How to Record Snowmobile Audio (Equipment and Methods)

Question

The company that I work for wants me to be able to record as close to true to life audio of our snowmobiles as we can for as low budget that I can manage (low budget meaning under $200 for the audio setup).

The equipment that they would like me to find a mic compatible for would need to be able to work with an iPhone8 and a Nikon D750 and be able to be used for field shooting (stationary sound clips as well as in motion) as well as audio recorded inside of the shop (very large high ceiling machine shop).

The problem that I've been facing up until this point is the mic being peaked by the dB produced by the sled. The sleds will be producing dBs from as little as 50dB up to 140dB and the built-in mic just can't handle it.

I want to be able to find a mic that will (by some miracle) fit what my employers would like to see within their budget.

Any suggestions on distances to record at, mics within that budget, editing that could improve the audio quality, or general methods that would be recommended I try would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

you need a passive large diaphragm mic. in english you want a mic that doesnt require power and can plug into a phone or laptop in a backpack... first mic that comes to mind is an sm58 or sm57(about $75) they are the most reliable mics(metal heads beat them and news reporters drop them). these mics us "xlr" cords, you can easily(under $10) get a converter jack that goes from xlr to 1/4" jack to 1/8" headphone jack and plug it into a laptop. get a big foam thingy for the mic to block the wind.

now to get perfect audio you'll want to get some flat frequency response sound file and play it through a stereo while recording that with the mic. the mics output will not be flat. now if you take the mics recording and eq it so its flat you'll be real close to the real deal. this setup is below $100.

Answer 2

That's an exceptionally low budget, but working within that extremely tight budget cap, then I'd go for either a Deity Microphones V-Mic D3 Pro or a Rode VideoMic NTG.

Not only are these rather decent consumer/prosumer microphones for their price, but they both also crucially have a convenient gain knob at the rear, making it easier for you to set your levels right in the moment. (of course you should also adjust your levels right within your D750 as well, but that menu diving for smaller tweaks might not be so convenient for when speedy changes are needed)

Even more important than all of this, wear headphones, and keep an eye on your audio levels! Good luck. :-)