Australian home-grown company RØDE Microphone has leapt on to the world stage in San Diego California to announce three new products.
For the first time, the company has introduced a wireless lavaliere (lapel) mic to its range, the RØDELink Digital Wireless System. The timing is opportune as the Australian Government has recently made changes to the radio frequency spectrum, effectively shutting down current models on the market as these frequencies have now been set aside for use by telcos for such things as mobile phones and digital data transfer purposes.
Whilst these older units will still work, the risk of interference during audio recording and capture is very real and will therefore make any recording useless thus needing a retake.
The reason radio mics are used, apart from the obvious ability for the camera operator to be further away from the subject, is that on board mics pick up noise from the camera.
RØDE has successfully taken on industry giants Sennheiser and Sony in the high end consumer, semi professional and professional audio markets. As a bonus to the Australian economy, they are also designed and manufactured in Sydney.
Other models released include a high end shotgun mic and a specialist studio mic.