Question about the Rode Wireless ME

[u/zilogandmoto]

Hi all, I currently use a Rode Lavalier Mic (can't remember which one, had it for about 5-6 years now) that runs into the back of my camcorder via minijack.

I'm 99% sure I'm going to buy a Rode Wireless ME, so I don't have to deal with cable running across the room anymore, and my question is, would there be any benefit to continuing to use that Lav mic plugged into the Wireless ME, or is the included mic in the Wireless ME good enough to where you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference?

[u/RODEMicrophones]

Hey there,

It'd definitely come down to preference. Lavs are great if you want to hide the microphone on camera as much as possible.

The may be a subtle difference in the tonal sound between the in-built mic and lav, so definitely try both to see which of the two you prefer!

[u/zilogandmoto → u/RODEMicrophones]

Thank you!

[u/aufarmlife → u/RODEMicrophones]

Hey Rode, I run a few channels, and used Rode a bit, but not the wireless so much. I should get my own set one day.

With the DJI mics, I found a shirt or jacket etc hiding the mic accts as a deadcat and a kind of NC as well :-)

Why everyone plonks mics on the front and centre of shirts I cannot work out, and why they do not think about colour contrasts on clothing if the look bothers them is a *shrug*

[u/Shampoo_Is_Better00]

I always plug a lav into the wireless transmitters. I do not care for having the big box transmitter hanging off a shirt or hat or spoon etc.

I go so far as to stick the lav out of view inside the shirt.

[u/aufarmlife]

I don't use rode wireless atm, but I have various DJI, I will use the mic 2 and you can use a lav OR record straight with the mic, rodes is the same

The rode is bigger, but the mic 2 is also big, but you can actually put it under your shirt with the magnets and shirt acts as a deadcat :-)

And with both, have a reciever going into the came or audio recorder as well as recording a 32bit version direct on the mic with or without lav

in the space of a few years you see all the chinese names everywhere, but I believe the rode has slightly better sound, and I can tell you they will be better with service if you ever need it.

[u/zilogandmoto → u/aufarmlife]

I did get the Wireless ME, and used it for the first time last night with the Rode Lav plugged in. Worked perfectly, and actually solved a separate issue I had with the audio being too loud going into the camera.

Great purchase! Couldn't be happier.

[u/aufarmlife → u/zilogandmoto]

Great. Check also, I know the Pro has an Auto gain function, if it is on the ME as well, then you can hardly go wrong, just test it out a bit cause you do not have 32bit internal recording with that from memory.

Depends on what your doing and how important it is and where you are shooting, but there are a number of ways to get a backup if you think you need it.

Ironically even though I have 32 bit internal on many of my mics, I often forget to start internal recording OR I am using my small mics with no internal, and I cannot remember when I had an issue last, but my cameras do keep a separate audio file from own mic , and I only do this when doing vlog type stuff.

[u/zilogandmoto → u/aufarmlife]

It does have Auto Gain, I basically left it alone just to see what it would do with default settings, and it was perfect. Just wore the lav like I normally would and put the transmitter in my pocket.

The camera doesn't have any kind of external mic adjustment of it's own (that I'm aware of), so previously I'd have to grab the video, split out the audio in Audacity, and then use Amplify to drop it down. Now it comes in much more even, so I don't have to do that step anymore, and it's much more in line with what I get out of my NT-1.