Echo in camera mic

[PinProject]

For some of my videos I film and use the mic on the camera as I demonstrate something. But since I'm about 1 meter away from the camera the sounds more of an echo or as if im recording in an empty room.

I want to continue to use my camera for those types of videos, I was wondering if there was an additional piece I can hook up to the camera so it captures the sound a bit better.

Thanks!

 

[Jawad Soomro]

U can use ur phone's earphone as a mic to record ur voice separately and then sync with the video later

 

[PinProject]

U can use ur phone's earphone as a mic to record ur voice separately and then sync with the video later

Ya I know there's other ways to record, but there are days when I want to do a quick video and would prefer to use my camera's mic.

 

[Jawad Soomro]

Ya I know there's other ways to record, but there are days when I want to do a quick video and would prefer to use my camera's mic.

The only way is to buy HD camera that has built in mic that can catch the voice from distance very clearly

 

[Tarmack]

Nope. You're simply running afoul of physics. The further away from the microphone, the less "volume" from your voice is actually hitting the mic diaphragm. This means that the echo from your voice bouncing off of the walls of the room is higher in proportion to your voice and will always result in a poor recording.

There are two fixes.

#1 is to treat the room for sound which involves a fair bit of knowledge and a significant amount of acoustic foam.

#2 is to buy a dedicated microphone to use, if your camera supports it. The more commonly used ones are made by Rode and they're what are known as shotgun mics. They're designed to only pick up sound from a very particular direction, so you would point the mic at yourself and avoid too much side to side motion while recording.

This is the same problem that a lot of people have with mics. They think they can just put a mic on the desk and start talking, but the moment you're more than about a foot away from a mic in an untreated room, you begin to introduce significant echo into the recording.

 

[KatyAdelson]

If you don't want lots of echo, try filming in a walk-in closet that has a lot of clothing. ^_^ If one side of the closet is clear, and the rest has lots of clothing, the video can still appear to be filmed with a clean "empty-room" background look, but the clothing will soak up the echo... You do need kind of a big closet, though!

 

[Toby D]

That can be a pain and it was something that used to bother me. I ended up just getting a rode mic but if you haven't got money lying around try using a phone microphone or you can buy clip on mics pretty cheap which you could also connect to your phone.