Microphone suggestions

Dxer

Senior Member
So I have been asked by a friend of mine to do some video for their fishing business.

So I am looking for some suggestions for a wireless microphone, preferably a headset or a shirt clip-on but not necessary, with good audio quality and good at reducing wind noise since
most of the video will be done outdoors of course.

Price is little issue, but nothing to crazy :D
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Instead of wireless, I just use a simple lav mic plugged into a digital voice recorder. Easy to marry up to the video in post. Lots' cheaper, and no worries about multiple batteries, range issues or interference.

Wind noise is eliminated with a dead cat. Foam covers work well too.
 

Dxer

Senior Member
Not really on a budget but I don't want to spend 500 bucks for one either. Something in the 250 range would be fine. Best bang for your buck type deal. :)
 

Dxer

Senior Member
Well, I want to try and make this as professional as possible coming from a complete amateur. lol

From what I understand, it will be for more than just a couple of videos.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
You can buy a really good voice recorder from $30-$120.00... You can buy wired Lavalier microphones that plug into the voice recorder for $15-$50... Use a clapboard (or just slap your hands together) and marry the audio with the video. If you're insistent, there are wireless Lavalier mics. for $35 that can be used with the voice recorders... Sit down in front of an Amazon screen and just plug in voice recorders... look for ones that use an SD card so you can transfer the audio to your computer easily...

Whatever you do, DON'T think that using the camera's audio mic, and/or a mic. in the camera's input is going to produce anything but an amateur result...
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Check out Rode microphones. They are available via B&H and Amazon (maybe other dealers, too). And like Sparky mentioned, a dead cat is very helpful for outdoor wind noise. Be sure to read reviews.

This one gets decent reviews but isn't expensive. There is a video sample from an Amazon user which compares the audio between it and a Canon camera. It works with both DSLR's as well as smaller cameras. This particular mic is only $50 to $60.

https://www.amazon.com/Rode-VideoMi...8249282&sr=1-3&keywords=rode+video+microphone

Here's a promotional video for this microphone.

[video=youtube;uM0MWtq4ysY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=uM0MWtq4ysY[/video]
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
A camera mounted mic is the worst option since it is too far away to have the direct sound be the dominant source. Getting the mic close solves a lot of problems that a distant microphone creates. The wireless is a good solution worn by the speaker since the ratio of direct sound to ambient noise, reflected sound, and wind noise is a lot better.
All these video mics have the same electret elements that cost about $0.75. Since they are omni by nature, any directionality such as the cardioid pattern, figure eight, hyper-cardioid polar patterns are created by baffling, cancellation or damping all of which lower sensitivity. . Quality mics are not needed for this task at hand, There are much more expensive than the ones videographers are buying and you don't need them either. A lapel style mic that plugs into a smartphone is fine for moderate to short duration recording but the bandwidth is intentionally limited by the phone in the attempt to reduce noise and that might be what works best for this application. They would be no more than $10-15. Full wireless systems can be had for $40, including transmitter, mic and receive.Units designed for more stressful treatment like on stage by Shure or others are several hundred dollars. I designed my own UHF transmitters and receivers and had 3,000 made in China 15 years ago to used as a tour guide audio system and other than a few lost over the years, none have broken or needed extensive repairs. Whenever I needed a video sound recording, I have used those with very good results. When I had them made there was very little on the market that was less than $300 but now there are so many low-cost wireless systems the price has bee driven down on the lower end products. Here is a page on Amazon to give an idea of how cheap the simple systems are and probably the perfect solution for you:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers...nes-Systems/zgbs/musical-instruments/11974711


If you have any audio or recording questions just ask. I was a recording engineer and producer for 25 years and owned one of the most productive recording studios in the world, recording top artists ranging from Stevie Wonder, Metallica, Whitney Houston, Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Santana, John Fogerty, Aretha Franklin and many more, totaling near 200 gold and platinum records.
 
Last edited:

mbraner

New member
Today I set out to record a short video of two people singing and playing music, using my D3300. To get good audio I used several mics and a mixer, I happen to have all that equipment on hand. The mystery to me, given almost no experience with DSLR video, was how to get the mixed audio into the camera. (I gather combining them in "post" is best but I don't yet have any decent software for that.) Turns out, a simple cable arrangement from the mixer output that ended with a 3.5mm plug into the camera (stereo, for the D3300) worked just fine, despite the mixer output being line-level. I turned the camera mic-sensitivity level to manual setting at its lowest ("1"), and adjusted the mixer output to a fairly low level (output level LEDs barely blinking), which the signal bars in the camera showed was OK.
 
Last edited:

spb_stan

Senior Member
If your mixer output level is the lowest possible to prevent clipping to the camera preamplifier, you will lower your signal to noise ratio. The best solution there is to make an simple attenuator cable that has a resistor network to drop line level output from the mixer(-10dbv for unbalanced, +4dbm for balanced line out of the mixer)
If the mixer has balanced line output cut the cable and insert a H divider
Pin 2 of the XLR mixer out connector to a series 47k resistor and pin 3 to a 47k resistor and the free ends of the two resistors, bridge across them with a 100ohm resistor. The junction of the 100 ohm resistor and 47k resistor would than be connected to the end of the cut cable that goes to the camera 3.5mm center pin and the and the other junction of 100 ohm and 47k would be connected to either the ground lug of the 3.5mm plug if you are using an unbalanced cable or to the ring pin of the plus if using balanced 3.5mm plug, and short the ring lug and ground together. If the level is too weak, raise the value of the 100 ohm resistor to 270 ohms. If the resistor legs are kept short so it is a small network no shielding is needed so just tape it up like a little bulge in the cable and noise will not be induced due to the low value of the shunt resistor. If you wanted to get fancy, a small metal box or a metal tube 1/2in in diameter could be used as a shield and solder the pin 3 wire from the mixer to the inside of the metal tube before taping it up.
Good luck
 

mbraner

New member
Thanks Stan. Indeed the signal to noise ratio as I did it is not ideal, but it wasn't bad, relative to acoustic noises in the room etc. The mixer output was around -15 or -20 dB relative to "unity", still leaving another 40 dB or more relative to the mixer's internal noise. Also according to the level meter in the camera I could have fed it a few more dB.

I did look for a quick way to improvise an attenuator. I have a Direct Box to which I've added a 1/4" jack on the low-Z side which might have worked, also it has a built-in attenuator switch (-20 and -40 dB). The quality of the transformer in it is probably less than ideal though. It's also mono, although I ended up using a mono mix anyway in this case.

I was glad to learn something about the camera's mic jack's capability. While in live view I've measured that there *is* a DC bias (about 3V) in that jack coming out of the camera to run simple (and overpriced) condenser mics. But that does not seem to preclude feeding it the mixer output. If I were to build an adapter box with attenuation I'd also add capacitors for DC decoupling. The camera input is unbalanced so probably just "L" rather "H" resistor sets.
 
Top