Saturday, October 2, 2021
4:30 a.m. Green Guest House
Mae Sot, Thailand
My most important task from yesterday was to get my visa stamp at the immigration office. That errand went smoothly. I rode my scooter there, of course. The office is six or seven kilometers away. I remember that in my pre-scooter days, getting to the office was more challenging. I have no problem walking that distance, but it is along a busy highway, and I dislike arriving at a government office hot and sweaty. Plus, there is always the risk of being sent away to get another document, and then I would be faced with a long walk back into town and then walking back again. That could take up an entire day. I sometimes took a taxi or a motorcycle taxi, but that involved a lot of complicated arrangements and discussions and disagreements over the price, and it was stressful. Using my scooter is so much better.
The clerks at the immigration office know me quite well. We don’t need to exchange words anymore. I simply handed over my passport (open to the correct page), they processed me within minutes, and I was out the door in short order. There is a nice coffee shop near the immigration office. They have a large table outside, and I planned to sit there and record a conclusion to my Quiet Outdoors Environment microphone-testing video. That went well. However, I went a bit crazy in terms of talking about the microphones. There was a lot of information I could convey, and perhaps I went too far. The actual testing of the microphones edited down nicely to about ten minutes. And I thought that a two-minute conclusion would round it out nicely to my goal of twelve minutes. I would simply say which microphone I liked best and produced the best quality audio in that environment. But that felt incomplete, and I found myself expanding on all the things I had learned about each microphone and NOT just about the audio quality. And that discussion quickly became ten minutes long. My final video overshot my twelve-minute goal by eight minutes.
My coffee was disappointing. It wasn’t hot. That often happens. And it usually means the coffee shop has lost a customer forever. I can’t return and risk a lukewarm coffee. This fact is mainly why I keep returning to BK Coffee & Beer. They consistently serve their latte piping hot.
I noticed later on that the audio levels were quite low, and my voice sounded thin and unpleasant. Not only that, a lot of annoying background noise was recorded. It sounds awful. Considering how much I had been testing microphones, you’d think I’d do a better job. But I was trying to convince myself that the built-in microphones are better than they actually are. It would be so convenient to use them. And I was trying to will them into being acceptable. But my will was unable to overcome the reality that the tiny microphones built into small cameras are never as good as an actual lavalier microphone connected by a physical wire.
I also suspect that in all my testing, I had accidentally left the microphone recording volume at a low setting. In fact, this is why I am awake so early. I woke up, and I started thinking about that microphone setting. I don’t truly understand that aspect of this camera yet. And I want to solve that mystery right away. My first goal for today, therefore, is to investigate this and settle the question of how this particular microphone control setting operates. I won’t be able to return to sleep until I master this information.
I was so disappointed by my coffee at the first coffee shop that on my way back to my guest house, I pulled into BK Coffee & Beer for a second coffee experience. And since I was there, and the place was empty, I decided that BK would serve as a good environment for another microphone test. I thought it could serve well for my test of a Quiet Indoors Environment. I completed the test, but I don’t think I will be able to use it for a Learning Curve video. A number of technical problems cropped up. Plus, I felt inhibited. I needed to raise my voice considerably for this test, and I was rather shocked at how my voice boomed inside this empty coffee shop. I was distracted by the sound of my voice, and I was concerned that I was freaking out the servers. Because of all this, my voice ended up sounding strained and unnatural.
All was not lost in terms of my microphone testing, however. Later in the day, I found the energy to complete test #3: Noisy Outdoors Environment (traffic). At exactly four in the afternoon, I packed up the necessary equipment, and I walked down to Mae Sot’s main street. I knew that the afternoon rush hour would be in full swing. I walked along the street until I found a particularly busy section where I could conduct my tests. It was exactly the type of place where I might normally record a YouTube vlog. It took about an hour, I guess, to then run the tests. I simply attached the first microphone, and then I walked along the busy street for a block and a half while speaking. At the end, I turned around and went back to my starting point. I then switched to a different microphone and then walked down the same section and recorded the same basic speech. I did that ten times, and I was done. I also recorded my introduction in that setting: “Welcome to the Learning Curve. I’m Doug, this is my planet, and when I learn, YOU learn.”
Cheesy? Perhaps. But I enjoy it. I like sweeping my arm around me when I say “this is my planet.” I’m indicating that everything you see around me is my world. And I point at myself and then at the camera lens when I talk about who is learning. I was not inhibited in the slightest in this setting. I was now out in my regular world, and I was able to concentrate on doing the tests properly. The whole process went smoothly. And I’ve already edited the video clips into a nice package along with photographic illustrations and title cards. Today, I will record a conclusion. More importantly, I learned a lot about which microphones work the best. And that is the ultimate goal of all this testing. I really want to know for my own benefit how this camera works and which microphones I should use. Shooting a Learning Curve video at the same time is secondary.
Well, it is time for me to review my schedule for the day. I have a lot of things I want to get done, and I want to review my list. The big question remains whether a trip to Sukhothai is going to take place or not. It SHOULD take place. All systems are “go” for that trip. Even the weather is cooperating to an extent. I’m hesitating for two reasons. One reason is that I’m so excited about this new camera. I could easily spend the next week learning about it and shooting the associated Learning Curve videos. The other reason is that I’m a bit confused about how to document this scooter trip on video for my Planet Doug channel. I’ve reached the point where taking video of a scooter trip is problematic. What’s the story? What’s the story when you simply strap your backpack to a scooter and ride somewhere for four hours? What’s interesting about that experience? How do you tell that story? I’m kind of struggling with that.
But I do have a secret weapon to galvanize myself into scooter action: the Relive app. It would be so much fun to ride from Mae Sot to Sam Ngao or Tak City tomorrow and record the trip through the Relive app. Thinking about that gets me excited. And that could be enough to get me packing today and on the road tomorrow morning. The key to accomplishing this is to not get distracted. I have to make sure that leaving tomorrow morning is my main goal. With that in my mind, I need to schedule my time today properly. If I spend ALL day on my Learning Curve videos, I won’t go anywhere tomorrow. I won’t feel ready. I have to schedule my day such that I leave time for packing and organizing for this trip AND create opportunities for getting excited about it. By that I mean I have to open up Google Maps in satellite view and look at the road through the mountains and imagine the realities of the trip and all the great experiences there will be along the way.