My Myk SmartMyk 1

Rode’s Videomic has been one of the leading affordable camera mounted microphone options for quite some time. Even so, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Many people don’t like the large size of the Videomic or the shock mount system and I personally find it hard to close 9 volt battery door on the VideoMic pro.

If you’re looking for something with a little bit different design philosophy the SmartMyk is an interesting option to consider. The design uses a CR 2032 button battery instead of a 9 volt battery and an internal TPE soft synthetic rubber shock mount instead of rubber band suspension system. Both of these design choices dramatically reduce the size of the microphone.

03_Front1

If you look at it from the front it’s easy to see how small this thing is (not much wider then the cold shoe mount). The cold shoe adapter is metal instead of plastic on the SmartMyk which probably makes it a little more durable and the longer microphone tube should help with side noise rejection. SmartMyk also claims 200+ hours of operation on a single CR 2032 battery v.s. Rode’s 70 hours on a single 9 volt battery.

My Myk SmartMyk 1

The VideoMic pro comes with a +20 db gain switch while the SmartMyk has a +15 db gain switch which might make a difference depending on the camera you’re using. The Videomic has a high pass filter switch (I normal leave on) which rolls off frequencies bellow 80Hz while the SmartMyk has a fixed 70Hz high pass filter built in. Both are made in Australia and from what I understand the SmartMyk was designed by a few former Rode employees.

Price difference isn’t very dramatic, the VideoMic pro retails for about $229, while the SmartMyk retails for $199. The only audio samples I’ve heard from the SmartMyk are on their website and it’s kind of hard to tell how far away from the microphone the speaker is in the video.

I was planning on picking up a second VideoMic pro this week, but maybe I’ll hold off and give the SmartMyk a try. I like the idea of getting 200 hours of operation and I was never a fan of Rode’s suspension system. If any of you test this out before me (Australia readers hint hint), send me some audio samples and let me know the distances they were recorded at. I’d be interested to hear who this performs.

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