W00DPUSHING
Active member
Just wondering what settings you guys are running on your t2i/550d's with the original Rode videomic! Obviously turn AGC off, but what gets you some real good sound? I shoot skateboarding predominantly!
T2i T2i Rode VideoMic Setting's...
- Thread starter W00DPUSHING
- Start date
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
The idea is to get as much of a boost in audio outside the camera as possible.
The Rode video mic PRO comes highly recommended because it has a +20db gain right on the mic, which means you can set your amps to zero and get decent sound out of the hot feed.
The plain old video mic, however, does not have ANY amplification at all. It only has a pad to lower the volume -10db or -20db. This is the exact opposite of what you want, as you need to ADD amplification, not remove it. If you are stuck using this mic, leave the pad switch off at zero to avoid removing whatever volume you have naturally, and turn up the analog gain in Magic Lantern if you have to (and you will probably have to). Leave the digital gains off as often as possible. But sadly, without the +20db switch that the PRO offers, this will only help so much.
Perhaps invest in a Fiio, JuicedLink or other jack amp.
I recommend you read this thread (it has all the answers already):
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?240822-The-Canon-DSLR-Audio-thread
The Rode video mic PRO comes highly recommended because it has a +20db gain right on the mic, which means you can set your amps to zero and get decent sound out of the hot feed.
The plain old video mic, however, does not have ANY amplification at all. It only has a pad to lower the volume -10db or -20db. This is the exact opposite of what you want, as you need to ADD amplification, not remove it. If you are stuck using this mic, leave the pad switch off at zero to avoid removing whatever volume you have naturally, and turn up the analog gain in Magic Lantern if you have to (and you will probably have to). Leave the digital gains off as often as possible. But sadly, without the +20db switch that the PRO offers, this will only help so much.
Perhaps invest in a Fiio, JuicedLink or other jack amp.
I recommend you read this thread (it has all the answers already):
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?240822-The-Canon-DSLR-Audio-thread
W00DPUSHING
Active member
But surely the rode videomic performs way better than a plain external mic and the onboard mic
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
I'm not sure what plain external mic you are comparing it to, but there are plenty of external mics that sound as good as (or better) than the VM.
I'm under the impression that what makes the VMP so popular is the way it is compact enough to fit on top of a small camera with a hotshoe mount. And it is relatively cheap compared to other shotgun mics.
As far as being better than the internal mic- honestly, I think the preamps of the camera kill the sound quality more than the internal mic does. The VideoMic is directional so it will likely reduce some of the ambient background sound, but "way better" is subjective. There will be a difference if you compare them side by side I suppose. But if the amps are introducing noise on the line, it will still be doing so on the external as well. Before the pro came out, I remember seeing folks plug their rode videomic into an H1 external recorder instead of the camera for good, clean audio. I'm not sure if plugging it directly into the camera will give you the results you are looking for. But honestly, I own a few shotgun mics and was only interested in the videomic when I heard about the Pro version. So I can't speak from personal experience on the original.
I can tell you this, though: I shot some very loud concert footage for a press kit, and one of my cameras had the VMPro while the other just had the internal mic. Honestly, in that situation the internal mic did just fine, barely distinguishable from the Rode (sound was very loud and coming from every direction, so the advantages of a boosted shotgun mic were null).
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