Audio Equipment you may need to get better audio recording
Many Digital Video Cameras have built in microphones. This is the most common way audio is recorded in home movie but there is one piece of audio equipment you can buy that isn't too expensive and can dramatically improve your audio signal and that's an external mic that plugs into your camcorder.
George Lucas once said this about audio recording
"If you can invest in good audio equipment from the start do so as it will save you time,
money and headaches in the future. Bad audio is hard to work with and can ruin a picture."
With the technology in software today you can make magic with poor quality audio by increasing audio volume on certain parts of your clip or by magically removing unwanted noise. It is always best to have a good audio signal from the beginning. As best as possible because the more you change it the more unnatural it sounds.
"Warner Brothers released Don Juan in 1926.
It was the first
commercial film to have recorded sound."
Recommended Portable Audio Recording Devices - Reviews
The Zoom H4n is a portable recording master with exceptionally high quality recording ability. It is capable of multiple channel recording. 4.5/5 Stars
The Sony PCM-D50 offers an very high end design with some ofthe best recording quality and battery life you can find. 4.5/5 Stars
The Edirol R-09HR is a good size and recording quality is worth teh little extra in cost. 4/5 Stars
The Pocketrak CX is a great recorder for basic high quality portable recording. It is smallest of all the portable recorders mentioned and easily fits into your pocket. 3.5/5 Stars
How can I Improve audio - Audio Equipment - External Mic Plugged into your Camcorder
Ok lets say you want to improve your audio further. The next absolutely best way to improve your audio is to plug in an mic through the mic plug (which unfortunately not all video camcorders have).
A condenser mic will most often be the first choice for the home movies. Look for mics that are sensitive enough to produce good qualiy audio with relatively inexpensive mixers or preamps.
You may want to use a uni-directional mic of an omni-directional mic. An Omni-directional mic is used for recording the character and the sounds all around that character. For instance lets say you had 2 people talking. You would want to place the mic inbetween them. If it's just one person a uni-directional mic is preffered. This is because it cancels out all of the sounds around you and just pics up sounds pointed in it's direction.
How to improve audio - Audio Equipment - Pre-amp
Why do you need a pre-amp. Pre-amps boost the signal so that the audio being recorded is both strong and full resulting in a cleaner better audio recording. Be careful as many pre-amps can boost noise but others seem to filter it out. For movie making it's nice to have a good pre-amp for voice audio.
How to improve audio - Audio Equipment - Pop filters
For audio it's nice to have a screen that prevents nasty popping noises from occuring. For live recordings with a few characters sometimes a giant hairy cover is put over a mic (Omni-Directional Mic) to filter out unwanted noises such as wind. See how to make a Pop filter.
Recommended Audio Mics
Little mics that attach to you are called lapel mics. One of our recommended lapel producers is Giant Squid for the lowest prices and best quality.
Related Audio articles:
Make an Audio Pop filter audio and stop those horrible popping noises when you record audio.
Read some reviews of the free audio software Audacity and improve your clips.
Which Audio software should I use for mastering and editing? - audio software
Devices that can amplify your input signal making them sound great
Audio equipment for good quality recording - audio equipment
Which Microphones should I buy? - Microphones
Free Audio Software that can clean and improve your recorded audio - Free Audio Software
Recoding audio tips to get better sound recording.
Remove unwanted noises from your recorded audio clips such as hissing sounds or fan noises.
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