Audio Training for Video Shooters

Summary

• When you’re on set, it’s easy to forget small but crucial details. Having a checklist, whether a mental checklist or a physically tangible checklist, helps to make sure you don’t miss anything.

• XLR and 3.5mm are the most common audio cables. XLR cables are larger with a three-pin design, while 3.5mm cables are commonly used with headphones.

• Securely fasten the cables to the recording device and double-check the connection to prevent accidental disconnections or hazards.

  
  

Written Lesson

Module two is a checklist of how to record quality audio. At the end of the module, we’ll assemble a list of nine check boxes that you can print out and eventually commit to memory.

Some of this might feel kind of obvious like, you know, actually plugging in cables. But when you're out there on location, it's easy to sweat the big stuff and forget the, seemingly small but extremely important, details.

The first step is to make the connections. This means connecting all of your audio gear together with cables or wireless connection. This flow of signal from your source to your recording device is called the signal chain. 

To set up a signal chain, make sure you have the right cables.

XLR and 3.5mm are the two most common types of audio cables. 

XLR are thicker cables with a three pin design. 

3.5mm cables you're probably more familiar with from standard headphone cables. In standard measurement, these are called ⅛” inch cables. 

¼” cables are less common for video purposes as they tend to get used more for music production.

Lastly, make sure the cables are securely fastened so there is no possibility of them getting yanked out of their sockets or potentially tripping someone.

If something isn’t working, checking the signal chain from beginning to end is a good first troubleshooting step. Even master troubleshooters aren’t immune to the occasional loose cable connection.

Summary

• After connecting your audio gear, ensure you have a signal by observing movement in your audio meters.

• The audio meters should move in response to the sound around you; no movement may indicate a disconnection in the signal chain.

• Be aware of unwanted noises like buzzing or interference that can cause meter movement even when everything else is quiet.

• Always use headphones to monitor the audio you are recording to catch and fix issues immediately.

Written Lesson

After making the connections, the next step is to check for signal using audio meters.

Movement in your audio meters indicate that you’re getting a signal. These are often indicated by various colors of flashing lights or LCD screens.

The movement of audio meters will correspond to the audio that's happening around you. When the sound source gets louds the meters move higher, and when the sound source gets quieter the meters drop lower. When your meters aren’t moving at all it’s a good indication that your device is no longer receiving a signal. Even if the source of your audio is still making noise no movement in the meters often means that a cable has come unplugged or some part of the signal chain is broken.

However, just checking to see that there's movement in your audio meters isn't everything. 

Sometimes there can be some sort of signal interference, like buzzing, hissing, or some unwanted noise that's causing the meters to move and you don't want that. This is especially apparent when it’s otherwise quiet but your audio meters are still moving. That also probably means that something has gone wrong. 

This is why it is very important to monitor your audio.

Monitoring means listening to the audio that you are recording. This usually entails plugging in a pair of headphones to your recording device so that you can listen while you record. 

Just because you can hear what's happening out in your recording environment doesn’t mean you know what’s going on in your recording device.

If the audio is too loud, too quiet, too blasted by some sort of electric hum or buzzing, you can catch it, fix it and shoot another take. I have lost a painful number of recordings because I thought I don't need a monitor. I'm too good for that.

You'll never be too good for monitoring.

Summary

• Aim to keep recording levels between -12 and -3 dB to prevent clipping / peaking (distortion from levels that are too loud.)

• Gain means adjusting the strength of the audio signal, and properly gaining a mic is essential for maintaining clear audio without distortion.

• Setting levels too low increases background noise during post-production, so aim to balance gain to avoid both distortion (too high) and noise (too low).

• Always monitor your audio to ensure proper levels, especially if your device uses color indicators instead of a precise decibel scale.

Written Lesson

Audio meters indicate how much sound is getting into your recording device and based on the decibel scale. Increasingly negative numbers indicate lower recording levels. Most scales typically max out at zero. Some go up to positive numbers, but regardless, when audio meters reach zero you introduce distortion into your audio.

This is the most important thing about recording levels. We never want to reach zero. This distortion of audio is called clipping or peaking, and this is a surefire way to ruin your recording. 

How do you make sure this doesn't happen? Adjusting and balancing the gain. Gain is the amount of audio signal increased by an amplifier. Every recording device has a gain setting or some kind of gain control like a dial, buttons, or digitally accessible via the user interface. For example, when you turn a gain dial to the right the levels increase, and when you turn the dial to the left the levels decrease. The key is to set it to the gain to the right levels. But if hitting zero is the wrong level, what are the right levels?

When gaining a mic, the meters should read between -12 and -3 dB.

This is generally a good range for your signal level without distorting. By maxing out at -3 dB, you leave a buffer from -3 to 0 dB in case there are any sudden and unexpectedly loud noises like laughing or yelling.

You might be asking, why not just set the levels super low so that we never have to even worry about peaking?

We need a sufficiently high signal level because of a thing called signal-to-noise ratio. If you try to increase the volume of very low audio in post, you will also bring up the background noise. And because you are just turning up the volume (not turning up the gain) your recording will be noisier than if you had gained up the signal while you were recording on location.

So you have to strike a balance. And that balance is generally between -12 dB and -3 dB.

Unless your subject is super monotone you're going to capture a range of levels so you don't have to get this exactly perfect. If you’re going to err on the side of caution, skew slightly towards recording too low. It’s much harder to fix distortion than it is to fix background noise.

As a footnote, we’ve run into situations when a recording device's meters don't show the decibel scale and just represent levels with colors, so you don't really know exactly where you’re hitting. In addition to not being very precise these can sometimes even be inaccurate. You might be peaking and distorting your audio, even if the audio meters don’t turn red or hit their max limit. If you have a device like that, make sure to monitor. Feel free to check out the bonus demo, where we show you how to gain up an audio interface that doesn't have the decibel scale on it, and just displays flashing lights.

Summary

• Proper microphone positioning ensures your source is the focus of the recording.

• Point your microphone as on-axis to your source as possible for the best quality.

• Test the difference in audio by speaking on-axis and at a 90-degree angle to understand the impact.

• On-axis positioning provides a clearer, cleaner, and louder signal.

Written Lesson

Microphone positioning is key to a quality audio recording. It allows you to make sure your source is the focus of the recording. We'll unpack the specifics of positioning in the individual mic videos, but a good overall principle to follow is to make sure your microphone is pointed as on-axis to your source as possible.

You can run this experiment yourself. Connect a pair of headphones to your audio recorder, audio interface, or computer (if using a USB microphone) so that you can monitor yourself speaking into the mic. Say a couple of test lines to get a sense of what it sounds like. Now, with a microphone in hand, turn the capsule (or the receiving end) of the microphone at a 90-degree angle from your mouth. Say a couple more test lines. You're going to hear a pretty dramatic drop-off or dampening in volume and clarity of your voice. Now come back around to the front again so you can hear the intended to be used: directly on-axis.

So you get the picture. You'll get a clearer, cleaner, and louder signal when your mic is on-axis.

Summary

• Aim to record in sound-treated studios that are isolated from external noise when possible.

• When out of the studio, choose areas with consistent noise levels and scout unfamiliar locations ahead of time to identify potential noise disruptions.

• Anticipate and plan for potential noise disruptions by asking relevant questions about the recording environment.

• Use appropriate gear like windshields and consider positioning your subject to minimize wind impact on microphones.

  
  

Written Lesson

The last step before recording is to think about where you're recording audio.

Ideally, audio is captured in sound-treated recording studios that are isolated from external noise.

But of course, that isn’t always possible. To the degree that you have control over your recording environment, choose an area with consistent noise levels. If you’re unfamiliar with the environment, scout your location ahead of time. Think about where you are and what unexpected noises might suddenly interrupt your shoot. What can you do to avoid them? Are there better or worse times of day at this location for unwanted noise?

Ask relevant questions like: 

• Are there dogs next door? 

• Can we ask coworkers to stay quiet while we’re recording?

• Are ambulances and firetrucks a regular occurrence in this part of town? 

• Are we shooting directly under the flight path of an international airport? 

These are random questions and a thousand more random questions could be asked for a thousand other random contexts, but we trust you can use your common sense to anticipate what sort of unwanted sounds might arise while you’re shooting.

Sounds like airplanes, sirens, traffic, heavy construction, and wind are not entirely impossible to take out in post, but it’s safer to act like they are. Even if you can remove an airplane that roars overhead of your talent’s perfectly delivered line, that dialogue is very unlikely to sound as natural as a retake without the airplane.

