Lavalier Microphone Comparison Results
We’ve done a bunch of episodes on lavalier microphones including reviews, technique, which recorders they work best with and, well, maybe we’ve been a little too obsessed with lavalier microphones. But one thing we have not done is blindly pit them one against the other to see which one sounds best—by that I mean, not tell you which is which, just let you listen to each one where the talent speaks the same dialogue. Last week we did just that and now, the results are in! Let’s see which mics won at the blind comparison test!
Here's the key to which mic was which in the original comparison:
http://youtu.be/eIIbmA7pdGw
Tried a new camera angle. Not sure it is the most flattering for me. Ideally, it should be a little less off to the side, just slightly more straight-on so that my nose doesn't extend beyond my far cheek. The problem is that I have this huge desk in the way. May need to look at reconfiguring the "studio".
Tascam DR-60D Only $149 US
B&H Photo here in the US has special pricing on the Tascam DR-60D recorder that we've covered several times in the past--only $149 US. That's an amazing steal. If you are on the fence because of the $250 price tag, now may be a good time to get off and head over to B&H. Not sure when this will end but this is the best pricing I've ever seen on it. Shout out to Johnny Rosario for the tip!
Which Lav Mic Sounds Best? The Original Sound Files
By popular demand, here are the .wav files used in the blind comparison of 6 lavalier microphones for your listening pleasure. In each case the file is the raw .wav file recorded in 24 bit 48 kHz, normalized to -4 db. No additional processing. Even includes my voice-over mistakes.
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-12-Giant-Squid.wav"][/audio]
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-13-HMNSound-MicroLav.wav"][/audio]
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-10-RODE-smartLav+.wav"][/audio]
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-14-Audio-Technica-Pro-70.wav"][/audio]
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-15-Audio-Technica-AT899.wav"][/audio]
[audio wav="http://learnlightandsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mastered-11-ATR-3350.wav"][/audio]
Which Lav Mic Sounds Best?
Now, many of you are probably here to find out which mic is which from the blind comparison we posted over on YouTube. So if you haven't already, go ahead and have a listen here and choose which one or two mics you prefer, then scroll down to see which mic you chose.
First I need to say more stuff so that you don't accidentally see the results before listening to the comparison episode. If you haven't watched it yet, make sure to watch it in 1080 HD so that you get the best possible (least compressed) sound that YouTube has to offer.
Now to stall a little more so that you don't accidentally get a glimpse of the mics, let me tell you a little bit about my new site here. I've been getting it ready a little at a time over the last several months and I hope you find it useful. My goal is to give you a few more nuggets of useful info in between episodes over at my YouTube channel. So if you are looking for little ideas or insights from time to time, check back in here!
Ok, thanks for your patience. Just wanted to be 100% sure you didn't accidentally stumble upon the list of mics before listening to them and making your choice. And now that you've done your homework, here's the big reveal!
Microphone A: Giant Squid
Microphone B: HMNSound MicroLav - no longer in business
Microphone C: RODE smartLav+
Microphone D: Audio Technica Pro70
Microphone E: Audio Technica AT899
Microphone F: Audio Technica ATR-3350
What do you think? Surprised by your choice? Do you have expensive taste or is one of the lower cost options your favorite? I'm still trying to decide but I think that either B or E sound the best to me. And the only one I don't ever use for dialogue is D which is better suited to my live instrument micing projects.
Sound Guy
Earlier this summer I attended a music, arts and theater week-long camp as both a student and photography instructor. One class I was excited to attend was a documentary film-making class taught by Jennifer Tennican. The class didn't spend a lot of time on the technical elements of film-making but covered the larger process of finding compelling topics and effectively letting the participants tell their story--exactly what I needed.
As part of her contract, Jen created a short promotional piece for the camp when she wasn't teaching classes. I was honored to capture some of the audio with her gear which included some pretty nice pieces: a Sound Devices 744T field recorder, a Sennheiser MKH416 Shotgun mic, and a nice carbon fiber boom pole and blimp wind cover.
Here's the finished product:
http://youtu.be/d0MXop4c4ek
It was interesting to get a little more hands-on experience working with a director/DP and get some good practical experience on how to capture run-and-gun audio as part of a two-person crew. One lesson learned included how to figure out whether the DP wants to capture a wide vs. close shot in real-time so that you know where to boom without getting the mic in the shot. I found that in most cases, I could get in closer to the talent than I originally assumed. Sometimes I had to ask for a frameline to work with so I knew where to boom.
I also found that since I was dedicated to sound, I could spend more time fine-tuning the input levels and in fact, found that I had to since we were moving quickly from African dance classes with amazingly loud drums to situations with dialogue, to situations with music ensembles.
Oh, and I must confess, I fell in love with the Sound Devices recorder. What a dream to use! And the quality of sound, amount of clean gain and the quality of the unit's build were to die for. I am such a nerd...
