Audio Quality Matters
MARCH 27TH, 2023
Why do you need clean audio?
A famous saying in the film industry is, “the best audio goes unnoticed”, and this couldn’t be more true. When you start noticing the audio in a video, it tends to be because of a negative characteristic; voices are too low/high, it sounds like the subject is in an empty church, or what you’re hearing is scratchy and out of sync. The list could go on and on. The best audio comes when the audience doesn’t notice it, and they contently listen to whatever it is they’re watching.
If you want people to actually WATCH your video, it starts with clean audio..
Microphones and which is best for you.
Incase you missed our ‘3 Tips For Recording Your Own Professional Looking Videos’ guide, here’s a recap on a few different types of microphones.
Lavalier Microphones
A lavalier microphone(also known as a lav, lapel, clip, body, collar or neck mic) is a small microphone used for television, theatre, interview and public speaking applications in order to allow for hands-free operation.
These microphones can be used for our personal videos, ALWAYS. Sometimes in a more formal corporate interview or commercial, we’ll hide the lav by taping or clipping it underneath an article of clothing, but for those who are making quick content at home, clipping right to a collar or jacket is fine. These microphones are excellent in almost every situation, and some even come with smart phone compatibility!
Shotgun Microphone
A shotgun or ‘boom’ microphone is a more directional microphone that must be pointed directly at its target source for proper sound recording. Shotgun’s are often used in an interview or documentary/run and gun setting, as they can often be the best option or quality and versatility. Micing up talent with a lav can take time, and in certain situations time is of the essence.
These microphones are a little bit more on the pricey side and they also typically require an XLR input, though there are options that allow a 3.5mm input directly to a DSLR. If we learn how to utilize these properly, they provide a beautiful bass-filled natural sound for our videos.
Condenser Microphone
This style of mic is traditionally used in the vlogging/podcast, as well as the music world. They do a great job at capturing tones in the voice and instruments, which is why this is the microphone you’ll see in recording studios and podcast rooms. The quality of the audio is spectacular and they’re typically more aesthetically pleasing to look at, which is why most studio vloggers and podcasters keep them in their frames as a set-piece.
These are very similar to shotgun mics, as they will produce a very nice, bass-filled sound and need to be spoken directly to for the best results.
Great sound is easily achievable with a little bit of know-how.
As we stated above, the microphone you choose is dependent on what your specific application is. Using a lav mic, in most situations, will almost always be a good choice. If you want something with a little more on-set versatility, a shotgun mic may be the best option. If you’re mainly doing explainer or desk style vlogging content, you may want to go with a more traditional condenser mic.
We should always be attempting to avoid using our in-camera and or phone microphones. We want our videos to be attractive, but that doesn’t just mean the image quality. It doesn’t matter if you have an 8K image if the person viewing your content can’t stand the sound of your video.
Having clean audio is CRUCIAL to any video. There are ways to get crystal clean audio to your mobile phone with the help of a few lav mics that are designed specifically with the small or ‘DIY’ content creator in mind. You can have professional sounding audio for your content without breaking the bank.
Top 5 Budget Microphones
This is the lav that we would recommend over almost any others for your phone. Rode is a well known and highly respected company in the industry. They realized that people need to be able to pull the best audio out of their smart devices because not everyone has a camera. This mic is $79 and will bump your content to the next level. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and can be used with lightning adapters for Apple users. Additional packages with more features are available, but we’ll stick to the base option for now.
2) Sennheiser XS Lav Mobile Lapel Mic
Sennheiser is another juggernaut in the audio industry. They designed this lav mic as a direct competitor to Rode’s Smartlav+. It has all the same basic features as Rode, but with a bit of cost savings, coming in at $50. It comes in both a 3.5mm headphone jack as well as a USB-C option for computers, tablet and android devices.
3) Saramonic LavMicro+DC Digital Lavalier Microphone
This is the Swiss army knife of budget, smart device lav mics. With this option, Saramonic offers and array of different inputs to prove compatible with almost and device you can find, without a massive cut in quality. This is a great option for the creator that may be using different devices, and wants some added versatility. At roughly $82, you’re certainly getting your money’s worth.
4) Tascam DR10L
Tascam is another popular audio company in the industry. These products can be trusted and always have great sounding audio. This is a more expensive mic, but offers some added value. Placed at $150, this won’t be for everyone. This mic, unlike the others, does not plug directly into your phone and instead captures it’s audio internally, as separate audio tracks which need to be synced with the video later in post.
Some pros to this are you’re almost guaranteed to have amazing sounding audio. You’ll have a bit more data to manipulate, making it easier to work with and clean up the audio. You also don’t need to have it plugged into anything, making it more versatile than the other options. The con is, as stated above, it needs to be synced with editing software which can slow down turn around times.
5) RODE VideoMic Me-L Directional Microphone
Finally, we have a non-lav option for those how don’t want to deal with the wires. Rode designed this mic as ‘shotgun’ alternative for your smart device. This gives you the feel of having a more direction mic attached to your phone, making it great for run and gun style capture. Remember, when using a shotgun mic, whatever audio you’re trying to capture needs to be directed towards the mic or you will lose quality. At $79, it’s a great way to get introduced into the world of shotgun mics without spending a fortune.
As an added bonus, if you’re someone who has a camera but aren’t sure how to utilize the preamps inside the body, the RODE VideoMicro is perfect. The VideoMicro is a shotgun mic that mounts directly to the top of your camera. For a price of $49, you just cant beat it.
This would be ideal for someone speaking directly to camera or a ‘vlog’ type of setup, where you’re moving around with the camera and potentially pointing it at different subjects.
Final Takeaways..
Audio quality is EVERYTHING when it comes to video. Without quality sounding audio, no one will watch it, it’s really that simple. If you’re serious about making online content and want people to take that content seriously, make sure they know you care. We haven’t even scratched the surface on audio and microphone options, but with any of the options listed above, you can take a mediocre video and make it feel professional with this fairly inexpensive change.
Good luck!