Wind noise is one of the most common frustrations for video shooters. When you’re shooting outdoors wind is unpredictable and impossible to control. If you’re using a lav mic and lighting allows, consider turning your subject’s back to the direction of the wind to protect the mic from being pummeled by wind noise.

Use the appropriate gear like windshields, blimps, and pop filters to reduce wind noise.

When you’re considering your environment try to think proactively about the location’s soundscape, take what actions you can, and don’t forget to monitor.

Written Lesson

Now we're going to summarize all of the important points from this module and create a checklist for recording audio. 

1. Make sure you have the right cables.

2. Connect your microphone to your recording device.

3. Check that the cables are fully seated and secure.

4. Check for signal using audio meters. 

5. Monitor audio with headphones. 

6. Avoid peaking by keeping levels under 0 dB.

7. Adjust recording levels between -3 to -12 dB. 

8. Position your mic on-axis.

9. Consider your recording environment. 

Now of course, we don't expect you to memorize every single one of these steps, so we’ve provided a printable version of the checklist for you to save to your phone or print. 

We suggest taking it with you on a few shoots so that you can get yourself in the habit of checking these boxes. Maybe you decide to take it with you for every shoot or just do it enough to internalize a mental checklist.

Remember, you want to minimize the work you have to do in post-production and by following best practices when you are recording audio, you'll save yourself a ton of time and have a better final product.

Don't forget this downloadable .pdf. Save it to your phone or print it off to take with you on your next shoot:

Written Lesson

It turns out that the amount of stuff you can know about microphones can be kind of overwhelming. There are dozens of manufacturers, hundreds of individual microphones, and thousands of customers with opinions about those microphones.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a guide to this vast, new reality that is the microphonic multiverse? 

We got you.

For our purposes (the purposes of a videographer leveling up their audio), we've come up with six categories of microphones. So you can think about this lesson as more of a table of contents to jump to the right category of microphone for you.

Lesson 3.2 | Lavalier Microphones 

Lavalier or lavs are also commonly known as clip mics. If you want to keep your microphone discreet, small, portable, and easy for your talent to move around, then a lav mic is the way to go.

Lesson 3.3 | Boom Microphones

The boom microphone or just “the boom” is that microphone you’ve seen in behind-the-scenes videos where somebody is holding a really long pole right over the actor's head. 

This mic is very different from the small form factor of a lavalier. In fact, it's kind of the opposite of discreet. Boom mics are usually positioned as close to the sound source as possible without being visible in the frame. That's why the boom operator has the mic out on a pole above the subject's head. These are most commonly used in film and television, but they don't have to be.

We'll talk more about this in the lesson, but the use case is when you need a mic that's very directional, meaning they capture audio exactly where they're pointed while rejecting audio that comes in from the side.

Lesson 3.4 | Podcast and Voiceover Microphones

Podcast and voiceover microphones capture vocals with particular clarity, richness and depth. You'll see them positioned close to the mouth and in a context where it's normal to see a big, bulky piece of audio equipment. This makes sense because podcasts are primarily intended for listening, so it doesn't really matter that we see the microphone in a video podcast. And of course, it doesn't matter for voiceovers and voice acting where we never see the talent.

Lesson 3.5 | Camera-Mounted Microphones

This is a very popular category for videographers who are just getting started with microphones, because they are marketed as super easy to use. What the companies that sell these products would like you to believe is that all you have to do is mount these on top of your camera, plug them in, and voila, superior audio.

But it's not quite that simple. We’ll crack open the deets in the lesson.

Lesson 3.6 | Mobile Microphones

This technically isn’t a categorical distinction, because these mics are typically just miniaturized versions of lavalier and boom mics, but with the surge of portable on-the-go content creator friendly microphones that are on the market, it's a distinction we think is worth making.

This is basically a miniaturized boom mic for the iPhone, with the lightning connection or USB-C for Android. It plugs right into your phone for more directional audio. Notice that I didn't say better audio. These mics do a great job marketing themselves as a must-have for people who use their phone to create content, but there are situations where Apple, Samsung, and Google do a better job at audio processing with their respective phones’ built-in microphones. We'll go over all the details in the lesson.

Lesson 3.7 | Headset Microphones

Also known as the Britney microphone, popularized by Britney Spears in some of her more famous music videos, the headset microphone is built for the stage.

This is the kind of mic you'll see at events like TED Talks, house of worship services, or fitness instruction, where the talent can't be bogged down by holding a microphone in their hand.

Lesson 3.8 | Stereo Microphones

These microphones are less common for use by videographers but if you’re interested in binaural audio, ASMR, foley (sound effect) production, or music videos these are the mics for you. 

Stereo microphones actually consist of two separate microphones pointed away from each other at varying degrees of angles. The two opposing microphones capture stereo sound, meaning we capture separate signals from the left and the right, which gives your audience a sense of spatial audio. 

Lesson 3.9 - Pickup Patterns

This lesson covers the theory of pickup (or polar) patterns. You’ll learn a little audio science and why being on-axis really matters for some mics and why it’s not such a big deal for others.

Lesson 3.10 - Can You Hear It?

In the last lesson in the module, we line up each category of microphone side-by-side so that you can hear the difference for yourself.

That’s it! Watch each lesson in order or choose your own adventure. We’ll talk to you in whichever lesson you pick next.

Summary

• Lavalier microphones are typically attached to the talent's clothing near the chest, providing hands-free recording for a variety of applications.

• Wired lavs are generally not worth your time. 

• Wireless lavs offer freedom of movement, but watch out for wireless interference. 

• Self-contained lavs are the best of both worlds recording directly into the body pack and often offer wireless capability for monitoring.

• Lavalier microphones are usually omnidirectional, capturing sound from all directions, which means environmental noise can be an issue.

Written Lesson

Lavalier microphones, also known as lapel or clip-on microphones, are small, discreet mics that are designed to be attached to clothing, typically near the chest or collar area. If you've seen shows like Ozark or movies like American Hustle or The Wolf of Wall Street, you're probably familiar with the expression wearing a wire. The wire is an undercover lavalier microphone. Lavalier (often shortened to lav) mics are used in a wide range of situations, including broadcasting, filmmaking, theater, productions, presentations, public speaking, and interviews. They provide a hands-free and unobtrusive solution for capturing high quality audio while allowing the speaker to move and perform without restrictions.

There are three categories of lav microphones. 

1. The Wired Lav

These are typically cheap, low-quality microphones that you can find a dozen variations of from random (and sometimes questionable) sellers on Amazon. Most of this kind of thing is tech trash, something that might work a dozen times, maybe more if you're lucky, but will inevitably end up in a landfill or polluting the ocean because it’s built cheap, it’s prone to break, and you’ll quickly outgrow it.

We also stay away from wired lavs, because of the inherent design flaw of the wire. If you're using a lav, you probably need the flexibility to move around. Having a very long and very trippable cable attached to you or your talent defeats the purpose of being able to move freely.

2. The Wireless Lav

These mics are connected via wireless transmission. The lavalier microphone plugs into a transmitter (TX), the signal is sent to a receiver (RX), and the receiver is connected via cable to an audio recorder. These allow for more freedom of movement as the transmitter is typically located on a body pack that can be put in a talent’s pocket or hidden around the waist.

The downside to wireless systems is the potential for interference from other wireless activity in your recording environment. WiFi, Bluetooth, and other radio wave signals can get into your audio in the form of buzzing, clicking, or static.

Wireless systems are designed to work around our busy radio wave world by allowing you to change frequencies. Systems usually come with multiple channels, so if you do catch interference, you can switch to an unoccupied frequency. More advanced systems automatically switch frequencies when they detect interference.

Another consideration for wireless systems is the range. You’ll see a lot of content creators that LOVE to test the range of a wireless system, but the number of scenarios where your talent is actually at the maximum distance of these systems is low for most video shooters. Don’t get too hung up on one product’s range of 300m vs. another product's range of 150m. How often are you actually going to shoot a scene like that?

3. Self-contained lavs

This is a term that we came up with, at least I haven’t heard it used very often in the microphone world. Basically, the idea is that you get best of both worlds with wired and wireless by recording directly into the body pack. Most of these systems are also wireless capable, with a transmitter and receiver, so you can also record wirelessly into a dedicated audio recorder. But in the event of any wireless interference, you still have an undisturbed copy of the recording in the body pack.

