Camera to record car exhausts
Discussion
I need to record footage from various car exhausts for a small project that I'm undertaking.
It doesn't need to be perfect audio and I'm not looking to spend hundreds of pounds but it obviously needs to be good enough to not be dominated by wind noise.
Are there small cameras and mounts out there that will achieve this relatively easily? If so I would appreciate it massively if someone with a lot more knowledge in this space than me could possibly link to some options! Maybe I'm being a little optimistic but with all of the car vlogging these days I would have hoped there would be some well known off the shelf setups out there?!
The mount obviously needs to be secure but not permanent as I need to move between different cars.
Thanks a lot
It doesn't need to be perfect audio and I'm not looking to spend hundreds of pounds but it obviously needs to be good enough to not be dominated by wind noise.
Are there small cameras and mounts out there that will achieve this relatively easily? If so I would appreciate it massively if someone with a lot more knowledge in this space than me could possibly link to some options! Maybe I'm being a little optimistic but with all of the car vlogging these days I would have hoped there would be some well known off the shelf setups out there?!
The mount obviously needs to be secure but not permanent as I need to move between different cars.
Thanks a lot
Most YouTubers and tv shows use go-pro type cameras with suction mounts.
You get what you pay for with a suction mount - you don’t want it’s falling off with vibration.
This will help with the visuals but without some proper sound kit - you will suffer with noise.
Maybe a shotgun mic with a dead cat wind baffle could be fixed somewhere out of the wind then you could mix sound and film in post editing?
What’s the project?
You get what you pay for with a suction mount - you don’t want it’s falling off with vibration.
This will help with the visuals but without some proper sound kit - you will suffer with noise.
Maybe a shotgun mic with a dead cat wind baffle could be fixed somewhere out of the wind then you could mix sound and film in post editing?
What’s the project?
Edited by pidsy on Sunday 29th May 22:29
I've done this a couple of ways.
Run a lavalier (lapel) mic to either a phone or camera to the rear of the car. Use a dead cat (grey furry cover) and tape close to the exhaust. Unless you're recording the sound into the camera, you'll need to create an audible clap after you've hit record on both devices so you can align the audio wave in the edit. Wind noise is unlikely to be a huge issue as where the mic will sit is not in any flow of air (or little air). Your biggest issue will be road rumble, bits of grit hitting the underside of the car and engine noise if the engine's at the back.
Second option is to cheat.
Unless the film talks specifically about the exhaust tone or the car in question has a very specific sound, then you can find any number of exhaust sounds on any of the main stock libraries (Artlist, Adobe Stock, Endemic Sound, Pond5, etc..). Easy enough to chop these around to match gear changes, speed and the like.
Exhaust notes sound best some distance from the actual car. Pro-sound engineers will normally stick the car on a rolling road and record the exhaust from a mic a good two car lengths away. If the scene has the car driving into the distance you just fade the volume down accordingly. This is the sort of thing you'll find on the stock libraries.
HTH
Run a lavalier (lapel) mic to either a phone or camera to the rear of the car. Use a dead cat (grey furry cover) and tape close to the exhaust. Unless you're recording the sound into the camera, you'll need to create an audible clap after you've hit record on both devices so you can align the audio wave in the edit. Wind noise is unlikely to be a huge issue as where the mic will sit is not in any flow of air (or little air). Your biggest issue will be road rumble, bits of grit hitting the underside of the car and engine noise if the engine's at the back.
Second option is to cheat.
Unless the film talks specifically about the exhaust tone or the car in question has a very specific sound, then you can find any number of exhaust sounds on any of the main stock libraries (Artlist, Adobe Stock, Endemic Sound, Pond5, etc..). Easy enough to chop these around to match gear changes, speed and the like.
Exhaust notes sound best some distance from the actual car. Pro-sound engineers will normally stick the car on a rolling road and record the exhaust from a mic a good two car lengths away. If the scene has the car driving into the distance you just fade the volume down accordingly. This is the sort of thing you'll find on the stock libraries.
HTH
Edited by StevieBee on Monday 30th May 09:16
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