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Rode SmartLav


justanross

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Not so sure I would want to put my iPhone in someone else's pocket, and that scenario with the young couple getting married with the priest there, all three laved up... that means the videographer had three iPhones.

 

I honestly cant see too many people buying into this. Most people doing it all themselves probably already have a zoom or some other cheapo recorder, all they would need is a lav terminated to fit those specifications to do the same thing. That still doesnt teach them how to actually lav anyone up. Last time I checked, clients always want the lav hidden, even when its talking heads or some other situation where it would really be inconsequential.

 

But thats just me, what do you guys think?

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I think it's iStupid. Tell me again how the filmmakers are going to know if there's lav noise, if they're picking up clothing noise, or if the iPhone's batteries shut down. Or how they change levels if the actor suddenly yells or begins whispering in a very low voice. And syncing to picture is still an issue, since there's no timecode. 

 

I dislike any company that trivializes a craft and makes it appear to be simple, easy, and inexpensive. It's kind of like those iPhone and iPad apps that claim to do most of the work of an editing program, or (god forbid) a sound mixing or color-correction program. To me, it's a gross, superficial coverage of a very complicated problem. This is no different than wiring up somebody with a Zoom recorder and lav mic, and that's fraught with the same problems. 

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Not so sure I would want to put my iPhone in someone else's pocket, and that scenario with the young couple getting married with the priest there, all three laved up... that means the videographer had three iPhones.

 

I honestly cant see too many people buying into this. Most people doing it all themselves probably already have a zoom or some other cheapo recorder, all they would need is a lav terminated to fit those specifications to do the same thing. That still doesnt teach them how to actually lav anyone up. Last time I checked, clients always want the lav hidden, even when its talking heads or some other situation where it would really be inconsequential.

 

But thats just me, what do you guys think?

My favourite part about using your phone to do this (when using the RodeRec app) is that if you get a call, message or notification during you get booted out of rec. Solution from Rode: Enable flight mode, meaning you don't have use of it as a phone. Also, there's no way to check if this sounds any good as the mic uses the headphone jack.

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I couldn't find anything on their website about smartlav, but they had info on their XY mic and recording app for i devices. the XY setup looked ok. it's $200 and sold out on their webstore. as far as I can tell from the video the smart lav uses their recording app also. they'll likely sell a shitload of these things: xy mic and the smartlav. could be fun, but of no practical purpose for me in our line of work that I can see right now. zoom does everything this setup does, with the exception of direct connection to the cloud, dropbox etc. by the way, on their website the xy unit does not interface with iphone 5 at this time. odd, as it appears this thing was just unveiled at CES.I thought the video was put together a bit haphazardly actually. strange sound edits in places. just my 2 cents.

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I couldn't find anything on their website about smartlav, but they had info on their XY mic and recording app for i devices. the XY setup looked ok. it's $200 and sold out on their webstore. as far as I can tell from the video the smart lav uses their recording app also. they'll likely sell a shitload of these things: xy mic and the smartlav. could be fun, but of no practical purpose for me in our line of work that I can see right now. zoom does everything this setup does, with the exception of direct connection to the cloud, dropbox etc. by the way, on their website the xy unit does not interface with iphone 5 at this time. odd, as it appears this thing was just unveiled at CES.I thought the video was put together a bit haphazardly actually. strange sound edits in places. just my 2 cents.

 

iPhone 5 has a different connector then previous models. They do have adapters, but not sure if they'd work with the mic.

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Yeah I think that having to resync everything is one of those obstacles that these wanna be DIY-ers try to avoid at all costs anyhow. I believe that this markets to the "record directly onto the 5D crowd". Valid point about not being able to check the sound too. Its a very tricky job for us who can actually hear the results in real time. For those who can't, well, I'm sure that they will see little success.

 

BTW why is Rode trying to take jobs away from the people most likely to buy their more pricier products? I wouldn't want to sell out to amateurs who don't have money to spend on good gear in the first place, hence the one man shows and pro-sumer gear and such.

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Justan, I agree. The mic is clever though I don't think unique. And things could be worse.

 

Much worse:

 

 

Hacking Apple iPhone earbuds to get audio for an interview in your next film!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPjL2COL2_Y

 

OMG! That is horrible. It was so bad I had to post it on my facebook business page warning people NOT to do this.

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