Power

Most lav mics do not require phantom power. But if you have some sort of body pack, transmitter, or receiver, you'll need batteries to power them. Some options include built-in rechargeable units. 

Accessories

Lavalier microphones come with various mounting options, such as clips, magnets, or adhesive pads to secure them to clothing or other surfaces. If it’s important to your project that the microphone is hidden, you want to make sure that the clothes aren't scratching against the capsule head. Don’t forget to monitor.

To minimize wind noise and plosives lavalier microphones are often equipped with foam windscreens or furry windjammers.

Positioning

When it comes to positioning, we typically place the capsule at about chest height (or a couple buttons down if you're wearing a button-up shirt.)

If your talent isn’t wearing a lapel or pockets, microphones and body packs can be attached to the person with special tape that is skin and clothing friendly.

Be careful not to place the lav mic too high on your subject’s chest because you may start to capture more muffled throat noise than clear sound coming out from the mouth. Too low, and your subject’s voice may not come through loud and clear over the environmental noise. Finding this balance depends on your talent, the microphone, and the environment so don’t be afraid to try a few different positions to find what sounds best.

We generally don’t think it’s a big deal if you see the microphone capsule on camera, but you typically want to hide the body pack in a pocket, on a belt, or somewhere under the clothes because these devices usually have distracting branding and flashing lights.

Considerations

Lavalier microphones are usually omnidirectional, meaning they capture sound from all directions. So you especially want to consider what other noise you might pick up in your recording environment. If you're in a convention hall or a park with screaming kids, you're going to pick up some of that noise. But distance matters. If the mic is close to your subject's mouth, it's going to come through much louder and clearer than the environmental noise. This is a scenario where we can use post-production tools to improve our audio and remove that background noise. More on that in the Post-Production course.

Sometimes lavalier microphones are so discreet that your subject forgets that they’re wearing it. If this happens, be mindful of recording or listening in on private conversations, the talent walking into the bathroom, or the talent walking off with your gear altogether.

Conclusion

Lavalier mics are a versatile audio solution suitable for a wide range of applications where hands-free mobility is required. If you're a jack-of-all-trades kind of video shooter, keeping at least one lav mic on hand is not a bad idea.

Summary

• Boom microphones are highly directional, designed to capture sound from a specific direction while rejecting surrounding noise.

• Typically mounted on a boom pole or stand, boom mics allow for close positioning to the talent while hanging just outside the frame.

• Operating a boom mic involves techniques to avoid handling noise and reflections from the ground. 

• While they can be used by a solo video shooter with a boom stand for static talking head shoots, more complex productions require dedicated operators to follow the movement of the talent.

Written Lesson

Boom microphones, also known as shotgun microphones or simply boom mics, are highly directional microphones designed to capture sound from a specific direction while rejecting sound from surrounding directions. They are commonly mounted on a boom pole or a stand, allowing the microphone to be positioned close to the sound source without being in the camera frame or obstructing the performers.

The most common use case for a boom microphone (or the one everybody sees in behind-the-scenes documentaries) is on a film or TV set. But you’ll also find boom mics in broadcast journalism, sports, and live events. 

Pickup pattern

Where you need to hone in on a specific audio source while cutting out background noise and ambience is where boom mics shine. The ability to reject ambience is called directionality.

A distinguishing design feature of many boom microphones is an interference tube, which is a long slotted tube covering the microphone capsule. The interference tube helps cancel sound arriving from the sides and rear, enhancing the microphone’s directionality.

Positioning

Positioning a boom mic and a boom pole is pretty straightforward. The basic concept is you don't want the mic and the pole in the shot, but you do want the mic as close to your talent as possible and of course pointed on-axis with their mouth. 

Some boom operators will hold the boom mic directly above the top of the talent. We suggest moving it forwards in front of the talent and pointing it at their mouth at a slight angle. We find that this usually picks up less reflections from the ground. Unless you’re on a sound-treated stage, hard floor surfaces tend to bounce back sound. 

There is a lot of technique to operating a boom pole, more than we cover in this course, but if you’re interested in learning more check out the resources below.

Power

Since boom microphones are condenser microphones, they typically require a power source from batteries or phantom power (see lesson 4.4 for more.) 

Accessories

Handling noise is difficult to take out in post, so don't overlook a shock mount. Shock mounts are used to isolate the microphone from handling noise and vibrations, ensuring clean audio capture.

If there's anything that is very annoying to fix in post production, it's wind noise. So do yourself a favor and get yourself a wind jammer when you're outside. These are also called wind muffs or blimps. And yes, they are also called the dead cats. But that's just sad, so we don't call them that.

Other Considerations

Boom mics may come with an integrated low cut switch. We typically prefer to leave these on the flat setting, as this leaves more flexibility for changes in post.

Boom mics come in varying lengths. As a good rule of thumb, usually the longer the boom mic is, the further you can position it away from the source and still get good results.

If your talent is in a fixed position like in a talking head format, a boom stand can hold a boom mic on its own. But if your talent is moving around, you’ll need a second person to manually move a boom pole to follow the talent around. This puts boom microphones out of reach for a lot of solo video shooters and tends to keep it in the entertainment industry where there are bigger crews with lots of specialized skills and bigger budgets.

That’s not to say that you can’t rig up a boom mic and boom stand by yourself. But consider how much time, flexibility, and energy managing a boom microphone on top of everything else you need to manage for your camera (and sometimes lighting) will be required of you. Does your project allow for that? Does your mental health?

Conclusion

Boom microphones are highly directional microphones designed to capture audio in the direction they’re pointed while rejecting unwanted sounds from the side. They provide focused audio capture without obstructing performers or being visible in the frame.

If you’re interested in film, TV, broadcasting, and live events AND have the capacity to run a boom mic setup in your productions, these are the mics for you.

Summary

• Podcast microphones capable of handling noisy environments are often dynamic microphones. 

• Voiceover microphones requiring sound-treatment are often condenser microphones.

• USB microphones are plug-and-play and more affordable, while XLR microphones require additional equipment like audio interfaces and Cloudlifters but offer higher audio quality.

• These microphones should be positioned 3-6 (max 12) inches away from the talent’s mouth.

• You will generally get better results the closer the talent stays to the mic until you start to pick up plosives and mouth noise.

  
  

Written Lesson

Podcast & voiceover microphones are designed to capture high quality audio for spoken word recordings. Before podcasts became such a big deal, these types of microphones were primarily used for radio broadcasting.

Podcast microphones are more often dynamic microphones and voiceover microphones are more often condenser microphones. That’s a lot of terminology so let’s crack open some definitions.

Dynamic microphones are sturdy microphones that are recommended where you don’t have a lot of control over the room noise. Room noise might come from ceiling fans, A/C units, refrigerators, etc. For example, if you’re recording a podcast in a bedroom or hotel room, spaces that are not specifically designed for audio recording, a dynamic microphone is a better option because it only picks up what is immediately surrounding the microphone capsule with severe drop-off for any noise that is further away. Condenser microphones are more fragile microphones that capture more detail and are generally higher quality, but are also more sensitive to room noise and therefore require a quiet, sound-treated environment.

Understanding the difference between dynamic and condenser helps us understand why podcast microphones are more often dynamic microphones. Many video podcasts are not recorded in recording studios. There are a number of reasons for this: most people don’t have easy access to a recording studio, acoustically treating a space is expensive, and podcasters tend to want the freedom to curate their own visually appealing background. 

Additionally, podcasts often have more than one person in the same room. Because a dynamic microphone pickup range is limited, you’re less likely to capture crosstalk when you have more than one voice speaking in the same space. Crosstalk is when a speaker’s voice is picked up by a microphone(s) that is not intended for that voice. For example, if I speak into my microphone but my voice is picked up by my guest’s microphone it can result in an audio mix that is difficult to isolate to each individual speaker. This can muddy the clarity of a podcast.

In the voiceover and voice acting industry, you tend to see more condenser microphones. Audio engineers prefer to capture voice lines in a dedicated sound booth or recording studio, because they can use condenser microphones which generally capture higher quality audio than dynamic microphones.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule. If you’re limited by budget or other technical constraints you can capture high quality recordings with both dynamic and condenser microphones in both types of environments, but it’s important to understand their respective strengths and weaknesses. So that’s the difference between podcast (generally dynamic) and voiceover (generally condenser) microphones. 

