The WAV backup on the Action 5 is more useful than I first thought......

If anyone uses their camera with a cage and directional mic on top in order to lessen surrounding noise, one annoying thing about on camera shotguns is how muffled they sound from the rear. That means if you speak and someone else is speaking in front, they sound great and you sound boomy.

Take the WAV file and swap between the two audio tracks and you get clear audio from the front and the back by fading out the shotgun when you speak and fading up the camera WAV file. Because they both fade in/out at the same time, you don't hear the transition but the audio is more even between the two of you. If you both speak at the same time, roughly a 50/50 mix can help.

I tried this little trick this morning, thinking that once you plug a mic in, the camera won't pick up audio, but it does. I tested by tapping the mic and listening for the taps on the WAV. They weren't there so it is definitely the camera mic.

Not helpful for sporty people, but for general vlogging, it's a feature that I would now like on all my cameras. You get the best of both worlds by having really good directional audio from the front and much closer audio from the rear.

I use the Rode Videomic Pro+ or the Rode Stereomic depending on whether I want stereo or mono. Since they sit high up, they don't show in the frame and the audio is excellent.

So I will definitely be leaving that WAV backup facility on.

so the Wav file is a default internal  audio fil  using what no   wind noise if the  external mic used?

It’s a standard camera audio file so it would be prone to wind noise. The shotgun takes care of front audio, but for the back, you are very close to the camera mic for recording so you get a surprisingly clean result. If wind is blowing on the camera, then yes, it would probably pick it up so if that happened, I’d have to use the audio from the rear of the shotgun since I'm using a deadcat on the mic.

What surprised me was that the WAV is the in camera audio, even when a mic is connected.

Hey Ian!  
I thought I post my question here since I'm new and can't start a thread yet.

I am starting a linguistic documentation project with a minority language and thinking of buying a DJI Action 5 pro as part of my (budget) camera setup. As external mics I thought of a set of 2 DJI Mic 2s for conversations and a Røde mic in other scenarios.

Since the data will be archived in an open access repository, the audio files need to have a certain spec as well as video files. They should not be AAC-encoded.

I have a couple of questions and thought maybe you or someone else in the forum can help :-)

- If I understand correctly, the cam's audio settings allow you to choose between AAC and WAV, is this correct?

- Do you know if the camera's audio is Linear PCM when selecting WAV?

- I see the DJI MIC 2 audio is higher quality than the Action 5 pro. Do you know if this Linear PCM?

- Does the Dual Audio embed the external mic's input to the video file (I understand from a different post a backup .WAV is also created, from the internal mic), even if its wireless DJI MIC 2?

Thank you!!
Roberto

Hi Robertico.

I’m not sure about ‘Linear PCM’ but the Action does store audio in WAV format separately.

However, one thing about audio. If you need very high quality, wireless might not be the way to go. I think for high quality, you might as well use a cheap recorder like a Zoom H1n and capture really clean audio to put under the video as you would have to do anyway from the camera. Even better would be a better recorder, but the Zoom produces good WAV files where you can edit her use the built in stereo capsules or a separate mic in.

For two people, I sometimes use a dual Lavalier mic. It’s excellent quality from MicBooster.com He used to be a BBC sound engineer and he sells a dual ‘Little Clippy’. It’s a fantastic sounding Lavalier and with an extension you can wire up two people straight into the recorder.

For important audio, I use a Zoom H6. Then I use two xlr mics in. No matter what camera I decide to use.

I’m not sure an Action 5 is the best for close up ‘people’ work really. It might be easier on the eyes if you used something with focus to soften up the background. Even a Pocket 3 might be better.

These Action cams are great, but it’s difficult to get away from what I would call an Action cam look. Everything in focus, and quite hard looking edges in the video. At first, they look fantastically sharp, but they are a bit ‘over sharp’ for anything serious. The Pocket 3 might be a better fit with an audio recorder.

Have a look at my quick n dirty setup, for me it just for better stereo audio in the field, literally the field.

Blimey. You Terminator you!

In the early 70's, I used to make films on real 16mm film. Each reel was just 3 minutes. Then I physically edited the reels into a longer reel with a little cutting machine. After that, I would record voiceover and music onto a reel to reel with a sync blip at the start.

Then watching was a matter of loading the reel onto the projector and lining the reel to reel up with a blip on the film!

Now look how easy it is and to get 'live' recording as well!!

Iancraig10 Posted at 3-10 11:53
Hi Robertico.

I’m not sure about ‘Linear PCM’ but the Action does store audio in WAV format separately.

Hi Iancraig10!

Thank you for your reply!

I’ve thought about Zoom recorders and camcorders and will probably use them too… the issue is that we plan to record in a forested, tropical region and I wouldn’t like to take out the camcorder when recording outdoors.

I guess camcorders are not that fragile… but a splash or sudden rainfall, in those scenarios (or during boat trips) an action cam seems safer.

Since speakers are not always facing the camera in these situations I thought of getting the DJI Mic 2 as well. I’ve heard the transmission with the Action 5 pro is nearly flawless without using the receiver! (but please correct me if I am wrong).

For indoors, I could use a Zoom H5 together with the camcorder or action cam. I have never done synch in post-production though. My understanding is that this is very time consuming and I wouldn’t want to do this with 40-80 hrs of footage. So I might use it as an interface only, or as a recorder to have a better quality WAV backup file.

Robertico Posted at 3-11 08:32
Hi Iancraig10!

Thank you for your reply!

Hi. I agree, outside in tropical weather, you’re way better off with the Action cam.

I envisaged at home in studio stuff, which is where I record tracks on my H5 with proper mics. Not too many clips, but syncing is automatic on my software. The time consuming bit is getting the right audio for the clip!!

In that case, the wireless route is indeed the best. No wires to get caught in vegetation.

The in camera sound from them is very good. You can record WAV on the mic but I seem to remember that if you switch WAV onto the Action on, it uses the camera’s internal mic, which isn’t bad. Just not as good.

The camera just records I think 16 bit audio from the wireless, but the wireless mic will record 24 bit. If that’s important to you.

Personally, when Im doing my half hour vlog type videos, I use the audio from the camera.(captured from wireless mic)  Edit the video on software but export the audio after getting all the clips roughly at the same volume as one large WAV. Then I edit the 30 minute audio track on a separate audio editor with EQ and compression and loudness normalise it to -16 LUFS.

I also check that there are no little sections that are suddenly loud or soft and adjust them.

That way, your whole track has a consistent sound throughout which is more comfortable for listeners.

If any clip suddenly changes sound or volume, listeners instantly notice so the consistency is very important overall. Listeners adjust to whatever sound you set as long as nothing suddenly changes.

I love editing videos. Sound and all. Try to enjoy it because I know that many don’t and they end up rushing things and then making mistakes.

I'm doing a two week stint around Spain in three weeks. All I might take is an Action 4 or 5 and a wireless mic! Dead small and light.