$600 vs $1200 Microphone for Indoor Dialogue: Blind Comparison
We’re gearing up to review another XLR microphone for recording indoor dialogue. So to kick that off, here’s a quick blind comparison between the mic I’ll review in the next couple of weeks and another mic that one might choose to use for recording dialogue indoors.
Record Two Lavaliers to Your Recorder or Camera
One question I've received more times than I can count is how do I record two lavalier microphones with 3.5mm plugs into my camera or small stereo audio recorder (like a Zoom H1 or Tascam DR-05)?
Beachtek has a solution in their DXA-Pocket mixer. In terms of size, it is perfect for a Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera but it'll work with any camera that has a 3.5mm stereo mic input.
You can connect two microphones with 3.5mm plugs and this will send them to separate channels so that they're recorded cleanly and that makes post-processing a lot easier.
Looks like a simple solution to a problem that we all encounter at one point or another. Through the 10th of November, B&H Photo has the DXA-Pocket for $80 USD
Aputure A.lav Quick Review: Best Cheap Lavalier 2015
I’ve reviewed quite a few inexpensive lavalier microphones (~$50 or less) over the last several years. And to be honest, I haven’t found one that sounded better than the Giant Squid or JK MicJ 044 in over a year. Until the Aputure A.lav was released, that is. I’m quite impressed with this little mic and what’s more, it runs about $35 USD so it won’t break the bank.
I suspect the reason this one sounds better than many of the others is that it has its own power module. So yes, this is potentially a little more cumbersome, but it also allows you to monitor your audio while recording and to ensure you can use this with just about any device with a 3.5mm microphone input.
If you want to improve the sound of your videos but the budget's tight, the A.lav may be worth a look and a listen.
Zoom F8 Review Wrapup
The Zoom F8 is an impressive sound recorder from a company that has been steadily marching up market with more and more impressive audio gear. Zoom popularized the handheld recorder with XLR input market with their original H4 Handy Recorder. And now about 10 years later, they’re going even farther up market with the Zoom F8. But is the F8 really a competitor to the pro-level sound recorders from Sound Devices and Zaxcom? Have a watch and we’ll give you my impressions.
Who is this device for? It fits my work as a one-man crew shooting corporate videos perfectly. I love the Zoom F8!
My Wishlist (Audio Nerd Alert!)
I am an audio for film nerd, but you probably already knew that.
As a holder of that nerd status, I also have an affiliate relationship with B&H Photo. And B&H Photo is pretty much like a kid's favorite candy shop, but for a middle aged, audio for film nerd.
One of the great things that B&H brings to the relationship is lending me gear for reviews and evaluation. I cannot thank them enough and I hope that some of those reviews have been helpful to you as well! I also want to thank you for using those affiliate links when you buy from B&H in cases where the reviews were helpful. You don't pay more and we get a little fee to help keep the reviews coming. Everybody wins.
I was delighted when my B&H friends came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd like to share my wishlist over in the Pro Audio section of their website for a few days. The list includes things I own, have recently tested, used on previous gigs, or just wish I could use at some point. If you're into that sort of thing, you might get a kick out of this.
And while you're there, you might consider creating your own wishlist. You could win a $1000 gift card for B&H if you share it.
Production Sound Recording Course Discount
If you're interested in saving a little on my Production Sound Recording Course, I'm happy to let you know that we have a discount code for $20 off for the holidays. Simply use coupon code SOUNDHOLIDAY2015 at checkout. https://youtu.be/047jFy1RCwA
Come have a look over at school.learnlightandsound.com.
Zoom H1 Special Pricing
If you don't have a Zoom H1 in your kit, I'd say its a pretty nice little problem solver. I use mine as a stand-in when I'm having trouble getting wireless to work well because of interference issues. Just plug your talent's lavalier into the H1, start the recording, drop it in their pocket, then sync in post.
Audio quality is surprisingly good and clean on its 3.5mm microphone input.
B&H has special pricing during the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention at only $75 for the silver version.
Good Budget Wireless Lavalier: Azden PRO-XD
One of the most common questions I've received from YouTubers: "I'm going to start a prank channel at YouTube. What wireless microphone should I get?"
I've never done a single prank video so I don't pretend to be a master at understanding all the nuances of quality prank videos, but Azden was kind enough to send me a copy of their PRO-XD Digital Wireless Lavalier system to review.
After working with it for about three weeks, here’s the review. Overall, this is a great budget digital wireless lavalier system priced at $200 USD. While it isn’t as robust as more expensive wireless systems, this system does have a lot going for it and is very good value for money.
The upside? Great performance in terms of keeping a signal, battery life, and producing solid, quality audio. Oh, and the price: $199 USD. This is the best sub $200 wireless lavalier system I've used.
The downside? The included lavalier microphone isn't amazing, but you can clean up the audio in post or replace it with another 3.5mm TRRS lavalier microphone.
Would I opt for this over the RODELink wireless lavalier kit? No, not if I had the budget for the RODELink (see our review here) which is twice the price. But if you're operating on a tight budget, the PRO-XD is definitely worth a look.
Azden PRO-XD Digital Wireless Lavalier Initial Test & Moving Help Sessions
Azden sent over a copy of their PRO-XD wireless lavalier system and in this episode we're doing an initial sample so that you can hear what it sounds like after routine, mild post processing (mild noise reduction, mild compression, loudness normalize to -16LUFS and true peak limit to -1.5dB true peak). We'll have a quick review later this week.
Someone already asked, do you like this or the RODELink better? If money was not a factor, of course I like RODELink more but if money is a factor, and it usually is, the PRO-XD is half the price of RODELink.
The Azden kit has a few unique features and one of the biggest is the size of the transmitter and receiver - they're tiny. They also have in-build lithium-ion batteries which can be charged via micro USB cable and the wireless works as well as RODELink and Sennheiser AVX in terms of keeping a signal in my tests so far. Audio quality is good, though not as good as AVX. It also includes an adapter so you can record to mobile devices which is a nice touch as well.
Seems like a good kit if you're on a tight budget.
And as for the help sessions, we've received feedback that it would be better if we would move those to a different channel. I agree, they're different enough (i.e., an hour in length, Q&A style instead of focused topic) that they should probably be somewhere else. So we’ll post them here.
Sennheiser AVX Digital Wireless Microphone System Review
So here it is, finally after 4 weeks of working with it; my review of the Sennheiser AVX wireless microphone system.
Sennheiser recently introduced their new digital wireless system called AVX. There are various kits available and in this episode I used the kit with the body pack transmitter, receiver, and MKE2 lavalier microphone (their higher-end pro lavalier microphone). We looked at various aspects of the AVX system including how well it does in terms of outdoor distance, dynamic range which Sennheiser touts as preventing clipping distortion when your talent suddenly gets very loud, sound quality of the MKE2 lavalier microphone, latency, rejection of RF and WiFi interference, battery life, and others. Let’s see how it does!