Now, let’s break down the differences between XLR and USB microphones.

USB microphones are plug and play, connecting directly to your computer without the need for an audio interface. They are generally more affordable and convenient for beginners. XLR microphones require an audio interface or mixer to connect to your computer, providing more control over the audio signal and often resulting in higher audio quality. We could be here for hours talking about all the different types of XLR and USB microphones, so we’ll just look at two of the most popular from the microphone manufacturer, Shure.

Shure SM7B

The emperor of podcast mics, the Shure SM7B is incredibly popular because it sounds good for basically everyone's type of voice, it doesn't break the bank, and it's been an industry staple since the 1970s. There’s probably a bit of a metaphorical feedback loop in there too, because people who want to start podcasts see the Shure SM7B in everybody else’s podcasts and think to themselves “I should get that microphone too.” Thus the cycle of popularity is perpetuated.

As of late 2023, Shure has updated the SM7B to the SM7dB. The short story on this is that if you already have a SM7B, there's not a great reason to upgrade to the SM7dB. But if you're thinking about making a first time podcast mic purchase, the SM7dB will save you from having to buy another accessory called a Cloudlifter. (More on that below.)

A lot of people will spend $400 on this microphone thinking that they'll just plug it in somewhere and magically have the same audio quality as their favorite podcasters, but it’s not quite that simple. 

The SM7B requires two XLR cables, one audio interface, and one Cloudlifter. So in addition to spending more money on the XLR mic, you're also spending more money on a quality audio interface, which can run $150 to $500. And then, depending on your audio interface, mics like the SM7B need a device called a Cloudlifter, which boosts the mic level by 25 dB. This is necessary because even with quality preamps and properly gaining the mic, some dynamic mics still need a gain boost to not sound noisy.

We’re not trying to turn you off from XLR mics. You’ll get a higher quality recording than with a USB mic, but bear in mind that you’ll need to purchase more equipment and manage a more complicated signal chain. 

Shure MV7

Corin and I love the MV7, because it's one of those mics that just works. You plug it into your computer, there's a simple and intuitive program called Shure Motive for tweaking a couple of settings, and you’re ready to record. As a bonus, the audio quality is really good.

Unless you've spent a lot of time paying attention to audio quality, you might not even be able to hear the difference between the MV7 and the SM7B. For $250, it's an excellent entry level podcast/voiceover microphone that will take you a very long way before needing to go all in on an XLR microphone.

To summarize, USB microphones are cheaper and easier to use, while XLR mics are typically more expensive and better quality. Just know what you're getting yourself into and determine for yourself if that very real, but maybe not night and day, improvement in audio quality is worth it. 

Now let’s talk through techniques and best practices for podcast and voiceover microphones.

Positioning

For the best results, podcast microphones should be positioned directly on-axis with the user's mouth somewhere between 3 to 12 inches. That’s sort of a wide range, but it depends on the microphone. For dynamic microphones expect to get closer to the microphone and at the further end of that range for condenser microphones. A general rule of thumb (or rule of fist) you can hold your fist between your mouth and the microphone as an “on-hand” measuring device. Wow, so many handy puns in that sentence. XD

When positioning, monitor for plosives. Plosives are a sudden burst of air into the microphone usually from letters like “p,” “b,” “t,” and “d.” This sounds like an unwanted popping noise in the recording and can be difficult to remove. If you are picking up plosives consider moving your talent’s mic slightly further away from the microphone.

Accessories

Podcast and voiceover microphones often require additional accessories to optimize audio quality. These may include pop filters to reduce plosives, shock mounts to isolate the microphone from vibrations, or boom arms/stands to position the microphone on-axis. 

Other considerations

Podcast and voiceover mics frequently have a low cut switch on them. As with shotgun mics, we recommend leaving the mic flat for better options in post. 

The audio interface you choose with your mic is particularly important. Most podcast mics require a lot of gain, so it is important that your audio interface has quality preamps or there will be noise in your recordings.

Conclusion

Podcast microphones are available at various price points, from budget friendly options to professional grade microphones. We recommend spending at least $300 on a quality XLR microphone. If you're looking for a USB microphone, $250 for the Shure MV7 is an excellent value. We’ll have other options for you in the Buyer’s Guides in module 5.

Summary

• Camera-mounted microphones attach to video shooter’s cameras via a cold shoe mount. 

• They are ideal for run-and-gun videography, vlogging, weddings, and fast-paced events.

• Though they resemble boom microphones they lack directionality and are best used when the sound source is within a few feet.

• Many camera-mounted microphones, like the RØDE VideoMic Pro, require external power sources or clever custom rigs with audio recorders to avoid noisy recordings due to poor camera preamps.

Written Lesson

Camera-mounted microphones is not like a well defined, search engine optimized term, but we think that the huge number of microphones that can be mounted on your camera via a cold shoe mount that are specifically designed and marketed for video shooters deserves to be recognized as an official Olympic sport. And by Olympic sport, we mean Audio for Video microphone category.

These mics are pretty much boom mics in disguise. Slip off the wind jammer and you have the same barrel shape and interference tube design as a boom mic, but shorter. 

The idea of mounting these mics on your camera is that wherever you point the camera is where you capture audio. 

Swing your camera around to capture that skater that just pulled a backside 180, and your microphone will be right there with your camera to capture the clatter of skateboard on concrete.

Compared to a proper boom mic, camera-mounted mics aren’t very focused and only capture sound a few feet in front of the camera. 

That works well for documentaries, vlogging, weddings, and events where the thing you're shooting isn't tightly controlled. If you’re a run-and-gun videographer without the time or an extra pair of hands to run a boom pole and fiddle with a lav mic, these mics are your next best option.

They're designed to be set it and forget it, plug and play.

Power

But the plug part is where the marketing gets ya. Plugging these microphones into cameras won't produce the best audio quality. This goes back to module one. If your camera doesn't have good preamps, you're going to get a noisy recording. 

Some microphones, like the RØDE VideoMic Pro, fix this issue by allowing you to power the mic with a 9V battery, but most camera-mounted mics in the $100 to $200 range don't supply their own power.

To get around this, some solo shooters have come up with some pretty clever ways to rig up a small audio recorder to their tripod or their camera cage. 

But if you decide to run a setup like this, you'll have to make sure to press record on both your camera and your audio recorder, which is a potential point of failure.

It might make sense to press record at the beginning and leave your audio recorder running while you're shooting, because you're not likely to run out of recording space. But you will want to consider battery life. You'll also have to sync all of that footage together when you're editing. More on that in Post Production.

Positioning

Because camera-mounted microphones aren't particularly focused, you'll get the best results the closer your sound source is to the microphone. 

If you are the sound source and you're using these kinds of mics for content creation like vlogging, try to sit within three feet of the mic. 

We like to call this the vlogger rule. If you can reach out with one arm and touch the microphone, you’re not too far away for your voice to be picked up clearly.

Further away than three feet and your recording will likely capture more environmental noise than you want. If your sound source is out of reach of the vlogger rule and you can’t get closer, then you'll get better results using another kind of microphone, either a proper boom mic with more directionality or a lavalier microphone that can attach to your talent.

Conclusion

The camera-mounted microphone is a jack of all trades, master of none. That can be a really good thing. If you use these mics in the right circumstances, i.e. sitting close to the camera, vlogging, or shooting an event where it’s cool for you to get up into the personal space of your subject, you don't want to spend a ton of money, you want something that's convenient, you want something that you don’t need yet another set of hands for, and if you're not super concerned about top-notch audio quality these microphones can be a fine addition to your audio toolkit.

That is a lot of qualifiers but we’re sure some of you out there check all of those boxes quite nicely.

Summary

• Smartphone microphones are ideal for social media content creation, travel, vlogging, live streaming, vox pops, and as backup equipment.

• Some mobile microphones work like miniaturized shotgun microphones and under the right conditions are more effective than the omnidirectional built-in mics of phones.

• We recommend the DJI Mic which offers features like USB-C adapters, wireless capabilities, and intelligent audio processing for both phone and potential future camera use.

• When selecting a mobile microphone, check that it fits with your phone case for ease of use.

• Check that the mobile mic you're considering actually provides a significant improvement in audio quality to avoid tech waste.

Written Lesson

Microphones that plug into your phone, often referred to as smartphone microphones or mobile mics, are designed to improve the audio quality of recordings made with smartphones or tablets. These microphones are small, compact, and user friendly which makes them great options for social media content creation.

