Insta360 Mic Pro - New wireless mic with 32-bit stereo internal recording

[Ozpeter]

^ That's it.

....

Thanks for that clarification, also mccordo. 

While i realise that there are a number of ways to capture a stereo audio recording, using pairs of single-piece stereo audio recorders does seem to be a hard work way to do it (and expensive!).  Especially if it would be necessary to line the two channels up later to a very high, and consistent, accuracy. 

I take the (personal) view that the Mic Pro is a stereo audio portable recording device in the same bracket as the slew of such devices from Zoom and Tascam which have built in mics - except those do have the ability to accept external mics also, and to support headphones etc etc.  But I have never heard of anyone using a spaced pair of (say) Zoom H2e recorders for stereo, though maybe it does happen.  In secret.  Maybe spaced Sony M10 devices with their omni mics would be a better choice. 

Actually the nearest 'relatives' to the Mic Pro that I'm aware of, and which I possess, are the radically larger Zoom M2 and M3 MicTrak devices, which, like the Mic Pro, have mics but no inputs, and are capable of 32 bit float stereo recording.  Neither offers fundamental mono polar pattern settings of course, though the M/S width of the M3 can be preset from mono out to 120 degrees.  One could use a crossed pair of M3 recorders set to mono to get a stereo image I guess instead of using one set to stereo... but would anyone do that?

The stereo image for a single Mic Pro is, for me, accurate and very immersive - when I used it for dawn chorus recording, loudspeaker playback sounded wider than the speakers - but I do realise that spaced omnis are a widely used alternative to single (or near) single point recording setups.  What would be very interesting would be if someone made a recording with three Mic Pros, one in the middle set to stereo, and the other two spaced out in mono, and compared the result.  The chance of that happening simultaneously would be zero, I suspect.  But maybe someone at a gig using whatever system they normally use, while experimenting with a Mic Pro system alongside it, could record part of the show with spaced omni Mic Pros and part with a single stereo one, to evaluate the difference. 

I am probably revealing that I have reached the time in life where simplest seems best...!

[vwmule]

Posted this earlier but anyone want to take a crack at EQ this recording?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FEkOFeVuKNczqfZYROmUhmu-M4a9bFuh/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d2tIQamP-uLkHUQGhVB4kiUApoKy4YBr/view?usp=sharing

That's just the first bit.  EQ I used, and the result, are included below.  In the frequency response analysis, the green lines are the original, the red lines are after EQ.  I also slightly widened the stereo image and shifted it a bit to the left to make it more centred.

I guess the trouble with recording rock band events is that the sound is totally dependent on the on stage amps, the acoustic of the location, how far back you are, etc etc.  The item having the least effect is probably the recording gear!  Anyway, with a bit of processing this sounds fine to me.

This sounds great. Thank you.

[mccordo]

I finally got a chance to use a pair of Insta360s in the wild and I'm pretty happy with the results. As mentioned earlier in the thread, I bought the 2x mics with receiver set on Prime Day, but wasn't able to use them in the wild until yesterday. The 2 mic set with receiver is nice, but IMO loses some of the stealthiness due to the receiver. From what I can tell, you can only sync 1 mic at a time with the phone app, so the receiver is the only way to sync and record 2 or more mics (or transmitters as the receiver refers to them). I initially thought the receiver had to be plugged into the phone to use it, but it can operate the mics on its own like a bluetooth remote control with no phone involved. The receiver is about the size of 2 AA batteries side by side and has a small clip on the back. It's a touchscreen with a small wheel/button for adjustments, a power button on one side and jacks for 3.5mm headphones and camera syncing on the other side. The screen displays your levels, lets you start/stop recording, mute 1 or more channels, and change settings (i.e. gain, low cut, directional pickup, etc.) for the both mics and the receiver itself. My only issue with the receiver is the display (including audio levels) is always on when in use. You can lower the brightness level and lock the screen from accidental touching, but I haven't figured out how (or if it's even possible) to sleep the screen when paired to mics. It's not a total dealbreaker if you keep the receiver in your pocket, but I'm a bit fearful of security wondering why I have a small glow coming from my pocket in a dark room. 

I recorded a DJ playing with a live band (keys, sax, trombone, percussion) from a stage lip table about 2 feet left of center. For the early show I placed a single Insta360 on the table in the omni setting and set to record in stereo. For the late show I added the second Insta 360 in the omni setting and placed them about 6" apart on either side of a candle holder as a baffle. I thought I set them both to mono since I wanted to try dual mono. Unfortunately they both recorded in stereo, so I ended up with a pair of stereo omni recordings instead of dual mono.

In addition to the Insta360, I was also running DPA 4061s into 2 Deity PR-2s that were set to 32bit float mono and synced via the app (files are also included in the G Drive link). The early show came out fine, as has been the case when I used this setup in the past. However, during the late show the unit recording the left channel dropped about 1.5 seconds of audio just under 14 minutes into the show. I noticed it when I was spot checking the recording after transferring to my computer and thought maybe the units got out of sync and I could just shift the audio files to align. It wasn't until I listened back rom the beginning that I found where the lost audio was dropped. Good thing I was running the Insta360 too!

These are all 32bit float files. The only editing done was normalizing to -0.01dB, combining the DPA > PR-2 mono tracks into stereo, and trimming off a few minutes of pre- and post-show crowd chatter. No EQ, fades, or any other adjustments were made. I've included some photos of the mic placement and the stage configuration along with the raw audio files here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10trGDgKtCC9U7pVrhK3OjWXjLBPa4R6b?usp=sharing