Australian brand Rode have regularly been the staple audio option for Indie (aka poor) videographers. Combining decent quality at a price that suits a tight budget it’s no wonder that gear like the Rode Videomic and the Rode NTG series of shotgun mics have become really popular all around the world.
In a recent announcement Rode have given us a glimpse of two exciting new products. The first is the RodeLink Wireless Digital Audio System. Competing with established systems like the Sennheiser G3 and the Audio-Technica System 10 the Rodelink is a 2.4GHz digital transmitter that sends a 24-bit 44.1 KHz lossless audio signal for distances up to 100 meters.
The suggested price is quite a bit less than its competition so I can forgive not having the standard 48KHz to play with. In Australia we have to be mindful to avoid frequencies over 694 MHz. Thankfully having being designed by an Australian company the RodeLink caters for these new restrictions imposed by the Federal Government. As such I believe the RodeLink will be a valuable option to combine with a lapel mic for recordings at ceremonies.
The other great product announced by Rode is the NTG4+. What’s so impressive about this piece of gear is that it offers a shotgun mic with a built-in rechargeable battery. For a light-weight kit on a camera like the Panasonic GH4 or the Sony A7s this mic is a fantastic option. This mic weighs only 176g with the battery. This is about half the weight of the Rode Stereo VideoMic X, and very manageable to attach to a cage (or the hot shoe) around your micro four-thirds camera.
I have the Rode NTG3, which is a very impressive shotgun mic in its own right. Unfortunately, it requires phantom power. Which means, I simply cannot use a XLR-3.5mm converter as the GH4’s audio input jack does not cater for phantom power. This means that a further preamp is required, which makes the GH4 setup a lot more cumbersome and more expensive (particularly if you fork out for the Panasonic DMW-YAGH). Sure there are decent options like those produced by JuicedLink and Beachtek but it isn’t anywhere near as neat.
Prior to this announcement I had been contemplating what I should do in regards to getting decent sound straight into my camera (I’ve learnt the hard way that you should take many precautions when it comes to audio from event videography). Initially I was considering many of the other options that Rode produces – like the Rode Videomic Pro and the Rode Videomic Go. But I am not particularly happy with the results from either of these mics. Both these mics seem to only work over a matter of feet, whereas I need a setup that may need to be recording from five to ten metres away from my subject. Now granted, at that distance it is really subject to the law of diminishing returns. However, in my opinion, a professional shotgun mic like the Rode NTG4+ ought to be able to produce usable audio even from some distance, at least if my Rode NTG3 is anything to base my assumptions off.
As the image above demonstrates, Rode envisages that this product will be used with micro four-thirds cameras. This means that the Rode NTG4+ should be very well suited for my use. I have my doubts, however, based upon the poor quality produced by utilizing the Panasonic GH4’s 3.5mm input jack. Initial reports with the Rode Videomic Pro suggested that the 3.5mm jack was unstable and caused a constant hiss in the audio recording. As such I will wait until others report how this mic behaves with the GH4 before adding it to my expanding equipment list.