Caterham GoPro Techniques (esp. sound)

[rotorwings]

I want to create some GoPro videos of some nice drives with my Caterham.

But, the last thing the world needs is another Caterham GoPro video with bad mounting and insanely loud wind noise drowning out the engine sound!

What is the best way to get a clear engine sound and eliminate wind noise? Are people using external microphones? Where should they be mounted for best effect?
(my car is a 2L Duratec with a windscreen)

[Murph7355]

IIRC putting a mic in the passenger footwell works nicely.

[LostCroc]

This post on USA7s is more track related than just road use but there will be something in here for you that is relevant
http://usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8791

[RobGT81]

Murph7355 said:

IIRC putting a mic in the passenger footwell works nicely.

+1 I hang it around some cables under the dash passenger side. Try and keep it from rubbing or knocking against anything. Tempted to give it a go under the bonnet.

[framerateuk]

Murph7355 said:

IIRC putting a mic in the passenger footwell works nicely.

This.

I attach mine with the standard rollbar adjustment and use a cheap external microphone which I've attached to the passenger side of the tunnel top.

Would be nice to have a gain control on the mic itself to drop the volume a little, but I'm pretty happy with how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gC9paHdIrY

[ghibbett]

On a different note, I have one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009XN0ZT6/ref=...

I place is outside of the body between the exhaust and the rear cycle wing. It sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqy3P3CDmt0

And you can see the external placement of it, along with how it performed, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0iFBDySYZg&lis...

[anonymous-user]

rotorwings said:

But, the last thing the world needs is another Caterham GoPro video

Every time you click your little palm-size Top Gear production team on to its roll bar mount, think of this.
Likewise when you're sat up until 3am editing the relentlessly samey footage, then again when trying to get it uploaded to YooToob, then again when you post the links here.
Put the camera, the mount and all the editing software on eBay and spend the money on petrol.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 8th April 12:29

[rotorwings]

....or maybe just do it well, and create something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8WYF7-SoBY#aid=P9...
(not my video)

Then you'd have a great memento of a trip and will have learnt something else in the process.

[JeffC]

I have my gopro on the left side on the rear roll bar and a powered mic fed through to inside the bonnet and it gets a lot of induction noise, earlier vids I had it cable tied to the inlet near the airbox but it picked up the ticking of the injectors which was annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

Crossflow Kid said:

rotorwings said:

But, the last thing the world needs is another Caterham GoPro video

Put the camera, the mount and all the editing software on eBay and spend the money on petrol.

Edited by Crossflow Kid on Tuesday 8th April 12:29

HHHmmmmm I watch my vids quite a lot, I have some going back to 2004 and they bring back some fantastic memories of the early days when me and my pals were first starting out , also find its a great way of seeing where I have been going wrong as with my old brain I never seem to see it when Im driving on the day! also find it good to get feedback and a second opinion from other drivers as sticking a 12 stone lump in the passenger rear of my car has an adverse effect on my attempts at driving quickly so difficult to pick up any tips without running the datalogger and video.

[framerateuk]

Agreed. I made a video of our Scotland trip last year and we've watched it quite a few times. Brings back some good memories and it's something we'll be able to look back on in years to come! Much better than a bunch of un-edited videos left in a folder somewhere (or a load of old home video tapes that never get looked at!).

[rotorwings]

Thanks everyone - some great info and links here!

It should only take me an evening to learn Final Cut Pro, right?

[Martin777]

I tried a lot of things to get a good sound. Finally I had a chance to talk to a guy, who works in a recording studio. He proposed to me, that the best results should be achieved by using as external microphone the Shure SM75, mainly because it has the right frequency response for an exhaust and as it is used for for drum, percussion, and instrument amplifier miking, it can handle high decibles without cracking or making a bad sound.

If the Shure is too expensive for you, you can similar results by a clone, like the t.bone MB75.

As both mikes have the same shape, it is quite easy to get a lot mounts, e.g. here: http://www.shure.com/americas/products/accessories...

I have no gropro, but a Sony AR 15 cam, to which I connected the microphone.

Just put it on the passenger side, close to the side pipe, so I have no issues with wind noise, but the exhaust is still quite good to hear. In place, it looks like this:



And this is what the final video sounds like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaTO698GsfU

The interference by my handy at the start wasn't intended ;-)