How to Get Clean Audio for Motovlogging

Logan Thompson
Feb 17, 2017
4 min read

Hey guys, I decided to really put a bit of my knowledge to good use here. Please read this as I do a MUCH better job of communicating my ideas through text than I do when I’m trying to explain it in my videos. I realize this comes off a little ranty at parts, but hear me out, it's only because it's something I'm incredibly passionate about. So as you all know, I'm attending Full Sail University in Florida. I'm in the beginning of my second year in pursuit of my Bachelor's degree in audio production. My I had about a semester's worth of classes focusing on mics, mic setup, mic placement, etc. So let's talk audio, shall we?

I see a lot of vloggers who have distorted audio, with popping, clicking, distortion, etc. So how can we fix this? Let's start with the very basics. In motovlogging, the most common microphone used is a clip-on style lapel or lavalier mic. These mics are what are known as condenser mics, and they're great for recording vocals. Condenser mics are pretty much the go-to for any vocal recording that isn't going to be rough on the mics, such as studio use. These types of microphones, however, are incredibly sensitive to loud noises because of their design. It's an incredibly small, thin diaphragm that is being vibrated to create the sound, and that diaphragm is easily damaged. One of two things can happen to cause your audio to clip, or distort: the microphone can be exposed to a sound that is too loud and over it's SPL (Sound Pressure Level) rating, or the sound that the microphone is sending to the camera can be louder than the camera’s gain reduction ability can handle. When the sound is too loud for the microphone, you’ll get popping and clicking from it as the diaphragm vibrates in ways it was not intended to. If the sound is too loud for the camera to handle it’ll become fuzzy like guitar distortion, because the tops of the audio wave are “clipped” off, resulting in the fuzzy square wave. The problem is generally a combination of the two issues. Alright, let’s talk cameras now. The way these cameras handle audio is with gain reduction/boosting. This function is intended mostly to make the audio level useable when using the watertight housing, but it can work to our advantage here as well by focusing on the loudest sound the mic picks up. Basically, the camera will have a certain level that's considered 0dB, and the camera will reduce or boost any sounds to meet that level (up to a certain amount, I believe the GoPro is something like 40dB). When you're not talking, and all the camera hears is the engine and wind noise, it will boost that to the 0dB mark, but as soon as you start talking, it will reduce the level to the 0dB mark. Why does this happen? Well, consider the mic placement; it's centimeters from your mouth. To the microphone, that sound is deafeningly loud. Again, very sensitive microphones.

So what is it that you’re supposed to gather from all this information? Well what I’m trying to say is there are a couple ways you can fix this problem if you’re experiencing it; reduce the ambient sound, move the mic further from your mouth, or talk quieter. That’s right folks, stop yelling into the bloody mic, your camera can hear you just fine. I proved this point to the extreme where I was on the highway talking at normal volume. I’d recommend a little louder than I was talking, but it gets my point across. Also, if you can get a chin curtain for your helmet, do it! This will do WONDERS for your audio quality. It will reduce the ambient wind noise that the microphone is exposed to which will make the mics job of hearing you easier, and making it quieter for you so you don’t feel like you have to shout. Moving the mic further would be ideal, but not possible. These microphones are intended to be attached to a person’s cheek or their collar, out of direct exposure to your voice. Your helmet is an echo chamber that redirects all that noise into the mic, making it seem louder. Talking quieter is going to be your best option, but it’s really annoying to train yourself to do. It’s kind of what you’ll have to remember to do.I would strongly advise trying out any of the above suggestions before blaming your mic and getting a new one. My mic is a cheap, cheesy little lavalier off Amazon that cost $9 for a 3-pack. I know my audio isn’t always the cleanest, but I avoid distorting, popping, and clicking 90% of the time. I realize that this type of video is bound to have some parts where the audio is going to distort because it’s a loud activity, but we can do our best to minimize that. Hopefully this information on how to get glean audio helps, thanks for taking the time to watch/read!