Hi I'm Gordon from camera labs and this Video is all about me the road Wireless Me a wireless microphone system designed For cameras and smartphones are named Anybody who wants to improve the quality Of their audio whether they're filming Vlogs interviews pieces to camera or Even just audio podcasts and in the Spirits of all of the above I've decided To film this entire review in the Vlog Style and I'm using the Panasonic Lumix S5 Mark II to record the video so you Can check out how good it is for that And all of the audio unless although I Stated it's recorded with the wireless Me announced in April 2023 at a price of Around 150 or pounds the wireless me Consists of two main units the receiver Or RX and the transmitter or TX like Previous models in the wireless go range Both are small black boxes with a clip On the back that can either slide Straight onto the hot or cold shoe of a Camera or mounting system or be used to Actually clip onto an item of clothing I've got it attached my my collar here With the clip facing forward because I Think it looks a little bit more Discreet than it does with the actual Shiny box facing forward but either way It is something you're going to notice So if you want to be more discreet you Will be wanting to attach your own Smaller lav mic as for the receiver it
Will not record the audio internally so You will need to connect it to something To get the audio out of it there's two Main ways to do that there's a three and A half millimeter analog output which is What I'm using here with a supplied Cable to connect to my Lumix S5 Mark II Alternatively you can use the USBC port And Road supplies USBC to see cable Which allows you to connect it to Compatible smartphones laptops or Computers and it also supplies a Lightning cable for you to connect it Directly to older Apple devices So in case you're wondering the wireless Aspect refers to the connection between The transmitter and the receiver that's The wireless part not the connection Between the receiver and your camera That's going to require a cable but Again Road supplies everything you need Road also includes a pair of its wind Muffler accessories one of which you can See mounted onto the transmitter here it Makes it even less discreet than before But it certainly does reduce that wind Noise which is very important on a Breezy day like we have today around Brighton and I'm pleased to report that It is the twisting bayonet attaching Design that was introduced with the Go-to so once they are attached they Stay on pretty securely they don't fall Off quite as easily as they did on the
Original go model and to really put the Wind Muffler to the test I relocated to Brighton seafront with the pier and the Sea and a very strong wind now behind me So hopefully the audio is still sounding Respectable and you can hear what I'm Talking about and at this point in the Review you may well be asking yourself Hang on Gordon I'm getting a really Strong sense of deja vu what exactly is The difference between the wireless me And the wireless go-to which came out Before well thanks for asking me that Question it's very very insightful and In fact if you are interested in that Product I have a separate full review of It on this channel but just briefly the Go-to is a more expensive and more Sophisticated model aimed at more Advanced users it costs about fifty Dollars or pounds more than the wireless Me at least in the single transmitter Version which is what I think it's fair Is to compare this to since it also has A single transmitter and for that you Get the following features a top display On the receiver or RX unit shows the Level meters and also some information On the battery life and the SIM no Strength that's all pretty handy when You're setting the unit up and you also Get more buttons to configure it unlike The wireless me which really does rely On you connecting it to your phone or a
Computer to change those settings so do Remember to bring that USB or lightning Cable with you if you want to change any Of those settings while you're out and About beyond that you've got finer Increments on the actual recording Levels the chance to record a safety Channel which is quieter than the main One in case things suddenly get loud and You want to be protected from clipping But arguably most important of all is The ability for the transmitter to Record your audio internally and that's Got a couple of really important Benefits the first being when something Happens to your actual wireless Connection maybe there's some Interference you're not aware of well no Problem because if that wireless signal Is spoiled for some reason you've still Got a perfect recording internally Inside the transmitter Some may actually prefer the sound Quality itself of that internal Recording since it's not going through Any Wireless transmission and in order To access it you just connect it to your Computer or phone and use the road app To export it as a WAV or an MP3 file Considering those extra features only Cost you an extra 50 bucks or so you Might be thinking why even bother with Wireless me but it has two features that The go-to is lacking and those could be
Very important to you The first of those two new features on The wireless me is gain assist and I've Actually been using it in this review so Far now one of the hardest things to do When you first get involved in recording Audio is setting the levels correctly But on the me you can now choose the Option to turn on gain assist and that Will automatically adjust the levels for You you do it by connecting the receiver To your computer or your phone and Running the rode up and that lets you Choose from one of two settings first is Auto which is why I've been using so far Although if your conditions are slightly More predictable for the system then you Might get a slightly better sounding Result with Dynamic but I was certainly Pretty happy with auto the second new Feature of the wireless me is having a Microphone built not just into the Transmitter but also into the receiver Unit now the reason you would want that Is because the receiver is typically Mounted on your camera or your phone and It is going to allow you to record Yourself more clearly when you're behind The camera while still having the main Transmitter microphone on the person in Front of the camera and in fact if You're not too bothered about the length Of the cables involved you could attach That receiver unit to your own color and
