I’ve been looking at ways of extending the usefulness of my GoPro Hero 7 – particularly with regard to voicers that involve a bit of distance from the camera (facilitating full-body shots with a better view of my surroundings). My current choice for that purpose is the Rode Smartlav+ (clip-on) weighing just 12 g. I use it in combination with the Myk GoPro Video Edit app, which exploits the GoPro’s wifi functionality to allow said distance between myself and the GoPro. The app doesn’t really need to be used as an ‘editor’ in the normal sense of the word. Rather, it will basically do the job on the fly – film your sequence, tap an icon and everything is mixed and synchronised for you.
Following my research, I quickly produced a little sound clip to demonstrate the differences between various mikes – slapped together in my study against all sorts of background hums (computers, printers etc.). It’s simply recorded with iMovie for iOS, after which I used VLC to rip the sound track. There’s no post-recording manipulation whatsoever except to adjust the respective volume levels a wee bit.
The microphones used are the built-in mike on the Hero 7, the Smartlav+, a cheap mono headset running on Bluetooth, the iPhone 8’s built-in microphone and the one on its standard headset… and finally, for voice-overs at home, the iRig Mic HD 2.
Here it is on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/martin-farrent/microphones-for-your-gopro
Perhaps some of you might find it useful.
