YogaTX
Member
Depending on the type of videos you are producing, you should be able to plan out your best mic/audio recording solutions.
1. For gamer channels, and vlogs, typically your laptop mics get used…but, one of the first rules of recording, is to never use the cameras mic, or any type of laptop factory mic. Even YouTube hints at not using the camera audio in its guidelines. To get audio to sound less like the camera mic, a cheap 20 dollar lav mic would get the input subject closer to the mic adding tons of production quality. Lav mics are the little clip on mics that interviewers typically wear on their shirt collars. You can't get a wireless one at this price, but a decent Audio Technica lav mic can really make the world of difference.
2. There are the blue/blue like mics, where you can plug a real condenser mic straight into your computer via USB. These typically run about 100 dollars, and the fact they are condenser mics adds to the clarity, and over all audio quality of the recording. They are utilized more for interview, or vlogcasting, as they are meant to pick up subjects close to the mic(1 person), which depending on your needs may be what you are looking for.
3. Wireless lav mics. This is what I use on my channel. Of course, if you can spring for the Sennheiser's I'd say, definitely go for it. The quality is really professional audio. Some advantages of using these, are; 1. They're wireless. 2. You do not need any external equipment, all you do is plug into your camera, you don't need a laptop with a DAW, or another audio recording device, which makes it manageable for one person to still control more aspects of the recording, and there is no need at all to sync audio with video. 4. You can still record this beautiful quality from DSLR's! Here are some disadvantages; 1. They are made strictly for one person to be recorded. 2. They are expensive, at least $500. 3. They are fragile, just the little wiring from the receiver to the mic costs about $150 to replace, but being very organized does remedy most wear/tear issues. 4. There is no way to monitor the audio while recording on DSLR's. 5. Sometimes you can get interference from cell phones or other electronic devices.
4. BOOM! This is where I'm sure most everyone would like to be. The production quality is as close to Hollywood as we can get, pretty much. But, it's really not that efficient in ALL situations. Here's a breakdown of how I use boom mics, and why I don't need them for my channel at the moment, but maybe you do. First, you'll need a boom mic, and if you're going BOOM and not lav, you're already planning on spending over 500 dollars for the mic, however to get the best quality, you'll probably be ranging your prices to over $1,000 easily. You'll need a boom operator, or Boom stand(which again can get pretty expensive), or have a guy with the headphones on, holding the mic over the subject on TV shows, unless you have all your cameras on sticks, and don't need to man your cameras yourself. Then, before you can plug into a camera, you'll need a preamp. I use the Duet II, but I actually started as an audio engineer, and have it laying around, but you can use something as inexpensive as an H2N which is about $150, or the H4N about $220, both of these can be used as recording peripherals, and they double as preamps as are already built in, but keep in mind you will need to sync the audio and video in post, as they are recorded on different devices. But, the way real studios record their audio isn't with one of these portable recorders, they use their booms into a preamp(already included in the H2N & H4N), then to laptop with DAW(like Login or ProTools). Which is how I use Booms, but again, without absolutely needing this big of an audio experience, I do not recommend this set up for a one person operated shoot.
Hope this helps, please feel free to comment or ask any questions, I am always happy to share what I have learned over the years with follow YouTube & entrepreneurs.
1. For gamer channels, and vlogs, typically your laptop mics get used…but, one of the first rules of recording, is to never use the cameras mic, or any type of laptop factory mic. Even YouTube hints at not using the camera audio in its guidelines. To get audio to sound less like the camera mic, a cheap 20 dollar lav mic would get the input subject closer to the mic adding tons of production quality. Lav mics are the little clip on mics that interviewers typically wear on their shirt collars. You can't get a wireless one at this price, but a decent Audio Technica lav mic can really make the world of difference.
2. There are the blue/blue like mics, where you can plug a real condenser mic straight into your computer via USB. These typically run about 100 dollars, and the fact they are condenser mics adds to the clarity, and over all audio quality of the recording. They are utilized more for interview, or vlogcasting, as they are meant to pick up subjects close to the mic(1 person), which depending on your needs may be what you are looking for.
3. Wireless lav mics. This is what I use on my channel. Of course, if you can spring for the Sennheiser's I'd say, definitely go for it. The quality is really professional audio. Some advantages of using these, are; 1. They're wireless. 2. You do not need any external equipment, all you do is plug into your camera, you don't need a laptop with a DAW, or another audio recording device, which makes it manageable for one person to still control more aspects of the recording, and there is no need at all to sync audio with video. 4. You can still record this beautiful quality from DSLR's! Here are some disadvantages; 1. They are made strictly for one person to be recorded. 2. They are expensive, at least $500. 3. They are fragile, just the little wiring from the receiver to the mic costs about $150 to replace, but being very organized does remedy most wear/tear issues. 4. There is no way to monitor the audio while recording on DSLR's. 5. Sometimes you can get interference from cell phones or other electronic devices.
4. BOOM! This is where I'm sure most everyone would like to be. The production quality is as close to Hollywood as we can get, pretty much. But, it's really not that efficient in ALL situations. Here's a breakdown of how I use boom mics, and why I don't need them for my channel at the moment, but maybe you do. First, you'll need a boom mic, and if you're going BOOM and not lav, you're already planning on spending over 500 dollars for the mic, however to get the best quality, you'll probably be ranging your prices to over $1,000 easily. You'll need a boom operator, or Boom stand(which again can get pretty expensive), or have a guy with the headphones on, holding the mic over the subject on TV shows, unless you have all your cameras on sticks, and don't need to man your cameras yourself. Then, before you can plug into a camera, you'll need a preamp. I use the Duet II, but I actually started as an audio engineer, and have it laying around, but you can use something as inexpensive as an H2N which is about $150, or the H4N about $220, both of these can be used as recording peripherals, and they double as preamps as are already built in, but keep in mind you will need to sync the audio and video in post, as they are recorded on different devices. But, the way real studios record their audio isn't with one of these portable recorders, they use their booms into a preamp(already included in the H2N & H4N), then to laptop with DAW(like Login or ProTools). Which is how I use Booms, but again, without absolutely needing this big of an audio experience, I do not recommend this set up for a one person operated shoot.
Hope this helps, please feel free to comment or ask any questions, I am always happy to share what I have learned over the years with follow YouTube & entrepreneurs.
