DJI Osmo Action 3 Camera Audio

April, 2023 

I've been struggling to get what I would consider useable audio recorded with the DJI Osmo Action 3 camera I got not long ago. This blog post is simply some of the videos that I've posted to YouTube, along with some notes about each one.

2023 Gates Pass 

A short motorcycle ride westbound along Gates Pass Road thru Tucson Mountain Park, Tucson, AZ The microphone was placed on the exterior of the fairing, where the clip is for the intercom audio cable, which I'm no longer using.

Slower speeds, not bad, but soon as you get over 50MPH, the wind noise is tough to clean up in post-production editing.

2023 Picture Rocks 

This is a short test of Hyperlapse mode, while mounted on a motorcycle auxiliary light bar. This is captured in 15x mode. The ride is in the Saguaro National Park West, along Picture Rocks Road. No audio is recorded, but this is close to the stop-action recordings of my earlier Iron Butt rides. This tells a story of travel...like, you're riding for a long time type of travel. Speed controls on YouTube can be used to slow things down, if needed.

2023 McCain Loop Road 

Recorded same day as the Gates Pass video was. Again, slower speed the sound is useable, but there's a point. Some people are okay with that constant air-noise of riding. These days, I try to plug as much of it as I can.

2023 Park Link Ride 

I'm trying a different placement of the microphone, but still getting way too much wind noise. I really messed with the audio in post-production to reduce it, but wiped out too much of the riding sound that I'm trying to maintain. Still learning...

2023 Catalina AZ #shorts 

Through the community of Catalina, AZ. Yes, the video is like 3x normal speed to fit in the YouTube shorts format of a minute or less. Same issue with audio...

2023 Marsh Sta Rd 2x 

Eastbound ride along the original US-80 alignment in eastern Pima County, Arizona. Today, it's known as Marsh Station Road. The route features the Cienega Creek bridge crossing at Davidson Canyon (opened in 1921) a section of the Borderland Highway in southeastern Arizona. Parallel to that is the Union Pacific railroad bridge built by the El Paso & Southwestern railway in 1912.

Microphone still in the same place, and this just confirms that any speed over about 50 MPH, the mic can't screen out the wind noise, using a 'dead cat' and a foam sleeve over the microphone. Time to do something different...but what?

May 29, 2023 

2023 San Xavier 

Mainly determining that at about 25 MPH, it's okay. Still tring to decide what's next.

2023 Highway Suburban Rural #shorts 

A ride out west that didn't need audio from the ride...now trying to extract some useable video.

2023 Avra Valley hyperlapse 

A bit longer with the hyperlapse mode.

2023 Desert Roadway 747 #shorts 

Catchy title and topic - bam! 1200+ views in 36 hours. Short Attention Span theatre, anyone?

June 14, 2023 

I did a lot of research.  Looked at a lot of other Youtube videos, did a lot of reading.  It was obvious the microphone was in the wrong spot, but where was the right spot? On this motorcycle? That's my struggle.

I found it.  

Since I needed to be in this spot anyway, I put the microphone in the air intake, underneath the area I needed to access to replace an external power cable for a USB-C device. It took the better part of an hour to get things apart, the replacement cable fed to where it needed to go and a bit of arranging, so it all went back together with no damage.

A quick test (no video...) shows promise.

2023 Pinal Air Park 

Short motorcycle ride at Pinal Air Park, Pinal County, Arizona. My first video with a bit of narration included. Think the kids these days call the "vlogs". This was more of a test than anything, as my voice was recorded using my bluetooth headset onto my phone.

2023 High Speed Audio 

High speed audio test comparison (125 kmh/75mph), this is the final test for this configuration. Common to both setups: Original Apple earbuds used for mic only, fed into Google USB-C converter into DJI Osmo Action 3 camera (-12dB). Microphone has foam and deadcat installed for protection/isolation.

First: Microphone positioned in the air intake under fairing.

Second: Microphone positioned adjacent to the radiator in the fairing/radiator shroud. No adjustments made to the audio.

I'm kinda shocked. Yes, the 'louder' one can be turned down, but that's the point. If I get it recorded correctly (without the wind noise), then it's much easier to adjust as necessary.

2023 Picture Rocks WB 

I had this fragment of video, along with some additional narration on a ride thru the Tucson Mountains. My second video with a bit of narration included. This was more of a repeat of my earlier test, much better being a bit slower during this part of the ride.

There's only one more spot to try, but not sure there's time to futz around with it before the next adventure!