SellToCamera.com logo

Great sound: Use a lapel microphone

on in Videos

Use an inexpensive lapel mic to give your videos the great sound quality they’ll need to stand out from the user-generated video crowd.

If your audience can’t clearly hear what you have to say then your video is a waste of everyone’s time. Use a lapel microphone instead of your camera’s built-in microphone and get a massive boost in audio quality for a minimal investment.

Andrew Biss uses an inexpensive Audio-Technica ATR 3350 lapel microphone to get good quality sound. Bad sound stands out far more than less than perfect image quality, so it pays to get the best sound possible.

Good audio is vital

Effective business web videos demand good quality audio. The built-in microphone on your camera is OK when up-close, but for these videos you are simply too far away.

A wired external lapel (lavalier) microphone is an effective first step to great audio. Wireless systems are more flexible but cost a lot more and often have licensing restrictions.

Monitor your sound

Attach a set of headphones to your camera’s audio output socket to check your audio quality before recording. Pay careful attention to any background noise or hum.

Offices are (electrically) noisy, so check what your microphone hears. It is a lot easier to fix audio problems before recording than afterwards with an audio editing tool.

Play back each take 3 times and concentrate on: image only, sound only, both together. This is a simple way to check that you have a good quality take.

Create a recording checklist

This is a good time to create your own recording checklist; top of that list: verify you have turned your microphone on!

It is frustrating to record a good take only to discover the microphone was off. Check your microphone is really on every single time before you press Record.

Turn on your camera’s audio level display and check the level bars move when you say the phrase familiar to roadies everywhere: “Testing, testing, one two three, testing …”

Next time

In the next video I will get back to the camera setup and show you a simple trick to make best use of a large monitor placed directly behind your camera.

 

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

 

My new presentation blog

Facing a projector and empty chairs prior to a presentationGetting audiences to take action’s hard, as I know all too well from giving hundreds of technical presentations. At Tech Presenting I help you give technical presentations that get audiences to take action. After all, without the action it’s just entertainment!

 

5 Comments and counting

Even though SellToCamera.com is retired, if you’ve anything to add please post your comment below or get in touch with me direct. Thanks.

  1. Jan

    December 5th 2009 at 17:07

    Great instructional video series you have here.

    I have the same Canon camera as you, for which I recently bought a stereo lavalier microphone. The mic was supposed to work with a camcorder’s plug-in power, but as it turns out these Canon cameras do not have this power supply feature.

    Could you possibly point me to a source of cheap, in-line mic power supplies like the one you are using here? I’ve been all over ebay and radioshack’s website and can’t seem to find them.

    Or – alternatively tell me where you bought your mic and power supply combo so I can get a set too.

    Thanks!

    • Andrew Biss

      December 6th 2009 at 13:55

      Hi Jan,

      Thanks for your comment.

      The problem you could be having is that professional quality external microphones typically require what is called Phantom power.

      As you have discovered, the Canon HF S10 camcorder does not supply phantom power. The mic connection on the camcorder is a 3.5mm socket that requires a self-powered mic.

      At the 1:19 point in the video you will see the cylindrical part of the Audio-Technica ATR 3350 I am using. This contains a small button-type battery and the on-off switch. This is the only power the mic requires.

      I bought the mic online from the Thomann music store here in Germany. Here is a link to the mic on the English version of their site. In the photo on that page you can also see the button battery I mentioned.

      Hope this helps,

      Best regards,

      Andrew.

      • Jan

        December 6th 2009 at 23:32

        Thanks for your fast reply.
        The microphone I use is a £10 ebay item that can hardly be called professional, but it works well with my computer mic input (which has plug-in power). That’s why I fully expected it to work, and also expected the Canon to have a powered input… but for some strange reason they have left it out.

        The cylindrical part you’re referring to is what I was looking for, but at first unable to find at a reasonable price online. Found lots of £100 Sony and Sennheiser power modules though…

        I finally asked the ebay microphone seller if he knew of any places to source a power module, and it turned out he had them in stock – just not listed on ebay. So now I have one on the way for £10.

        We’re hoping to have our business videos online in the next few months, and for other readers of this blog I cannot stress how much impact good sound has on the overall quality of the production.

        - – - – -

        By the way: from what I understand plug-in power and phantom power are two different things. Phantom power is found, as you said, in professional quality equipment and can be up to 48V. I have a Rode mic and a M-Audio home recorder that uses phantom power.

        Plug-in power was introduced when consumer electronics such as minidisc recorders and computers needed low-power output for small microphones of not-so-professional quality. It typically operates at much lower voltages than phantom power.

        (Yes, I’ve been reading up on the subject ;-) …)

  2. Brad

    October 22nd 2010 at 16:29

    Andrew, loved your video. I had already decided that I needed a separate microphone for a video project I’m doing in a couple of weeks. I’m looking all over for the definitive answer to a question. Hoping you can tell me.

    I saw in a review of the ATR3350 that the markings on the battery case are incorrect. The markings on the case indicate that the positive side of the battery (flat side) goes toward the spring. The review says this is backwards and the negative should go toward the spring. It goes on to say that the microphone will work either way but the sound quality will be degraded if the batter is inserted positive to the spring.

    Which way do you use yours? It sounds great in your video.

    Thanks,
    Brad
    http://www.bradhadley.com

Please add your comment