Some more specific situations for mobile mics include:

• Travel and adventure

• Vlogging

• Live streaming

• Vox pops (person on the street interview)

• Backup equipment for run-and-gun shoots

Smartphone microphones are typically miniaturized shotgun microphones. And what do we know about shotgun microphones? They are directional, while your phone’s built-in microphone is generally omnidirectional.

Many phones don’t indicate that a connected microphone is being used, which can be a little confusing whether or not the new mic is actually working. So when you’re using a mobile mic for the first time, make a test recording and gently tap on the top of the microphone capsule. Play the recording back and make sure that the mobile mic is being used by listening for that distinctive tap. If you’re still not sure it’s being used, record another test without the mic. Is there a difference? 

You’d be surprised how often we’ve worked with people who had one of these mobile mics connected, but it wasn’t actually being used by the phone. It was their phone’s built-in mic all along, kind of like a funny little tech placebo effect. They believed the mic was working when it was actually a sugar pill the whole time. This brings us to an important point about mobile mics.

Every year, there is a ton of money poured into making our phones better. With a new phone model released each year, it can be difficult for the average microphone manufacturer to keep up with Apple, Samsung, and Google’s state-of-the-art audio hardware and software. 

The point is, for many of these cheap consumer mics that you find on sites like Amazon, it’s very possible that the quality of the audio is actually worse than your phone’s built-in mic and audio processing. I know we’ve harped on about the poor quality of camera mics, but a phone’s built-in mic might, in some cases, be the exception to that rule.

So, it’s important to determine if the mobile mic you’re considering purchasing will actually improve your content. Check out the Buyer’s Guides in module 5 for recommendations.

In the meantime, let’s talk about the DJI Mic. At $350, this is more of a prosumer lavalier mic rather than a mobile mic, but DJI has included a USB-C adapter to enable the system to work with phones too. It works by connecting the wireless receiver to the phone and then attaching the transmitter on your subject. The transmitter sends the signal to the phone and just like that you’ve got lav mic quality in your phone videos.

If you love shooting video on mobile and you’ve got the budget, we’d recommend skipping all of that Amazon junk and jumping straight to the DJI Mic. As of late 2024, DJI released the DJI Mic 2. It now comes with a thumb wheel, which is nice to use instead of solely relying on the touch screen, which was a bit tricky to use on the original. It also comes with a couple of intelligent audio processing features, such as automatic noise reduction and automatic leveling. Other than that, if you decide to save a few bucks with the original DJI Mic, it’s still an excellent product.

If you’re looking for a mobile mic, we highly recommend the DJI Mic or DJI Mic 2 (or the RØDE Wireless Go and various off-brand copycats). If later you decide to upgrade to a proper camera, you’ll already have a great wireless mic system ready to go.

But if the tiny boom mics from Amazon can’t be avoided, make sure it has real, substantive reviews and that it’s actually compatible with your phone.

Considerations

Some models of mobile microphones may require an additional adapter to ensure compatibility with your phone's specific connection type. But we recommend finding a product that already comes with the right adapter for your phone. 

Make sure that the mobile mic fits with your case. If it’s a hassle to take your case off your phone every time you go to shoot, then you're probably not going to use that mic much. Plus, this off-and-on use is not great for the life of most phone cases. So what do you know? You’ve just bought yourself another piece of tech trash destined for the landfill.

The point of these microphones is convenience and ease of use. If they're not convenient and easy to use, don't buy them.

Conclusion

Mobile microphones should offer an easy and portable solution for capturing even higher quality audio with your phone. Make sure that if you're spending money on a product, it actually makes a substantial contribution to the quality of your content.

Summary

• Headset microphones are ideal for live performances, public speaking, fitness instruction, and houses of worship.

• These mics come in various designs but we prefer double-ear for stable positioning near the mouth.

• Position the microphone capsule about an inch from the corner of the mouth for clean and clear recordings.

• Expect to spend about $700 for a quality wireless system.

Written Lesson

Headset microphones, also known as headworn, earset, or Britney mics, are compact microphones attached to a headband or earpiece that position the microphone close to the user's mouth. They are designed to provide hands-free operation and consistent audio quality, while allowing the user to move freely. 

Headset microphones are commonly used in:

• live performances

• public speaking

• fitness instruction

• broadcasting

• gaming

• teleconferencing

• houses of worship

For this lesson, we’re focusing on wireless systems. Wired headsets used for gaming and call centers emphasize communication functionality, and are typically outside the purview of video shooters.

Headset mics come in various designs such as single-ear, double-ear, or over the head styles. The choice of design depends on the user's preference, comfort, and the intended application. Some models offer adjustable headbands or flexible microphone booms for secure and comfortable fit.

From Corin’s experience using headset mics in a house of worship, he prefers the double-ear style because it positions the mic more securely near the talent’s mouth. Single-ear styles tend to shift the position of the small microphone boom arm which results in uneven audio.

Positioning

To position a headset mic, line up the microphone capsule with the talent’s mouth about an inch or two from the corner of their mouth. Too low beneath the talent’s mouth and the mic will capture throat noise, too high and the mic will capture nose noise (ew), too far back will capture cheek noise, and too far forward will capture excessive breathing and plosives. In line with the mouth, just to the corner, and slightly angled away from the mouth is the right balance.

Headset microphones are sensitive to nearby noise, so if there is anything on the user’s person that might obstruct the mic, you may ask the talent to adjust their hair or clothing and remove jewelry. 

As ever, make sure to test for audio quality. You may ask the speaker to walk around the stage and do a short test run of their presentation to ensure solid positioning.

Power

Headset systems require power for the transmitter and receiver via batteries or rechargeable units. As with any battery-powered gear, make sure each unit is fully charged in advance of any shoot.

Considerations

Many headset mics use proprietary connectors which can to lock you into a particular product line or brand. For example, the Shure T4A system doesn’t use standard 3.5mm or XLR connections, but instead uses a unique cable you won’t find or be able to use with anything else except the Shure T4A system.

To minimize wind noise and plosives, headset microphones often come with foam windscreens that cover the microphone capsule, but these can affect frequency response and make the mics more prone to feedback. We recommend only using windscreens when absolutely necessary.

Because headset mics are built small and discreet, they can be particularly fragile. Not only is the microphone capsule fragile, but the cables are very thin and prone to breaking internally. 

In terms of cost, you get what you pay for with headset microphones. Expect to spend at least $700 for a quality wireless system. 

Lastly, you might be wondering, if we’re just after freedom of movement, why not just use a lavalier microphone? If it’s appropriate for your talent to have a microphone attached to their face, which it certainly isn’t always, a microphone positioned close to the mouth provides clearer and more direct sound capture than a lav microphone positioned on the chest.

Conclusion

Headset microphones are a versatile and convenient audio solution for various applications where hands-free operation, consistent audio quality, and freedom of movement are desired. Check out the Buyer’s Guide in module 5 for recommendations.

Summary

• Stereo audio uses two separate channels (left and right) to mimic how humans naturally hear with two ears.

• Mono audio uses just one channel played through both speakers.

• True stereo recording requires two microphone capsules positioned as close together as possible (coincident pair) to avoid phasing issues caused by sound arriving at different times.

• The three main stereo recording methods are X/Y (90-degree angle for studio work), ORTF (110-degree angle for wider outdoor environments), and binaural (microphones placed in real or synthetic ears for 3D audio).

Written Lesson

What exactly does stereo mean? Stereo is a way of recreating sound with two signals, a left channel and a right channel, this simulates how humans hear sound with our  two ears on the left and the right sides of our heads. If you have two speakers and each speaker is playing something different from the left and from the right, that’s stereo sound.

The counterpart to stereo is mono, mono meaning one channel. Even if you have two speakers, if they are playing the same sounds that’s mono sound.

For example, if we are listening to a scene at Laurelhurst Park, we might hear a variety of sounds. There are some ducks quacking, the water is lapping on the shoreline, and kids across the pond are running around yelling at each other. If we’re listening to this scene and we hear the ducks to our right, the kids to our left, and the water somewhere between, that is what we call a stereo image. If all of those sounds are packaged together in a way that we can’t quite tell whether they’re coming from the left or the right, that’s a mono image.

