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Rode & Hollyland wireless mics for stealthy binaural recording

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Ozpeter:
[Retitled discussion as it's now covering Rode & Hollyland devices]

Rode have just announced a new wireless mic kit.  Think earbuds, but it's mics.  Its receiver is tiny and plugs into the bottom of your phone.  It comes with two very small transmitting mics.  It has no inbuilt recorder.  But it can record in stereo from the two mics and quotes max SPL of 135dB.  So on the face of it you could clip the mics either side of a baseball cap, or one on each shoulder, press record on your phone, and there you go.  Downside might be that it sets its own level.  Whether that would lead to compression effects remains to be seen.  Anyway, although I never use the two radio mic systems I already have, I have ordered one for release in mid December and will report here.

VibrationOfLife:
I believe you can adjust the gain in 3 steps in the app.

TheJez:
It would be interesting to know what data compression and bit rate is used for the wireless transmission. AAC? It’s hard to imagine the sound is not compressed at all by some lossy algorithm…

Ozpeter:
At last I managed to get hold of this device this afternoon.  I plugged the very small USB C equipped receiver into my Android phone.  I clipped the mics either side of my baseball cap.  And I went out into the street and used the relevant Rode app to record the suburban ambience and occasional passing traffic.  Bingo.  Lovely binaural stereo image, good frequency response, very quiet sounds and a large and noisy passing truck recorded very nicely.

At dusk I went down to the local lake park and recorded the frogs as I walked across the lake bridge.  Then I walked back to my car and recorded the drive home.  Oh... At the far side of the bridge I had turned off the phone screen, not realising that would stop the rather basic Rode app recording.  Still, on replay the frogs and footsteps and birds sounded just fine.

I have just been testing the rig with the "Field Recorder" Android app at home.  That has more configurations and settings than any other app I have used for any purpose.  Stupidly good.  And it records the rig just fine, and isn't affected by the screen being turned off.

Tomorrow first thing I have a couple of hours spare, with my studio at hand, and I will try to create and rapidly upload a YT video showing the hat rig and sharing some new tests. As far as I can see, nobody else has spotted this possibility of using this device as a wireless binaural low profile recording rig able to handle 135dB levels.  I'm excited!  And it is so easy to use - no buttons, plug and play.  And cheap.  Watch this space...

Ozpeter:
I've now managed to get to my own house and do some further initial tests there, where I have more ancillary gear to be deployed as required. 

Although it's now after 1am here I can't help posting this before sleep. 

These tiny mics with their tiny receiver are simply gobsmacking when used as a stereo pair.   The frequency response is full and uncoloured.  The stereo image with the simple cap mount is very accurate.  I am not hearing any undesirable compression or self noise.  I suspect this setup will become my go-to portable recording tool, not least because it's so compact- the charging case is like the case you'd store your earplugs in, slightly bigger, but still pocketable.  I've tried it with a range of audio and video apps on my phone (Pixel 7a) and it's generally fine with almost any of them.  Basically the mics can be treated as an omni pair and mounted by clip of magnet either to one's person, or I guess they could be mounted in a good place near a stage in a suitable configuration, and then the recording can be made from the back of the auditorium!   This opens up a whole new range of possibilities it seems to me.  But maybe it's an old hat approach.  Or old baseball cap....

The only reservation I have is whether the receiver, powered by the phone's usb socket, will drain it too quickly.  Certainly its battery level is much lower than normal right now but I didn't start my tests with it anything like full.  I'll have to try to check that aspect more carefully.

More tomorrow.

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