- School is over, and before I go home for the day,
I actually wanna test something out,
which is this right here,
the Rode Wireless GO wireless microphone system.
And I just got this about a week ago,
so I'm still learning how it works,
but it's pretty cool so far.
Typically, when I record my videos
I have the Rode VideoMic Pro+ placed offscreen
just like I do right now,
but sometimes it makes a lot more sense
to have a microphone physically placed onto me
or onto a subject.
And here, at school, a lot of times we use these,
these Sennheiser wireless kits,
and these are great, they're super powerful,
but they cost about six to $800 per set.
And while they are great,
they also do still suffer from some interference
and some dropout sometimes.
And these sell for about $200,
and they still have some issues
with dropouts and interference,
but for someone like me who does everything by himself,
these make things really, really easy
and really, really quick.
So, not only do you get a receiver and a transmitter,
but they do a couple of cool things.
So, instead of using the Rode VideoMic Pro+,
I'm gonna switch over to the Wireless GO right now.
So now, I have grown this thing right here on my chest,
which is the transmitter for the wireless go,
but this does a few cool things.
So right now, it looks a little bit dorky
because it's kinda big and heavy,
and it's just right in front of me.
You could hide it,
maybe under your clothing a little bit better,
or in the jacket, under a collar, things like that.
But it's still cool that right off the bat,
just with transmitter and receiver,
you're able to record audio.
Now, what I really wanna try is using one of the microphones
from my Rode SC6.
It's the little podcast thing
that you can use with your phone.
I made several videos about it.
I found a little adapter that changes these from TRSS,
I don't remember, I get so confused about microphones,
but the ones that go into a phone or a mobile device,
into just traditional audio.
Basically, it takes it from three metal lines down to two.
This was a little pretty inexpensive adapter from Rode.
And then this plugs straight into this transmitter,
and then I can use a lavalier mic,
so I'm gonna do that right now. (snaps)
And now, I'm using a lav mic
with the transmitter right here.
And what I really wanna see is
if I put the transmitter behind me,
or if I put it into a pants pocket,
does it cut out signal or does it have to be directly
in front of the receiver the whole time.
So, that's some of the stuff that I wanna test out today.
This unit is rated for about 250 feet of distance,
which is about 83 yards,
so not quite an entire football field.
And my plan is to go test this out outside,
see how well it works in a wide, open environment,
and then also how it works
when I'm facing away from the camera,
when I'm facing towards the camera,
when I'm using just the transmitter,
when I'm using a lavalier mic,
which is probably how I would most commonly use this setup.
And most importantly, for me, how well does it work
when this transmitter is clipped behind me
or in my pocket out of sight.
Will it still maintain a clear signal and work really well?
If it does, I'm really excited about it because it's a cool,
small, little thing that adds a lot of flexibility
and versatility to my production kit
that I haven't had before.
So, let's go outside and check this stuff out.
Okay, so now that we're outside
I have the transmitter on my shirt.
It's so windy I actually have
the little windscreen attached to it so I look super cool.
So, just to give an idea of distance and the wind,
here is me (bell dings)
and now I will just basically
step away from the thingamajig.
I'm still facing it, but I think if I turn away,
you might not be able to hear me as much,
and then when I turn back,
you might be able to hear me, so...
(footsteps tapping)
Still over here, facing the camera, facing.
Let's see, I'm gonna run out the end of these.
Now I'm over here, and I hope you can see me,
and if I turn away.
Hear me or not.
If I turn towards it,
I dunno if you can hear me or not exactly.
And now, I'm gonna come back,
just walking straight towards the camera,
running, running, running, walking, walking, walking.
Hopefully it all sounds okay.
Now, the problem is, as was pointed out,
this looks awkward and kinda dumb.
So now, I've got the transmitter here.
My hair looks kind of insane.
And I just have a lavalier mic here,
which is what I would normally use.
So, what I wanna see, typically,
you wouldn't want this to be seen,
so if I just put this in my back pocket,
how well does the signal hold out?
Same thing, I'm just gonna walk away.
My face is facing away from the camera
but the transmitter's on my back
so it's actually facing the camera.
And now I'm turning,
transmitter's away from the camera but I'm facing it.
