Vlogging #1 - External Microphones
Is it really necessary? It depends…
You can watch the video above, recorded by me, to hear the audio from different microphones under crappy wind conditions. Keep reading if you want a bit more in-depth analysis or prefer reading.
Intro
Usually when we talk about vlogging, we’re talking about that video style where a person records themselves while doing something be it walking on the street talking, or at home showing something, usually in real-time. There’s other types of vlogging and videos, like voice-overs, where audio is also important but because it’s normally recorded in a static manner, other types of microphones tend to be used.
For strict vlogging, which is what we’ll be focusing in here, there’s cameras with better or worse audio capabilities. Action-cams and smartphones are pretty decent under good external conditions or in controlled settings. This means that as long as the wind isn’t like in the video I linked above, and there’s not much background noise, you’ll be able to record audio with those devices that is quite usable for vlogging.
DSLRS and dedicated video cameras by default expect you to use an external capture rig, whatever it might be, and those, being more of image focused devices, usually lack on the audio capture department.
Besides the technical quality of the record sound, we must also understand the the type of video we’re recording dictates what is reasonable or not in terms of audio. A vlogger going through a south-east asian popular street market during peak hour while recording it is expected to have less of a cleaner audio than someone sitting on a fully prepped studio doing a review of an equipment.
Because in the street video, although better audio is always better, as long as you can understand what ever the person is talking - in case they’re talking - all is good, even the background noise can be a plus if it makes the video more immersive.
On the other hand the tabletop prepped studio review is already an artificial environment, so background noise, static noise, echoes, audio clipping, etc, can easily annoy viewers.
Hence this blog post and the video, if you’re like me and like to travel and pack lightly, but also do vlogging and sometimes just sit and talk while recording, while keeping some quality then read on as I share what I found out testing a insta360 ONE RS and a GO3 along with a DJI MIC 2 and a K35 wireless mic, in extremely bad windy conditions to see what happens in the real world outside sponsored fake reviews.
insta360 ONE RS
The insta360 ONE RS is one of my favourite action-cams.
It’s a very versatile cam that fits very will my recording style, allowing me to capture all around me without having to worry about the point of view (POV) until I’m in post production to do the actual final video.
This enables me to record without worrying too much about the composition while walking around in a city I don’t know - it allows, first, to continue paying attention to your surroundings because you don’t have to focus on the video, second, to capture things that you wouldn’t be able to because only after they happen would you be able to change the pov - like if something happens on your peripheral vision, like a car crash, only after it happens would you be able to point your camera to it, on the other hand with a 360 degree camera it would have been recorded and you can compose the final POV frame by frame once you get to your editor and choose exactly what to show from any possible POV.
Regarding audio, this cam has 3 internal mics and under decent conditions it captures quite good quality audio. If you use the insta360 app (as I do to export 360º video) then you have two additional audio modes you can choose, Voice Focus or Noise Reduction, each with a slightly different correction profile but both making your voice cleaner and softening any background noise.
Nonetheless these audio modes can’t clean up wind noise or very noisy backgrounds and in case of wind, as you can see in that video, it can become straight unusable.
For those situations the camera offers 2 ways of using external mics.
First one through wireless bluetooth - this mode is designed for supporting specifically AirPods but it does work with other brands of headphones and wireless microphones - but it is not without its problems.
We personally tested this mode before with LG Tone Free FP-9 headphones but we ran into an issue (not sure due to them not being actual AirPods or due to the bluetooth connection) that is, the audio would be clearly clipped, missing bits, probably because of transmission/connection problems.
This makes it not usable for really important video where the audio is essential as you’ll end up with this video track that has chopped audio in some parts and no way to fix it.
On the other hand the insta360 audio input mini-jack adapter (that you need to purchase separately) did a good job connecting to external microphones (with exception of the iRig Lav) and was what we used to record with the K35 mic, connecting the receiver through the mini-jack adapter.
insta360 GO 3
More recently I bought a insta360 GO 3 for some other videos I’m planning to do and for which it’s an absolute must as it enables all these crazy different types of recording that regular action-cams just can’t due to their size (or they can but it’s an extremely cumbersome setup to do).
For the fit-in-your-hand size, GO 3(S) is an excellent camera.
