Aspen Mics HQ-S: Yet Another Cheap Lavalier Microphone

http://youtu.be/hkLVtPksn2I Let’s have a listen to another affordable lavalier microphone! This is the Aspen Mics HQ-S. The “S” stands for stereo. But don’t let that give the wrong impression because this is a mono mic that sends the same sound to both channels on a stereo recorder or camera with a stereo input. That just saves you some time in post but also comes at a little bit of a cost. This mic is not quite as sensitive as some of its mono competitors that only record to one channel like the JK MicJ 044. In this case we’ll compare the Aspen to the Giant Squid and JK lavalier mics.

If you really want to reduce the amount of work you have to do in editing, you really probably need to look at better microphones. None of these mics are through-the-roof amazing. But they all are decent and far better than relying on your camera’s microphone.

So pick the one that suits your editing needs—one with a TRS plug if you don’t want to bother with dropping the silent channel in editing at the cost of less sensitivity. Or the other with more sensitivity but that requires you to drop the silent channel in editing.

If you’re not sure how to delete a silent channel, have a look at this previous episode where we quickly run through how to do that. Hint: it is very simple and costs you hardly any time which is why if I had to choose, I’d go with the more sensitive mic and delete the silent channel in editing.