The Rode Wireless Pro System!
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.
What’s in the Box?
The Rode Wireless Pro comes in two sturdy little carry cases, making it super portable. I’ve travelled with these cases, chucking them in the bottom of my bag without any worries that the microphones would get damaged. They carry cases are padded and small enough to fit into tight spaces.
The kit includes a receiver and two transmitters (otherwise known as the microphones). You also get two lapel wires which can be attached for more discreet recording.
This included cables make it possible to record using older iPhones and USB-C connections. The magnetic attachments make it easy to clip onto various devices, to your clothing and the wind socks help minimise noise when you’re recording outside. The packaging has a very small amount of plastic which I am very pleased to see. There’s nothing worse than opening up a box and seeing a bunch of planet destroying styrofoam and plastic. Big props to Rode for minimising their impact in this space.
Testing the Audio Quality
Hotel Location Test
I started by testing the wired lapel option in a hotel room. I placed the microphone in various positions, demonstrating the differences in audio quality depending on its placement.
I noticed that the lapel option was more discreet and generally produced better sound quality compared to just clipping the transmitter box to my clothes. This is especially important if you want to avoid visible bulky equipment in your shots. The transmitter box, although not particularly heavy still falls forward if you’re just using the clip (not the magnetic attachment) and positioning it in a way that feels comfortable takes some adjustments.
Park and Outdoor Environment Test
Next, I took the Rode Wireless Pro to the Sydney Botanic Gardens and up to Mooloolaba Beach. These locations were noisy (especially the beach), but the wireless system performed exceptionally well. I even walked away from the receiver for probably close to 100m while recording, and the audio remained clear without any dropouts. This kind of range is perfect for on-the-go content creation where mobility is key.
Train Ride Test
I was speaking quite softly in this test as I was on a packed train and the Rode system handled this environment well. The low rumbling of the train and background chatter were picked up, but my voice remained clear above the background. This makes the Rode Wireless Pro a viable option for recording in somewhat noisy conditions without losing the integrity of your voice.
Practical Applications
Based on these tests, I’d recommend the Rode Wireless Pro to several types of content creators:
1. Vloggers and Travel Bloggers: The compactness and portability make this ideal for travel.
2. Tutorial Creators: The wireless nature is beneficial for demonstrating physical activities like yoga, cooking or teaching with a whiteboard
3. Interviewers and Podcasters: The system allows for ease of mobility while maintaining clear, professional-quality audio.
The Rode Wireless Pro is a versatile, practical solution for various content creation needs. Whether you're conducting interviews, creating travel vlogs, or shooting tutorials, this system holds up well in diverse environments.
I can safely say, I’m happy to switch from my bulky wired setup to a fully wireless recording setup with the new Rode Wireless Pro as my sidekick.
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to my face. My name is Brianna. I'm the head honcho here at Bamby Media. Today we're running through the Rode Wireless Pro system. If I had three hands this would be easier. Okay, so we've got a receiver, And we've got two transmitters, which are the microphones. In this video, I've been planning it for quite a while.
[00:00:23] So I've taken it on a bunch of different locations. So in here, in my home studio, at the beach, on a train, in a hotel and in a park, when I was recording with my iPhone. So that would be the park, the beach, or the train. It was just my trusty iPhone 14 Pro and I attached this, which is the receiver, onto the back of the device using the magnetic clip that actually just attaches to the back of this.
[00:00:52] So then that attaches to the back of this. You put this on here and then you use the cable that's included in the Rode Wireless Pro setup to attach this. to your receiver. That's all I did. And then I just used the camera app on my phone to record audio and video at the same time. Very simple setup, very easy for you to do.
[00:01:15] And the Rode Wireless Pro includes one for lightning connections as well as USB C connections as well. When I was in the hotel, I was at the Pullman in Circular Quay, which was a beautiful hotel, by the way, absolutely. Gorgeous. When I was doing that, I recorded straight into this because you can record straight into this.
[00:01:37] There's a little record button here that you just hit record and it will record into the device. And then you're able to get that off of the device via a setup that I'll do in a separate video. So that's when I was in the hotel. And then you can also attach this to the top of your DSLR again, via a clip method.
[00:01:57] And it includes this cable here, which means you [00:02:00] can attach this. To the audio jack of your actual DSLR. Again, I'll do a video on how to set up for different settings, but I wanted to let you know, that's how I recorded all these different spaces. First thing that happens in this video, we're going to go through what comes with it.
