Technology and Innovation

It normally resembles a short length of dark grey or black pipe with slots cut into it, wireless mic. You can mount a shotgun mic on the camera or on a pole. There are shotgun mics for the home user, although they may not be as rugged as the professional version. They are ideal for band concerts, speeches and other locations where sound at a distance is required. They can also “pull” in sound from a greater distance, as the pick-up pattern is narrowly focused.

If your needs are of a general, instrument microphones, wider-area use. like a play, football game or a crowded situation, then a “unidirectional” mic may be more to your liking. The most common of these are cardioid microphones. These mics accept sound primarily from a single direction and concentrate their pickup pattern

A lapel or “lavalier” mic is not handheld; you normally clip it to a tie. collar or suit lapel for more subtlety than a handheld mic. Make sure to mount the mic up high and on the side of the body the speaker is facing for the best result, as a left-mounted mic will have trouble delivering clean sound with a right-facing speaker. You can also mount it subtly to a podium mic with the judicious use of tape. Lavaliers are not perfect, as they can pick up the rustle of clothing as they brush against the mic. and high winds blowing across the head can cause a disruption of sound, if you do not place a quality windscreen over the mic.

Using these mics is pretty simple, condenser mic. Get the mic head as close to the mouth of the subject as possible Careful! You don’t want to rest the top of the mic on the speaker’s chin or raise a stand-mounted mic so high it blocks the audience’s view of the speaker. A distance of 12-18 inches from the mouth is plenty to ensure a high-quality result, and this is the range the microphone is designed for. In a crowd or noisy area, it’s advisable to move the mic up a little, so the person speaking can drown out the competing sounds. Inch it up slowly until the sound level is more acceptable but still out of sight as much as possible.

If you watch the TV news, you’ll often see the microphones used for recording the spoken word. These can be handheld, mounted on a stand or clipped to clothing. We also call these mics “omnidirectional.” This pattern is equally sensitive to sound in all directions. The “pickup pattern” of an omnidirectional mic resembles a large invisible ball mounted at the top (or “head”) of the mic. Because the pickup pattern does not exclude all unwanted sound, it may sometimes allow in stray audio along with the desired sound.

The choices available for better collection of audio fall into essentially two categories: mics intended for words and mics meant to pick up other sounds like music, cheers of a crowd and other ambient noises.