Episode 110
Rode Wireless Pro Review + Location Recording Tests
Recording on location used to be such a huge pain in my ass.
I’d have this big carry case with my trust Zoom H5, Rode lapel microphones and clips, wind socks, XLR adapters for the lapels so that they’d connect to the Zoom and then a huge amount of leads to make sure all my bases were covered.
And then a few brands started bringing out wireless microphone options that could connect to your phone.
Some of them were okay, but most of them weren’t good enough for me to switch from my bulky setup. I was capturing much better sound doing it my way.
As the technology improved, so too did the wireless microphone options that were brought to the market.
Again, I was still dubious, but I decided to bite the bullet and put the Rode Wireless Pro to the test. I’d looked at some reviews on YouTube, reviewed the sound quality and inclusions and decided it may be a viable option for myself and our clients.
For the tests that I conducted, I was focusing on how the Rode Wireless Pro system handled a diverse array of recording environments. I tested in a quiet hotel room, at the beach, on a train, in the park and using the included lapel (wired) setup vs the completely wireless option.
I’ve been using the system now for almost three months, and I’m ready to give you my recommendations.
BAMBY MEDIA LINKS:
GEAR WE USE HERE AT BAMBY MEDIA:
Aputure Amaran 200d LED Video Light
Pre-Amp/Mixers we recommend
Transcript
I'm showing you around the Rode
Speaker:Wireless Pro system here today.
Speaker:So I did a YouTube video, which is a
Speaker:full review and kind of walkthrough
Speaker:of the system, but I'm giving you
Speaker:an audio version of it today here.
Speaker:If possible, I'd love for you to
Speaker:have headphones on so that you
Speaker:can really listen to what the
Speaker:differences are for this system.
Speaker:Now, the Rode Wireless Pro is essentially
Speaker:just wireless microphones that make it
Speaker:really easy for you to record on the go.
Speaker:You can put them in your bag.
Speaker:they come in these really
Speaker:cute, small little carry cases.
Speaker:There's magnetic clips.
Speaker:There's a bunch of ways you can
Speaker:attach them to phones and DSLRs, but
Speaker:I wanted you to have a listen to how
Speaker:it handles kind of loud environments.
Speaker:I would expect that you would be
Speaker:in a bunch of loud environments.
Speaker:I would still want you to control
Speaker:your sound as much as possible.
Speaker:But, uh, what we're looking at
Speaker:here is how it handles places like.
Speaker:You know, I went to a park,
Speaker:I went to the Sydney Botanic
Speaker:Gardens and I walked around there
Speaker:and I was trying it out there.
Speaker:I was on a train, I went to the
Speaker:beach, I was in my home studio.
Speaker:So there's a little bit of what that
Speaker:sounds like in my actual home studio.
Speaker:And I also was in a hotel room.
Speaker:And when I was in the hotel
Speaker:room, I used the lapel system.
Speaker:So the Rode Wireless Pro, and
Speaker:you've probably seen it on, you
Speaker:know, TikTok videos and things.
Speaker:You can just like, it's like a
Speaker:clip that you can just clip to your
Speaker:clothes or magnet onto your clothes.
Speaker:But there's also with the, uh,
Speaker:The road wireless pro a lapel.
Speaker:So like a wired lapel that you screw
Speaker:into the microphone on the actual road
Speaker:wireless pro you screw in, and then you
Speaker:can chase it up as a wire and make it
Speaker:a lot more discreet so that if you're
Speaker:filming with someone, you know, a lot
Speaker:of the time you don't want to see this
Speaker:big box, like the road wireless pro
Speaker:kind of box microphone that it sits in.
Speaker:I think it just doesn't look great on
Speaker:camera, and so if you're wanting to
Speaker:make it more discreet, then the lapel
Speaker:is the way you're going to want to do
Speaker:that, which is a tiny little microphone
Speaker:clip that chases through on a wire
Speaker:and you can attach it to your clothes.
Speaker:I will have some other episodes
Speaker:that I bring out that I show you
Speaker:how it sounds when you set it up
Speaker:properly just for an interview.
Speaker:Using different setups.