Use it as another lapel based microphone I'm making that even more of an Interesting proposition is the fact that The receiver is the same dual Channel Wireless system as the go-to which means You can actually pair a second Transmitter unit to it giving you three Microphones to play with and remember It's all Wireless it's all battery Operated it's all portable so you could Be doing a podcast style interview Either audio alone or video based with Up to three people all mic'd up without Spending a fortune so let's check out Some of those new features in practice The major new hardware feature on the Wireless me is of course the built-in Microphone on the receiver unit I'm Going to demonstrate why that's Important now because I've got the System configured at the moment so that Only the audio from this microphone on Me is being recorded So Ben is behind The camera Ben how are you explain it Thank you happy to be um spending my Lunch break Gordon here there could be No better thing to do right what do you Do professionally Ben I'm an architect He's very very professional but Unfortunately we can't hear Ben very Clearly because he's been picked up from This microphone on me which is about Three or four feet away if only there Was a way to get a microphone closer to
Him Okay now for this clip I've enabled the Me mic on the receiver unit so we should Be able to hear Ben much more clearly hi Ben how are you doing now I am Splendid Happy to be heard yeah still on your Lunch break though right yeah that's it Have you already eaten yep done what did You have uh cheese and pickle sandwich You're living your best life let's talk About the setup here so the idea is is That you know Ben could be doing an Interview with me uh but we want to be Able to hear his questions as well so Ben let's let's try that go on that Favorite sandwich favorite sandwich do You know what I'm really into at the Moment is uh grilling a bit of halloumi Cheese and then putting it on with some Avocado and some pesto sandwich that's Fancy would you make that home or are You gonna eat out I make it at home I Love cooking yep okay and that's one of The reasons you moved to Brighton isn't It because you love the food scene here Absolutely correct yeah in fact one of The first things I did when I visited Brian was I went to this place called Street Diner which did all this really Nice street food all these stands and Then I discovered it had a really good Independent food and drinks in really Good coffee too yeah you do like coffee I do like I've heard that about you it's
My favorite drink so far I've been using Manual recording levels on the Lumix S5 Mark II and I've set that based on the Volume of my voice and the various Distances involved here for both Ben and Myself however sometimes the wind picks Up or the ambient noise gets a bit Louder and you begin to speak a bit Louder and the problem with that is that If you are not automatically adjusting Your recording levels which this camera Isn't then sometimes you can get Saturated and in an extreme example if I Was to bring the microphone really close To my mouth well it should sound really Saturated it should be clipping and this Can happen on the camera operator's side To count it Ben you might have a really Loud camera operator and he's right up Against the microphone talking about his Favorite quotes from Anchorman like loud Noises and that definitely clipped that Escalated quickly Um if only there was a way around this Situation so now on to the second major Feature of the wireless me system this Is a software based one and it is gain Adjust now in the previous clip we had It turned off which meant when the sound Suddenly got loud well there was the Risk of saturation however now we have Reconnected the microphone or the Receiver unit to my phone and set gain Adjust to Auto so this should hopefully
Detect when things get loud and Automatically turn itself down so I'm Going to speak really loudly here and Normally this would attract a lot of Attention yeah it is people are looking At me in this park they're on their Lunch break right I'm going to bring This much closer to my mouth now oh here I am speaking directly into the Microphone I'm about one inch away from It this should sound terrible no signs Of really red yeah really now Ben is Referring to the audio levels on the Lumix s52 which I'm using to record here And I can confirm that the s52's audio Settings are manual at this point I've Set the levels manually for the previous Clips so the thing that is doing the Volume control adjustment here is the Rode Wireless me and I'm speaking up a Bit louder this isn't being too Contrived because there is no wind Blowing now hopefully the wind Muffler Is blocking that out but it's natural to Raise the volume of your voice under These conditions Um even if the wind Muffler is doing a Great job I'd be speaking louder but Hopefully it is now adjusting those Automatically and that is going to make This system much easier to use Road quotes the range of the wireless me As being up to 100 meters but that is of Course a best case scenario and it
Requires line of sight nothing in Between the receiver and the transmitter And importantly only when the Transmission receiver are actually able To be pointed at each other not if you Have say got the transmitter in your Back pocket and you're using a lav mic To actually record the audio so let's Just do a quick test I'm going to have a Little wander off and count the number Of Paces that we can still hear it at so I'm going to keep talking and start Counting so if I was to start here we're About one two three four five six seven Eight Twenty One 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31. I am 50 Paces away those are Gordon size Paces not a meter I'm not that big but I'm quite distant there's no way that Anybody would really use the microphone In this scenario so I'm about 40 Paces From the camera this is a pure line of Sight if I was to Maybe Let's try a bit closer Now I'm 30 Paces away from the receiver Unit line the side should sound pretty Good if I turn away maybe you won't hear Me so well because my body between the Receiver and the transmitter but if I Come back hopefully you should be able To hear me again let's try a bit closer Here I'm about 20 Paces away from the Camera this is the distance that it
