Thinking about adding audio recorder, but is there any point?

[Buel]

Hi.
I was thinking of attaching a really small audio recorder to my MM to enhance the final video.....but is there any point - won't it only pick up the wind sound?

 

[SkyeHigh]

Hi.
I was thinking of attaching a really small audio recorder to my MM to enhance the final video.....but is there any point - won't it only pick up the wind sound?

Very little to no wind noise but a LOT of wash noise from the propellers.

 

[Lastrexking]

I use one, but I don’t put it in the drones. For example, if I’m on a beach I use the sound recorder to catch the waves crashing. Then I add it in post.

 

[DrBazMan]

Hi.
I was thinking of attaching a really small audio recorder to my MM to enhance the final video.....but is there any point - won't it only pick up the wind sound?

I attached my iPhone with video recorder active to one of my home-made sport quads once or twice, in an early attempt at getting a camera into the sky. Not particularly useful for audio, there's a lot of motor, prop and wind noise, completely swamps any other ambient sound you may be interested in. Also completely useless video, full of "jello" wobbling and shaking all over the place. Makes one appreciate the fantastic camera performance and beautiful elegance of the Mavic aircraft ;-)

 

[maintenanceguy]

I think the prop noise would make the audio unusable.

 

[DanMan32]

I can tell you from video recordings made from a Syma, it is useless. Granted the Syma has gears for the props so much of the noise is cheap plastic gear noise.

 

[Jack43]

it´s completely useless, because you only will hear the noise of the motors/props! ?
cheers Paul

 

[KB9Radio]

Sounds, hit reply on the wrong place.

 

[KB9Radio]

Hi.
I was thinking of attaching a really small audio recorder to my MM to enhance the final video.....but is there any point - won't it only pick up the wind sound?

Totally useless, all it will hear are the props from the time you start them, till they turn off. I have an old Blade 350 which does record audio (go-pro), and the sound is useless till the props turn off. You can then hear talking and so on, but that is only while you are walking over to shut down the camera. The idea sounds good, but it doesn't work out very well in reality.

 

[Moon4Drone]

Use music, environmental sounds, and ground-based recordings to add when you edit your video. No one likes to hear the whining noise of the props. I have a Zoom H4N digital audio recorder that does the job. Then I just put the SD card inn my computer and have the needed audio from the event, e.g., crowd noise, running water from the stream, etc.

Drone mishap!

 

[Buel]

Totally useless, all it will hear are the props from the time you start them, till they turn off. I have an old Blade 350 which does record audio (go-pro), and the sound is useless till the props turn off. You can then hear talking and so on, but that is only while you are walking over to shut down the camera. The idea sounds good, but it doesn't work out very well in reality.

I was thinking of it dangling, say, 4m down and flying over a football match? (lots of shouting at matches)

 

[Dale D]

Very little to no wind noise but a LOT of wash noise from the propellers.

I search You Tube for all sorts of sound effects. Any kinds of waves, or surf, or water sounds are available. I record the sound with my iPhone (Voice Memos). Then, transfer the sound to my computer using the Apple Share (three blue dots)> Air Drop>Dale's MAC. The number of sound sources is endless. No need to record the surf or waves. Save yourself the trouble. Go to You Tube and enter this term into the search box "Surf and ocean sounds". Here is an example . Ten hours of water!!

 

[Moon4Drone]

Here is an example where I recorded the stream sounds separately on my Zoom H4N (or iPhone, I can't remember which), and then added in the sounds in editing. You have to be probably 300-400 feet from the drone to not pick up the motor sounds, so I actually record the audio when the drone is not in the air.

 

[Dale D]

Here is an example where I recorded the dream sounds separately on my Zoom H4N (or iPhone, I can't remember which), and then added in the sounds in editing. You have to be probably 300-400 feet from the drone to not pick up the motor sounds.

Exactly. I have done this numbers times. It works great.

 

[anotherlab]

I was thinking of it dangling, say, 4m down and flying over a football match? (lots of shouting at matches)

Even at 4m, all you are going to pick up is the sound of the drone.

And you have the issue of flying over a match. I'm assuming that Wales falls under the UK CAA. You can't fly within 50m of people and sporting events are no fly zones. Since the closest you can get is 50m, the actual distance from the drone to any part of the match is ~70m. So a microphone dangling 4m is still going to be 70m away from what you actually want to record. This means at best, you got the sound of the drone, at worst you get arrested for violating CAA regulations.

