Go App Yourself With Røde

Yesterday we had a training session with the chaps from Røde Microphones. The subject they covered was...microphones.

It was very detailed and informative. I had no idea that this Sydney firm was making the microphones here in Australia and had achieve3d such world-wide success with the broadcast and recording industry.

The real ear-opener yesterday was to watch  a particular Røde app on an iPad. They have a couple of these comparison programs that you can get free from the App store that basically allow you to hear the same speaker in different situations but through a whole range of recording microphones. I think they bedecked an actor with lavaliers, headsets, and handheld mikes and had her read out a script.

She was outside in front of a theatre and there was wind and passing traffic as she did her speaking. They recorded the result through the camera's basic in-built mike and at the same time on all the other ones. You can stream the things together and hear the difference between the various mikes quite clearly.

The most startling one was the basic camera compared to an inexpensive reporter's mike with a similar pattern of pickup. While the camera did pick up clear sound it was somewhat restricted and all the traffic noise came in with the voice. The reporter's mike canceled all the traffic and the actor's voice was far cleaner - the difference between a professional sound and a real mess.

If you pop over to the Røde site, and then off to the App store you can get yours for free and see what I mean.  It shows that just a little accessory can make all the difference.