[00:02:15] You'll also look at how best to actually attach the lapel to your person to get the best quality sound. And then you'll also just hear how it deals with lots of outdoor noise, different noises, and whether that feels appropriate for you. At the very end of this video, you'll also hear my recommendations for best use case, what I think of the system and a little wrap up.
[00:02:36] The only thing we don't go into today for this video is for podcasting specifically when I think this is a really good idea. So I'm working on a video at the moment where I run that through. It may be up by the time you watch this video, but otherwise it is coming soon. So let's get straight into all the different ways that you could potentially use this system.
[00:02:57] System by the videos that I've got for you today.
[00:03:06] What's included in the actual box, which in this case is two little boxes for the Rode Wireless Pro system. So they come in these carry cases, which are very high quality. Let me just say that I've taken this on planes, I've chucked it in the bottom of my bag, and I haven't felt like I've needed to be really careful with them because they're such sturdy little cases that they come in.
[00:03:29] This one here has a receiver and two transmitters. So the receiver is the thing that you would put onto the front of your camera, attach it to your phone, wherever you're wanting to put it. And that actually receives the microphone input from the two transmitters. In the other case, you can see we've got all the lapel wires.
[00:03:52] So lapels can actually be attached to those transmitters. Which will give you a different sound and allow it [00:04:00] to be a little bit more discreet, which we will go into in this video. As it goes further along, it gives you a few different connection types via the leads. You've got one that can be attached to an older phone, like an iPhone 14 or below.
[00:04:14] And then you've got the USB C options as well. There, you also have magnetic attachments that make it easy for it to magnet onto the back of a like iPhone that has a magnet. You've got wind socks that can be attached to the devices as well, especially for when you're outdoors and you're wanting to minimize that kind of wind sound that you hear.
[00:04:37] There's also a connection point there, which is that little red lead that you can see that allows you to attach the Receiver onto your actual camera itself and overall a minimal amount of packaging, which to me is a very big feature. I hate lots of plastic. I really hate it. So there's just a little small amount there that you can see that it ships with and the rest is just as is in the actual casing.
[00:05:07] This one here that you can see is the actual receiver and then there are two transmitters next to it. So we've got two microphones and then a transmitter. This is perfect if you're wanting to do a host and guest type situation and it makes it very easy to work with.
[00:05:30] You can see via the receiver when you're getting an audio level, as you can see where I'm talking into one now and it's showing up on channel two. Now I'm going to show you how to set up the lapel. So it comes with a little tiny windsock, which attaches to the top of the microphone. And then there's this little clip that you attach.
[00:05:51] That you kind of have to play with a little bit. It's a bit fiddly and also it's a little bit plasticky for my tastes. It doesn't feel super strong. It [00:06:00] doesn't feel as sturdy as I would like it to feel. Lapels are always a little bit fiddly just because you're working with such a small device. The lapel input lead attaches there to the RODE transmitter and you actually need to turn it to connect it properly.
[00:06:19] It needs to screw in and then you'll start to hear sound as that comes through.
[00:06:34] Once it's all attached like that, you will see that the receiver starts to show signal. And now we're going to switch to the actual audio that has been recorded at the time, and you'll be able to tell how it sounds as it gets closer and where I position it. It's a bit far away. I've got the lapel sitting here on the table now, and now we're going to connect this through to my self.
[00:07:01] You want to put it to the side as much as you can. Don't put it directly underneath you if it's a lapel, just because that's not naturally where your voice sort of falls. It's going to sound best like right here, because it's right where your mouth is. And that's going to sound good. But this isn't really the best use of this as well.
[00:07:22] You see a lot of people doing this on sort of TikTok to get the best sound. But if you were actually miking up someone for an interview, they're not going to stand or sit there with a tiny little mic like this and hold it. That's just a bit silly. So you've got to attach it to something.
[00:07:42] Now see how, if I do that, see how it's actually off to the wrong side, which is something that people do quite a bit. They'll position it actually in the wrong place for where their mouth actually is. So what we actually need to do is move this to the other [00:08:00] side, so that the mic is actually closer to my mouth.
[00:08:05] The other thing to remember with lapels as well, is because I've got long hair, if you've got a lapel and then that's over this, All the movement of your hair is going to get picked up on this lapel, any little movement that you have. So if you've got someone you're working with which does have long hair, you need to move the hair and make sure that it stays away.
[00:08:26] So now we're going to position this again, and we're going to move it around to the place that's going to be much better suited. And then you can hear hopefully the differences between the wrong side and the right side.
