Welcome to my new series TechWire.
The audio in my YouTube channel was in need of an upgrade so I went out and purchased
the Rode Videomic Pro.
Now this is not a paid review so the views and expressions within are purely my own.
Stick around and find out more.
I wanted to add more professional sound to the YouTube videos that I produced.
So after a lot of research, I decided on the Rode Videomic Pro.
I purchase it for about $219 which included free shipping.
Comparatively you are looking at about $1Pr70 USD or £110 GBP.
As I was on a budget I found that the Rode Videomic Pro was the best for the price.
Now, my research showed that the Rode NTG2 Shotgun Mic had a very similar sized barrel
to the Rode Videomic Pro, and it also produced a comparable sound.
The only difference was the Rode NTG2 was about $100 more than the Rode Videomic Pro.
Plus, you also had to go out and buy extra equipment, like a USB interface, or a portable
recorder like a zoom H4n.
Now, I didn’t have the money for that so I wanted something that was really, really
simple and the Rode Videomic Pro proved to be that as it plugged straight into my 550D.
So, no further equipment needed.
As with most people, I’m always looking for ways to reduce the time that I spend editing
videos for YouTube.
Now the Rode Videomic Pro plugs straight into the digital SLR which means that I don’t
have to go into Adobe Premiere and sync the audio later.
This is a huge plus in my mind and it reduces my time immensely.
Now out of the box, using the Rode Videomic Pro with your digital SLR, especially the
Canon ones, there’s a little feature in there called Autogain Correct, and what happens
is that every time you go up, further than the audio should be, it will automatically
correct that.
So, to get around that I installed a piece of software called Magic Lantern onto the
SD card.
What that does, it actually gives you more options and more control over your camera.
So the first thing that I did is within Magic Lantern, turned off Autogain Correct, or AGC.
The next step that I did is that I set the Analog Gain to +20 dB.
OK, this means that I can get a stronger audio signal from the Rode Videomic Pro.
I left the Digital Gain at 0 because Digital Gain just distorts things and that’s about
all the changes that I made to Magic Lantern.
Now, one of the things that you should realise is that the Magic Lantern software does void
your Canon warranty so if your camera is outside of the warranty period, go ahead and install
it.
Why not?
There is a chance that it can brick your camera which means that it will make it stop working.
However the chances are pretty low if you follow the instructions to the tee.
So if you do feel up to the risk, go for it.
Rode Videomic Pro has some really great built-in hardware features.
One of them is a Switchable Gain Control.
This can be set to -10 dB, 0 dB or +20 dB.
Now for my videos I set it to +20 dB because it means I don’t need to increase the volume
in Adobe Audition after I’ve finished producing the video.
The other feature it has is a Switchable High Pass Filter.
The High Pass Filter is something that will block out low frequency noises, such as a
fan.
I’m in a quiet room, however, I still put the High Pass Filter on, just to level it
out and make sure there’s none of those noises in the background there.
Another great thing about this mic is that they’ve include a Shock Mount with the shotgun
mic.
This is really, really handy for eliminating any small bumps or movement within the mic
which could transfer down the track into your audio.
Included in the box is also a set of extra bands, so that if they do fray along the way
you can replace them.
Now I’ve mounted mine to a boom stand.
A lot of people will mount them straight to the top of the Canon Digital SLR.
However, I don’t feel like I’m going to get the best audio, so I actually have the
microphone a lot closer to me and it’s just right about here.
I could actually have it closer but at the moment I feel like that’s the sweet spot
for my sound and my voice.
So after all the great things that I can say about the Rode Videomic Pro there are still
some cons that need to be addressed.
They’re not huge cons, but they’re still things that you need to know before purchasing
this microphone.
So the first thing is the battery.
The Rode Videomic Pro is powered by a 9 volt battery.
However, it’s not included in the box.
So before you purchase this microphone, make sure you go out a get a couple of 9 volt batteries.
The next thing about the battery is the actual compartment where it’s stored.
It’s a little bit tricky getting the battery in and out, but what I found is actually taking
off the foam cover for the shotgun mic actually makes it a little bit easier to get off.
Just be really careful because it feels a little bit flimsy and like it might snap.
Now the second con is that (and I’ve already sort of discussed this) but I boom my Rode
Videomic Pro.
Mounting it to the top of the camera just doesn’t produce a rich enough sound for
me, whereas booming it I can get a better quality sound, get it closer to the subject,
which is myself, and it just sounds a lot better.
One of the most important things as well is that when you are booming, or setting up a
microphone, especially a shotgun microphone, is to point it straight at your mouth.
OK by doing that it actually captures the voice as it comes out and rejects everything
else behind it.
If you have any questions or maybe you own a Rode Videomic Pro already, and you’re
looking for some tips or techniques, leave me a comment down below or through any of
the social media links in the description.
I’m always open to answering any questions that you might have.
Just don’t be shy!
Imagine Learn Create
Bye!