Speaker:So that's going to be a really good one.
Speaker:I know a lot of you do a lot
Speaker:of interviews and if you're
Speaker:in person, it's even better.
Speaker:And sometimes you don't want
Speaker:to bring a bunch of gear.
Speaker:Sometimes you would just love
Speaker:to be able to have a really
Speaker:small, compact microphones.
Speaker:Caveat on that.
Speaker:It's never going to sound as
Speaker:good as if you have a microphone.
Speaker:Handheld microphones that you're actually
Speaker:physically holding or on a stand.
Speaker:And they're really close to your mouth.
Speaker:Like mine is here, but there are
Speaker:ways that you can still get the
Speaker:best quality sound of it out of it.
Speaker:So not really what we're
Speaker:going to go through today.
Speaker:I just want you to listen to how it
Speaker:sounds in different environments So, I'm
Speaker:going to introduce every time a scene
Speaker:change happens, like a location change.
Speaker:If you want to watch the video
Speaker:instead so you can see the
Speaker:connections and how it all looks and
Speaker:everything, then certainly go over
Speaker:to YouTube and look at that video.
Speaker:But for now, let's just get into
Speaker:the different ways this can be used.
Speaker:The first one is going to be when
Speaker:I'm in the hotel and I am using the
Speaker:lapel system, so the wired system.
Speaker:You'll hear what that sounds
Speaker:like when it's coming through
Speaker:as a wired lapel situation.
Speaker:Before we get to that, I will direct
Speaker:you through a little bit of what comes
Speaker:in the box so that you understand
Speaker:kind of how much there is in there.
Speaker:It's just a quick little
Speaker:overview of that, and then we
Speaker:will move through from there.
Speaker:So let's get straight into it right now.
Speaker:What's included in the actual box,
Speaker:which in this case is two little boxes
Speaker:for the Rode Wireless Pro system.
Speaker:So they come in these carry cases,
Speaker:which are very high quality.
Speaker:Let me just say that I've taken this
Speaker:on planes, I've chucked it in the
Speaker:bottom of my bag, and I haven't felt
Speaker:like I've needed to be really careful
Speaker:with them because they're such sturdy
Speaker:little cases that they come in.
Speaker:This one here has a receiver
Speaker:and two transmitters.
Speaker:So the receiver is the thing that
Speaker:you would put onto the front of your
Speaker:camera, attach it to your phone,
Speaker:wherever you're wanting to put it.
Speaker:And that actually receives the microphone
Speaker:input from the two transmitters.
Speaker:In the other case, you can see
Speaker:we've got all the lapel wires.
Speaker:So lapels can actually be
Speaker:attached to those transmitters.
Speaker:Which will give you a different sound
Speaker:and allow it to be a little bit more
Speaker:discreet,., it gives you a few different
Speaker:connection types via the leads.
Speaker:You've got one that can be attached to an
Speaker:older phone, like an iPhone 14 or below.
Speaker:And then you've got the
Speaker:USB C options as well.
Speaker:There, you also have magnetic
Speaker:attachments that make it easy for
Speaker:it to magnet onto the back of a
Speaker:like iPhone that has a magnet.
Speaker:You've got wind socks that can be
Speaker:attached to the devices as well,
Speaker:especially for when you're outdoors
Speaker:and you're wanting to minimize that
Speaker:kind of wind sound that you hear.
Speaker:And overall a minimal amount
Speaker:of packaging, which to
Speaker:me is a very big feature.
Speaker:Now we're going to switch over to the
Speaker:actual Rode Wireless Pro system sound.
Speaker:This is in the hotel room
Speaker:using a wired lapel system.
Speaker:So the little lapel wired microphone
Speaker:screws into the Rode Wireless Pro
Speaker:microphone that attaches to you and
Speaker:then you will hear what it sounds like.
Speaker:So it starts off sitting on the desk
Speaker:in front of me and then I move it
Speaker:closer around my body so that you can
Speaker:hear how it sounds as it starts to be
Speaker:positioned in the correct location.
Speaker:a bit far away.
Speaker:I've got the lapel sitting here on
Speaker:the table now, and now we're going
Speaker:to connect this through to my self.
