Very heavy wind noises in videos
Hi everybody,
got the 10C today and did a first test. Before doing it I've installed newest firmware version (1.0.2)
Everything looks that it works fine - but the videos are full of wind noises. I've tried both microphones, also the rod microphone with windbreaker, no improvement. Then I tried setting advanced noise control on and off, still no improvement.
The noise starts at about 10 km/h (TEN !!!) under my integral helmet (Shoei GT Air Wanderer). Sure - this helmet is not the quietest one, but it's not that impossible loud that you cannot hear anything else on video but wind. In the videos it sounds like I'm driving 200 km/h but I'm only at about 30. There's no chance to here my own voice because wind noise is too dominant.
Seems that advanced noise control only works for communication, but not for videos.
What else can I do? Any tipps for me?
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I've found the issue. The mics installed inside the helmet are completely ignored when recording videos. Only the integrated microphone on the bottom of the 10C is used.
I found no setting in the preferences to get the external mics to work (but they work if I'm doing intercom or telephone calls). Now I'm trying older firmware versions in different languages, hopefully this may help.
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That's what I did:
- restored original firmware version (1.0 english)- tried firmware version 1.02 english and german
- tried to manipulate EVERY setting over device manager, headset and android sena app to see if it takes effect on all different firmwares (and yes I did restarts)
- plugged in microphones from SMH-10--> the microphones still won't work. No voice is picked up. Only the little hole at the bottom of the lense is used. No wonder I get heavy wind noises all the time.
I think my device is broken or there is a software issue that can't be fixed even with firmware upgrades on my 10c.
I'll give it back to the manufacturer and will try a replacement.
Also I found a user at revzilla - he has a similar problem. He only got recordings from the external microphones, but not from the little hole with the integrated mic. Maybe Sena has construction failures?
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Got a replacement. Now everything works as it should out of the box. Internal mic when no headset is connected - and external mic when it's plugged in. No wind noises anymore. Fine.
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Way late to this comment, but I just sent in a complaint to Sena for the same exact issue. It totally makes sense when you brought up the external mic being used... So they sent you a totally new unit?! I'm hoping there is a different solution - but whatever fixes it i suppose..
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I have a fix for this but it will definitely void your warranty. Just like everyone here, I was getting an absurd amount of wind noise. So much that it overwhelmed other sounds like my voice, music, and conversations I was trying to record. With a little research, I found out that Sena put a mic inside the unit itself. Why? The only reason I can think of is to be able to detach unit from the helmet and still be able to record videos (with audio) while off the bike. But I highly doubt any of us will ever do that when the majority of smart phones also record videos (some better quality than the 10c). There are options in the Utility app and the device manager software to turn off every type of sound recording except for the mic on the unit itself. Why?!!
So... here's what I did to fix this and I caution you that this will definitely void your warranty. I opened up the unit with a super small 6point screwdriver. Once opened up, there's 2 small wires at the bottom front of unit where the little mic is. Using my trusty scissors, I snipped them. Then put the unit back together. Done! No more wind noise!
I'm not sure Sena will ever fix this in future firmware updates so we can turn off that built in mic via app or device manager but it doesn't matter now that mine is now snipped. If you don't ever plan on using the 10c while off of your helmet, then you might as well snip those wires if you're having this issue. Good luck!
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Add me to the list of people having the problem with extreme wind noise... very frustrating that Sena hasn't fixed this problem as my unit is useless (in my opinion) because of this. As others have said, it is only when recording video, and doesn't impact other conversations.
Before finding this thread, I tried everything with the internal microphones and played with all the settings. I then discovered that there must be a mic on the unit as I still experienced the same problem even when I disconnected the internal microphones completely!
I'm going to try the "tape over the hole" suggestion and see if that produces better results.
With regards to why they have a mic on the unit, I would guess it might work in conjunction with the "Advanced Noise Control" setting as that is supposed to "reduce the effects of ambient noise during intercom conversations"? So I would think cutting the wire might result in worse intercom clarity?
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I also tried putting tape over the built in mic. Helped to about 45mph. After that, wind noise overwhelmed all other sounds. Best bet it to eliminate that built in mic entirely. I did that and I'm getting to about 95mph before I even start hearing wind. I'm also using the boom mic with the faux fur mod. This setup is on a Shoei RF-1200 if that helps any. 0 -
Cutting that mic wire has not affected my intercom communications at all. At least not when using intercom during a phone call. Wife and a few others have stated that I sound very clear for being on a bike. As for rider to rider communication, I haven't done that yet as to the riding season is just beginning and haven't really been out with other riders. But I don't see it being any different from phone calls. 0 -
Hey Vi5a Sabou, thanks for your quick reply!
I appreciate the additional information regarding your experiences with the tape 'fix' and also the impact (or lack thereof) that cutting the wire had on noise cancelling. As you said, cutting the wire seems pretty drastic, so before I go that route, I think I will open a support ticket with Sena. It seems like they should be aware of this problem?
I bought my unit in September 2015, and it has a model number of '10C-01'. I wonder if they have modified the microphone or fixed this with newer units?
Depending on what I hear from them, I may end up cutting the wire too as it is pretty useless for recording videos right now. The rider-to-rider intercom, phone usage (as you said, people can hardly believe I am on a bike), and music playback (Bluetooth from my phone) work well, but video experience is disappointing. I would hate to make the audio worse as that's the only good thing about the unit now.
BTW - I'm using a full-face Arai Signet-Q helmet and the wired microphone that came with the Sena 10C.
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I just bought mine last month. Highly doubt Sena changed anything with hardware. There has been a few firmware updates though. I updated my unit to the latest one.
