon.
I take it if I plug the RODE in to the H1 and then the H1 to the 7D the sound level will not be adjusted. As the sound level from / single from the H1 is just a pass through socket ! ?
I have seen H1's on the web for £80ish, so I take it this is a reasonable price ?
 
Tysonator said:
I have my RODE mic and as I have mention my 7D does not have a sound level adjustment like the 5d MKIII has.
So I think I will need to get an H1 to record the audio of my F1 GP coming up soon.
I take it if I plug the RODE in to the H1 and then the H1 to the 7D the sound level will not be adjusted. As the sound level from / single from the H1 is just a pass through socket ! ?
I have seen H1's on the web for £80ish, so I take it this is a reasonable price ?
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the H1 can accept an external mic but is a standalone sound recording device that you have to load the separate audio file from it and sync it in the editing software with the visuals.....

Certainly looks to be a popular unit and by all accounts, the sound quality is excellent.
 
Tysonator said:
I take it if I plug the RODE in to the H1 and then the H1 to the 7D the sound level will not be adjusted. As the sound level from / single from the H1 is just a pass through socket ! ?
I have seen H1's on the web for £80ish, so I take it this is a reasonable price ?
Click to expand...

You can do that and there are advantages to doing so (see below), but the Rode into the H1 is all you need (then sync in post). Pluraleyes will do the sync for you automatically, but the same functionality is now built into Final Cut Pro X on the Mac.

The advantage of Rode>H1>DSLR is that you will have a backup copy of your audio recorded to the camera. You could even set the output of the H1 to a lower level so that if you have any unexpected peaks on the recording to the H1, your camera's recording could be substituted to salvage that section, as it would have been captured at a lower level.

£80 is about right for a H1. One thing to point out though is that the H1 struggles for adequate gain when used with some Rode (and other) mics. You will likely find yourself resorting to noise reduction tools after you inevitably have to raise the gain during post, which will introduce noise as a side effect.
 
specialman said:
I was under the impression that the H1 can accept an external mic but is a standalone sound recording device that you have to load the separate audio file from it and sync it in the editing software with the visuals.....

Certainly looks to be a popular unit and by all accounts, the sound quality is excellent.
Click to expand...

It is OK and you would struggle to find anything sub £100 that competes. It certainly beats the living daylights out of the majority of DSLR audio. However, it does have some shortcomings worth pointing out. As I've mentioned before, handling noise on this thing is awful. You only have to brush it and the mics pick it up like you've never heard! Not problem though when using an external mic. It is very cheaply built - feels very lightweight and 'plasticy'.

If your budget can stretch, have a look at the Tascam DR40. This would give you more mileage than the H1 and may be a better long term investment. But like I say, for £80, the H1 is good value.
 
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MarcM said:
It is OK and you would struggle to find anything sub £100 that competes. It certainly beats the living daylights out of the majority of DSLR audio. However, it does have some shortcomings worth pointing out. As I've mentioned before, handling noise on this thing is awful. You only have to brush it and the mics pick it up like you've never heard! Not problem though when using an external mic. It is very cheaply built - feels very lightweight and 'plasticy'.

If your budget can stretch, have a look at the Tascam DR40. This would give you more mileage than the H1 and may be a better long term investment. But like I say, for £80, the H1 is good value.
Click to expand...

And if it can't stretch that far even the DR-05 is better IMHO but the DR-40 is virtually as good as the DR-100 in every respect now so it's great value. If you do go for a DR-40, grab a pink noise attenuation cable so you can plug the line out straight into the mic input on the camera for simple syncing.
 
If you are going through an H1 and then into the camera, be aware of the dreaded AGC. You'll have this even with an external mic, so hiss may be a problem with the camera audio , unless you have manual control of the audio levels in the camera

However you could use the camera audio as a guide track and sync that with the H1. It's not that difficult . Get the artist to clap at the start of the recording session and you'll see the transient on the sound track of both, you can them marry the tracks up, even in iMovie. May sound a bit difficult but I've done this several times, with excellent results.
 
MarcM said:
You can do that and there are advantages to doing so (see below), but the Rode into the H1 is all you need (then sync in post). Pluraleyes will do the sync for you automatically, but the same functionality is now built into Final Cut Pro X on the Mac.

The advantage of Rode>H1>DSLR is that you will have a backup copy of your audio recorded to the camera. You could even set the output of the H1 to a lower level so that if you have any unexpected peaks on the recording to the H1, your camera's recording could be substituted to salvage that section, as it would have been captured at a lower level.

£80 is about right for a H1. One thing to point out though is that the H1 struggles for adequate gain when used with some Rode (and other) mics. You will likely find yourself resorting to noise reduction tools after you inevitably have to raise the gain during post, which will introduce noise as a side effect.
Click to expand...