[00:08:40] Okay, so now this is positioned in the correct place. It's facing the right way as far as where your mouth, like closest point to where your mouth, I guess, is. If you have to attach it to something, you definitely don't want to attach it low, like on a button up or something, and put it too low, because again, it's just too far away from the actual source, which is the mouth, to actually hear properly.
[00:09:04] So this is probably the best. Of what I would say is kind of a bad situation as far as lapels go because they're never perfect Because they have to be positioned like here You can't get the best quality sound from it, but this is the best way to do it Now the other thing that you can do with the lapel to even make it sit better is see you at the moment the cable is actually outside of the clothing And so instead of doing that what you can do and what you'll see people do You in TV and for interviews, is if we take this off, you actually chase it underneath the clothing.
[00:09:44] Now it's not obscuring anything. Okay. So it looks good. It's kind of small. It's not in the way. Uh, and then you've got the lead chasing inside of the clothing, meaning that it then doesn't even look like there's a lead attached to it. This is [00:10:00] the best way to have a lapel attached to you. Okay. or to your guest.
[00:10:05] Try and angle it, especially if it's a guest, and let's say you're here on this part of the couch, and the guest is over here. If you've positioned it here, they're talking to you here, okay, so they're looking at you. That's the best, because their mouth is actually even closer from that position. So if you're making sure that wherever the microphone is placed, their head is also going to be naturally going that way, then that's going to be the best possible situation for the lapel as well.
[00:10:38] Now, at the moment, I just have the transmitter on my actual lap. So you can see over here. Hello! If they were standing up or, you know, if you wanted to be standing up and you wanted to attach it to something, then the good thing is that this lead is quite long. So you can attach it to wherever you want.
[00:10:56] I'll put it on my pocket, like that. Okay. And then because I'm wearing a poncho,
[00:11:11] because I have a poncho on, okay, the transmitter is in here. We've got a little bit of this lead coming out the bottom. Okay. I can bring that in. These are pretty sturdy, so you could just put that in your pocket, like that. And then have that over. So that's if you have a long jumper or something like that.
[00:11:35] Uh, the other thing that you can do is actually take it around to the back of you. Okay. And you can put it in your butt or on your belt loop. You can attach it there and then have that come around. And again, just kind of, push the lead in a little bit there. So if you've got just a shorter shirt, [00:12:00] you can sort of do something like that.
[00:12:02] And the thing is, is that if it's at the back, then again, you won't really be able to see it. You could actually chase it through the back of your clothing and the way, all the way through to here as well. So that the lapel is really very minimal and still capturing a really good quality sound. The other thing that a lot of people do is they actually don't use the lapel at all.
[00:12:28] They actually just use this, which you can do. I don't think it's as good. It's a little bit more fiddly to do exactly what I just did there, but this is the most sort of low key version, right, so that it's not very noticeable that you have a mic actually attached to you. Uh, if you unplug this now, so if we Swivel this around and take it out.
[00:12:50] We hear a change. So now you'll hear a different sound because it's just the mic that's actually on this. And you can actually see the mic here. That there is the microphone when there's nothing attached to it.
[00:13:05] But, it's a bit chunky, isn't it? And so, you can do this if you want to, and you see, you will see a lot of people On TikTok and Instagram and stuff. Just using this like this and talking into it, which again, I don't love 'cause it's just this big, bulky thing. You also see people attach these to their hats and I'll do like a separate video on how this all sounds when you attach it to different places.
[00:13:29] But for right now, I just wanted to show you that you can use the lapel at all or you can, and you can just use this actual, uh, transmitter itself. And you can just clip it on. Again, always put it off to the side. Don't put it here. And then you have this attached, but you can see how it's, it's a lot here.
[00:13:49] You can't really hide this at all. It's just this big thing. And it also kind of dangles. It kind of flips forward a bit, unless you've got something on that has a lot of pull to it, like a lot of [00:14:00] tension. You're going to have that situation where it kind of flops, which means it might not even get the best quality sound because it is flopping forward.
[00:14:08] So just be aware of where you're attaching this to if you want to just run with this. Now we're in the Botanic Gardens, and there is not much noise, so you should be able to hear me really well. And there's a massive tree in the background.
[00:14:30] Now we're going to do a test, where I go back as far as I can, and we're going to see how it performs. And I'm going to keep talking. So, this is me, I'm in the little bar right now. Winter in the Botanic Gardens. I've been having some good times with the family. I'm gonna just keep talking. Seems to be pretty good.