If you were hired to record the match and had a waiver that allowed you to get closer, I would suggest having microphones on the ground or on some players.

 

[Dale D]

Why even try? just record from one of these- available on You Tube! Enter the term-Stadium Crowd Noise. They are using all the time here, broadcasting, in the US where the crowds have been prohibited.
I'm sure you can find one of these sounds usable.

Dale

 

[Zbip57]

Here is an example where I recorded the stream sounds separately on my Zoom H4N (or iPhone, I can't remember which), and then added in the sounds in editing.

Nice!

I did the same thing using a cheap pocket camera to record sound of the rushing water in this river. It's all the exact same single clip of water sound. In editing I just turned the volume up or down on the water sound, and shifted it between left/right stereo tracks.

This was five years ago flying my Phantom carrying a GoPro. The sound recorded on the GoPro carried by the Phantom was totally unusable prop noise whenever the motors are running.

With my Mini I now always run a video screen recorder on my Samsung S9 phone to save a complete record of all the Fly app screen telemetry and any popup warning messages. That means the phone is also recording sound. If I remember not to fidget too much or sniff all the time, once the buzzing Mini moves farther away I'm left with a pretty good ambient sound record.

Here's a recent sample of that. I'm sitting quietly in a chair in the trees at the shoreline, so I wouldn't be controlling the Mini from within the same shot as the skaters. One skater fell and hurt his hip. I didn't catch that first fall on the video. He got up and promptly fell again. The sound in this clip was NOT recorded from the airborne Mini. It's all recording on my phone from way over on the shoreline.

 

[Dale D]

Nice!

I did the same thing using a cheap pocket camera to record sound of the rushing water in this river. It's all the exact same single clip of water sound. In editing I just turned the volume up or down on the water sound, and shifted it between left/right stereo tracks.

This was five years ago flying my Phantom carrying a GoPro. The sound recorded on the GoPro carried by the Phantom was totally unusable prop noise whenever the motors are running.

With my Mini I now always run a video screen recorder on my Samsung S9 phone to save a complete record of all the Fly app screen telemetry and any popup warning messages. That means the phone is also recording sound. If I remember not to fidget too much or sniff all the time, once the buzzing Mini moves farther away I'm left with a pretty good ambient sound record.

Here's a recent sample of that. I'm sitting quietly in a chair in the trees at the shoreline, so I wouldn't be controlling the Mini from within the same shot as the skaters. One skater fell and hurt his hip. I didn't catch that first fall on the video. He got up and promptly fell again. The sound in this clip was NOT recorded from the airborne Mini. It's all recording on my phone from way over on the shoreline.

I loved you falls video and the sound track. The flying was masterful to say the least!! I had my heart in my stomach watching you clear that outcropping log! Sometimes, the only way to fly was straight up to avoid those trees. Great job. I have no hesitation grabbing any sound I want from various You Tube videos. Ocean, river, falls, whatever.All I need is my iPhone and then transfer it to my iMAC.

 

[Zbip57]

I had my heart in my stomach watching you clear that outcropping log!

It still makes my knees shake watching that now. That waterfall drops into really deeeeeep chasm. If the Phantom crashed, there'd be no recovering it. ?

It was nice back then, being able to fly in interesting places. Nobody was ever offended. Instead I got bombarded with enthusiastic questions from people wanting to watch me fly. They'd all be eager to buy a drone of their own.

I sent this video to one of the many friendly park rangers that I met there. She was thrilled and shared it with all her friends.

Today it's illegal everywhere to fly in any Provincial Park like this one and you'd be shot on sight if you tried. ?

 

[Dale D]

It still makes my knees shake watching that now. That waterfall drops into really deeeeeep chasm. If the Phantom crashed, there'd be no recovering it. ?

It was nice back then, being able to fly in interesting places. Nobody was ever offended. Instead I got bombarded with enthusiastic questions from people wanting to watch me fly. They'd all be eager to buy a drone of their own.

I sent this video to one of the many friendly park rangers that I met there. She was thrilled and shared it with all her friends.

Today it's illegal everywhere to fly in any Provincial Park like this one and you'd be shot on sight if you tried. ?

Well...not exactly shot ,but probably a day at the local police station, followed by a big $$$fine and lots of scary warnings about the next time you fly...
I now fly STEALTH as much as possible. Don't ask me to define that! It will be OUR secret.