Creating videos as a component of your content strategy requires a lot of moving parts. When you first start sharing your knowledge, expertise, and idea with others using online video, it’s only natural to concentrate on the quality of content first. You’re going to think about the topics, publishing frequency, video formats, and you may even experiment with various video-sharing platforms. However, once you have spent some time recording the actual video you need to understand that there is also a technical side to the video.
You don’t necessarily need the highest video quality to provide your audience with real value, but you still need to propose for quality if you want more people to watch including sharing your videos. A lot of viral videos are not professionally produced and shot, but they still collect huge attention. So, accurate equipment is not always the only requirement for generating a video that strikes a chord with your audience.But there’s one thing that makes a big variation – the sound.
Even if your video is low quality, you could get away with it if the sound is faultless. This especially applies to videos where you want to share your thoughts on a certain interview or subject someone. Making sure people can hear what you have to say is a first step towards achieving their attention and driving them towards the desired action. That’s why it’s necessary to choose the right microphone for your videos. There are some sites that do online testing, I think this is the best way to test your mic test online so that you can decide which mic is good for you.
We may not be sound specialists, but we’ve learned some practical suggestions over the last year that I want to share with you.There are too various articles that over-complicate sound and use a lot of technical terms. This is not an individual of them!
There are several types of microphones out there, each with different price points and characteristics, and this abundance of choice makes it more difficult to decide which ones to use and when.
A Lavalier mic is very small and you can clip it onto a person that is speaking. You can use it as a wireless mic either wired. Regardless if you have an expensive camera or you’re recording with an iPhone, you can typically connect a lavalier mic to it.The benefits of a Lavalier mic is that it’s positioned right beside the person that is speaking and it’s omnidirectional.
This means it picks up sound from any direction. So, for example, if a speaker turns their head you’ll still pick up great sound. This can also be a drawback since it can also pick up unwanted sound from the surrounding.We use the Road SmartLav+ which is a high-level quality microphone and reasonably priced (we had to order an extension cable with it.)
A Shotgun mic is a directional microphone. This means it picks up sounds only in a particular direction. The shotgun mic is held at the end of the business boom and is indicated by the way the person speaks, usually out of sight of the camera frame.
Hence, if you don’t want to pick up any local noise and you only want to record the sound in the direct area of the microphone, then a shotgun mic is the right choice.
People usually call this a boom mic. But a boom mic is any microphone that is at the end of an outspread (boom) pole. It’s called boom because it’s at the end of the pole not because it’s the variety of microphone!
A lot of people with boom poles use the Rhode shotgun mic!
You may decide to have a mic(s) sitting on the table in face of a person you’re interviewing. There’s a complete selection of microphones and set up’s that would work for this scenario. Your initial decision is whether you go for a dynamic microphone or a condenser microphone. You can read hundreds of articles on the variations between these two types of microphones and it’s all very confusing. but the review is this:
Dynamic mic – These mics don’t pick up surrounding sound and your mouth needs to be right up to the microphone. They also don’t need external power.
Condenser mic – These mics are more sensitive so they’ll pick up more surrounding sound (which you may want) and they typically need external power.
We use a HeilPR40 which is a dynamic mic. It’s connected straight to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and has two inputs for microphones. For example, if I require to do an interview I can connect two microphones into the Scarlett and then connect this to my PC where everything is recorded.
You may need various microphones depending on where you are recording. For example, I have a wooden office. I use a dynamic mic (the Heil PR40) because it doesn’t pick up any sound in the surrounding area and the sound is excellent. You would expect that a lot of noise would come from the cracked walls in a wooden office and the sound would be distorted but that is not the case with a dynamic mic.
If you are outdoor, you may want to use a Lavalier mic because it’s manageable to carry.
Recording Your soundYou may have your mic attached directly to your camera and sound/visual is fully recorded through the camera.However, it’s typically better to record sound independently.
If you are using a Roland R-05 recorder. When we’re recording in our office we use the Heil mic which is attached to the mixer. We then connect our Roland R-05 into the mixer also including record the sound. This gives us an excellent sound. Next, our Editor mixes the sound and visuals.
Whether you want to start your vlogging career or share any industry tips and tricks through video as part of your content tactics, make sure people will be able to hear what you have to say. Today, you can make videos using just your mobile phone as well as video quality will be okay. However, this does not necessarily connect to the sound, so pick a microphone for your videos wisely!
Think about what your specific needs will be. Where do you make your video? Are you going to be the just one speaking or you plan on bringing guests? Just when you have an idea about what you want your videos to be like, you can begin choosing a microphone.