Should work absolutely fine but if I Turn away let's see if the system can Still pick up my audio when I'm facing In an opposite direction and now back Again from here I'm about 10 Paces away From the receiver unit this is an easy Distance when I'm facing the camera and If I turn it away here is the result Again the reason that I'm doing this is Because if you have the transmitter unit In a back pocket and you're using a lav Mic trick to pick up the audio then this Could be something you should be aware Of range wise the solution of course is To put the transmitter in your front Pocket so that it is facing the receiver As much as possible If you prefer you could use the wireless Me for audio only maybe for a podcast For an interview and I've got the Receiver unit connected to my Samsung Galaxy s20 phone using USBC so this is a Wide connection to the phone and the Receiver unit is attached to Ben Ben how You doing yeah good thank you enjoying This walk yeah it's quite nice isn't it We're having a little walk around the Park so it this could be a kind of Podcast environment so we're not Recording video for this this is just Pure audio so Ben can you describe what You're actually doing with my phone so At the moment the the microphone is Plugged in USBC into is that USBC on the
Phone yeah yeah and it's using the rode App it's quite it looks very simple and Self-explanatory just hit record it's Got timer counting up and I'm getting Some basic level information regarding What it's recording so the phone is Recording the audio the um the problem Here is that the length of the cable is Going be an issue because the receiver Unit which is attached to you is also Attached to the phone and that cable That road supplied is about 30 Centimeters yeah it's not too long is it So you're having to hold it looks a Little bit uncomfortable you look like I'm on the phone I think other people Might think I'm just on the phone we're Both walking directly into quite a Strong Breeze here we've both got the uh The actual wind Mufflers attached I have The uh the Gainer just set to Auto so Hopefully it should be adjusting the Levels depending on how fast we talk Right with a couple of dogs fast Approaching us I think we should wrap This up what do you think Ben yeah good All right gotta get back to work thank You for spending my lunch with you it's Always a delight Ben chat where can we Find you Ben Harvey photography.co.uk on My YouTube channel Ben Harvey Photography again that's brilliant you Know what it's b-roll I might actually Uh scroll through some of your videos
Thank you very much I'm welcome right Back to the review Wrapping up it's easy to initially write Off the wireless semi is a cut down Version of the go-to after all it's 50 Bucks cheaper and lacks some of it's More sophisticated features to go to's The better choice right and surely worth Going for if you've got an extra fifty Dollars or Pounds to spend but as Hopefully I've proven in this video it's Not that clean-cutter decision because The wireless me has got those two extra Features lacking from the go-to which Could actually make it much more Preferable for your particular style of Filming for starters the auto gain Control really does make audio much much Easier to record especially in very Dynamic rapidly changing environments And on a windy daylight today it's easy To find yourself shouting at a Microphone and going home and finding All of your footages clipped and sounds Terrible that has happened with me on The go to before unless you're recording The safety channel of course but now the Wireless me can use its gain assist to Automatically adjust those levels and Save the day but equally useful is Having that extra microphone unit built Into the receiver making the wireless me A two microphone system sure it can be a Little bit awkward to use that receiver
As a lapel based system because it will Still have to be connected to some sort Of sound recorder but remember when Comparing those prices the wireless go To it 200 or pounds only has one Microphone if you want the two mic Version the two transmitter version it Is going to cost you closer to 300 or Power and when you compare that to the 150 for the wireless me well it's Beginning to look like pretty good value And the downside the me does lack some Of the manual control of the go-to and In order to configure it in any respect You will need to connect it to a Computer or a phone and use the rode app To make those changes and if you're out And about that means you'll also need to Remember a cable for it in my case a USBC to C Cable Road supplies it but you Might forget it so make sure that you've Got it with you another thing worth Noting is that the wireless me like that Goes before it employs a built-in Non-removable rechargeable battery you Charge it over USBC that works fine when It's fresh out the box it should last For about seven hours but over time of Course like all other rechargeable Batteries that lifespan will gradually Reduce and I've certainly seen that on My go and go to units now it's not Necessarily A criticism of them Specifically because it applies to most
Phones laptops and other devices if we Want them to be really really small and Compact and very smooth on their Exteriors well we've got to put it with Having built-in batteries but Environmentally I'm not a fan and I Would prefer to have something that's User replaceable ultimately you've got To think very carefully about what You're filming and how you're filming it But both of these systems are capable of Giving you really good quality results And of course freeing you from the Constraints of using wires or a shotgun Based microphone on the top and with Steven Seagal Gathering behind me for an Impending donut attack I'd better sign Off thanks for watching if you enjoyed This give me a like and a follow and let Me know what you think in the comments Thanks for watching and I'll see you Next time bye bye
