Video bloggers are starting to realize that improving the quality of your audio
can have a really big impact on the success of a video but if you may only
use your smartphone for run-and-gun videos then to have a simple and easy to
carry external mic mic might be just what you're looking for
Rode microphones have released a directional smartphone mic called the
VideoMic Me. If you'd like to know more about this Mic that cost less than
$60 US- and see if it's worth adding to your kit then stick around for our product review
G'day my name is Gary and your watching the YouTube channel dedicated to make sound gear easy-to-understand
Rode microphones were kind enough to send me this new
smartphone mic to review so let's check it out and see how it measures up
these are the items that you get in the box- you get a flexible rubber clamp, you
get the microphone itself and also you get a fluffy wind screen. Lets have
a look at the microphone. The microphone is made from a machined alloy and the
back of the mic feels like it's durable plastic. You have a tip
ring ring sleeve plug that comes out of the side of the mic. At first I was a
little worried that that it might break off but it is very well reinforced around
the base and being reinforced it actually stands the plug a little bit
and it has a little bit more reach to fit into the most cases. On the back of the
microphone you have a little socket that you can plug your earphones in so
it's really handy because if you plug a microphone into your smartphone and then
you want to play the recording back, you have to pull out the mic back out
again and plug some headphones in. With this set up you don't need any
extra break out box or adapters or anything like that you can have your
microphone plugged in
plug your earphones in and you can monitor the recording that's of course if the
application is using allows for that but you can play back your recording without
having to take
the microphone out. That's a really really good idea. The little clamp is made from
a rubberized material and feels very durable it's not gonna break easily so
brittle and it slides into the microphone really firmly. Its such a simple idea that
they've got there to hold it onto the mic. You just plug the microphone in
and then you slide the clamp on so it holds firmly onto your phone that's it
now the third thing is the windsock that you get now this is quite a surprise
because wind socks normally cost between twenty and thirty dollars yet this one
is actually in with the kit so it's makes it pretty good value when you
think about it. What I'll do is I will set microphone up outside and do a few tests
will also set the microphone up as a bench test and see how it performs
against the known microphone like the smartLav+. So let's take the
microphone outside and see how it performs. There is a light breeze blowing
I've got traffic noise behind me but behind the camera there's a fairly open
area where there's no sound coming from its fairly dead on that side
placing the wind sock over the microphone and start this recording again I'm facing the
microphone directly into the direction of the wind and also that traffic noise
you should be able to hear both. The wind is blowing against the back of my neck
quite stiffly now and I'll just turn around
make the wind come from behind the microphone there into that open space.
That wind is really picking up now don't know if you can see my hair blowing around- and you thought I was
wearing their head to keep my hair out of my eyes. So let's do a test now to see
how well the microphone is able to reject that unwanted background noise so I've got noise
from the traffic behind me as well
hearing my voice on top of that. I'm going to spin the microphone around and face that
space where it is a little bit quieter- so that's into the side of the microphone.
This is into the back of the microphone across that quieter area. Now I will bring the microphone back.
The microphone currently does not have the wind sock attached. It is at arms length so it gives you and idea of what you would be hearing
Now let's do a bench test on this microphone. I have a sound level meter setup to maintain the same volume
I've have gone into the settings on this Rode Rec app.
I've turned off any processing and I have also turned the gain up to full
We will be able to get a comparison between the video mic me and the smartLav+
which we know for certain it has a very loud noise floor- So let's started recording
its flexible mounting bracket accommodates a wide range of smartphones
and allows the microphone to be fitted for primary camera or front
camera use its flexible mounting bracket accommodates a wide range of smartphones
and allows the microphone to be fitted for primary camera or front camera use
Its flexible mounting bracket accommodates a wide range of smartphones
and lasts the more refined to be fitted for primary camera or front camera use
so what my conclusions
well the videomic me is really good value for money and the fact that RODE
actually thrown in fluffy wind sock as well makes it a good package
another thing I really love is how easy it is to set up. You simply plug it onto
your phone and start recording, and you can also use it in selfie mode and flip
the camera around and then use it as a forward facing camera and the microphone
performs very well outside as a directional microphone you heard
yourself that it can really screen off a lot of that background noise so they are the
pluses. Now what about the negatives
well the fact is that this microphone has to be used outside with the fluffy
windsock. So even though you can use this microphone on an Android device- if
there's any breath of wind you going to run into all sorts of problems. Most
Android devices actually have the camera on the same end as the microphone input
so if you use the fluffy windsock it covers up some of the camera. So that
could be a problem. If you have a device like that which has the camera and
microphone socket on the same end, your not limited to the VideoMic Me
you could even use the VideoMicro which has exactly the same
specifications as this and put it onto a clamp and fit it to your camera that way. I hope
that's giving you a good overview
you of the VideomMic me and if you'd like some more information
I've left some links in the description below this video if you got any
questions then feel free to type them in the comments section and of course if
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don't have to be a sound engineer to learn the basics of improving your audio
sounds easy with simple audio tips until next time I'll catch you later
another thing that I really love about it is the fact that it's so easy to
install..............try that again- it's so easy to install OK, let's try that again.