That's a great idea. I was thinking along similar lines, once I'm done with this series, I'll try to recruit people with great sounding cars and just do a series of "gratuitous car sounds". I think it'd be fun.
@@amman090909 Ahh, that would be amazing. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I think my rig works pretty well. I know someone with a NSX (first gen) who might be up for this. Also on my wish list: an air-cooled 911, E-Type Jag, Gallardo V10, big block Mopar, etc etc. So many great sounds out there :)
Wow I was really expecting you to have hundreds of thousands of subs and viewers with this type of quality content! Got tired of the forum guys recommending setups well over 2k so this series has been super helpful and informative for someone just getting into this field. Thanks and I look forward to more content!
Thanks very much! Maybe one day :) I like to take the approach of - how can I get the best results without spending a ton or getting too complicated? Most of us are just normal people trying to make fun videos, it doesn't have to be a big production. Thanks for watching!
Best car sounds on RU-vid? I think so! Andrew, thank you for taking the time to run through all these demos in Part 1 and 2. You just saved me a few weekends of messing around with different setups. Really appreciate the work. Liked and subscribed.
Both videos are very well made, this is fantastic quality! Great explanations good camera angels and I don't even have the equipment yet, but it's just interesting to watch anyway!
Thank you very much. I’m looking forward to part 3. I’m very new to this. I’m in Las Vegas with a Ferrari Testarossa if you’d like to mic it up someday.
@@SinnerGarage uhhh whoah. We might have to set something up. Those would both be epic. Feel free to drop me an email (see "About" tab on my channel page)
This is awesome man - I'm just now getting my kit together to start filming, and sound really is my favourite part, so really want to get it right. You've saved me a lot of my money with this advice, as it really sounds great through my audio setup, despite the cost 👍
This is some of the best automotive content on RU-vid Andrew! Keep up the great work. You've earned yourself a long term subscriber :) Do you come from an audio background? Love your efforts!
Wow, thanks very much! And no, I'm pretty much self-taught when it comes to audio stuff. Hence my sometimes rudimentary methods. But it works! I'm looking forward to doing the follow-up to this one, and maybe some "gratuitous car sounds" if I can find people in my area with great sounding cars who'll let me rig them up with mics. We'll see!
this was so helpful, you have no idea. Trying to find the best setup without having to do post editing. I like the idea of two mics into one port. Imma try that with the gopro
Just coming across your channel. Awesome content! You deserve a much bigger audience. Keep it up!! Love the camera angle from the drivers point of view in this video. Did you just hang a GoPro on the windshield?
FYI, I ordered the Synco S6R mics that you link in the description. The product name says S6E, but the product details show S6R (XLR) as the technical specs. It turns out, in fact, that they ship you the 3.5mm version.
Ah dang, sorry about that. Looks like they changed the product since I made this video. I did some looking and didn't immediately see a perfect alternative. There are a lot of options - the main thing is to make sure they have long enough cords, that they are omnidirectional, and that they can handle high SPL (preferably over 120db).
@12:00 - The Tascam DR-70D has a built in "slate" feature to aid in synching. It can be set to automatically put in a tone at the beginning of every new recording. It appears as a patch of sound for its duration, not just a blip. There are menu options for tone level, duration, tone at start only; tone at start and end; and you can insert slate tone at any time by holding down the button on the panel labeled Slate. Other general tip is placing a clap, horn honk(s), slate tone at the beginning and the end if you experience audio not staying in sync. Some equipment mismatch their timing and drift over time. Line up the start tones, slide to the end of the track and if those end tones don't line up, squeeze the one that drifted longer to match the other. Listen again.
Yeah, I haven't used the slate feature as I don't see the point of a tone that's only recorded internally. I'm usually using this recorder along with a camera or two, which are doing their own thing. So I usually do the hand clap / door slam method at the beginning to sync all the devices up to later. Good idea doing it at the end as well, though. I've seen that drift happen on longer recordings even when the sample rate is the same on all devices.
That's a pretty cool effect for a true driver's point of view / sound. I guess my goal is to get more of a "full" sound of the car, which isn't necessarily what you hear from the driver's seat, but I like getting that more dramatic, complete soundscape, if that makes sense :D
btw with my current version of adobe premiere pro 2023, you can select all the sounds track then select Synchronize then select audio channel. It would sign up all the audio automatically.
This works well for things like dialogue, where the sounds are clearly defined, but something like a running engine is pretty difficult for the software to line up. At least the last time I tried that feature it didn't work. Either way, it's good to know how to do it manually just in case.
this is soooo good! I've been struggling with audio for so long, so gonna try these techniques for my next shoot, thank you! Do you have any tips for shooting a car from another car at speed?
Thank you! Glad it was helpful. Looks like you're doing some great work yourself! As for capturing the sound of a car while you're in another car filming, you'll still have to have the audio recorder in the "star car" unless you're fancy and have several wireless mics. If you're concerned about the audio matching the shot, here are a couple options: 1) Fake it and don't worry about perfect sync. Just use whatever audio clips you've captured that seem to fit the moment in post, because probably nobody will notice. 2) Do it properly by making a "sync noise" while everything is recording at once, so you can match it up later. Door slams are good since they create sudden peaks in your audio. I go into this a bit more in part 3. P.S. if you're just talking about video/photo tips from car to car, that's a whole other story and I've completely misinterpreted the question. Lol!