So when we’re talking about stereo microphones, we’re always talking about two microphones. Up to this point all of our lesson categories have been about using one microphone at a time. But the only way to capture a left AND right channel is to use two separate microphones. Now these might be packaged in the same product or constructed in the same unit like the Zoom H5, but a true stereo recording can only be accomplished with two different microphone capsules.

The two different microphone capsules are usually placed in what’s called a coincident pair - which just means that they are positioned as close to each other as possible. The reason we do this is to avoid phasing issues. We don’t have to get too deep into sound science. All you have to understand is that sound doesn’t actually travel that fast. Okay, 767 mph is pretty fast but when relative to the speed of light it’s very slow. This is why you’ll see lightning strike and it’ll take a little while to hear the thunder. This matters for stereo microphones because if the first mic is placed closer to your subject than the second mic, the sound will arrive at different times. This is what we call phasing issues and this is why we put microphones as close to each other as possible.

Technically, there is a method called spaced pair recording where two microphones are placed apart from each other but at the same distance, but this isn’t used very often for video. As an aside, if you go much further into stereo microphones you start to leave the world of video and enter music production where you’ll hear terms like mid-side and blumlein but we don’t need to go there.

So where and when would you use a stereo microphone? For videographer purposes, stereo mics are most often used in foley.  In case you don’t already know, foley is the production or reproduction of everyday sounds that are added to video… AKA sound effects. 

There are a few different methods for stereo recording. 

X/Y

This where two microphones are placed on top of each other and positioned at about 90 degrees. X/Y mics are most often used in an indoor studio for foley artists. If you want to upgrade from those free sound effects that you find online that sound very canned, using an X/Y microphone to capture your own sound effects feels much more real, lifelike, and immersive.

ORTF

What that stands for is not important. What is important is that ORTF mics are positioned wider at about 110 degrees. This means that the left and right channels have more separation which is good for outdoor environments where you want your stereo image to be wider. For example Laurelhurst park where the cars are passing way over to the left and the frogs are croaking way over to the right.

Binaural

This is pretty niche but also pretty fun. Binaural recording is where you place two microphones into your own actual human ears or synthetic ears like these. These mics are usually lavaliers because they are small enough to fit on your head. With sounds arriving at different times and bouncing around the contours of an ear, you can create a shockingly immersive 3D audio experience. This surprisingly simple technique can mimic the human auditory system better than extremely expensive and elaborate surround sound setups.

Check out this video from The Verge to listen for yourself: Hear New York City in 3D audio

So those are the three types of stereo recording that you’ll often use for videography. 

The most common stereo mic that you’ll come across in the video world is found on top of handheld recorders like this Zoom H5 Handy Recorder. This is a detachable X/Y microphone that’s a pretty cool system Zoom developed where you can swap out different attachments for your recorder.

Conclusion

So that’s it for stereo microphones. To summarize, stereo recording uses two channels to replicate human hearing, offering a sense of directionality for your audio. X/Y is typically used for more narrow stereo images like studio foley, ORTF is typically used for wider stereo images like outdoor environments, and binaural audio simulates human ears with an immersive 3D effect.

Thanks for watching and we’ll talk to you in the next one.

Summary

• Pickup patterns describe the zones of sensitivity to sound for microphones.

• Omnidirectional microphones capture sound from all directions and are primarily lavalier microphones.

• Cardioid microphones capture a wide spread to the front; camera-mounted microphones are a good example.

• Supercardioid and hypercardioid microphones offer increasing directionality to the front and are often podcast and voiceover microphones.

• Lobar (line and gradient) pickup patterns are the most directional, typically used in boom microphones.

Written Lesson

At this point you've probably heard us throwing around  terms like cardioid, super cardioid, omnidirectional and lobar. These are called pickup patterns, polar patterns or polarity. We've already talked about directionality with boom microphones, but it turns out that all microphones have kinds or zones of directionality.

When you see pickup pattern charts, you are looking at a graphical representation of a pickup pattern. You'll most often see these charts on microphone manufacturers’ product pages.

Let’s explore the pickup patterns you’re most likely to encounter as a video shooter and what they mean for your project.

Omnidirectional

This one is pretty easy to understand. These types of mics are sensitive to sound from all directions. It's pretty much a 360 degree sphere of sensitivity. The classic example of an omnidirectional mic is a lav mic. It's useful for lav mics to be omnidirectional because with the mic clipped on your subject's clothes, you don't have to worry about them pointing their head in a particular direction or being on-axis.

As you can see in the chart, every axis is on-axis. The drawback is that this typically makes these mics unfocused and prone to pick up both wanted and unwanted sound.

Cardioid

This pickup pattern is slightly directional. It's not super directional like a boom microphone, but it's not omnidirectional either. As you can see in the chart, the zone of sensitivity extends outward in all directions in front of the mic. 

I think it's easiest to think of cardioid as the all-purpose point-and-shoot pattern, which is why a camera-mounted microphone is the classic example for cardioid. You point a cardioid pickup pattern in the general direction you want to capture sound, and voila, you capture sound in that general direction.

Supercardioid and Hypercardioid

You can probably guess what's happening here. Supercardioid is more directional, and hypercardioid is even more directional. 

Podcast and voiceover microphones are almost always super or hyper cardioid. With the increased directionality, it matters more if the talent is on or off-axis.

Lobar (Line and Gradient)

The lobar pickup pattern is the most directional you can get. This is also sometimes called a line and gradient pickup pattern. And you guessed it, this is the pickup pattern of our boom microphone.

Considerations

You'll notice in the charts that as the pickup patterns become more directional, a bubble of sensitivity has started to grow at the rear of the mic. This means that it's important to be aware of any potentially unwanted sounds that might get picked up behind your microphone.

If you’re the curious type who is wondering, why do we have to sacrifice rejection from the rear to gain rejection from the sides? Science. 

This is a fancy way of saying we don’t know and the answer is beyond our pay grade.

But seriously, you’re getting deep into the intersection of sound science and product design to answer questions like that. But all you really need to know is that the more directional the mic, the more skill and environmental control will be required from you to get quality audio from that mic.

Conclusion

While you don't have to get a PhD in acoustics to be a successful video shooter, it's important to be able to read a pickup pattern chart and consider how different mics’ polarity will impact your audio recording.

Summary

• Don’t stress if you can’t hear every minute difference between microphones. Detecting subtlety comes with time and practice.

• Most clients and audiences do not care about the specific gear you used, only that it "sounds good."

• Focus on the practical aspects of microphones for your projects, such as ease of use and suitability for different recording environments. What type of microphone will make your life easier?

Written Lesson

You've seen and you’ve read all about the different microphones that a video shooter might use. Now it's time to hear them. 

We’ll have an example of a higher pitched voice from our friend Lucy on each category of microphone. And then we’ll have an example of a lower pitched voice from Corin on each category of microphone. We recommend wearing good headphones.

Can you hear it? I'm sure for some of these mics, the answer is an easy yes. But for others, the differences might be more subtle. If that’s where you’re at, don’t worry about it. That just means that those minute differences are imperceptibly slight to all but the most well-trained ears. Sure, Corin can hear it, but you're not trying to impress Corin or another audio engineer, or a YouTuber whose job it is to do microphone reviews. You just need to impress yourself and your audience.

The fact that you’ve spent this much time in Audio for Video learning and listening to different microphones means that you've likely become more of an expert in audio than most people you know and certainly most, if not all, of your clients. We’ve just made it seem like the audio universe is huge, which, in its way, it is, but relative to the rest of the world, there aren't that many of us.

Will your audience clients say, gee, I really wish that you would pick the AKG P220 over the Shure MV7? Probably not. 95% of the time people couldn’t care less about your gear as long as it “sounds good.”

Of course, there are the occasional well-meaning but desperate-for-connection normies that will approach you while you’re setting up your gear and ask pesky questions like, “is that a Shure microphone? I saw that on Joe Rogan. Nice.” But that doesn’t count.

The point is, don't be too hard on yourself this early in the game if you can't hear all of the tiny differences between the microphones. And don't forget what we came from… I'm sure you can hear the difference between the built-in camera microphone and the real microphones.

Trust your ears. Give it another listen. 

Try listening again without your headphones using your computer speakers instead. Most likely you’ll be able to pick up less differences. When you think about what percentage of your audience is actually using high-quality studio headphones rather than everyday computer speakers or phone speakers this might tell you something.

