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Rode have the reputation for making some very good microphones so when I got the chance
of having a play with this Rode smartLav I thought I would make a short video about it.
Now at the moment it is tucked in just underneath my jacket, and what makes this microphone
that little bit different from most other lavalieres is that it is designed to feed
in to a smartphone or tablet type device and use that as your recorder. Now I did try plugging
it into my camera and also to my Zoom H1 but it did not work with either of those, but
then it didn't say it would. So at the moment it is recording on to my Nokia 520, the base
model Windows phone. It's quite a small little microphone somewhat thicker than a toothpick
but a lot thinner than a pencil and at the moment I'm out side here on Glasgow Green.
It's dusk, the light is rapidly fading so I'm not too sure quite how this video will
come out but it's the audio I'm more interested in. It's also just finished blowing a gale
here. I wasn't going to come out, trying to do an audio test in strong winds is a bit
ridiculous really on microphones that are not designed for that sort of thing, but the
wind has calmed down a bit now, though flags are still out at an angle, and off to my side
that way I can see the steam coming out of a chimney from a factory and that is almost
horizontal, so there's still a fair bit of wind around here, so I will be curious to
see how well this, tucked away underneath my coat picks up my sound, and also does or
does not pick up wind noise. Once I get inside in a few minutes, warm up my poor wee fingers,
then I will try plugging it in to a couple of other smartphones, see how they compare
to this Windows one, and, well see if we can draw any conclusions as to whether this as,
I think it is something around £35, whether it's actually worth it or not. Right, back
inside, fingers have warmed up a bit, and to start with we're just working off my Rode
desktop machine, desktop machine, desktop microphone, just so we have got something
to compare the other recording devices with as I get my lavaliere here, attach it to my
wee jacket there, and to start with I'm going to plug it in to my Nokia Windows phone so
we can now do a compare and contrast with inside as to outside. Right let's press the
record button [clap]. A rather feeble clap there for synchronisation but this sound will
now be coming off my Windows phone. One thing I have found playing with all these phones
earlier on this afternoon was that getting the audio files off them was a bit of a pain
in that video files are stored in one very specific directory, photos all end up in their
photo directories but the audio files seem to be tucked away, different places depending
on which memo audio recording thing you're using, and trying to find them is a bit of
a pain in the backside, and the easiest way turned out to be was to go to the audio program,
select the file and then send it off to either Dropbox or email it to yourself as an attachment.
Go to your PC and download it that way. That turned out much easier than plugging in the
phone through usb into your machine, then calling up the relevant file browsing program,
iTunes or whatever and trying to find the audio file. Anyway, enough for a short test
of inside with the Windows recorder, so let'*** the stop button for that. O.K., next let's
plug in the Samsung and power this, come on, come on, come on. That's better, so at the
moment it's just doing the sound off that again, plug you in and let's give that, and
let's go start recording. [Clap]. A clap again for synchronisation. So now we're going in
to my Samsung Note 2 and we'll have to see how this audio on turn compares with the Nokia.
I'll be quite interested, are their going to be differences or not. I have played briefly
with these earlier on today, but I've not yet done a proper compare and contrast. So
playing back these video files will be the first time I will have had a chance to do
this properly. So you will be hearing this in a way the very first time I will be hearing
this too. So I can't predict yet what it is going to be like. O.K., here's just what a
minute perhaps of recording on to my Samsung Note 2 through the Rode smartLav lavaliere
microphone. O.K., enough of the Samsung. So now let's get my old iPhone 3GS, quite an
old device but none the worse for that. I think especially for audio recording which
is not exactly high-tech or anything, O.K., let's press record here. [Clap] [buzz]. So
now I am recording to my 3GS through this lavaliere microphone, the Rode smartLav. Well,
there was an old person of Woking, whose mind was perverse and provoking, he sat on a rail
with his head in a pail, that illusive old person of Woking. There a bit of rubbish just
to fill out a few moments of recording some indoor sound onto my old iPhone 3GS. O.K.,
enough of that too. So we'll just now have to have a little listen to see. As I said,
I have not done this before so this will be the first time for me to be able to run through
and do a compare and contrast. So let'*** the stop button on this. Unplug you so now
we're just finishing off on the Rode Videomic Pro, momentary lapse there of forgetting which
microphone this one was. Well there we go, make up your own minds. Enough, goodbye.