Speaker:You want to put it to the
Speaker:side as much as you can.
Speaker:Don't put it directly underneath you if
Speaker:it's a lapel, just because that's not
Speaker:naturally where your voice sort of falls.
Speaker:The other thing to remember with lapels
Speaker:as well, is because I've got long hair,
Speaker:if you've got a lapel and then that's
Speaker:over this, All the movement of your
Speaker:hair is going to get picked up on this
Speaker:lapel, any little movement that you have.
Speaker:So if you've got someone you're
Speaker:working with which does have long
Speaker:hair, you need to move the hair
Speaker:and make sure that it stays away.
Speaker:So now we're going to position
Speaker:this again, and we're going to
Speaker:move it around to the place that's
Speaker:going to be much better suited.
Speaker:And then you can hear hopefully
Speaker:the differences between the
Speaker:wrong side and the right side.
Speaker:Okay, so now this is positioned
Speaker:in the correct place.
Speaker:It's facing the right way as far as
Speaker:where your mouth, like closest point
Speaker:to where your mouth, I guess, is.
Speaker:If you have to attach it to something,
Speaker:you definitely don't want to attach
Speaker:it low, like on a button up or
Speaker:something, and put it too low, because
Speaker:again, it's just too far away from
Speaker:the actual source, which is the
Speaker:mouth, to actually hear properly.
Speaker:So this is probably the best.
Speaker:Of what I would say is kind of a bad
Speaker:situation as far as lapels go because
Speaker:they're never perfect Because they
Speaker:have to be positioned like here You
Speaker:can't get the best quality sound from
Speaker:it, but this is the best way to do it
Speaker:Now I took the Rode
Speaker:Wireless Pro lapel off.
Speaker:Of the microphone.
Speaker:So there's no wire now.
Speaker:It's just the actual system itself
Speaker:and the inbuilt microphone in it.
Speaker:Uh, and I've attached that
Speaker:to my clothing instead.
Speaker:So exactly the same location as
Speaker:it was as a lapel, uh, so that
Speaker:you can hear if there's any
Speaker:differences between those two.
Speaker:And then you have this attached, but
Speaker:you can see how it's, it's a lot here.
Speaker:You can't really hide this at all.
Speaker:It's just this big thing.
Speaker:And it also kind of dangles.
Speaker:It kind of flips forward a bit, unless
Speaker:you've got something on that has a lot
Speaker:of pull to it, like a lot of tension.
Speaker:You're going to have that situation
Speaker:where it kind of flops, which means
Speaker:it might not even get the best quality
Speaker:sound because it is flopping forward.
Speaker:So just be aware of where
Speaker:you're attaching this to if
Speaker:you want to just run with this.
Speaker:Can you hear the differences between
Speaker:that, the lapel and then no lapel?
Speaker:Uh, maybe just sort of scrub
Speaker:back a little bit so that you
Speaker:can hear between the two there.
Speaker:But I certainly think that because of
Speaker:how the actual like clip box without
Speaker:the lapel has to be positioned, like
Speaker:where it has to be positioned for
Speaker:it to work, Uh, I just don't think
Speaker:it sounds as good as the lapel does.
Speaker:Cause the lapel can get a
Speaker:slightly higher, slightly closer.
Speaker:And again, it doesn't obscure as much.
Speaker:So to me, in my mind, if I'm in a
Speaker:location where, you know, there's
Speaker:minimal noise, then the lapel
Speaker:certainly has worked better there.
Speaker:now we're going to move into
Speaker:the park and see what you
Speaker:think of it in that location.
Speaker:Now we're in the Botanic Gardens,
Speaker:and there is not much noise, so you
Speaker:should be able to hear me really well.
Speaker:And there's a massive
Speaker:tree in the background.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Next up is the beach.
Speaker:This time you're going to hear a
Speaker:lot of beautiful beach wave sounds.
Speaker:I want you to be a little bit
Speaker:discerning here as far as how
Speaker:well you can still hear me though.
Speaker:So in comparison to the beach, to the
Speaker:waves, how well are you hearing me?
