Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

The use of microphones can bring the level of professionalism of a production very high. Capturing bad audio is like using a dirty lens. If you have a dirty lens, the image you record will be dirty and ugly. If you use bad audio capture device, your audio will be dirty and ugly. There are some important rules that vasst suggested in thier book “HDV: What You NEED to Know” to capturing better sound:

1. Don’t use the built in mic for anything other than capturing crowd noise, reference audio, or your own commentary while shooting.
2. Hire a book op for critical sound, or learn to use lavaliere microphones. You can also use a fixed boom for non-moving scenes.
3. In most situations, do not use shotgun mics indoors. Use a cardioid or hyper-cardioid in nearly all indoor shoots. If the room is large, then a shotgun mic may be a good idea.
4. Don’t go wireless, unless you really have to. Wireless is for the benefit of the talent, not the videographer. Its better to run cables, although its a little inconvenient.
5. Use Balanced, low impedance cables when your cable is longer than 3′. If you don’t then you are likely to run into interference.
6. Record audio with about 6dB of headroom. This helps reduce the noise so you can have quality audio.
7. Consider using a limiter before the audio gets into the camcorder to assure that nothing can approach the 0dB mark. Disable Automatic gain control
8. Try your best to wear headphones on all shoots. You don’t turn on the camera without looking into the eyepiece. Why would you turn on the mic without knowing how it sounds?

A set of headphones that the book recommends is the Sony MDR 7506:

They come for about $100. One can probably get it cheaper off of eBay.