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HomeCSSOn-Digital camera Audio Recording: The Handheld Mic

On-Digital camera Audio Recording: The Handheld Mic


When you find yourself at a loud occasion or convention, doing a person-on-the-street interview, or delivering information, a handheld microphone is usually the only option. And on this tutorial, you may discover out why. 

What Are Handheld Microphones?

Handheld microphones are quite simple units, and the overwhelming majority of these which might be used for video manufacturing are dynamic microphones. There’s a small moveable coil that sits within the area of a everlasting magnet. That coil is hooked up to a really small diaphragm, and when that diaphragm vibrates from sound, it strikes the coil inside the area of the magnet, and that creates a really small electrical present.

It is the identical means a loudspeaker works, solely in reverse. Actually, you need to use a loudspeaker as a microphone, though it will not work very properly for this function.

Diagram Of The Inner Workings Of A Dynamic MicrophoneDiagram Of The Inner Workings Of A Dynamic MicrophoneDiagram Of The Inner Workings Of A Dynamic Microphone
Diagram of the internal workings of a dynamic microphone

Advantages of Handheld Microphones

As a result of dynamic microphones are so easy, they’re extraordinarily rugged. They’re proof against bodily shocks and moisture, and so they have unbelievable off-axis rejection, which is an actual profit after they’re getting used at a reside occasion.

The opposite factor that is nice about handheld microphones is that you just maintain them actually near your mouth. You might be your personal growth operator on this respect. Even if you’re doing a road interview and holding it out for an additional particular person, you usually get it fairly near their mouth, so it does an excellent job at getting a extremely good sign.

A variety of the hand-held microphones that you will see used at conferences, at reside occasions and on the information are omnidirectional microphones. The massive advantage of utilizing an omnidirectional handheld microphone is that you do not have to have the microphone completely oriented, and it’ll nonetheless decide up good sound.

The opposite factor is that an omnidirectional microphone does not exhibit any proximity impact, and that may be fairly vital if you’re doing a person-on-the-street interview and are holding the microphone out for anyone after which bringing it again actually near your mouth.

You will additionally discover that the microphones which might be used for road, convention, or information interviews are sometimes fairly lengthy. That means, you do not have to have your hand so near your mouth. There are microphones which might be designed particularly for that. You could find microphones from Rode, Audio-Technica, and others which might be a bit longer than your common handheld microphones and work rather well in these conditions. 

handheld Rode microphonehandheld Rode microphonehandheld Rode microphone
Lengthy-handled handheld microphone for interviews

I exploit a unbelievable handheld microphone referred to as the Shure Beta 57A. It isn’t an omnidirectional microphone—in actual fact, it is a tremendous cardioid microphone.

Now why would you need a extra directional microphone to make use of in a reside surroundings? The first motive is that off-axis rejection I discussed earlier. In case you are in a  noisy surroundings, an omnidirectional microphone might be not the only option as a result of it is not going to be doing any off-axis rejection. You will be getting sound from all instructions.

With this microphone, then again, whenever you level it at your mouth, it’ll do a variety of off-axis rejection, so you may get a better signal-to-noise ratio. So if you’re at a loud occasion or convention and also you need extra signal-to-noise ratio, utilizing a directional microphone might be a greater guess. 

Value of Handheld Microphones

The nice factor is that each one these handheld microphones which might be nice for video manufacturing are actually cheap. The entire hottest handheld omnis, the reporter-style microphones which might be a bit longer are US$100–200, and most of them are on the decrease finish of that spectrum. My microphone price about US$140, which within the grand scheme of handheld microphones is absolutely not that a lot. However if you’re in search of extra worth, you may undoubtedly discover nice performing microphones for lower than US$100.

Additional Gear

One factor that I wish to point out is {that a} dynamic microphone won’t work properly with a smaller form-factor digicam with out both an exterior microphone preamp or a high-quality wi-fi system.

You may get a wi-fi system with a bit dice that attaches on to the XLR connector of a handheld microphone and turns it right into a wi-fi microphone. The rationale you want an excellent wi-fi system to make this work is that dynamic microphones have little or no output—they don’t seem to be very delicate in any respect. Which means that you want extra preamp acquire to have the ability to flip the output of the microphone as much as make it usable.

So you are going to want a wi-fi system with a type of little cubes that has a reasonably good efficiency if you wish to use certainly one of these microphones. A lot of the wi-fi transmitters across the $400–$500 vary can do the job simply wonderful.

The opposite possibility is to get a self-contained wi-fi handheld unit. This may not provide the identical flexibility as a separate microphone and a small XLR transmitter, however it is going to be a cheaper possibility. However bear in mind that the majority of those self-contained techniques are both cardioid or super-cardioid pickup patterns, and whereas this is not essentially an issue, it’s one thing to concentrate on.

You could find some pretty cheap XLR microphone preamps with phantom energy that work for smaller form-factor cameras, however you actually need one with actually nice preamp efficiency, and that can price in all probability within the $300–$400 vary.

So that you do have choices, and you can also make it work with a smaller form-factor digicam system and certainly one of these dynamic dealt with microphones, however it will price a bit of cash. You probably have a digicam with XLR inputs it’ll in all probability be wonderful, however you may seemingly have to show up your preamps rather more than you’d when you have been utilizing a shotgun microphone or perhaps a lavaliere microphone. However many of the cameras I’ve seen have loads of acquire to have the ability to use them on these handhelds and sound simply wonderful. 

Conclusion

Now that you understand why handheld microphones might be such a lifesaver in a loud or noisy surroundings, look out for the following tutorial on this collection, the place you may study circumstances and equipment.

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