4 mini-walks in Tokyo, Ginza to test new mic from Sony and comparing old mic I used for years.
As I always record stereo sound, I used Stereo mode of ECM-M1, but tele modes are an additional plus in some situations.
Mini-walks are marked as Mic 1…Mic 4 because ECM-M1 has 3 modes: normal, low cut and digital noise cancelling. I tested them all, plus one of them Audio-Technica AUX AT9946CM.
Need another test somewhere in a windy forest to decide which mic to use.
00:00 Mic 1 – AT
10:31 Mic 2 – Sony Low Cut
21:10 Mic 3 – Sony Noise Cancelling
31:50 Mic 4 – Sony Normal
Additional ECM-M1 advantages:
* No cable – no risk of not connecting sound jack incorrectly
* No cable – less risk of radio interference.
* No cable – no need to open sound ports cover while filming rainy video.
* 24 bit. -20db safety channel, unfortunately mono only.
* More compact and lite.
For talking videos there are more advantages:
* Different tele modes could be a huge advantage for talking videos. Super tele mode almost completely eliminates back sound.
* Noise cancelling while making background sound a bit funny makes speech way clearer.
ECM-M1 is very short, I bet it can be used even with fish eye lens.
Sony ECM-M1 https://amzn.to/3s162aw
AT9946CM: https://amzn.to/35REFlg
Camera: Sony FX3 https://amzn.to/3yRBsRI
Settings: 4K 60p HLG3, 1/100, MF and AF
Lens: Sony PZ 1635G https://amzn.to/3wVfEDp
Stabilizer: DJI RS3 https://amzn.to/3yfkGdy
ePayment&GPS: Garmin Epix Gen 2 https://amzn.to/3srZhMv
* Amazon links above are affiliated.
21 Comments
Mic 4 was the least distracting while still feeling like you were there. Your decision Ram as you're the expert. Totally love your work. It's a lovely gift to so many people.🦘🦘🦘🐨🐨🇦🇺🇦🇺
Hi Rambalac, I continue to love your channel and appreciate greatly all the hard work. Mic 4 is my overall favorite, it has a spacious sound with natural low bass extension. Mic 1 is very detailed but somewhat nasal? Mic 2 as well. 3 has a very easy-to-listen-to nature, but is less sensitive perhaps to quieter environmental sound? Mic 4 is the best of all on my home theater system that is better than average.
Mic 3 has washed out background sounds, but like you said, it does make human speech clearer. Mic 4 seems too bassy which doesn't seem normal. You know the sound the car tires make when its at speed? I like Mic 2 better because it cuts that tire sound out, seems to me it's something we can do less with.
Thank you for letting us participate in your testing.
Granted I have a tin ear but to me MIC 4 setting was the best. Both 1 and 2 there was this 'humm' or 'hiss' that was more prevenlent. 3 isn't what i'd want in a walking video.
I like mic 1 personally – really feels like I'm standing right there on the street!
Seems like Mic 2 – Sony Low Cut is pleasant to the ears. Great work Rambalac!
I prefer mic2 cuz it sound more detail in the surrounding. I like to listen the…"live sound?" I'm not sure how to say that in English, it like people's footsteps the sound of chatting or the car drive etc.
It make me feel like I'm at that place, and relaxing enjoy the video.
Thank you for bringing us great videos
Hello 😊 mic 2 is maybe a little more detailed….. (open) but mic 1 is also very good. Mic 3 is no good. I use 5.1 speaker setup , with mic 2 , I got very good sound in all speakers. 😊👌 Thank you for sharing . Best wishes Ivar (Norway)
Mic 2 was better imo, it didn't sound so high pitched and is easier on the ears 🙂👍🏻 awesome video
Wonderful walk, thanks for sharing!
Mic 1 is my favourite
Дорогой Rambalac,
oчень приятно снова слышать Вас!
(Продолжаем in English… 😁)
The ECM-M1 in normal stereo mode is an improvement over the AT imho.
I see less low-frequency rumbling out of the box (no need for the less natural-sounding low cut filter in the tested environment) and also I can hear and see a much better correlated stereo signal (good for summing to mono and good for joint-stereo compression, commonly used by lossy audio codecs).
Compared to the AT it is a bit more on the warm side sound-wise (without a loss in the highs) which may also prove easier on the ears, especially at 2-3 kHz.
The noise-cancelling mode is outright terrible, it relentlessly produces tonal artifacts, even low ones like @21m46s.
(A distraction even from a voice one might want to be listening to…)
So – congratulations to the new normal, the ECM-M1 pure stereo mode. ✨🥇✨
Желаю вам добра, любви и счастья! 🙏🙏🙏
So glad to have you back, Ram.
Onwards and upwards, Brother! 💪❤️
Tudo perfeito. Me sinto ai caminhando com você RAN
4 sounded better, more bass than microphone 1.
mic 1 felt too noisy for me, mic 4 was just perfect
What polar pattern did you use on the Sony please? edit: I see now that you use stereo.
I would like to know how the walks would sound with bi-directional L/R pattern to get somewhat binaural experience.
This is all so valuable for the community. Thank you ram!
I think the noise cancelling is great when you need your voice to be heard more clearly. However for your walks you want ALL the noise in the surroundings, every cricket, every footstep, every scraping sound of the city.. Appart from that i think mic 1 was the winner, it picks up tons of sidenoise, voices and the immersion gets more real.
BTW, i agree that more testing should be done, and windy situations is important for mics.. so look forward to that
To me with headphone, my favorite is Mic1, I can feel the surrounding, I can hear someone talking behind me, feels like I'm really at the place!
4.