The hiss on my DSLR is bad but not a total loss if I really need to use it.
If I am filming a quite scene then the hiss is there and now I have the RODE the hiss is louder !
I am hoping to use the H1 on holiday for race day just to get that crisp clear impact of the sound of the cars racing passed.
So I need the compact of the H1 really for the bag and the RODE will be left at home.

The noise that the H1 might pick I think I will not have to worry to much about, as I could always put one the those fluffy things over the mic's.

I think I willl have to order very soon if I am going to get a Zoom H1 or the Tascam DR40 !:bonk:
 
MarcM said:
You can do that and there are advantages to doing so (see below), but the Rode into the H1 is all you need (then sync in post). Pluraleyes will do the sync for you automatically, but the same functionality is now built into Final Cut Pro X on the Mac.

The advantage of Rode>H1>DSLR is that you will have a backup copy of your audio recorded to the camera. You could even set the output of the H1 to a lower level so that if you have any unexpected peaks on the recording to the H1, your camera's recording could be substituted to salvage that section, as it would have been captured at a lower level.

£80 is about right for a H1. One thing to point out though is that the H1 struggles for adequate gain when used with some Rode (and other) mics. You will likely find yourself resorting to noise reduction tools after you inevitably have to raise the gain during post, which will introduce noise as a side effect.
Click to expand...

Chappers said:
If you are going through an H1 and then into the camera, be aware of the dreaded AGC. You'll have this even with an external mic, so hiss may be a problem with the camera audio , unless you have manual control of the audio levels in the camera

However you could use the camera audio as a guide track and sync that with the H1. It's not that difficult . Get the artist to clap at the start of the recording session and you'll see the transient on the sound track of both, you can them marry the tracks up, even in iMovie. May sound a bit difficult but I've done this several times, with excellent results.
Click to expand...

My DSLR EOS 7D does not have any audio level controls at all !
That is the 5D MkIII has this option and a head phone socket !

What is the AGC ! ?
 
If you go for the H1 ( which I have) be aware that it doesn't have the isolation that the Rode does. This means it can pick up noise from hand movements hold it. They sound like paper rustling noises. If you can get an hot shoe isolating adapter that has a 1/4 screw and affix it to the hot shoe of the camera. You will need a muff plus a dead cat to cut out wind noise. Plus the H1 is not a directional as the Rode so beware of "sounds off "

The H1 as you know has a line output, you could use this to feed into the 7D, or simply merge the audio with the video afterwards. I use iMovie at the moment where this is dead easy (ish). However I've just checked and Adobe Premier Elements can do this as well

I've attached a link to a tutorial i found on the web, in case you are interesed

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-premiere-elements-8/mixing-audio/
 
Chappers said:
If you go for the H1 ( which I have) be aware that it doesn't have the isolation that the Rode does. This means it can pick up noise from hand movements hold it. They sound like paper rustling noises. If you can get an hot shoe isolating adapter that has a 1/4 screw and affix it to the hot shoe of the camera. You will need a muff plus a dead cat to cut out wind noise. Plus the H1 is not a directional as the Rode so beware of "sounds off "

The H1 as you know has a line output, you could use this to feed into the 7D, or simply merge the audio with the video afterwards. I use iMovie at the moment where this is dead easy (ish). However I've just checked and Adobe Premier Elements can do this as well

I've attached a link to a tutorial i found on the web, in case you are interesed

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-premiere-elements-8/mixing-audio/
Click to expand...


I would mount the H1 on the Hot Shoe of my 7D. I do not think I will be taking my RODE as the suit case is a little cramp with camera gear !
I have one of these beauties,
http://www.photoloving.com/index.ph...ref=IS-J&sid=8617j1g634823fo2r3y2181l88kaaawc

So that should help with not having any hand noise.

I take it the H1 has a 1/4 thread socket hole mount ! ?
 
Yes the H1 does have 1/4 standard tripod thread. Be careful with the hot shoe adapter. If it's like the one I have it's all metal, so you need to put some insulation on the foot to stop it shorting out the Hot Shoe contacts
 
Chappers said:
Yes the H1 does have 1/4 standard tripod thread. Be careful with the hot shoe adapter. If it's like the one I have it's all metal, so you need to put some insulation on the foot to stop it shorting out the Hot Shoe contacts
Click to expand...

The bottom of the hot shoe adapter is metal !

I would not thought that there would have been an insulation issue !

Normally 1/4 tripod thread on equipment sits in a plastic sleve, starnge that he H1 does not have this built intot eh case of the unit.
I think I do need to see an H1 in the flesh and a good play around with it.(y)
 
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