In this article, we'll cover how to use a lavalier mic. Lavalier microphones are the secret agents of the videographer toolkit. Just think most it. They are congenital to exist discreet, versatile, and ready to vanish from sight. They maintain a wide wardrobe of aliases including the lapel, prune, torso, collar, cervix, or personal mic. And best of all, they're actually used past intelligence agencies to secretly record audio.

Where shotgun mics tend to be used on motion picture/TV sets, lav mics tin can be found just well-nigh anywhere else anyone is recording sound. Newscasting, public speaking events, talking-caput interviews, theatre, and vlogging are a few of the situations in which a lav mic is an essential piece of gear. By and large, anywhere you aren't able to hang a boom pole over the discipline'southward caput is where you lot will find a lavalier mic sneakily tucked away.

Feel complimentary to YouTube search: "Every Tom Cruise Run. Ever."

Read our guide on entry-level lav mics!

Wired or wireless?

Like every other gear purchase, you have some choices to brand. One of the first decisions is whether or not you need wireless capabilities.

The advantages of going cable-free are obvious. Your talent can move effectually freely and you'll spend less time swearing under your breath every bit yous untangle wire knots.

The disadvantages of wireless lav systems are less obvious and aren't really disadvantages so much as things to watch out for. Local Wi-Fi signals are known to interrupt wireless recordings as an abrasive fizz that's nearly incommunicable to remove afterward.

Fortunately, nigh systems allow you lot to switch to another frequency, with some automatically finding the all-time channel for you.

Some suggestions

Personally, I utilize the RodeLink Filmmaker Kit, a wireless system that I take really enjoyed.  Rode recently released the Wireless Go arrangement which is a neat miniaturization of that technology that is really less expensive and might be worth looking into as well.

Some top-rated wired microphones include the Countryman B3, Rode smartLav+, and Sony ECM 77B. Any of these microphones tin be paired with a transmitter/receiver to make them wireless; they merely aren't arranged with them like the well-regarded MOVO WMIC50 and Sennheiser ME 2-11 systems are.

Later picking the mic for the chore, don't forget to talk to Q over at MI6, who volition equip your operative with the latest gadgets like a windscreen, gaffer tape, headphones, and spare batteries.

Using a lavalier mic: placement, environs, and other considerations

During the Cold War, spies working in Russia's capital were said to have adult an unwritten drove of principles for conducting operations in the field. And then before you send your microphone out on its first mission, let's review our own spy handbook, shall nosotros?

These are the Moscow Rules of Lavs:

Lavalier Mic Usage Rule #ane: Stay close to the target without blowing your cover

Any spy worth their Martini will tell you they practice their best work when subconscious in plain sight. Keeping a lav mic out of the shot while most enough to your source tin can actually be an enjoyable claiming.  Information technology just takes a little creativity.

The full general rule of pollex for placing lav mics is at sternum level or higher up.

Only perhaps y'all're interviewing Jason Momoa'due south Aquaman whose skin tight shirt scales brand a glace surface for clipping onto. Look over again, those voluminous brownish locks of pilus might just exist the perfect hideout.

Possibly you're interviewing a paleontologist protected from the scorching lord's day of the South Dakota Badlands by a broad-brimmed fedora. Though the cable might go a little sweaty, no one volition ever know it was up at that place.

Peradventure you're interviewing Jabba the Hutt whose double chin could hide a womp rat. Yous go the picture. A hijab, a full Windsor tie knot, or even a well-groomed beard are all opportunities to keep the audience focused on your compelling cast of characters rather than your equipment.

If clipping isn't available, a little gaffer record goes a long style and is less probable to exit residuum on your subject's clothes than other adhesives. At that place's also a neat little triangle fold that will hibernate a mic backside a lapel or shirt collar demonstrated in this video by Izzy Hyman.

While it'due south fun to go creative, yous don't always have to.

Sometimes projects are more coincidental and don't require a perfectly hidden mic.

Only keep in heed that anything that you put betwixt your mic and the subject's phonation is a potential obstruction to clear sound.

Most audiences will notice poor audio mode earlier seeing a tiny black clip on a field of study's shirt. If you accept to choose, pick clean sound over perfect visuals. I know that kind of undercuts the James Bond superspy thing your lav had going on, but allow'due south not forget that desk-job analysts take their place in the agency too.

Lavalier Mic Usage Rule #2: Always monitor your agent's reports

Cables snag, tape unsticks, winds pick upwards, voices rising, jackets are thrown off. It is truly the worst to get really excellent footage and get back to the reckoner simply to notice out that your audio was compromised the entire time. Little oversights like signal interference, rustling clothing, cable racket, or an inconveniently timed gust of air can ruin an entire shoot.

By monitoring your audio with a pair of headphones or fifty-fifty earbuds y'all will give yourself a chance to catch these oversights. Slap on a windscreen, and salve yourself the heartache (and embarrassment) of rescheduling with talent and reshooting the projection.

Granted, anyone whose responsibleness information technology is to run around with a camera and capture sound from a fixed location knows this isn't always possible.

For example, you may have to plug your audio recorder into the DJ's soundboard and since you tin can't monitor while y'all glide effectually the room with the camera, you just have to trust the recording turns out.

If it is just you, go far early and exercise a comprehensive audio exam. If the CIA's job is to anticipate a threat actor'due south next moves, then so is yours. For the talent, inquire questions similar how loud they wait to speak so you can avoid clipping. Ask if there will be any sudden movement that might crusade the microphone to come up loose.

For environments, detect out if the backyard sprinklers are going to come on during the middle of the interview. Detect out if another railroad train will exist passing in the next hour. The omni-directional pickup blueprint of lav mics are helpful for flexible placement, but find everything within your immediate radius. Take a little time to empathise your environment, and, as my mysterious Cold War-addled nifty aunt used to say: assume nothing.

Lavalier Mic Usage Rule #3: Never exit your agent without backup

Sometimes, fifty-fifty the best laid cables come up to ruin. Possibly your wireless transmitters can't establish a connection. Perhaps the spring in a battery compartment breaks off. Maybe a herd of parched wedding guests trample the violinist, her violin, and your however fastened microphone in a stampede to the open bar.

Before calling a mission arrest, send in the shotgun mic. Your cover may exist blown thanks to the shotgun's less than stealthy arroyo, but any external microphone is ameliorate than your camera'due south internal mic.

Of course, having that kind of fill-in on constant standby is an expense not everyone can beget. If that's the state of affairs, bring a resourceful attitude, conduct a little tape and tin can foil, and but get your wounded agent through the day. Save the shoot, relieve the world.

How to Use a Lavalier Mic: Wrap-upwards

Hopefully by at present you lot feel mission-ready and comfortable working with lavs. Don't worry if you don't, the all-time experience is field feel. Lucky for the states, your life and the fate of the nation won't exist on the line. I hope so, anyways.

P.South. Even so not convinced it was all worth the spy metaphor? I'll just wait here while you rearrange the messages in "lavalier".

"Valerie"… as in Valerie Plame. *cue X-Files theme (or that terrific song past The Decemberists)*

Yeah. That's what I thought.