In September, I attended Sight Village Northeast, held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, to explore the latest in assistive technology to help the Blind and Low Vision community. After recording some audio interviews at Sight Village Central back in 2023, which Double Tap kindly aired, I was keen to repeat. Double Tap now includes a video version on YouTube, so I set out to capture not just audio, but also video at the event.
The Sight Village Interviews
The Setup
After the interviews aired I had been asked about the equipment I used to record at the event, so thought I would share that in this blog.
Camera
My iPhone 16 Pro Max was the main component, but any iPhone with USB C allows you to capture directly from a range of USB C microphones, allowing you to improve the sound quality. The cameras on the iPhone provide fantastic video with little adjustment required. I simply ensured I was recording at 4k, 30 frames per second, to allow for cropping the video in editing.
Microphone
For the sound, I used an Audio Technica ATR 2100X USB Cardoid Microphone. The Audio Technica has the option of XLR or USB connection, making it ideal as a first microphone, providing a path to using the XLR with mixers and more professional equipment. The USB plugs into the bottom of the microphone and then into the iPhone and it works immediately.
There is a 3.5 mm headphone jack that I plugged classic Apple Ear Pods into to be able to monitor what the microphone was picking up, and for the audio from the phone to feed through. I picked up a pair of the headphones on eBay at about half the price of Apple, but be warned there are lots of fake ones around.
Extras
The phone and microphone are enough to record, but I had originally hoped to be able to record myself and the interviewee in frame, so I had purchased a Insta 360 Flow Pro gimbal with the hope that I could get the camera far enough away to get everyone in frame, sadly this was a step too far and created issues with the lead from the microphone tugging on the gimbal. I did use the Insta 360 Flow Pro to help keep the camera footage stable and smooth. I picked the Insta 360 Flow Pro because it integrates with Apple Dock Kit, allowing the tracking to be used from any application. This was important as I expected the Insta 360 software to be less than accessible, which I was right to be wary of.
Thankfully, I only needed to capture the footage and get it over to Steven Scott. Steven did all the challenging work editing the final output.
Double Tap Interviewing Me
With many curious on the setup, Steven and Shaun interviewed me to find out more.
Tell me what you think in the comments below or on X @timdixon82
Thank you
Thank you to Steven and Shaun at Double Tap for entertaining my desire to do this and then include it on the show.
A massive thank you to all those I interviewed:
- Philip Ward of Seeing Solutions
- Graham Longly of Aspire Consultancy
- Jason Shaw of Vision Aid
- Gasya Cavusyan Uncu of WeWalk