Speaker:Is it something that you'd be like,
Speaker:Oh God, I can't hear her at all.
Speaker:Or is it like, look, I hear
Speaker:the waves, but it's nice.
Speaker:It's a bit of context.
Speaker:I can understand still
Speaker:everything she's talking about.
Speaker:The other thing that I did in this
Speaker:location is I just walked backwards
Speaker:for a really long time, just to
Speaker:see whether the road wireless
Speaker:system dropped out at some point.
Speaker:And I didn't even get far enough
Speaker:for the system to even drop out.
Speaker:It just kept working,
Speaker:which was really cool.
Speaker:You can see how far away I am in the
Speaker:YouTube video, which I'll put a link
Speaker:into, but this just gives you a bit
Speaker:of a sense as to, look, you can be
Speaker:super far away if you wanted to be,
Speaker:and the microphone will still work.
Speaker:Now we're going to do a test, where
Speaker:I go back as far as I can, and
Speaker:we're going to see how it performs.
Speaker:And I'm going to keep talking.
Speaker:So, this is me, I'm in
Speaker:the little bar right now.
Speaker:Winter in the Australia I've been
Speaker:having some good times with the family.
Speaker:I'm gonna just keep talking.
Speaker:Seems to be pretty good.
Speaker:In Australia we have beautiful beaches.
Speaker:East coast of Australia.
Speaker:It's a really nice climate, I enjoy it.
Speaker:It's funny walking backwards with people.
Speaker:So now I'm like, I don't
Speaker:know, 50, 100 metres?
Speaker:This time you're going
Speaker:to hear me on a train.
Speaker:You're going to hear some
Speaker:people in the background.
Speaker:It was actually louder than I
Speaker:expected, like the train was louder.
Speaker:It wasn't so loud when I was on it
Speaker:myself, but I think the low rumbling
Speaker:of the train is something that is
Speaker:quite a low, like that frequency
Speaker:really, you can hear it quite well.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:That's how it sounds on a train.
Speaker:Check it out.
Speaker:Okay, now we're testing out this
Speaker:microphone with, on a train.
Speaker:It is floppy.
Speaker:I'm listening to how much
Speaker:the train you can hear versus
Speaker:how much of me you can hear.
Speaker:The train isn't particularly noisy.
Speaker:Yeah, someone talking in
Speaker:the background is good.
Speaker:Oh my god,
Speaker:Okay, what did you think of
Speaker:all those different setups of
Speaker:all those different sounds?
Speaker:I felt like obviously the beach
Speaker:was a little bit overwhelming
Speaker:because the beach is so loud.
Speaker:The waves are so loud and I actually
Speaker:think it handled that quite well.
Speaker:And the distance that you could
Speaker:get from the actual beach.
Speaker:Device itself was just crazy to me.
Speaker:Like you could crystal
Speaker:clear, it did not drop out.
Speaker:It was amazing how far away you
Speaker:would, you could be in saying that,
Speaker:how far away do you actually need to
Speaker:be unless you've got a massive zoom
Speaker:lens on your DSLR, how often you're
Speaker:going to need to be that far away and
Speaker:for it to still work, maybe if you're
Speaker:jumping out of a plane or something, I
Speaker:don't know, but you know, it's pretty
Speaker:cool that it could last that long.
Speaker:I really liked that.
Speaker:I liked using it as a lapel,
Speaker:proper lapel where you actually
Speaker:use the little microphone.
Speaker:Uh, attach it to you and
Speaker:then go through that way.
Speaker:I don't love just holding it here.
Speaker:As I said, I just feel like
Speaker:that looks a little bit dicky.
Speaker:You can get an interview.
Speaker:It's like a holder, which
Speaker:I'll flash up on the screen
Speaker:so that you can have a look.
Speaker:This just attaches in there and then
Speaker:you look like you're a presenter.
Speaker:That makes more sense to me
Speaker:than holding it like this.
Speaker:And as I said, I'm going to do another
Speaker:video on all the different places that
Speaker:you could potentially hide it on your
Speaker:body so that people don't even realize
Speaker:that you've got one attached to you.
Speaker:My wrap up of this device is, look,
Speaker:I actually think it's really good.