@@AndrewDoesCarStuff thanks so much for the reply! And yes my question was in the context of getting good sound so all good 😅 I'll definitely give your suggestions a shot! I've tried adding non synced sound before, but where I feel it lacks is when you have a shot of the car suddenly pulling away/dropping a gear etc. So I think I'll try the door slam technique 😁
In this case I had it set to 16 bit. My recorder can also do 24 but I didn't think to change it at the time. For what I'm doing, the quality seems good. Maybe next time I will up it to 24.
Thank you! And yes it would be easier, but much more expensive, and trickier to tuck the transmitters into small spaces. Maybe sometime I'll try it out with my single Rode Wireless Go and see how it works out.
Well I'm certainly not a mic expert but I understand that dynamic mics can handle a lot more SPL than condensers. Problem is, small lavalier mics are almost all condensers. To use anything bigger, like a handheld dynamic mic, would present some bigger challenges in terms of how to mount them on the car where you want them, and shield them from the wind. But it would be a cool experiment to try!
I haven't tired using external mics with an iPhone, so I'm not sure! I don't think there's any sort of gain control with the voice memos app. Not an ideal way to record, but worth experimenting with!
Very smart, but I want a permanent or easy mount that I can turn on sound on demand. I put Hn1 under my seat and run it to my GoPro. Not great. Got a better quick and easy mount? Maybe in the trunk?
I don't know about permanently mounting mics around your car. With all the temperature changes and elements that a car goes through, I'd think that would ruin the mics over time unless you shield them well from heat and fluids / humidity / water. So, you could mount them internally (one in the trunk and one by the firewall?) and then use a suction cup mount for your audio recorder on the windshield, which you could easily remove when you aren't using it.
I think the engine bay sound would add a lot more on turbo cars, where you hear the turbo spool up and flutter. And the induction sound you mentioned on carburettor engines is a lot less on turbo engines. The problem I have atm is that my exhaust recording sounds nothing like the actual thing. It might be the mic placement or maybe that takstar mic I used isn't as good as I thought it would be. Or my exhaust is just too loud, pretty much a straight through exhaust at this point I also have 2 rode videomicros so I'll try those next with the stereo breakout cable I ordered. Did you have to change the audio setings on the gopro for the dual mic setup, or did you just leave that on auto?
Yes it definitely depends on the car, as to whether the sound under the hood is good or not. Turbocharged or supercharged engines would be great for this. I found with my setup that the sounds are very true to life. So I wonder if your recording is getting blown out because the mics can't handle the loudness of your exhaust. Mics have different ratings for SPL (sound pressure level) that they can handle, but so far that hasn't been a factor for me. You might try placing mics a little further away. I like omnidirectional mics for this application because it doesn't matter which way they're pointing, just stick them somewhere in the right vicinity and go. If you try with your Rode mics it'll be an interesting experiment since they are directional mics, make sure to point them at the exhaust outlets. I left my GoPro mic setting on "standard" and it seemed to work fine for what I was doing with the Miata.
I tried running a lav mic as well as a Rode VideoMicro in my engine bay near the intake box. I'm getting a lot of valve train noise. Do you have any advice?
Engine bays can be tough, they often don’t sound as good as we hope. Either need to get the mic farther away from the valve train, or try to bring down the noise with EQ, or just have the engine mic low in the mix assuming you also have an exhaust mic. If the engine bay sound just isn’t working, try putting the mic in your interior so it still gets something, but will be much less harsh.
@@AndrewDoesCarStuff Thanks. I'm recording both interior and engine noise. I think the issue is i want loud intake noises like on a high lift NA engine, but i have stock intake and stock cams and a non performance engine. I'll keep with my current set up, and try again when i swap in the race engine. Thanks!
Thanks! This is a great question, and something I've been contemplating for Part 3, as I think that's an important thing to add in. I think the best quality thing to do would be to have two directional shotgun mics spaced far apart (you can get a dual cold shoe bracket to attach to your camera) for the widest stereo image, and you can run them into a stereo breakout cable if you want to plug straight in to your camera. They'd both have to have furry wind shields as well. A lot of the integrated stereo mics you see use a XY pattern which is fine but not as wide. I did see this Movo as a cheap option with dual omnidirectional mics, and would be curious to try it. Even comes with a furry wind shield. Just not sure how good the stereo separation is. bhpho.to/3xZA250
@@AndrewDoesCarStuff thanks for the link 👍 would you say the Sennheiser MKE 200 Microphone would work as well. Most of my footage would be trackside often filming cars and bikes from a potential distance. Thank you 👍
@@cfphotos27 It would probably work fine, just keep in mind that it's a mono mic and won't sound as immersive or true to life as a stereo mic. In that price range I would look seriously at the Tascam TM-2X. Seems like it would work well for this type of thing.