So what are we trying to say here? Setting aside relatively subtle differences in audio quality, consider the contexts in which these different microphones shine. For example, dynamic microphones work well for vocals in spaces that aren’t sound-treated. Camera-mounted microphones are easy to use and mildly directional which is a great option for run-and-gun shooting. Headset mics capture clearer vocals if you’re in a context where it’s not weird to see a microphone strapped to the talent’s face.

Which category of microphone is designed for the projects you shoot? 

Knowing that any of these microphones, used properly, will vastly improve your audio quality, what's going to make your life easier? We’ll talk about making a purchase on a new microphone in module 5, but for now, that’s it for our microphone module. Feel free to leave us any questions, things you'd like clarified, or any helpful microphone experiences you'd like to share with your fellow video shooters.

Summary

• Audio recorders are cable-free, portable recording devices. 

• Audio recorders have ample internal or removable storage for long recording sessions due to small audio file sizes.

• While some recorders have advanced features, their primary advantage is providing better preamps than cameras, making any reputable brand's audio recorder a significant improvement.

Written Lesson

Audio recorders, also known as portable digital recorders or field recorders, are devices designed to capture high quality audio in the field. If you want to improve your audio for video, do not skip an audio recorder or audio interface (coming up in the next lesson.)

When people think about how to get better audio quality, most people's minds tend to go to microphones. That makes sense, but out of the box, most microphones don’t actually do the recording. They have to plug into something. 

And most microphones don't have the right connection types to plug into your camera. But even if you had the right adapters, as we’ve talked about before but will say again because it’s so important, your camera is not good at recording audio, because their preamps are trash.

So now it's time for the long story on preamps. This gets a little technical, but we’ll keep the audio engineer jargon to a minimum. 

Preamps are electronic circuits in a device that amplify weak signals from microphones. Preamp is short for preamplifier. For the majority of microphones, there’s no built-in power. There are no batteries or power cables so the physical vibration of the elements in the microphone capsule generate a very weak signal.

And when a microphone is connected to a camera, we are relying on the camera’s preamps to boost that very weak signal to a level that’s loud enough to be usable in our videos. The problem is that camera preamps are generally not very powerful.

But you know it is a great audio recording device? A dedicated audio recording device.

I’ve been using the Zoom H5 for over ten years and it's one of my favorite pieces of gear. And even though it's ten years old, Zoom still sells the exact same model.

That's kind of a thing with audio gear that's distinct from video gear. Audio companies will sell pretty much the exact same product for decades, while equipment like cameras are constantly going obsolete. You could say that, as a civilization, we’ve sort of figured out audio while there is still ground to cover for video.

Regardless, at the old-in-tech years age of ten my Zoom H5 is still as sturdy as ever. That’s an important feature of an audio recorder, because audio recorders, unlike audio interfaces, are made to be portable. Audio recorders travel with you out into the world rather than staying plugged in on the desk.

Storage

An audio recorder has batteries and internal memory, so you can record wherever. An audio interface records directly into a computer, so it stays in the studio. 

Audio recorders typically use internal memory accessible via USB or removable storage, such as

SD or micro SD cards. Storage capacity and compatibility can vary across different models, but we’ve never filled a 32GB SD card with audio recordings in any one shoot. This is because audio files just don’t take up nearly the amount of space that video files do.

Power

Audio recorders typically use batteries such as AA, AAA, or built-in rechargeable batteries for portable operation, and many models can also plug into a wall outlet via AC power. The ability to supply AC power is super handy in situations where you might run the batteries down. For example, one time I was at a wedding and needed to capture the vows during the ceremony. I plugged the Zoom H5 into the soundboard to capture audio coming from the venue’s sound system. But I also had to be moving around capturing moments like walking down the aisle, the bridal party, the kiss, etc. so I wasn't able to hang around the sound booth to watch the H5 and make sure it didn't run out of battery. (Sidenote: this was a scenario where I obviously couldn’t monitor audio with headphones, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and cross your fingers.) But being able to reliably power the recorder with a nearby outlet was one less thing to worry about while I was busy shooting video.

Considerations

Some audio recorders offer advanced features such as built-in effects, in-device audio editing tools, overdubbing capabilities, but honestly, I’ve never used any of these features, because I'm going to have way more options and flexibility on my computer. So don’t get too excited by the marketing around that stuff. 

In general, you don’t have to get hung up on picking an audio recorder. Any mildly respectable brand’s audio recorder is going to sound so much better than the preamps inside of your camera. 

Conclusion

An audio recorder is the device you need when you're on the go and you need to give your microphone the juice it needs to sound cracked. (“Cracked" is a Gen Z term for very good.) 

So what's the deal with audio interfaces? Stay tuned for the next lesson.

Summary

• An audio interface acts as a translator between microphones and computers,.

• Audio interfaces are typically used in a stationary setup, unlike portable audio recorders.

• Audio interfaces save time and effort compared to transferring files from an audio recorder’s SD card by recording directly into the computer.

• They offer more inputs and outputs and better preamps for a similarly priced audio recorder.

Written Lesson

An audio interface is an essential piece of hardware that allows for the transfer of analog audio signals to digital signals between microphones and computers. Without getting too technical, your microphone is speaking one language, your computer is speaking another, and the audio interface is your translator. 

So if you haven't already worked it out, the difference between audio recorders and audio interfaces comes down to portability. Recorders can be picked up, moved around, taken with you into the world. Interfaces are meant to stay on the desk or in the studio.

So the question you might have is: why not just get an audio recorder so that I'll have the option to go portable? Why bother with an audio interface? The answer is in the word “interface”. The audio interface interfaces directly with your computer, which is where all of your recordings are going to end up anyway. 

From a purely practical standpoint, with an audio interface, you're skipping the steps of recording to an audio recorder’s SD card, taking out that SD card, plugging it into an SD card reader, and transferring your files to your computer. An SD card isn’t a massive inconvenience, no, but if you're doing the majority of your recordings at a desk or in a studio anyway, it makes sense to save yourself the time and energy by recording directly into your computer.

Other advantages of audio interfaces include more inputs and outputs, more options for monitoring, and better preamps than a similarly priced audio recorder.

Quality microphone preamps are an essential feature of an audio interface, as they amplify the weak signals from microphones to a usable level (also known as line level.) Many interfaces also provide phantom power, usually 48V, for condenser microphones that require an additional gain. We’ll discuss phantom power in the next lesson.

Connections

Audio interfaces offer various input and output, or I/O, channel configurations, allowing users to connect different types of audio sources and devices. 

Common inputs include XLR for microphones, 1/4” cables for instrument connections, and 3.5mm cables for various other devices.

Outputs typically include 1/4” connections for studio monitors (studio-quality headphones) and 3.5mm connections for other types of headphones.

Considerations

Latency refers to the delay between the input of an audio signal. For example, the time it takes for the audio signal of Corin playing the guitar to reach Joel’s headphones connected to the audio interface. Lower latency is preferred, as it allows for more accurate monitoring and real-time processing during recording and mixing.

Audio interfaces connect to computers via different types of connections, such as USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt or PCIe. The choice of connection type depends on project needs, computer compatibility, and budget. 

From Focusrite to Universal Audio, most interfaces come with their own proprietary software. Unfortunately, they're all pretty different so you may need to weed through dense manufacturer documentation or watch YouTube videos specific to your product. 

But after you’ve got your audio interface up and running with your gear and in your workspace, you don't generally have to change the settings.

Conclusion

An audio interface is a crucial component for any audio/video production workspace, providing the necessary connectivity and quality preamps to nail profesh recordings.

Summary

• Recording audio uncompressed is recommended for the highest quality raw audio.

• Choose an uncompressed format because storage space is generally not a concern.

• Sample rate and bitrate measure how sound is digitized from acoustic energy. Higher sample rate and bitrate provide a truer digital signal.

• A sample rate of 44.1kHz and bitrate of 16 bit is recommended on the low end, 48kHz and 24 bit on the high end.

  
  

Written Lesson

There's a straightforward analogy for us video shooters here. Recording formats are the audio version of video file types like .mp4, .mov, and .mkv.

Just like how video has various file types, audio has various file types and we call them recording formats. For this lesson we’ll refer to audio file types as formats, but you can use formats, file types, and containers interchangeably.

There are uncompressed formats:

• .wav

• .flac

• .aiff 

and compressed formats:

•  .mp3

•  .mp4

• .aac. 

As with video, compression saves space but loses quality. However, unlike with video, you will always want to record audio uncompressed. This is because uncompressed audio does not take up nearly as much storage as uncompressed video. Compressed audio is sometimes referred to as lossy and uncompressed as lossless.

