Perfect Audio made Easy! Review of Rode Wireless ME Microphone System
Hi guys, my name is Tom Antos and in this video I will talk about the Rode Wireless me or ME and why I think this might just be the best wireless audio system for most people. First I’m going to compare it to my favorite which is the Rode Wireless GO 2. As you can see they’re pretty much identical looking, they’re the same shape, the same weight. Now just because they look the same doesn’t mean that they operate the same way. So first thing let’s talk about the advertised long range. The Rode Wireless GO 2 is
advertised to be able to connect between the transmitter and the receiver up to 200 meters distance and if you guys watched my review of this you’ll know that I actually exceeded that very well. Now again that’s in perfect sort of open line of sight conditions. The Rode ME is advertised at half that distance which is just 100 meters, well I say just, but really in most situations 100 meters is still plenty of distance. The GO 2 also has the ability to record internally inside each of the transmitters. So let’s say your wireless connection is not
that good and the signal that is being fed to your camera is interrupted well you always have this backup recording. Another really great feature that the GO
is half the price of the Rode Wireless GO 2. So this standard kit of the GO 2 which will come with a receiver and two transmitters cost $300 at the time of this video and this kit with one transmitter one receiver is at $150. There are also other kit options that you can choose. Another advantage that the ME has is just in the ease of use and then how fast it is to be able to set it up and start recording. If you’re somebody who is just not an audio professional but you know you want
to get good quality audio this is probably the system for you. The Rode Wireless ME is perfectly designed for somebody who does maybe vlogging, YouTube videos, maybe independent journalists that needs the ability to be able to record two separate microphones or actually three microphones because you can in fact connect another third microphone which is something you can’t do with the GO 2. If for example if you were to get another one of these ME transmitters or in fact you can actually connect the GO 2 transmitter because they are sort of interchangeable and be able to
actually record three tracks and the reason is because the receiver of the ME actually has a built-in microphone on the bottom of it. So when you mount this receiver on top of your camera that microphone that’s built into it will actually be facing you or the camera operator and so that’s kind of I would say the main use scenario for this. So you’re going to have the transmitter let’s say on your subject that’s in front of the camera and then the camera operator is able to still get good quality audio of himself you know herself
talking and this actually came in really handy in the last few YouTube videos that I shot where I had my buddy Chad and I wanted to get good quality audio obviously of him so he had the transmitter while I was recording my audio from behind the camera using the receiver. Now like I said you can connect the extra transmitters so let’s say there might be some case scenarios where you don’t really care about recording the audio from behind the camera then you can still disable this microphone and you can just record one or two transmitters
coming into it. Another feature I really love about the Rode Wireless ME is the gain assist function and I know what you’re thinking especially if you’re like an audio or video professional you’re thinking why the hell would I want to use anything that’s automatic right because in for example when we’re operating cameras we want to if you’re a professional at least you want to make sure you have total control over the image so you’re not going to be using let’s say auto exposure or auto focus but well actually in the recently I would say in
the last few years the technology has just been getting so good that when it comes to auto focus I have actually owned a few professional jobs and I’m using the really good auto focus that comes for example with the Sony or Canon cameras and I can honestly say that I’m really loving the auto gain functionality of the Rode Wireless ME. Of course if you don’t want to use any auto settings like the gain assist then you can disable that and then this way you’ll have full manual control just like on the GO II but you
can enable or disable those settings by connecting the receiver to either a phone or a laptop and then using the Rode Central app and maybe while I’m on the stopping of the settings I’ll say that maybe the one feature that I don’t like about the Rode Wireless ME is the fact that the receiver does not have a digital display like the go-to receiver has so if you want to confirm what your settings are at the moment the only way for you to really do it is to be able to plug this into a phone or
a computer. In the app you can adjust the gain assist settings, there’s three settings off is obviously just off, it allows you the full manual control. Ado is for let’s say like an interview setting where you might have the audio levels jump around unexpectedly and dynamic which is for a more controlled environment where you still want to retain the dynamics for more natural sound. Now let me show you guys the different audio samples so you can kind of compare the different settings and actually up until now I’ve been recording the audio on the Rode Wireless
Go 2 so you can also compare it to that system. Now the audio you’re hearing is through the Rode Wireless ME, this is with the gain assist setting off so it’s full manual, I set it to medium setting and you can adjust the audio levels of this. Anyways, this is how it sounds when it’s again like a normal distance in front of my mouth and now I’m going to move it away and again this is manual audio level basically because it’s a low setting so it will not be automatically adjusting. We do also have quite
a bit of wind today so I don’t know, this is going to be picking it up, I mean I know that the original Rode Wireless Go 2 has really good wind suppression with the thing and this system comes with the exact same little like dead cat, dead mouse thing that you put on there to help you, you know, to help assist you with the wind noise. Anyways, again this is how it sounds with the Rode Wireless ME and manual settings. Now this is how it sounds with the gain assist setting in auto mode, this is
