Good Lav Mic with Mini Plug
August 21, 2013 10:24 AM Subscribe
Can someone recommend a good lav mic to accompany a Sony PCM-M10?
The recorder has a 3.5mm mini jack an no phantom power.
I'm planning on using the recorder and lav mic to record audio for filmed interviews with individual subjects in a relatively noisy office setting, so I'd appreciate recommendations for mics that might help me isolate the subject's voice and not, say, the pingpong match occurring in the other room.
The recorder has a 3.5mm mini jack an no phantom power.
I'm planning on using the recorder and lav mic to record audio for filmed interviews with individual subjects in a relatively noisy office setting, so I'd appreciate recommendations for mics that might help me isolate the subject's voice and not, say, the pingpong match occurring in the other room.
There are very definitely lav mics that are not omnidirectional.
Many of them are omnidirectional because omni mics are not subject to "proximity effect", where the mic picks up more low end the closer you get to the mic. This can sometimes result in "popped P's" - if the person speaking tends to push a lot of air when the pronounce the letter P, there can be a big "PUH" sound louder than most of the rest of their voice. An omni mic won't have that, so much.
no phantom power.
The thing is, all lav mics are condenser mics, which need some kind of external power source.
I went poking though the manual for your Sony and it looks like it has a "Plug In Power" function that you can turn on for the mic input, so in theory it does have some kind of phantom power. Of course, there's no real info beyond that, no info on what kind of voltage it puts out, so it's not clear whether any mini-plug lav will work, or whether you can put an adapter on a lav with a different connector & still get power to the mic, or whether you're limited to Sony products.
So from that standpoint I would first see what Sony offers that you know will be compatible with your recorder.
If these interviews are a one-shot deal, I would also have a back-up system going simultaneously, and Lanark's idea of a shotgun mic is a good one.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:12 PM on August 21, 2013
Many of them are omnidirectional because omni mics are not subject to "proximity effect", where the mic picks up more low end the closer you get to the mic. This can sometimes result in "popped P's" - if the person speaking tends to push a lot of air when the pronounce the letter P, there can be a big "PUH" sound louder than most of the rest of their voice. An omni mic won't have that, so much.
no phantom power.
The thing is, all lav mics are condenser mics, which need some kind of external power source.
I went poking though the manual for your Sony and it looks like it has a "Plug In Power" function that you can turn on for the mic input, so in theory it does have some kind of phantom power. Of course, there's no real info beyond that, no info on what kind of voltage it puts out, so it's not clear whether any mini-plug lav will work, or whether you can put an adapter on a lav with a different connector & still get power to the mic, or whether you're limited to Sony products.
So from that standpoint I would first see what Sony offers that you know will be compatible with your recorder.
If these interviews are a one-shot deal, I would also have a back-up system going simultaneously, and Lanark's idea of a shotgun mic is a good one.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:12 PM on August 21, 2013
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posted by Lanark at 3:15 PM on August 21, 2013