When Overthinking Leads to (Self-) Discovery
2026-06-22 13:04:06
I’ve been finding myself feeling like I need to be creative in some way by writing, coding, or using my camera. I really want to record everything in my life for some reason, like how famous vloggers or influencers do. I don’t end up recording anything because I’m too embarrassed.
However, in the midst of not actually recording anything worth posting at all, I was able to at least iron out using the different microphone setups I have. I have a Sony α6700, and I initially wanted something that could take advantage of its Multi-Interface (MI) Shoe; so I bought the Sony ECM-M1 microphone. Because I’m never satisfied with anything, I eventually also bought the Rode Wireless Pro system.
At first I ran a bunch of “tests” in different environments to see what settings I would need because I was envisioning the places I might record in. I think they were definitely useful tests, but I ran into some real world situations recently where I either wanted to record something quick or wanted to record something that sounded high quality.
I’m a black-and-white person. I unreasonably and irrationally wanted to use only one of those systems ALL of the time. I’m so, so slowly coming to accept that there are different tools for different situations, and that’s how the world is. There’s no 1 tool that can do everything in any sort of setting, i.e., there’s not a hammer that can also screw in screws. There’s not even a hammer that can handle all types of screws.
I found that my Sony microphone is great for quick on-the-go types of situations because there’s literally no setup to it. I just have to slide it into the MI Shoe on my camera, and it’s recording. Although it doesn’t sound as good as the Rode system, it sounds better than the camera audio by a lot. The Rode system sounds amazing, whether that be for just talking or for my covers; but it’s more complicated to set up. I need to take the transmitter(s) and receiver out of the case, then I need to plug the receiver into the camera, and then I need to make sure they’re connected to each other. I can use this system when I have more time and don’t need to rush anything. AND THAT’S OKAY. That’s why I kept both.
I’ve spent a lot of time within the past 2 years trying to train myself not to be so rigid with the stupid internal rules I have about things. I tell myself to let go of a lot. Sometimes I’m able to, sometimes I’m not. This is definitely one of those things where after some time, I’ve been able to be okay with how things are. It’s freeing to come to conclusions like this because I don’t need to worry anymore if one system will be able to handle certain environments. I won’t need to worry about the more annoying RODE setup every time just because it sounds the best. I felt handcuffed because I needed to see if the RODE system could handle whatever I wanted to record, but that meant I needed to make sure it could handle singing or noisy environments. Without that feeling, I can just go into situations without worrying about if it would come out badly; I know it’ll sound good either way.
