Setting up lavalier mic and connecting it to a camera or smartphone
can be the simple fix to improving the quality of the audio recordings
Now RODE microphones have just released the smartLav+
it's an improved version of the very popular smartLav
so you'd like to check out what's in the box and how to set up the mic
then this audio tip is just for you
I've chosen the smartLav+ microphone because it's so versitile in the sense
that you can
directly connect it to a smartphone without having any extra adapters involved
the principles of setting up any lavalier microphone are basically the same
so let's have a look in the box and see what you get
Inside the box you get a storage pouch
a little windscreen and inside the pouch itself
you get the lavalier mic itself and also
a little mic clip which we'll have a look at later. An instruction pamphlet
and that's all the gear you get in the box.
The metal clip has a built-in cable restraint
the capsule is broadcast quality and is fitted with a
reinforced cable that is easy to thread through and
hid under any clothing. RODE have
implemented a gray sleeve to identify all
of the tip- ring- ring sleeve smartphone plugs and sockets
Now how do you put it together. What you do is
you thread the microphone capsule in through the little clasp
making sure that you fit it into the
manufactured grooves. Once you've got that in place it's quite firm.
Then you can
fit the little microphone windscreen and it has a little manufactured groove
to settle in
once you've done that
you can set up the cable restraint. Open up the clip
and thread in the cable making sure that it goes
inside the clip and then very carefully
role the cable are over so it goes
into this little cable restraint groove.
you can use a credit card or your fingernail
just be careful that you settle it in without damaging the cable
and there you have it. The microphone is ready for fitting
Let's look at fitting it to ourselves
Thread the cable through your shirt or your garment
and then clip it into place. Once it is settled into place
thread the cable out of a place that
is not visible to the camera and you can plug it into your recorder
in this case I'm just using a smartphone.
There you have it you really for recording.
The position of the mic can vary considering
a number of factors if there's a lot of noise around you in the room
you might need to lift the position of the mic up
if the person tends to move their head up and move it down
you may have to lower the mic just so you can get a more even recording
and if the talent as a very strong voice
you might even need to invert the microphone upside down
to minimize the chances popping all what they call plosives
in some cases you might not even be able to clip
the microphone on to the garment, for example if they're wearing a t-shirt well you can
tape the mic
underneath the garment underneath the fabric. RODE microphones have even made a
special stick on mic holder called and invisilav to minimize noise when the mic
is mounted under fabric
now in some situations the lavalier mic
might not even be an option at all because of the loud background noise
around you
now if that's the case you may have to choose a headset
type microphone to capture good audio. If you'd like to have a closer look at the
smartLav+
I'll leave some links in that description below
You might even have some good questions or comments that you'd like to share
with us
Make sure you type that in the comments section. I uploaded a video recently
comparing the original smartLav and the smartLav+
you can click on the link or check it out on our channel
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simple audio tip