And now, going back,
back, back, back.
Here I am...
(laughs) which would be kind of amazing.
This looks like 85-ish yards, which the range,
this, I'm holding the transmitter in front of me right now,
in my, so it's facing the camera this time,
but hopefully a little bit hidden,
and then I just have, lavalier mic.
And if I come towards the camera,
hopefully you should still be able to hear me.
I hope the denim of my pants isn't interfering
with the microphone too much.
And speaking of which,
do you know what kind of pants are Mario's favorite?
♪ Denim, denim, denim ♪
That's the worst joke,
but there's nothing else that I can think of
to talk about right now.
So, here we go, we're walking back, walking back.
Hopefully you still heard me, bad jokes and everything.
Not sure how much interference there was or wasn't.
And now, whew, that's a lot of steps in for the day.
Now I've made it back here,
hopefully it doesn't sound too ridiculous.
So, after looking at that footage yesterday,
I'm actually really impressed
with how this little wireless system worked.
I'm using it right now.
Normally, I would actually never use it in this situation
because I would prefer to have a mic like this
framed out of the shot, which, by the way,
if you wanna know this wacky contraption,
I did do a whole video
on this pretty simple DIY audio setup.
But normally, I like that,
so that way there's nothing visible on me,
but for times when I'm not in here
and I don't have that kinda control,
a very simple, effective wireless unit is awesome,
and I love that it works with a lavalier mic
that I already had.
I'll put a link to the little adapter cable
that I found down in the description.
But before I go too far into that,
I should probably address the number of signal drops
that happened during my test yesterday.
And that was kind of something I was expecting
because I do know that the Rode system,
it kinda needs a pretty direct connection
or a direct line of sight
between the transmitter and the receiver.
And so, I was turning around
and putting stuff in between me and the devices,
and that was causing some problems.
So, what that means is it might not be a great system
for somebody who's trying to do narrative filmmaking
and you're trying to really hide these mics
on your actors or in a set somewhere.
I'm not even 100% sure how I feel about using it
in something like a wedding,
although I know people do use it
pretty successfully in weddings.
I would just be sort of nervous
of people stepping in front of each other
and blocking out signals.
But for my needs, which most of the time,
if I'm doing something where I'm miked up
in front of the camera, I'm talking to the camera directly.
I'm talking to you directly,
and that means I'm facing the camera,
and so there's no problem with a direct connection
from the transmitter to the receiver,
and I was really happy that there was no issue
with putting the transmitter in my front pocket.
It even kinda worked okay in my back pocket.
There were some signal dropouts when I was further away,
and the closer I got, the signal got stronger.
And I didn't really emphasize yesterday
just how windy it was.
It was insanely windy.
I actually thought I was probably
gonna have to refilm a lot of that stuff,
but it ended up not being an issue at all.
The little windscreen, when you buy the Rode kit,
it comes in this little pouchy thing,
and it comes with two of these windscreens
and they just clip right on the transmitter,
and that worked really, really well.
And then, the lav mic with just its little foam windscreen,
that kinda just comes with every lav mic,
seemed to work really, really well.
For my needs, especially for the price
and for what this brings, I'm so excited to have this,
and so excited to be able to use it in future projects.
I feel like I say this in almost every review type video,
but I always end it by going,
"It comes down to your personal needs."
And again, whether or not this is a great product
depends on your personal needs.
For me, and for someone who does the kind of stuff I do,
where you're a one-person crew,
a lot of direct, clear address to a camera,
I think this is amazing.
I haven't found a less expensive,
more reliable wireless microphone system
that's easier to use anywhere, ever.
And I really can't wait to see
how this ends up fitting into my workflow in the future.
But speaking of audio,
I did make two videos about audio related to Final Cut Pro.
One of them is just audio quick tips for Final Cut Pro,
and the other one is actually really
kind of an interesting technique
about how to scoop mids from your music,
so that way your background music doesn't overlap
with your voice.
It's awesome, if you're paying attention to audio,
check out those videos, and really up your audio game.
I don't, what a weird, up your audio game?
I don't know.
Check out those videos, and make better audio.
Check out those videos,
and I'll say adios for now, oy, yeesh.