RODE invisiLav: Hiding your Lavalier Microphone
Hiding your lavalier mic improves the impact of your film or video because it keeps your audience focused on the story. But just mounting a lavalier mic under someone’s shirt can result in a bunch of clothing noise. For those of us with RODE lavalier mics (RODE Lavalier, smartLav, smartLav+), we now have an affordable little accessory that can help: invisiLav. This mounting system makes it easier to mount your lavalier under the shirt of your talent and has a few other perks as well: What it does: - Gives you the ability to attach to talent regardless of what they’re wearing - Reduces some clothing movement noise by isolating the mic - Helps reduce wind noise when recording outdoors in a breeze and reduces sibilance from your talent’s voice
What it does not do: - the invisilav does a respectable job reducing some clothing and movement noise but won’t prevent noise if your talent is moving wildly
Notes: - the two-sided tape is tricky to set up but don’t give up—it works - the adhesive leaves some residue and it came off my shirt after two washes - you will eventually run out of the two-sided tape but you can always use wig or toupee tape (links below)
http://youtu.be/XZu1YqJPYrU
Mics for Rooms with Echo: Cardioid vs Hypercardioid Microphones
Conventional thought among indie filmmakers is that a shotgun mic is the mic that will get you the cleanest dialogue audio when shooting indoors. But if you talk to most audio engineers, they’ll say that shotgun mics have some pretty serious problems in rooms with echo and that a hypercardioid mic is usually a better choice. And now I’ve recently heard one filmmaker suggest that a cardioid condenser mic may be better than a hyper cardioid in rooms with echo because it picks up less of the echo from behind the mic. In this episode, we put that idea to the test in my own nightmare of an echo chamber! http://youtu.be/p1WOtGJk4YE
July 2014 Ongoing Projects
I've got a lot in the queue and so I need to focus. Here are some of the topics I plan to cover in upcoming episodes:
- Comparing RODE smartLav vs smartLav+ into the Zoom H1. The goal here is to finally get to the bottom of what causes all that noise in the original smartLav. Short answer: Its the mic. I just need to record this short episode and move on. Interestingly, in my tests last night, the sound of the two mics is quite different. The original smartLav has more low end, to the point where it almost sounds like a broadcaster mic with what sounds like proximity effect--rich, almost woolly low end response. The smartLav+ on the other hand, sounds quite a bit more natural without that hype in the lows.
- New lighting style--experimented this morning with an edgier type of lighting where there's no key light but instead, two kickers from behind, one on each side, and a fill light directly over the camera. It sort of worked. Still need to tweak that one a bit more.
- Review of my new Photoflex Starlite QL with the large Silverdome NXT softbox. Loving this thing so far. Its sort of old-school in that the lamp is tungsten (love the color rendering!) and there's no way to dim it without changing out bulbs or adding a dimmer (and get funkier colors). Awesome for talking head and interviews and I managed to get it for only $350 US on special. Worth every penny.
- Episode on color calibrating your computer monitor and using an X-Rite Color Checker Passport to get your colors corrected and figure out how much your lights and camera are messing with the color in your footage. This is an area where I am looking for solutions and don't have a lot of answers yet so it will be a longer journey, most likely.
- Atomos Ninja 2 with the Panasonic GH4. I've found that I can capture pretty awesome HD footage from the GH4 if I set it in UHD/4K mode, set the HDMI setting to downsample to 1080 HD and record only with the Ninja 2. No moire. Way better HD than the camera records. In essence, this is downsampling to HD on the fly vs. doing it after the fact on my computer.
- Atomos Shogun--placed my pre-order and looking forward to its arrival. Since I've been recording externally with the Ninja 2 for the last six months, I'm pretty sold on the concept of an external recorder when using DSLRs and DSLMs. Even though the Ninja 2's screen is pretty weak both in terms of color and size, I LOVE that it records to ProRes. I cannot even begin to express how much time and frustration that feature alone has saved me. Premiere and Resolve both seem to have a much easier time playing back ProRes footage, even after it is heavily graded. The secret is that ProRes files are huge, but the CPU and GPU don't have to do much decoding to display it. A lot of people will still scoff at the $700 USD price point of the Ninja and certainly scoff at the $2000 pricepoint of the Shogun but I don't regret that purchase in the least. The Ninja Star may be a good option for a lot of people that don't also need a monitor. If the Shogun works out nicely, it may also replace my separate audio recorder because I'll be able to feed my XLR mics directly into the Shogun. Fingers crossed that works out well.
- Century Stand--yeah, I know, people don't get too excited about light stands but can I say that I bought my first century stand and probably won't buy another flimsy light stand again? Well, maybe if I need something ultra light, but this C-stand has done a lot reduce my fears of lights tumbling to the concrete or other hard floor. And they adjust so quickly and easily and precisely without flexing all over the place. They hold flags and allow you to precisely position them and allow you to do that so quickly and effortlessly. There is a reason that the big guys use them. Now I see.
There are a couple of other topics rolling around in the back of my head as well. If any of these above are higher priority to you, feel free to add a comment and we'll see about pushing it to the front of the line.
Using the RODE smartLav+ with a Zoom H1
The number one question I get re: the RODE smartLav is whether it works with a dedicated audio recorder. So, we did a little experiment and found out for ourselves. The short answer is yes, with the RODE SC3 adapter.
http://youtu.be/FIh2U-v6jcs
2 Mics, 1 Phone: Recording Two People with 2 RODE smartLav+ Mics and a Smartphone
Lots of people have asked for a low-cost solution for recording two people in interview style videos. Here's one option using two RODE smartLav+ mics, an adapter, and your smartphone. The audio quality is decent, certainly better than your camera's mic, and the total cost for the microphones and adapter is less than $200 USD. http://youtu.be/i3E7z3xfeik