Speaker:It serves great purposes here.
Speaker:It sounds really good.
Speaker:It's a little bit muddy.
Speaker:It's never as good as
Speaker:having something right here.
Speaker:Like right now, I have a microphone
Speaker:right in front of my face.
Speaker:It's always going to sound
Speaker:better in that situation.
Speaker:But it does have a good
Speaker:amount of depth to it.
Speaker:It's really good for on
Speaker:the go content creation.
Speaker:It comes in such a small little like
Speaker:package, you know, you can just shove
Speaker:it in your bag and it doesn't take up
Speaker:a lot of room and it's super secure.
Speaker:I'm a big fan of this.
Speaker:The more I used it.
Speaker:I just felt like this is fantastic.
Speaker:I've since used it for tutorials
Speaker:that I've shot for clients.
Speaker:I went down to Sydney and a
Speaker:different point to shoot a whole
Speaker:day full of content for a client.
Speaker:And I recorded everything using
Speaker:this device as the tutorials,
Speaker:because you want to be able to
Speaker:use your arms and your legs.
Speaker:And you know, you need to move
Speaker:around and you can't always
Speaker:have a microphone right here.
Speaker:So something that serves the purpose
Speaker:of being wireless is perfect.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:The audio quality is very good.
Speaker:It's easy to configure.
Speaker:I will do a separate video on how to
Speaker:configure it though, because there
Speaker:are a few things that you need to
Speaker:make sure that you change in order
Speaker:to get the best quality out of it.
Speaker:I like that you don't have to have
Speaker:it attached to anything so that you
Speaker:can just hit record on this device
Speaker:and it just captures it in there.
Speaker:There's all sorts of applications that I
Speaker:can see this being extremely useful for.
Speaker:And when I've listened to this one
Speaker:versus other wireless microphones in
Speaker:the field, this one wins for depth.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:For it's sounding stronger, less
Speaker:tinny, there's more dynamic range.
Speaker:There's more sparkle.
Speaker:It's a better system to
Speaker:my ears than any other.
Speaker:that I have heard or used
Speaker:myself at this point.
Speaker:So I would recommend this
Speaker:to anyone that is a content
Speaker:creator looking to move around.
Speaker:If you're a travel blogger, if you're
Speaker:someone that wants to shoot tutorials,
Speaker:maybe you do yoga instructing any
Speaker:sort of things where you feel like
Speaker:you want to be heard more clearly.
Speaker:This is a great system to use.
Speaker:I don't recommend it.
Speaker:it just clipping on it does fall forward
Speaker:like it doesn't really sit where you
Speaker:want it i like the lapel situation
Speaker:better where there's a wire but in saying
Speaker:that the wire is harder to navigate
Speaker:so that's something that you can do.
Speaker:Decide for yourself how you
Speaker:want to actually record and how
Speaker:you want it to be displayed.
Speaker:But it's a good system.
Speaker:And I only say things are good
Speaker:if I really believe that they are
Speaker:like, it's got to be something
Speaker:that I've tried and tested.
Speaker:And I've now used this for probably
Speaker:two and a half to three months
Speaker:before shooting a review of this.
Speaker:So if you're interested in
Speaker:this, I've got a link to this
Speaker:system available on Amazon.
Speaker:We are an affiliate of Amazon.
Speaker:So if you click on that link and you buy
Speaker:this or something else, we do get a teeny
Speaker:tiny little affiliate income for that,
Speaker:which is just always nice to receive.
Speaker:And it is, I guess, a way of you thanking
Speaker:me for producing this content for you.
Speaker:So I hope you got value out of it.
Speaker:Let me know what you think.
Speaker:Would you actually use this system?
Speaker:Do you have the system?
Speaker:Do you have a system that you think is.
Speaker:Better for a wireless recording.
Speaker:And in a later video, I'm going to break
Speaker:down and show you really easily how to
Speaker:set this up for podcasters, specifically
Speaker:for recording with a host and a guest
Speaker:and interview type situation, and how to
Speaker:configure that, how far to sit away from
Speaker:each other to make sure that you get the
Speaker:best quality audio from that as well.
