So I decided to try to figure out a way to record audio while riding a bike. And what I mean is, like, podcast style audio, not so much the sounds of the bicycle itself.
I got to thinking about this watching YouTube videos by Tim Fitzwater and he’s got this great style where he talks to the camera while he’s riding, but also does shots down the trail and of the things he’s passing. He handholds or mouthholds a GoPro, and uses the audio from the camera or voiceover. It’s all very well done and very watchable.
In particular I like the quality of his audio while he’s talking to the camera. He’s just using the audio out of the GoPro but it’s surprisingly listenable. He’s very clear but you’re getting a decent amount of background ambiance so you feel like you’re riding along with him.
But he doesn’t have the camera mounted to the bike, at least not very often. He uses a chest mount, or a mouth mount, or he’s holding it.
Now, the wind noise is not that hard to beat, if you don’t care about size and you don’t care about what it looks like. You just throw a big wind muff over it or basket and a dead cat, or whatever. At bicycle speeds, it’s not that big of a problem.
If it was mounted to the bike the audio would probably be terrible. Because when you have a physical connection to the bike you get all of the vibratory noise from the frame. And bikes are not are not smooth, very gentle modes of transportation. It feels that way when you’re riding it because your body is absorbing a lot of the shock. But if you mount something to it or put some stuff in a bike bag and ride, you can hear that this stuff is like in a paint shaker.
So why not just use a lav mic, or one of the little wireless mics that does recording? Well, I don’t have a really suitable mic for that. And by having the recorder and the mic on the handle bars, I’m not dealing with any wires, or worrying about anything coming unclipped or moving around on me while I’m riding.
So I decided to look for a solution to this problem no one has and see if I could get the decent audio with the mic mounted to the bike instead of me.
I figured I’d mount the mic to the handle bars using a Rycote InVision mount, specifically the InVision INV7 HG Mkiii, and give it a try. So what you’ll hear are my test results for a couple of different microphones and few different mounting scenarios.
The first attempt was with the Audio-Technica AT8010, one of my all around favorite mics, going into a Tascam DR40x.
It actually worked quite well. The AT8010 is omnidirectional so it gets a fair amount of ambiance, and it has a response curve that favors voice. Really, I could have stopped right there, but, you know, of course I didn’t.
Next I tried the DR40x using the internal mics in stereo. For this kinda thing I normally wouldn’t bother with stereo because the moving field can be distracting, but I figured why not. I used a Rycote handheld recorder mount screwed onto a clamp on the bars, using the Rycote windmuff. It had a fair bit of wind noise, and the mount didn’t have enough travel to keep from bottoming out, and there was electronic hash because the DR40x’s internal mics have no shielding whatsoever.
So then I tried the Zoom H1n. It’s really light, and small, and it would be really slick if it worked. But it was worse than the DR40x, except no electronic interference.
The Sure SM63 proved to have an internal flaw where it makes a ton of noise when shaken, even quite gently. I think it’s a defect in my mic and will be sending it to Shure for repair.
During all this it occurred to me that instead of mounting the mic at an angle like you see on a mic stand on the front of the handlebars, I should be mounting it vertically, and inside the bars. I use the Jones h-bars, so the front is actually quite far out front. So I swapped things around and now the mount was able to absorb a lot more shock and do it without the mic wobbling so much. It also means the wind protection is at right angles to the wind which should work better.
I moved the mount, and also switched to the SoundDevices MixPre recorder. I decided that a cardioid would bring down the tire and bike noise, so I switched to that.
As expected it cut a lot of the bike and other noise. Sounds pretty good!
Next I tried the Electro-Voice RE50B. It’s kinda big and heavy, but it’s an omnidirectional dynamic and they’re really tough microphones.
I should mention that the RE50B is the only one that I didn’t put any kind of foam or wind furry on. Really a great field mic.
And here’s Audio-Technica AT8004, a very cheap dynamic that is small and light, with a foamy on it.
And here’s the DR40x with built in mics again, but in the vertical position.
And the H1n again
Something I noticed with the h1n that took me quite a while to figure out was what the clicking sound was. At first I thought it was the handle on the screw on the clamp – it’s loose and rattles a little. But in the end I determined it is the plastic buttons on the recorder. They rattle as well. I might be able to fix that with some tape, but it’s probably not worth the effort.
Overall, I would say the AT8033 is hard to beat. The thing is it’s a condenser, and they’re not really built for this kind of abuse. Handholding? Sure. But the bike mount is pretty severe and I suspect it would kill the AT8010 in time. The RE50 sounds nearly as good, is replaceable and doesn’t need any foam or wind muff. There’s a reason there’s so many of them out there.
This is really pretty workable, and no machine shop is necessary to make a decent mount – a Small Rig clamp, double ended screw, Rycote InVision mount, and someplace to stash the recorder. It is possible to get decent audio out of a bike mounted microphone without looking too ridiculous.
Thank you for joining me for this bit of audio geeksturbation! Goodbye!