This is a long one so brace yourself:
Not long ago I bought the "Rode VideoMic Go", it was meant to be used for vlogging and such. Everything was fine until I saw the footage! There was this annoying beeping/buzzing sound in the footage, I soon learned this was because of FM signals interfering with my footage. So, I tried searching for solutions, I opened the mic up and saw some small cables soldered on to the microphone itself, those were also soldered on to the 3.5mm jack, I kept thinking and tried to cover all of the mic with aluminium foil, if the FM/EMI signals are messing my audio up I just need to isolate the mic right? Well, yes...
Although it did help! I couldn't put the mic back to its original casing, I then thought on re-soldering some new anti FM/EMI cables, I got some cables and covered them up with some protection (a mesh of aluminum and aluminum foil covered up in plastic). I then soldered everything up again and lo' and behold! The mic was almost static free! But there was still some noise present! I then opened the mic up again and tried more solutions, while doing that I noticed that a small piece fell from the mic! I got creeped out and soon learned it was a capacitor, so I just took a spare one I had on my old broke Arduino Nano and soldered it again (it seems that without it the mic makes some horrible noises). After doing everything over and over again I got back to almost fixing it but not much so! I stills makes some weird buzzing noises!
I then bought a new mic, the "Rode VideoMicro" and although the mic is great! It is not a super/hyper cardioid mic, unlike the VideoMic Go! And I really need some audio pickup from behind the mic, as sometimes I am recording somebody while talking to them and their voice sounds nice and clear (because this is a cardioid mic) but when I talk I can barely even hear myself. I know I can edit that is post but to be honest, I want something easy, plug and play, the VideoMic Go is great but the interference sucks and the mic is poorly designed and all of my fixes didn't work...
Yesterday I tried a new idea! I opened my VideoMicro, desoldered the microphone and soldered the microphone from the VideoMic Go into the VideoMicro's body! It really made some great changes! The buzzing sound was 99% gone! I was astounded! Plus it was now a hypercardioid mic! Basically the new body from the VideoMicro helped a lot! The VideoMic Go was almost static free! That was until I vlogged again today and found out the same problem in some other place in town! It was noticeable, and even though I know this could be in just that part of town I just can't depend on a microphone that picks up random noises in certain places!
So I got a new idea! Perhaps instead of buying a 160$ Hyper/Super Cardioid Mic I can maybe make one myself! It can't be that hard right? I just need a casing, a good reliable Electret Mic with a Super-Cardioid Polar Pattern, a 3.5mm jack and that's it! Thing is I'm kind of lost on where to get these pieces, specifically the electret mic! I could maybe use the old Rode Mic from the VideoMic Go? And put a new casing into it? To avoid FM signals and such or build a new mic! Any help would be appreciated!
Footage of the crappy audio: YouTube
TLDR: Bought the VideoMic Go, love it, but has a lot of issues, buzzing because of the FM signals around my house. I tried fixing it to no avail (although I did improve upon it quite a bit). I then thought on making my own in-camera microphone! Suggestions?
Not long ago I bought the "Rode VideoMic Go", it was meant to be used for vlogging and such. Everything was fine until I saw the footage! There was this annoying beeping/buzzing sound in the footage, I soon learned this was because of FM signals interfering with my footage. So, I tried searching for solutions, I opened the mic up and saw some small cables soldered on to the microphone itself, those were also soldered on to the 3.5mm jack, I kept thinking and tried to cover all of the mic with aluminium foil, if the FM/EMI signals are messing my audio up I just need to isolate the mic right? Well, yes...
Although it did help! I couldn't put the mic back to its original casing, I then thought on re-soldering some new anti FM/EMI cables, I got some cables and covered them up with some protection (a mesh of aluminum and aluminum foil covered up in plastic). I then soldered everything up again and lo' and behold! The mic was almost static free! But there was still some noise present! I then opened the mic up again and tried more solutions, while doing that I noticed that a small piece fell from the mic! I got creeped out and soon learned it was a capacitor, so I just took a spare one I had on my old broke Arduino Nano and soldered it again (it seems that without it the mic makes some horrible noises). After doing everything over and over again I got back to almost fixing it but not much so! I stills makes some weird buzzing noises!
I then bought a new mic, the "Rode VideoMicro" and although the mic is great! It is not a super/hyper cardioid mic, unlike the VideoMic Go! And I really need some audio pickup from behind the mic, as sometimes I am recording somebody while talking to them and their voice sounds nice and clear (because this is a cardioid mic) but when I talk I can barely even hear myself. I know I can edit that is post but to be honest, I want something easy, plug and play, the VideoMic Go is great but the interference sucks and the mic is poorly designed and all of my fixes didn't work...
Yesterday I tried a new idea! I opened my VideoMicro, desoldered the microphone and soldered the microphone from the VideoMic Go into the VideoMicro's body! It really made some great changes! The buzzing sound was 99% gone! I was astounded! Plus it was now a hypercardioid mic! Basically the new body from the VideoMicro helped a lot! The VideoMic Go was almost static free! That was until I vlogged again today and found out the same problem in some other place in town! It was noticeable, and even though I know this could be in just that part of town I just can't depend on a microphone that picks up random noises in certain places!
So I got a new idea! Perhaps instead of buying a 160$ Hyper/Super Cardioid Mic I can maybe make one myself! It can't be that hard right? I just need a casing, a good reliable Electret Mic with a Super-Cardioid Polar Pattern, a 3.5mm jack and that's it! Thing is I'm kind of lost on where to get these pieces, specifically the electret mic! I could maybe use the old Rode Mic from the VideoMic Go? And put a new casing into it? To avoid FM signals and such or build a new mic! Any help would be appreciated!
Footage of the crappy audio: YouTube
TLDR: Bought the VideoMic Go, love it, but has a lot of issues, buzzing because of the FM signals around my house. I tried fixing it to no avail (although I did improve upon it quite a bit). I then thought on making my own in-camera microphone! Suggestions?