External Mic on CGO3

[Murray Martz]

Your last paragraph nails it. It's all smoke and mirrors in the broadcast biz. It's amazing how willing your brain is to accept false realities. I'd consider saving a lot of time and finding some Foley you can license as I'm sure there are hundreds of great samples of all kinds of surf crashing. I've made ocean sounds with white noise generators and LFO sweeps as it really is just a lot of low end booming with hissing sounds. That being said I'm taking my Zoom out tomorrow to grab some surf while I can before I return to the quiet desert. What are you looking for? Maybe I can send you a .wav file that will work.

You may be onto something Craig. Perhaps we should gather sounds and make them available to other pilots. Just need a common place to store them.

 

[Rubik]

Hi Windluv. Pretty brave plan to fly into the curl. Good luck with that...
Last summer I was flying over a beautiful near offshore island with my TH and collected some priceless video with lots of wave action. For wave sounds in my video, I used my trusty Sony camcorder when the TH was not flying. Fortunately, the waves were also crashing on the rocks right close to my launch point. I collected those sounds on the right channel moving slowly over to the left channel and vise versa. With some careful editing, the appropriate sound and direction could be added to the video for a pretty convincing result. Foley!

 

[CraigCam]

Hi Windluv. Pretty brave plan to fly into the curl. Good luck with that...
Last summer I was flying over a beautiful near offshore island with my TH and collected some priceless video with lots of wave action. For wave sounds in my video, I used my trusty Sony camcorder when the TH was not flying. Fortunately, the waves were also crashing on the rocks right close to my launch point. I collected those sounds on the right channel moving slowly over to the left channel and vise versa. With some careful editing, the appropriate sound and direction could be added to the video for a pretty convincing result. Foley!

Thanks for that tip. I'm taking my Tascam flash recorder tomorrow to get waves crashing. Love the idea of working the motion into the field recording. I'm definitely going to grab some centered still sounds and do some slow pans. Brilliant.

 

[Kingsley Opoku]

Well said guys. I will be one of the first people to buy the next drone that comes with no rotor noise.

 

[CraigCam]

Well said guys. I will be one of the first people to buy the next drone that comes with no rotor noise.

I have an answer in regards to the TH noise and recording. I recorded the seaside above the Pacific near Muir Beach from cliff height. The ambient recording of the waves, birds, bugs, and even wind is pretty great. I then flew on the hillside about 100 yards above where I set the tascam recorder. I then flew around the area and purposely flew around and over the recorder. I did this at varying heights based on usefulness of shot. At a medium height, where subjects would be visible at your typical 50' above, the noise of the H was a hum that had the sound of a prop plane engine going over head.
This did not intrude into the ambience of the recording. If you did not not know it's a drone, you would mistake it for any motor sound like a passing car or passing plane.

But you can't make out mouth movement from 50' so if you get down to the level you need to be for that, the H noise obliterates the ambient. I often turn on the mic on the CGO and record the engines and wind during flight. I got used to it with the GoPro. I like hearing the motor rev changes especially that awesome pause when you stop a fast ascent. I'm very familiar with the angry bee sound of the drone and that's what you get plenty of on your microphones. The more sensitive the mic the worse it will be. Since most field recording is done with condensers that's always going to be the case.

As for a silent prop driven craft....You would have to have rotors spinning inversely of each other to stop air movement (sound) which I believe violates the principles of flight. Anything that displaces air produces sound. You can reduce and reflect and absorb but you cannot stop unless it's an anechoic chamber. You could in theory deign a speaker array that plays back the self noise of the drone phase flipped (giant noise canceling headphones) and make it almost silent but the drivers would weigh more than the craft. The miracle of hearing is all about air molecules moving so anything that displaces air makes sound - even that tree no one hears fall. For sure the word drone is appropriate for the sound produced and picked up.

 

[Murray Martz]

I have an answer in regards to the TH noise and recording. I recorded the seaside above the Pacific near Muir Beach from cliff height. The ambient recording of the waves, birds, bugs, and even wind is pretty great. I then flew on the hillside about 100 yards above where I set the tascam recorder. I then flew around the area and purposely flew around and over the recorder. I did this at varying heights based on usefulness of shot. At a medium height, where subjects would be visible at your typical 50' above, the noise of the H was a hum that had the sound of a prop plane engine going over head.
This did not intrude into the ambience of the recording. If you did not not know it's a drone, you would mistake it for any motor sound like a passing car or passing plane.

But you can't make out mouth movement from 50' so if you get down to the level you need to be for that, the H noise obliterates the ambient. I often turn on the mic on the CGO and record the engines and wind during flight. I got used to it with the GoPro. I like hearing the motor rev changes especially that awesome pause when you stop a fast ascent. I'm very familiar with the angry bee sound of the drone and that's what you get plenty of on your microphones. The more sensitive the mic the worse it will be. Since most field recording is done with condensers that's always going to be the case.

As for a silent prop driven craft....You would have to have rotors spinning inversely of each other to stop air movement (sound) which I believe violates the principles of flight. Anything that displaces air produces sound. You can reduce and reflect and absorb but you cannot stop unless it's an anechoic chamber. You could in theory deign a speaker array that plays back the self noise of the drone phase flipped (giant noise canceling headphones) and make it almost silent but the drivers would weigh more than the craft. The miracle of hearing is all about air molecules moving so anything that displaces air makes sound - even that tree no one hears fall. For sure the word drone is appropriate for the sound produced and picked up.

I knew it would just be a matter of time before you got out there and tested. Good work Craig.

 

[Windluv]

I have an answer in regards to the TH noise and recording. I recorded the seaside above the Pacific near Muir Beach from cliff height. The ambient recording of the waves, birds, bugs, and even wind is pretty great. I then flew on the hillside about 100 yards above where I set the tascam recorder. I then flew around the area and purposely flew around and over the recorder. I did this at varying heights based on usefulness of shot. At a medium height, where subjects would be visible at your typical 50' above, the noise of the H was a hum that had the sound of a prop plane engine going over head.
This did not intrude into the ambience of the recording. If you did not not know it's a drone, you would mistake it for any motor sound like a passing car or passing plane.

But you can't make out mouth movement from 50' so if you get down to the level you need to be for that, the H noise obliterates the ambient. I often turn on the mic on the CGO and record the engines and wind during flight. I got used to it with the GoPro. I like hearing the motor rev changes especially that awesome pause when you stop a fast ascent. I'm very familiar with the angry bee sound of the drone and that's what you get plenty of on your microphones. The more sensitive the mic the worse it will be. Since most field recording is done with condensers that's always going to be the case.

As for a silent prop driven craft....You would have to have rotors spinning inversely of each other to stop air movement (sound) which I believe violates the principles of flight. Anything that displaces air produces sound. You can reduce and reflect and absorb but you cannot stop unless it's an anechoic chamber. You could in theory deign a speaker array that plays back the self noise of the drone phase flipped (giant noise canceling headphones) and make it almost silent but the drivers would weigh more than the craft. The miracle of hearing is all about air molecules moving so anything that displaces air makes sound - even that tree no one hears fall. For sure the word drone is appropriate for the sound produced and picked up.

Can you relay the Tascam model you are using? Thanks. I am assuming it is better quality then the GoPro's (Hero 4 that I have).