Considering that not all units have this problem, you may want to try using the boom mic with some faux fur around it to see if that helps. I've never used the little wired mic on any of the Sena devices I have. They tend to kind of... suck! On the 2 smh-10r units I have on my other helmets, I rigged lapel mics (Olympis ME-52) modded with thicker foam and the finger of a latex glove around it. All this to cut out wind noise. I will eventually do the same to the 10c when the new mic arrives (hopefully by the weekend). Most of the folks I ride with do the same to their mics. These mics are terrible for sportbike riders that cruise above 75mph.
There are a bunch of YouTube videos on how to cut out wind noise. Try some of them out. I will most likely upload a video this weekend if weather clears up of how my videos sound.0 -
What you should try is to temporarily remove the boom/wired microphone but leave the speakers connected to the 10C. Ride around or blow in the 10C body while recording a video. If you don't hear any wind noise, then you might need a better foam for your mic.
When the speakers are connected to the 10C body it should disable the internal mic in the 10C. And when you remove the speakers/mic harness from the 10C, the internal mic becomes active, so you can use the 10C like a handheld video camera.
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Thank you for the responses, but I've already tried the following using my full-faced helmet while riding at speeds up to around 45 mph +/- this morning:
- Using the wired microphone while recording video.
- Using the boom microphone while recording video.
- Disconnecting the microphone but leaving the speakers/harness connected to the unit while recording video.
In all cases, there was no change and the wind noise was still unbearable on the video recordings. As stated in the thread above, this got me thinking the unit must have its own microphone (how else could it capture wind audio on the video right?) and, thanks to all of you, was confirmed above. So it appears my unit's built-in microphone never turns off regardless of what I do.
I do have one question though... I am curious if those that experienced this problem are using the speaker/microphone harness that came with the 10C or if you are still using the one from a previous Sena unit (ex: SMH5, SMH010R, etc.)? The connectors are the same so if you are coming from a previous unit, most people probably don't replace the speakers and mic they've been using. I wonder if that could make a difference?
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I don't have any experience with the smh5, but I do know that the harness for the 10r, 20s, and 10c are different.
Like you, I've tried everything to shut off that built in mic with no success. Without the tape covering the hole, I'd get wind noise as soon as I started moving on the bike. With tape covering it, I'll get to about 45mph before wind noise overwhelms other sounds. I just think that some units are defective where that built in mic is always turned on.0 -
I just wanted to provide an update. Working with Sena Support, they agreed that my 10C wasn't functioning properly because with the speaker harness connected but the microphone disconnected, there should be no audio recorded (should not be capturing wind noise). When the speaker harness is connected, the unit is supposed to automatically turn off the internal microphone and mine obviously wasn't.
They set up an RMA and said I should mail them the unit, speakers, and microphone (at my cost, by the way) and they would then issue me a replacement. When I asked if I really needed to take the speakers out of my full-face helmet, they said that I should because they wanted to make sure it was the unit and not the speaker harness.
This got me thinking, and I remembered that I was still using the speakers from a previous SMH5 because the connection looks the same and I never had any issues with intercom, phone, music, etc. working. When I got the 10C, I figured why should I bother uninstalling and reinstalling speakers as it's a pain in the neck to rerun all the wires under all the padding.
So, based on the support ticket, I tried using the 10C speaker harness instead and guess what... it fixed my wind noise! So while I'm not sure if the SMH5 uses a different speaker harness or not (they look identical to me), swapping out harnesses resolved my problem. Maybe the problem others are having isn't with a bad 10C unit, but rather a bad speaker harness instead?
I would like to say however, that I still haven't closed the support ticket because while the wind noise issue is resolved, I'm now having issues capturing music on the video recording. Although everything sounds fine in my speakers, when I play back the recording, I can barely hear the music I had streaming from my iPhone 5S? My voice, Siri's prompts, phone conversations, etc. all record fine however, the music is almost too faint to hear. So while one (annoying) issue is resolved, my experience with the 10C is still less than satisfactory.
I'm awaiting their response/suggestions for this latest issue and will post again if I uncover more.
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Glad you got the wind noise all sorted out. Don't worry too much about volume of music in videos as it's much better to add music is post production. And if uploading to sites such as YouTube, have to make sure it's royalty free or else YouTube will just mute your video. Here's a vid I recorded last week about working with the 10c... https://youtu.be/QkyWQLr6szg 0 -
I purchased a Sena10C 5 months ago. I had none of the above problems.... so the next thing happened..... heavy rain one day and the camera got wet on the inside, fogging up the lens. So the camera is replaced due to the warranty (thank goodness)
The new camera I receive has the same problem that everyone has been having, wind noise. So I have emailed the sena support team and no response. I have tried everything as well and experienced the same, as the above people. I am very tempted at snipping the wire, because it seems like a large amount of senas products are faulty and will not be fixed by any firmware updates.
It is a case of physically opening it and fixing it through sena or cutting the wire. If sena hasn't came back to me before the end of the week, then I will snip the wire and return with some feedback.
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The SMH5 does have a different system for the head phones. It will hook into the 10c and works with the phone aspect, but the camera doesn't register it. I discovered this following everyone's posts and doing some trouble shooting. I had the same problem with wind noise. I had been using the Slim speakers for the SMH5 and switched those out with the new 10c ones and everything seems to work. Doing a test drive later today.
I realized the systems are different (and not a product error) when I went on to get the slim speakers for the 10c, but they don't have them and the SMH5 slims don't come up as compatible.
Now I just have to deal with speakers larger than comfortably fit in my helmet.
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