Visually it has enough quality and, again, as is the case with the ONE RS, it’s a versatile cam, that allows in this case not only crazy POVs, but also to film in free-frame mode and later while editing decide if we want landscape or portrait composition, without loosing any field of view (the GO 3, the S version does compromise on this for higher resolution, hence why I got the GO 3 instead) - making it excellent for social media captures, allowing vertical exports for tiktok, youtube shorts and so on, and horizontal for normal 16:9 video.
Like with the ONE RS, this one suffers from the same issues with audio capture under less than optimal conditions and to make matters worse, it has no way of connecting an external mic. If you need that then you need to use an external mic or rig that captures the audio itself, and that is the reason we also have tested the DJI MIC 2 since it does record a backup track.
DJI MIC 2
From all the audio capture sources we tested the DJI MIC 2 is definitively the better microphone. No only is it extremely versatile, it comes - when bought as a kit of minimum 1RX and 1TX - with several useful accessories, such as the wind-shield/muffler, mini-jack, usb-c male and female adapters for the receptor and a magnetic square that allows you to hold the mic without needing to use the spring or even holding it to a metallic surface.
The versatility comes from the fact that the TX (the microphone itself) has an internal backup track that it’s always recording. This backup track records continuously in 30min fragments automatically, and has a 8GB capacity, allowing for around 16h of recording at 24bit (probably around 10h at 32bit). When full it cycles the oldest fragment out and records another one and keeps cycling. Obviously if you’re using it as an independent mic you’ll be transferring the files as needed so you don’t loose anything.
To go with this backup track it has 8h autonomy, making it an excellent option in any situation since it doesn’t need any other devices or specific connectivity to capture clean audio even in very difficult conditions. You can check this by yourself in the video I shared, by comparing the bits recorded with DJI MIC 2 and the other microphones, specially the internal camera microphones.
The RX with usb adapters allow you to connect it to any device offering an USB IN plug (like many smartphones nowadays) or with the mini-jack to connect it to a DSLR or anything else that uses mini-jack.
The only downside is the price really. Having said that, the price point is very similar to any other wireless mic that has a backup track, such as the RODE wireless (which is slightly bigger).
It’s also worth noting that if you record the audio independently of the device recording the video you’ll need to somehow edit the track over the video in post-production. For some use cases this might be more cumbersome, like if you want to do quick edits - you could still connect it through the RX in those cases to have everything in the same video file recorded - but for me, since I always edit in DaVinci Resolve, it’s not really a problem importing an additional file and loose 5 seconds synching the audio.
In case you don’t need independent audio recording, meaning, the devices you use for recording have some sort of IN connection that you can plug an external mic, then a K35 will be a much cheaper option and in some cases might just be more than enough for your needs, leaving you with more cash in the wallet.
K35 wireless mic
This is a wireless microphone sold usually in 2 microphone kits, along with a RX. The amazon link I shared shows you many similar options, I believe these are probably manufactured for resale, where different buyers/brands will pick slightly different cosmetic options/accessories and resell them with their own branding, while keeping the same technical specifications - or so it seems.
Important to note that the raw capture of sound using these mics - at least in my case, with my voice, with my ONE RS and placing the mic where I usually place it - was too loud, clipping slightly the louder parts. I had to set the audio gain to -12db on the ONE RS to match it to other audio recorded. It’s important to note that neither the TX or RX has gain adjustment so the camera or device to which the RX is connected has to allow you to do it - from what I’ve seen that is usually the norm but just wanted to leave this here in case you decide to get these.
When I acquired these I chose a mini-jack only version, since that is what the ONE RS adapter allows, but there’s other options, including multi connectors.
To talk about the quality itself it’s necessary to look at it taking into consideration the price as well. A 2 TX + 1 RX kit, some with multiple adapters, wind-shields, etc, goes from anywhere between 15 and 30€, sometimes with shipping fees already included.
Obviously this means that the quality of the finishing, the materials, etc is going to be worse than something like DJI MIC 2. These K35 have no visual indication of battery duration, they don’t allow gain adjustments on the TX itself, has 4h of autonomy (vs 8h) and most importantly it can’t record by itself.
For me this is all to be expected, I got a 2TX+1RX kit for less than 20€ with shipping. A 2TX+1RX DJI MIC 2 kit goes for around 360€ (RODE has similar pricing), so it’s completely reasonable that the K35 lack some of the niceties of those other models.