We recommend recording audio in .wav, as it is the most common type of uncompressed audio and all around great recording format. 

While .mp3 may be more familiar to you, .mp3 is a compressed format better suited for deliverables than recording raw audio.

Sample Rate and Bitrate

Under the umbrella of recording formats are the concepts of sample rate and bitrate. This gets a little technical, and we think it’s important to have a basic understanding of sample rate and bitrate, but a mastery of these concepts is not required. If you find your eyes glazing over we’ll simplify it at the end.

Sample rate and bitrate enable us to digitize an analog audio waveform. Put another way, when we record audio, we convert sound from acoustic energy, literally vibrations in the air, and capture them digitally. Sample rate and bitrate is how that process is measured. 

Here’s another video analogy. You can think about sample and bitrate like the audio version of video resolution. With video we can record 720p, 1080p, or 4K. We can have lower or higher resolutions that look more or less how we saw those images with our own eyes.

Imagine audio as a 2D waveform on an XY plane. In the X direction, or time, is sample rate. In the Y direction, or amplitude, is bitrate. The higher the sample and bitrate the truer to life the digital signal captures those acoustic vibrations. In the charts the pink line is the actual acoustic vibrations, and the blue squares are the digital approximation. The chart on the far right has the highest sample and bitrate, and that is the most accurate reconstruction of the acoustic signal.

Bitrate determines perceived quality more than the sample rate. Sample rate is more important for compatibility with your video editing program.

If this still feels confusing, let us recommend some settings. On the low end, we recommend choosing a sample rate of 44.1kHz and bitrate of 16 bit. On the high end, 48kHz and 24 bit. Any lower than that will result in a noticeable drop in audio quality and any higher than that certainly won’t hurt but is a marginal gain in audio quality.

We can simplify this even further: when it comes to sample rate and bitrate higher numbers are better.

Considerations

Storage space is a consideration, but like we mentioned earlier it’s actually pretty difficult to fill a 32 gigabyte SD card in one day of shooting. And at this point, most SD cards have storage capacities well over 32GB so storage concerns are something of a moot point.

Conclusion

Great job for sticking with us through the technicalities. The tl;dr is to choose an uncompressed audio format like .wav and pick the highest sample rate and bitrate available to your recording device.

The nice thing is that, for the most part, once you set it, you can forget it.

Summary

• Phantom power is necessary for most condenser microphones to generate a strong audio signal.

• Phantom power is most commonly 48V, but check your mic's requirements to match the correct voltage.

• Dynamic microphones generally do not need phantom power.

• While modern microphones are designed to reject phantom power when they don't need it, it’s wise to check the manufacturer’s documentation for specific requirements and instructions.

Written Lesson

Phantom power is how audio recorders and audio interfaces supply electrical power to microphones, such as condensers, that otherwise would not generate a strong enough audio signal. Generally dynamic mics do not need phantom power whereas condenser microphones do. 48V is the most common phantom power voltage that a condenser microphone requires to function. Some mics require less voltage, like 24V or 12V, but this is rare.

The specifics of how to supply phantom power vary from device to device so hold on to the manufacturer’s documentation until you’ve got the hang of it. Otherwise, you may find yourself wading through hours of YouTube and “smash that like button” to find an otherwise 10 second answer.

You may have heard that it is absolutely critical that you don't accidentally give phantom power to a dynamic mic that doesn't need it. You might hear someone say, “if you do, you can kiss that shiny new microphone right down the toilet.” (Clearly this hypothetical person has their colloquialisms confused.)

We’re not here to say that this is a complete urban legend, mics have broken because of phantom power, but the vast majority of modern microphones are designed to reject phantom power when they don’t need it. 

Corin and I have both run this experiment (whether intentionally or unintentionally) and phantom power has never done any damage to our dynamic mics.

Of course an ounce of caution is worth a pound of cure, so it’s not a bad idea to check the manufacturer's documentation for your specific microphone, but it’s probably not the end of the world if you accidentally forget to turn off phantom power. 

Ribbon microphones are the exception, these will get busted by phantom power, but since ribbon microphones are rarely used by video shooters we'll leave that discussion for another course.

Conclusion

Phantom power is necessary for most condenser microphones, especially in the podcast and voiceover category. Check the documentation for your microphone to see if it requires phantom power, and check the documentation for your recording device to see how to provide it.

That's it for module four and with that the end of our educational content. Module five is dedicated to our Buyer’s Guides. 

But for now, congratulate yourself on everything you’ve learned so far. We know that this has been a marathon of information, but we’re confident that you’re better equipped to start recording audio for video like a pro.

Take a moment, take in the good, enjoy what you’ve accomplished, and we’ll talk to you in the next one.

Written Lesson

Here at Audio for Video, we recognize that when it comes to buying gear, there's a spectrum of attitudes. 

On one end, we have the buyer who is so eager to start creating that they head to their local Buy More and trust the advice of whoever they can get their hands on. 

This is the kind of person who isn't spending any time reading reviews, perusing affiliate links, or asking for advice in Reddit forums because this is the type of person who just wants to get started.

We admire this person. Honestly, I wish I could be this person. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the buyer who will take on a part-time temp job generating spreadsheets that aggregate every single pro and con bullet point that they can scrape out of any back alley affiliate marketing blog they can find. 

This is the kind of person who will make every effort to absolutely min/max their purchase, because this is the kind of person who just wants to know they bought the best.

Both of these approaches are welcomed, but personally I find myself on the latter end of the spectrum. For better or worse, I get a lot of satisfaction knowing I bought the best gear I could afford. We suspect that this second approach is where the majority of people are at. 

We also know that with more options comes the higher likelihood of falling victim to analysis paralysis. Worse still, spending hours researching the best gear can very often become an excuse to get started on your project. If you are this second type of person, this is an easy trap to fall into. I know I've done it. 

“If only I had this piece of gear then I could get started.”

“If I just save a little more for the next tier gear, then I'll be ready to go.” 

“If I just wait a few more months until the new model releases, then I’ll have a leg over the competition.”

If you resonate with thoughts like these, then you're probably suffering from something we like to call Buyer’s Block.

buyer's block (noun) /ˈbaɪərz blɑk/

Definition: A state of paralysis causing one to be unable to make a purchase needed to get started on their project brought on by an overwhelming number of brands, products, budget constraints, confusing Amazon reviews, the YouTube unbox hype machine, and completely unhelpful affiliate marketing that are driven by profit-incentives such that they become completely unhelpful to the consumer.

See related: analysis paralysis, paradox of choice, creative block

Although Audio for Video is not really the course for working through the reasons you are using buying gear as a defense mechanism from facing your deeper creative block, what we can do is to help you narrow the field.

At this point we hope to have earned your trust so that when we say: “you can ignore all of those other options, these are the products that actually worth your money” you can believe us. The way that we've done that is to create a Buyer’s Guide for each category of microphone, audio recorder, and audio interface. 

We’ve found the best products for each category and put them in three pricing tiers. 

1. The Hobbyist ($) - Whether or not video production is actually your hobby or you’re just trying to save money, these recommendations are a good bargain but not tech-trash and will actually provide substantive improvement to your audio.

2. The Independent ($$) - If you’re getting paid for your video production, you’re willing to spend some money, but not ready to spend an arm and a leg on tippy-top gear, these are the solid value propositions that you can keep in your toolkit for years.

3. The Industry Pro ($$$) - If you have the budget for the best of the best, these top-shelf recommendations will take your setup to industry standards.

We're keeping it simple with just three products for each category. This is not one of those affiliate marketing sites that lists 10 or 20 different options that all pretty much the same, and just make it very super overwhelming to choose from. 

And yes, these are still affiliate links. We're not hiding that. When you make purchases through our links we get a little bit of a kickback, which helps support Corin and I, enables us to continue support for this course, create new courses in the future, and at no extra cost to you.

Summary

Now after reaching the end of the course, what we don't want to make you feel is that this whole thing has been a bait and switch for affiliate links. Our genuine desire is that you have learned something that makes your video production something you’re proud of. If you don’t want to buy anything, or you already have the gear, or you just want to purchase something else than what we've recommended, that’s totally fine.

That's it for Audio for Video: On Location. We hope that you've enjoyed the course and learned a lot. We're excited to talk to you in Audio for Video: Post Production. 

Thanks for watching… and thanks for listening.