A lavalier microphone or lavalier also known as a lav,lapel mic, clip mic, body mic, collar mic, neck mic or personal mic is a small microphone used for television, theatre, and public speaking applications in order to allow for hands-free operation. What is the best Lavalier microphones?
This clip-on mic attaches easily to a tie or collar or lapel for close-up sound with hands-free operation. Placing the mic properly is important for the best sound quality. Let's look at some pros:. The biggest selling point of lapel microphones is their ability to be hidden.
This means the ability to record clean audio directly from the actor is possible in just about any circumstance. And just because it's called a lapel mic doesn't mean it can only attach to a jacket with a lapel. As we'll see, there are many ways to hide a lapel mic. If your actor is planning on standing still, portability might not seem like a bonus. But what about every other scene when they're pacing a room, running down a street or if you have two actors far apart? A single boom operator won't be able to follow or catch everything.
This is where blocking and staging your scenes ahead of time will inform the best way to record the audio. Once the lavalier microphone is attached, turned on and levels are set, it requires very little operation. Especially when using a wireless lavalier microphone, you can have 10 actors mic'd at once and all the sound recordist has to do is monitor and mix from their station. That being said, lapel mics, especially wireless lavalier microphones, present challenges of their own.
Here are some cons:. Clothing rustle can be a challenge. If the lav mic is not positioned properly, you can spend minutes of valuable time on set trying to adjust for clean audio. To help avoid this, you might do tests during Pre-Production with the actors, their wardrobe and the microphones to do the troubleshooting in advance. Sound quality can sometimes be lower than other microphone types. Where portability and invisibility are clear advantages, there can be a dropoff in quality.
Lavalier microphones are battery-powered so be prepared to change and recharge batteries at particularly inopprtune times. Make sure you have extra batteries fully charged and waiting to minimize the disruption when a battery dies.
Of course, each brand of lavalier microphone has different characteristics and attributes. Let's take a look at how five different and affordable lapel microphones compare. With so many different lav mics on the market, the quality can vary widely from brand to brand. Be sure to do your research before making a purchase. The main distinction and advantage of a lav microphone is the smaller, more discreet size over other microphone types.
The transmitter then passes the audio to a small receiver, which is plugged into your recording device. You might be plugging your lav mic into a computer or phone, directly into your camera, or into a transmitter, depending on whether the mic is wired or wireless. You then select the mic as your audio input and output device and start recording.
Wireless mics are trickier to set up since they transmit their audio feeds wirelessly to a receiver. This means you need a transmitter pack and a receiver as well as the lav mic. This device converts the audio into a signal it can send through a radio frequency to a receiver, which is, in turn, plugged into the recording device for recording. Usually, the best position is around the neckline or sternum, such as on a collar.
A few ways to obscure the mic include:. The transmitter of wireless lavalier mics may pick up radio signals or other outside interferences that distort the recording. Proper microphone placement is critically important for achieving best sound quality.
The following is a list of guideline for lavalier microphone placement. The best thing to wear is a button-down shirt as the lavalier microphone can be attached onto the gaps in between the buttons. Besides that, a jacket or blazer with lapels will work well too. Choose natural fabrics such as cotton or silk instead of synthetic fabrics such as polyester or nylon as synthetic fabrics may rustle or create unwanted noise.
To test whether your clothe is suitable for recording with a lavalier microphone, rub two sections of the clothes together, the less noise it creates, the better. Proper cable care and placement is just as important as microphone placement.
Never stretch or pull the cable during recording as it may mess up the recorded audio and eventually breaking the microphone.
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