Microphone Comparison

Microphone Comparison Test from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.

Above: a comparison of three microphones:

• an Audio-Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier
• a Rode Lavalier Microphone
• and an Azden Barrell Shotgun Mic With XLR Outputs

All three are presented as recorded with no changes in level or equalization. The ATR-3350 does very well (and sells for a very reasonable sub-$25 price) but the Rode delivers what I think is a much more pleasant tone for a documentary interview. The shotgun mic does well, and with careful microphone placement and adjustment of recording levels can do even better.

Statement of Purpose

I have other blogs. You can see them in the right column. The reason I'm starting a new blog is to open a discussion on the emergence of a new, hybrid form of documentary photography that merges traditional approaches with techniques from documentary filmmaking, strategies from new media and concepts from fine art practice.

I still love traditional documentary photography, but that's not where we are anymore. New technologies like hybrid DSLRs (technically, DSLs, I suppose, since the best of these are now mirrorless), tiny audio recorders, inexpensive large-capacity memory cards, laptop-based video editing, and high-speed Internet access now make the old model only a jumping-off point.

These new capabilities -- arising at a time when traditional publishing is in crisis and a billion amateurs with cell phone cameras have spot news covered -- force us to ask: where should we take the idea of documentary photography? There's no moving backward. So where are we going?

Zoom H1 Lavalier Test with Audio Technica ATR-3350

I had to record a voiceover, so I dragged out three lavalier microphones for a quick test, plugging each into a Zoom H1 and recording a snippet of normal speaking. The results? While the audio quality won't match a high-end microphone, the recording is fine for use in documentary interviews on location.

(By the way, for those times when your wireless mic is likely to run into interference, this could be interesting: clip the lav on your subject, stick the Zoom H1 in their pocket. Hit record, then lock the buttons on the H1.)

Comparing the three microphones, I believe the Audio Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone has a more pleasant, natural sound than the Audio Technica ATR-35s and is significantly higher in quality than a cheap Radio Shack 33-3013. (I'd post a sample, but Blogger is not exactly cooperative with my attempt to do that....)

That's not a surprise -- the 3350 is basically the updated replacement for the 35s. It's also essentially the same as the mic included in Audio Technica PRO88W-R35 Wireless Lavalier System with ATR3350mW Omnidirectional Mic, 170 MHz. 

So, the ATR-3350 works fine. And it's ultracheap now:

Lavalier Fail

By the end of a term in my TV Production class, everyone is able to successfully put a lavalier on an interview subject. We did 13 shows this semester, and used lavs in most of those, meaning there was a chance for everyone to get some practice.

So I was really surprised to see the above disaster during our skills test. I'm still not sure what happened. People get nervous, I guess.

I refrained from making any Viagra jokes, but had to take a snapshot for the "don't" file. Unless your subject is on the show for the ability to speak through his nipple, you might want that microphone aiming at his mouth, not hanging limply toward the ground.

(The student in question passed everything else, but clearly lost points here. Of course, the ironic thing is always that when a student makes a mistake like this and gets corrected, they end up never forgetting the right way.)

Why is Audio So Hard? Five Audio Tips

In low-budget video production -- sometimes even in medium-budget work -- the biggest problems usually come from audio issues. Here are a couple of quick ideas on how to avoid an audio crisis in small-crew video production:

1. Proximity Problems
No on-camera mic is great at a distance from your subject. While you can often get a better visual by backing up, keep in mind that a great visual of an interview without clear audio is not usable. If there's doubt about what you are getting, get closer with the camera and get the microphone in close.

2. Background Noise
Keep in mind that even background sounds which don't overwhelm or distract from your subject's voice can cause problems. If you are cutting together a few short phrases from a longer statement -- common practice in short video -- the background sounds can make this very difficult. Wear headphones that cover your ears and you'll hear these background problems before you record them.

3. Directionality problems
A shotgun microphone -- either on a camcorder or on a boom pole -- is a great solution for this kind of work. But it introduces a new problem: directionality. If we have two people speaking, it is very easy to have the microphone pointed at one and not the other, and we end up with one subject sounding great and the other weak. Or, if a shotgun is on camera, you may have audio levels go up and down as the camera changes where it is pointed. If you are going to use a microphone on a boom, practice with it -- wear some headphones and try it on a few live conversations.

4. The Two-Level Trick
In documentary-style production, situations often change very quickly. You might set a level and then realize the everything has gotten quieter or louder. Or the sounds you want might vary greatly. One excellent trick is to record onto to channels or two separate sources and set the levels differently. For example, say we had a boom microphone going into the camcorder and had set that level to our best guess. You could also record into another source -- another camera or a field recorder or anything you can get your hands on -- taking the same signal but setting a higher or lower level. So, if we imagine a situation where most of the audio is fine but our subject screamed a few times and became too loud and distorted --we could be saved by a second recorder set at a lower level. We'd just find and drop in the lower-level audio in that section.

5. Would You Repeat That?
There are a lot of ethical choices involved in documentary filmmaking. One that most people get past quickly is leaving the subject alone entirely. So, if after three days of following a subject around, they finally say something central to the story and a car horn honks in the background, consider asking them to repeat it.

FT: Week 5

If it's Wednesday, this must be West Lima, Wisconsin.

Among the ideas learned in this week's "Frugal Traveler" edit: the importance of 500 Hz. The audio on the original interviews was quite problematic (I'm not certain if there was a problem with the camera or a setting or that's just the nature of that camera under certain conditions) with little or no bass in the voices. I used a three-band equalizer on these, but it turned out my first instinct -- boosting the 80 Hz frequency -- had little effect. After a lot of trial and error, boosting 500 Hz as far as it would go returned the voices to a more normal sound.

As always, with only one day (less really) to edit a 4:36 piece, there are some things I see now that I'd like to go back and refine. First draft of the cut was over five minutes, so the last part of the process was trimming down about 30 seconds of material. With enough time and coffee, probably another 15 seconds could be taken out, and there are a few edit points that could be made more precise.

I've always loved the way Walter Murch describes standing while he edits, and hitting certain by edit points "by feel" until he hits the same point repeatedly, then deciding that must be the right instant. Over time, of course, I've come to realize that's terrible advice, sort of like some great baseball batter advising one to swing at the right time....