like a normal distance in front of my mouth, I’m going to be moving it away now, see how it deals with that as the transmitter or the microphone moves away and now I’m going to move it closer closer to my mouth and this is how it sounds when it’s like right up against my mouth and again I’m going to move it away to a normal distance. Now I have the gain assist setting in dynamic mode, this is how it sounds when it’s like a normal distance in front of my mouth and I’m going to be
moving it away, moving it away, this is how it sounds with the dynamic mode and the Rode Wireless ME and now I’m going to move it right up to my lips and this is how it sounds when it’s like right up to my mouth and I’ll move it away to a normal distance. So again, this is how the Rode Wireless ME sounds in dynamic mode. This is the Rode Wireless GO II and obviously manual audio settings and this is how it sounds sort of a foot away from my mouth and so this one again doesn’t
have the auto gain function or gain assist like the Rode Wireless ME, so you can kind of see how it sounds once I start moving the microphone away and now I’m going to bring it close and I’m going to bring it really, really, really close like right up to my mouth and this is where I’ve had a lot of times issues with the Rode Wireless GO is that sometimes the microphone gets too close or just let’s say somebody you’re interviewing gets really loud and the audio will start clipping and sounding really bad. Most of the
time when I use the Rode Wireless ME, I have the gain assist setting on either in dynamic or auto, right now it’s in dynamic because again it’s more of a controlled environment if I’m for example interviewing somebody and I don’t know if they’re going to be really loud or quiet then I’ll set it to auto setting and I can honestly again say that having this ability where I don’t have to then go in and mess around with the audio levels on the transmitter or the receiver or within camera, I just kind of plug it in,
turn it around and start recording and I know I’m going to get consistently good quality audio is very handy for me, it allows me basically to work faster. Another thing I really like that Rode did is their new Rode Capture app which right now it’s only for iPhones, maybe they’ll change that but it’s a really good app if for example you’re on the go and again you want to have the ability to record maybe yourself like a selfie kind of vlogging style or if you’re doing interviews where you want to actually be able to get
two angles and get really good quality audio because using that app you can actually use both the front and backward facing cameras and then you just plug in the Rode Wireless ME receiver using the provided cable for the iPhone and then within the app you have full control of the audio settings and you can capture you know decent quality video, great quality audio, again with a minimal setup where many times I know for myself I’m just not able to carry whole camera setup. So having the ability to record good quality audio and two different camera
angles just using an iPhone and the Rode Wireless ME is really good. Using the app you can also change for example you can have like a split screen of the two different angles or you can do picture in picture. So now for the long range test I’m going to be heading down the street and we’ll see I guess how it operates. So I have one of the well the receiver obviously and the other mic is there so my buddy Chad is behind the camera you guys will maybe hear him and the other one is obviously
up here with me the transmitter. So anyways let me head back and I’m going to be using Google Maps to tell you guys the distances. So okay I am right now… what does it say here 100 feet 108 feet actually to be exact away so this is me facing as an open line of sight. Now if I turn around I don’t know if you guys can hear a difference there. If it’s cutting out. No you’re good. Sounds good? Yep good. Alright okay so I’m going to be heading now further down the street. Alright so now
I’m exactly 200 feet away I was going through my back now it’s open line of sight. Again I guess I’ll hear when I come back how it sounds but it looks like Chad’s telling me it’s looking good. Okay so sounds good. This is open line of sight I’m at 305 feet away from the camera and I’ll keep on going further. Let’s see. You’re starting to cut out a little. Chad is saying it’s starting to cut out. I’m facing the cameras now it’s open line of sight and this is at 400 feet away so way past
the the advertised range and I don’t know give me a thumbs up if you can hear me Chad. I can hear you but it’s breaking up. Okay he’s saying it’s breaking up. Now it’s also going to be interesting to see whether well I don’t know if you guys can hear me now but… if Chad, because he’s screaming and I’m talking really quietly how the auto gain is actually working there. Okay so now I’m at exactly 328 feet away which is the advertised working range open line of sight and I don’t know, Chad can you hear
me? Yeah we seem to be good from that range. Okay so yeah that’s the max advertised range and now if I turn around. You’re starting to stutter. Now maybe I’m going to test not the long range but as you see how it deals with objects or interference. So here you guys can hear me I’m guessing good. Now I’m behind the fence here and also it goes going through my back. Now turn around so I’m actually facing the camera and I’m going to go even further here behind my shed. Oh you’re cutting out. I think that’s
too far behind the house and then another like a shed which has like aluminum whatever metal I think it’s the aluminum walls. So that’s how it sounds going through all of that so there’s really not much further I can go heading back. Could you hear me? I think we lost you when you got by the shed. Alright well anyways that’s how it performs so hopefully it gives you guys again a good idea and another thing I would say to keep in mind is yeah every situation is going to be different. Like I said depending on
how many Wi-Fi signals you have that interfere again what’s around and all that stuff but you can use this you can definitely use it like you can have let’s say your mixer guy or whatever you know your recording device in the let’s say the next door or well I would say the next room and then you could be let’s say in another room and for my tests that seems to work well. Once you start going like past you know multiple buildings and things like that then yeah isn’t that something that you should be relying upon
but then again that’s kind of with most of these wireless audio systems that I’ve tested out. In short if you just want to be able to get consistently good quality audio without messing around with any settings then definitely look into getting the Rode Wireless ME for their latest prices and where you can get it as always check the links in the description or head on over to my website at tomantosfilms.com That’s it for this one, bye!
