Excalibur's Zone

The maiden ride video for my trike has gone up (https://youtu.be/GFstJ6nenlU) and the camera mount I used was less than satisfactory. Even with image stabilization, the video was very jittery and the audio? Well, that was so bad that I had to use music to cover it all.

At least I know the handlebar mount and adaptor I used were not good enough for the location (the bar on the back of my seat). I have since moved to a helmet-mounted camera and the footage from that is pretty stellar! The audio is good, there is no super-jumpy footage, and you don’t have to look at me on the verge of passing out as I ride around 🙂

I have another video coming up where I explore the neighborhood a bit and then hit the trails at a local park. I did find that the vibrations were bad enough that some of the bolts and nuts vibrated loose and I had to go to the bike shop to get new ones. Locktite it is! I just have to keep an eye on the bits and bobs of the trike as I go forward.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the bike computer, which I got to keep track of mileage, doesn’t connect well. I’m going to see if I can connect it to a front tire instead of the back where it’s too far away to make a good wireless connection.

Until the next ride!

So, as you may know, I picked up a Sun Seeker T3 CX recumbent tadpole trike after I cashed in my Magic: The Gathering collection. I’d like to get a bag with reflective tape on it to improve my visibility at dawn, dusk, and night. I have my eyes set on one but I’m also looking at saddlebags for my rack.

The first ride was rough because the rear derailleur cable got overstretched, the brakes were too loose (oh, man the stock brakes on this bike), and the seat wasn’t set to what I needed. I recorded this ride, but the footage is very jittery and the sound is entirely too horrible to listen to since it sounds like I’m rolling marbles over asphalt. I’ll be uploading this soon, but will do a voice over to spare you from hearing that junk and I’m going to try to stabilize the video. With this recording, I used a clamp and an adaptor to mount my Cube+ to my seat back. Not the best idea.

This second ride, however, went MUCH better! The brakes needed to be broken in a little, but they are much tighter, I rode to my mom’s house and after dinner, rode back in the dark. My wife and son followed behind me to make sure I was OK. 😉 The rear derailleur was fine this go around (there and back again) so the ride was much smoother.

I’ve since put a strap mount on my helmet and tested it out a little. I didn’t record the ride back because it was too dark and I didn’t record the ride there because I didn’t have the helmet mount attached at the time :\ I’ll be getting more footage soon, however, since it’s my goal to bike every day I can!

I will be uploading my videos to a new playlist, but I could set up a new channel later. The playlist is “Sunseeker Trike“, though I might change the name of this playlist. I’ll play it by ear for now.

My full trike kit is as follows:

• Sun Seeker T3 CX recumbent tadpole trike
• Sun Seeker Recumbent Fenders
• Sun Seeker Recumbent Rear Carrier
• Terra Trike Versa Bars
• Delta Air Zound Horn
• Mirrycle lncredibell BIG
• Power Grips
• Safety flags, 2 mirrors, headlight, tail light, reflectors, tire pump, multi-tool, seat bag, first aid kit, helmet, 2 water bottle cages, 2 water bottles, and a tire repair kit.

That doesn’t seem like much, but a lot of time went into choosing the components (except the bag, I just needed something quick) and building the trike. What should have taken a few hours took 6+ hours due to odd mounting points and bent mounts. Everything is good to go now, though!

Things I have to do: Learn when to shift. I need to get a better bag, either a pannier, a set of panniers, and/or a track-mounted bag. PRACTICE! It was only a few miles today, but I’m so out of shape it was rather tiring. I’m going to need to ride a lot more to get myself to the point where I can take on the full length of the Capital Trail and back! That’s roughly 110 miles! And I want to do it in one day! There are others I want to do as well. Such as taking USBR 1 from Richmond to Washington DC and back or USBR 76 from Richmond to Blacksburg and back. Sadly, at this point in my life, I can’t do a cross-country bike trip. BUT! That doesn’t mean I can’t tackle that at a later date 🙂

Maybe I’ll live stream some of the trips using Periscope? But I’m definitely going to record every trip I take from here on out.

Hey, guys. As you know, I’m trying to improve the audio quality of my videos. With my latest EDH video (Zedruu vs. Arjun vs. Keranos), I’ve received comments that the audio is not that great. It’s a huge step forward from my first EDH video in the audio department, but the complaints are still there: Voices fade in and out, echo, and other minor complaints.

The video was recorded using the built-in mic of my camera at The Valiant Pug, here in Richmond, VA. The store has private rooms where we can close the door for privacy. The unfortunate thing is the room isn’t built for acoustics. I was thinking about getting sound proofing that I could carry around and mount, but that’s a lot more to carry around for a recording session and I’m only one guy.

Now the great news is that thanks to you, I’ve got the mics and soundboard so I’m really on my way to more professional audio! 🙂 I will be breaking these out during the next recording session. We were testing the acoustics at The Valiant Pug to see if we needed the mics there and it turns out that we did. :\ Lesson learned.

Through research, I’ve found that a lot of people who do professional work in the video industry use a separate audio recorder. Many of these are digital recorders. The audio is generally filtered and processed separately from the video and then spliced into the final product after it’s been enhanced. Usually, audio software is used to remove background noise like crowds, ocean surf, wind, and the like so that the audio can focus on the actors rather than the noise (thanks, Rocket Jump Film School!). I’ve also heard the advice of many YouTubers who have stated over and over that crummy audio will drive subscriptions away and it’s probably the number one reason why people will not watch a video.

To that end, I’ve been looking at different professional and semi-professional solutions and have narrowed my selection to the TASCAM DR-05 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OU2IQG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=UMZ3F4KREPLF&coliid=IFZEQSY49RV8K&psc=1) due to it’s reviews on Amazon and YouTube, plus the sound quality it provides even in noisy environments is amazing.

I really would like to get this as soon as possible so that I can really up my game when recording EDH/Commander, vlogs, podcasts, and boardgame plays (which are on their way). It’s roughly $85.00 US and, to be honest, a few extras like the ones in this TASCAM Accessory Kit (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IMPJV7S/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=UMZ3F4KREPLF&coliid=I3PB7FL4H2FQT8) for roughly $26.00 would also help a great deal.

If you could help me get this equipment, audio monitoring and editing would be made so much easier for me since my camera lacks these functions. Also, the quality of my audio would increase dramatically!

If you could visit my Patreon page and offer a small donation (or even donate to me through PayPal) that would be wonderful! The higher quality my audio, the more views and possible subscribers I’ll get, at least in theory and according to what others are saying.

Thanks for reading,
-Excalibur

The first part of my plan has arrived! I now have two sets of wireless Lavalier mics! That gives me four mics and transmitters plus two receivers. I’m waiting for some cables before I can fully test the system, but I’ll be ensuring that these things work as soon as I can!

In the meantime, I’m waiting for the following equipment:

1x 1/4″ to 1/8″ TRS adapter cable
1x Set of reflectors and diffusers1x 3.5mm TRS to dual 1/4″ TS Cable
2x Dual 1/4″ to 1/4″ cables
1x Behringer Xenyx 802 8-input 2-bus Mixer

This stuff is sitting in shipping limbo at Amazon, which is rather irritating, but I’m going to be as patient as I can. Even though some of this stuff has been sitting in limbo for about a week. *sigh*

I would like to thank my wife for allowing me to make the mic and cable purchase. This is really going to help with recording everyone’s voice being heard over the ambient store noise and possibly reduce the extraneous voices at the stores! Here’s hoping!