But when it comes to the actual quality of the captured sound, as long as you can adjust the gain, the reality is that it’s pretty good and you can see that in the video I shared, where it’s not even using a proper wind-shield muffler, but still cranking out clear audio under a barrage of wind.
In my particular case I got these K35 to use with the ONE RS (didn’t have the GO 3 at the time and wasn’t planning on needing other microphones as I have a cheap boya studio mic for in house work) and in that role it exceeded my expectations for the negligible price and is a perfectly usable solution.
iRig Mic Lav
I bought this microphone before any of the other ones and I’m just mentioning it here to say it doesn’t work with the ONE RS. It does work with my smartphone but outputs no sound when connected to the ONE RS adapter, and I know the ONE RS + adapter work because I recorded all the K35 segments in the video with it.
LG TONE Free FP9
These are not really an external microphone but instead wireless bluetooth headphones, AirPod style, that feature 3 internal microphones for voice capture on each headphone.
The specifications sounded like they would be the perfect fit as long as they would be able to connect to the ONE RS, since they should even have slightly better audio capture than AirPods, courtesy of the additional mic on each headphone.
The good news is that they do connect to the ONE RS and the audio does sound ok, a bit metallicky lets say, but way better than the camera mics on windy days, making them a portable solution to pack with you, that double as quality wireless headphones.
The bad news is the bluetooth connection, or maybe the fact they aren’t real AirPods and the ONE RS mentioning it only officially supports those - could have some slightly different protocol/error handling.
Nonetheless as it is the audio can get cut in almost random fashion. Sometimes you can record 10 minutes without any glitches, others there’s glitches every other 2 minutes.
Because the camera has a single audio track when you connect these they become the only source for the audio track - the camera mics are ignored - which means that any small networking/transmission glitch is recorded and when it happens the audio appears chopped or missing.
In practical terms what this means is that after recording your video for the third time and finally nailing the 5min monologue perfectly and getting all happy about your day, you sit at your computer, transfer the files and hear in dismay a bunch of glitches that you can’t fix. Again, this might or not be a problem, depends on the kind of video but it makes them unusable for myself.
Nonetheless, if you need a pair of good wireless headphones anyway, and just want something that you can pack with you and connect through bluetooth in the very rare occasion to record yourself over a noisy or windy background for small bits, or as personal notes, then they can be a decent addition.
Conclusion
To wrap this up, let’s compile a list of prices and group these in contexts, pointing the better quality/price option for each context.
Prices:
K35 2TX + 1RX: 20€
ONE RS External Mic Adapter: 20€
2x K35 compatible wind mufflers: <10€
DJI MIC 2 TX only: 140€
DJI MIC 2 1TX + 1RX + accessories: 240€
DJI MIC 2 2TX + 1RX + accessories: 360€
Controlled Ambience / Good Sound Conditions:
ONE RS: c/ internal audio (0€)
GO 3: c/ internal audio (0€)
DSLR (with sound plug-in connector): K35 (20€)
DSLR (no plug-in connector): DJI MIC 2 (minimum 140€)
Both ONE RS and GO 3 produce usable audio, I would imagine smartphones too, as long as the conditions are good. With DSLRs or other cameras it’s a bit different as you can see on the shared video, the segment with Nikon’s D3500 sound.
Obviously there’s some DSLRs/Video Cams better prepared for audio capture, but most of the times they focus on image and the sound is expected to be provided by an external recording rig.
Unpredictable Ambience / Bad Sound Conditions:
ONE RS: K35 - 40€ total (20€ adapter + 20€ kit K35)
GO 3: DJI MIC 2 - minimum 140€ (1 DJI MIC 2 only)
DSLR: the same as in controlled ambience/good conditions
In this case it’s really necessary to use external mics for all situations as the internal mics will be completely unusable in windy conditions and can be drown in sound in more busier ambiences.
Devices that allow you to connect microphones with mini-jack/usb-c and can tweak the audio gain allow you to save a bunch of money by using something as the K35 while capturing audio that is completely usable.
Devices that don’t allow you to plug a mic require microphones like the DJI MIC 2, that are capable of recording by themselves the audio they’re capturing so that you can in post production substitute the camera audio with that one.