Any Tips for Recording Engine/Exhaust Sounds?

[Matticus91]

Hi All, I have a couple of GoPro's and external mic's I'd like to use to try and get some video with solid audio. I've found it pretty challenging to get audio that does not have too much wind noise, and also captures the noises of the turbo under the hood.

Has anyone miked up their engine bay for a track day that can share some input on placement/mic windsocks/etc.?

Also any editing techniques would be appreciated. I plan to split the audio tracks and overlay them to balance the sound as best I can. I'm expecting I'll need to lower the recorded volume of the exhaust mic to avoid too much road/wind noise and then bump it a bit in post.

[BimmerAg]

There's a guy that comes out to most of the time attack events near me that has a pretty good setup for recording exhaust at least. He mounts a Rode external mic on the rear bumper right above the tips and usually gets pretty good sound without much wind noise. Here he has a buddy's M2 mic'd up for a couple laps and I'd say the sound quality is pretty good. (skip to 4:15)

At 7:00 there's a JCW Mini
Starting at 5:09 of this one there's an R34 Skyline, C6 Corvette, and Camaro:

Capturing turbo noises might be a little tougher though...

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by BimmerAg

There's a guy that comes out to most of the time attack events near me that has a pretty good setup for recording exhaust at least. He mounts a Rode external mic on the rear bumper right above the tips and usually gets pretty good sound without much wind noise. Here he has a buddy's M2 mic'd up for a couple laps and I'd say the sound quality is pretty good. (skip to 4:15)

At 7:00 there's a JCW Mini
Starting at 5:09 of this one there's an R34 Skyline, C6 Corvette, and Camaro:

Capturing turbo noises might be a little tougher though...

Good stuff thanks! I've been eyeing those little mics for a while now might have to pick one up to try out

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

You need something like a "deadcat" wind screen. Problem solved!

[Dackelone]

I also have am external mic(Rode, I think - with a dead cat) mounted on my rear bumper near the exhaust. I run an extended mic cable thru my trunk and back seats to my GoPro mounted on the rear 3/4 glass. It works quite well. I bought the external mic & dead cat as a kit off Amazon - for around $120.

I just bought another GoPro suction cup mount and use that to mount my external mic on the bumper. I use a zip tie to mount the mic's flash hotshoe mount to my GoPro mount. No big deal.

I also have a friend who just puts his external mic in his trunk... that works pretty well too. When you put an external mic under the hood or even a GoPro near the front bumper... you just pick up all the mechanical while of the engine. I don't care much for that type of sound(s).

Here are the results...


My 135i has a Performance Exhaust(PE) which sounds awesome!

Enjoy,
Dackel

[Matticus91]

Love it Dack your car sounds awesome!

[Never_Enough]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I also have am external mic(Rode, I think - with a dead cat) mounted on my rear bumper near the exhaust. I run an extended mic cable thru my trunk and back seats to my GoPro mounted on the rear 3/4 glass. It works quite well. I bought the external mic & dead cat as a kit off Amazon - for around $120.

I just bought another GoPro suction cup mount and use that to mount my external mic on the bumper. I use a zip tie to mount the mic's flash hotshoe mount to my GoPro mount. No big deal.

I also have a friend who just puts his external mic in his trunk... that works pretty well too. When you put an external mic under the hood or even a GoPro near the front bumper... you just pick up all the mechanical while of the engine. I don't care much for that type of sound(s).

Here are the results...


My 135i has a Performance Exhaust(PE) which sounds awesome!

Enjoy,
Dackel

Burble FTW

I've never run an external mic, just stuck my GoPros on the car & recorded.

[Veritable]

Anywhere near the exhaust and most importantly OUTSIDE the slipstream will be fine. This is what I ran with yesterday:



It is a Rode Video Mic Go, which takes its power from the camera (GoPro HD2 in my case). It is directional, so I point it down.

Here is the result:

Note that before 0:45 of the video, I forgot to put on the "muff", and I guess the exhaust is so loud now that the mic got "blown"

Exhaust setup is Borla S-Type Mufflers + Borla X-Pipes / Mid-Pipes + secondary cats deleted.

[KingOfJericho]

One of my biggest automotive video peeves is exhaust recordings taken 6" from the tailpipe. Not one single person is ever going to hear it from that distance so who cares? It's like seeing the Grand Canyon laying face down in the dirt.

Good drive-by clips give a much better impression of how loud the system is and what it sounds like in the real world.

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

One of my biggest automotive video peeves is exhaust recordings taken 6" from the tailpipe. Not one single person is ever going to hear it from that distance so who cares? It's like seeing the Grand Canyon laying face down in the dirt.

Good drive-by clips give a much better impression of how loud the system is and what it sounds like in the real world.

When I wanted to share the tone of my exhaust, I just setup a tripod. But at the track it is nice to get an external mic to help provide context. I use an iPhone running Harry's Lap Timer and for whatever reason the external mic never seems to work with Harry's app.

[badbread]

Here's my experiment recording exhaust sounds:

Basically a really cheap Amazon mic and cat fur thing (whatever it's called) plugged directly into the gopro.

I'll dig up the links if interested.