[00:14:51] In Australia we have beautiful beaches. East coast of Australia. It's a really nice climate, I enjoy it. It's funny walking backwards with people. So now I'm like, I don't know, 50, 100 metres? No, it wouldn't be 100 metres. 5 metres? Three, two, one, and I'm right back.
[00:15:16] Okay, now we're testing out this microphone with, on a train.
[00:15:23] It is floppy. I'm listening to how much the train you can hear versus how much of me you can hear.
[00:15:32] The train isn't particularly noisy. Yeah, someone talking in the background is good. Oh my god,
[00:15:46] is that Brianna Kovner from Train Idol? Okay, what did you think of all those different setups of all those different sounds? I felt like obviously the beach was a little bit overwhelming because the beach is so loud. The waves are so loud and I actually [00:16:00] think it handled that quite well. And the distance that you could get from the actual beach.
[00:16:05] Device itself was just crazy to me. Like you could crystal clear, it did not drop out. It was amazing how far away you would, you could be in saying that, how far away do you actually need to be unless you've got a massive zoom lens on your DSLR, how often you're going to need to be that far away and for it to still work, maybe if you're jumping out of a plane or something, I don't know, but you know, it's pretty cool that it could last that long.
[00:16:29] I really liked that. I liked using it as a lapel, proper lapel where you actually use the little microphone. Uh, attach it to you and then go through that way. I don't love just holding it here. As I said, I just feel like that looks a little bit dicky. You can get an interview. It's like a holder, which I'll flash up on the screen so that you can have a look.
[00:16:48] This just attaches in there and then you look like you're a presenter. That makes more sense to me than holding it like this. And as I said, I'm going to do another video on all the different places that you could potentially hide it on your body so that people don't even realize that you've got one attached to you.
[00:17:04] My wrap up of this device is, look, I actually think it's really good. It serves great purposes here. It sounds really good. It's a little bit muddy. It's never as good as having something right here. Like right now, I have a microphone right in front of my face. It's always going to sound better in that situation.
[00:17:22] But it does have a good amount of depth to it. It's really good for on the go content creation. It comes in such a small little like package, you know, you can just shove it in your bag and it doesn't take up a lot of room and it's super secure. I'm a big fan of this. The more I used it. I just felt like this is fantastic.
[00:17:41] I've since used it for tutorials that I've shot for clients. I went down to Sydney and a different point to shoot a whole day full of content for a client. And I recorded everything using this device as the tutorials, because you want to be able to use your arms and your legs. And you know, you need to move around and you can't [00:18:00] always have a microphone right here.
[00:18:01] So something that serves the purpose of being wireless is perfect. Fantastic. The audio quality is very good. It's easy to configure. I will do a separate video on how to configure it though, because there are a few things that you need to make sure that you change in order to get the best quality out of it.
[00:18:19] I like that you don't have to have it attached to anything so that you can just hit record on this device and it just captures it in there. There's all sorts of applications that I can see this being extremely useful for. And when I've listened to this one versus other wireless microphones in the field, this one wins for depth.
[00:18:38] Absolutely. For it's sounding stronger, less tinny, there's more dynamic range. There's more sparkle. It's a better system to my ears than any other. that I have heard or used myself at this point. So I would recommend this to anyone that is a content creator looking to move around. If you're a travel blogger, if you're someone that wants to shoot tutorials, maybe you do yoga instructing any sort of things where you feel like you want to be heard more clearly.
[00:19:09] This is a great system to use. I don't recommend it. it just clipping on it does fall forward like it doesn't really sit where you want it depending on what you're wearing you know i like the lapel situation better where there's a wire but in saying that the wire is harder to navigate so that's something that you can do.
[00:19:28] Decide for yourself how you want to actually record and how you want it to be displayed. But it's a good system. And I only say things are good if I really believe that they are like, it's got to be something that I've tried and tested. And I've now used this for probably two and a half to three months before shooting a review of this.
[00:19:48] So if you're interested in this, I've got a link to this system available on Amazon. We are an affiliate of Amazon. So if you click on that link and you buy this or something else, we do get a teeny tiny little [00:20:00] affiliate income for that, which is just always nice to receive. And it is, I guess, a way of you thanking me for producing this content for you.
[00:20:08] So I hope you got value out of it. Let me know what you think. Would you actually use this system? Do you have the system? Do you have a system that you think is. Better for a wireless recording. And in a later video, I'm going to break down and show you really easily how to set this up for podcasters, specifically for recording with a host and a guest and interview type situation, and how to configure that, how far to sit away from each other to make sure that you get the best quality audio from that as well.
[00:20:40] Thanks for watching. And I will talk to you again soon.
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