How to Pic the best Video Production Mic
How to Pic the best Video Production Mic
How to Pick the Best Video Production Mic
Sound is vitally important to any film or video production. Here are some things to consider before picking out your video production mics.
Capturing quality audio is incredibly important to your film or video. But in order to capture that sound, you need to have quality production mics to go with your recording device. Picking the right production mic for the job isn’t always easy though. There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself before you make that purchase. Let’s go through some of those questions and see if we can help you find the right production mic for your needs.
1. What Will the Mic Be Used For?
The most important question you need to ask yourself is: what am I using this mic for? Different productions and scenes call for different mics, so it’s really important to know what the situation is before you purchase your mic. Let’s look at the three major options for mics and what part of the production they best fit into.
Shotgun Mics

Lav Mics

Video Mics
Video mics are a type of shotgun mic, but these particular mics aren’t really for capturing the final audio for a production. They connect straight to the camera in order to capture scratch-track audio that will allow your editor to easily sync the video and high-end sound together in post.

Once you know what your production needs are, you can begin searching for mics — but there are just a few more questions to ask before you make your purchase. Before we get to those questions, let’s check out this video from Film Riot where Ryan Connolly gives us some advice on mics for production.
Video from Film Riot
2. What’s the Size of Your Production and Budget?
Answering this question will go a long way in determining what you need and what you can afford. No matter if you’re working with a large budget or an indie budget, there are options for you to get quality production mics to capture your audio. Just be wary of breaking the bank as Film Shortage recently pointed out.
If your camera costs a couple hundred then it’s not really worth buying a microphone that sets you back a couple of grand, as the quality of the two won’t match up.
The key here is to be really sure that you set a budget for yourself and stick to it. Audio equipment can get expensive without you realizing it, so make sure the production mic you’re selecting will do the job you need it to do. Again, let’s check out this video from Ryan Connolly and Film Riot as he runs through specific production mics.
Video from Film Riot
3. Be Mindful of Pickup Pattern
Pickup pattern is how well a microphone hears different sounds from different directions. Depending on what you’re recording, you’ll want to look at the pickup pattern before making a determination on what production mic to purchase. Knowing the directional response of your mic will help you tremendously when going into production. Let’s go over those pickup patterns and help you learn what mics are what.
Omnidirectional

Bidirectional

Unidirectional

Cardioid/Hypercardioid

Video from Videomaker
4. There Is No Such Thing as a One Mic Shoot
Well, okay. Technically there is. But this is something I learned early in my career: no matter if you’re a big-budget filmmaker or an independent videographer, you’ll want to capture dual audio. This could be as easy as running a video mic in conjunction with a shotgun mic. As we mentioned above, this will allow you to capture scratch-track audio and pro audio for final editing.
Just remember that you want to capture the best audio you can. Great audio will go a long way toward masking a lot of mistakes. As Scary Cow points out in an article on recording amazing audio for low-budget productions:
Horrible picture can be passed off as “style” when accompanied by perfect audio, but poorly recorded and mixed audio will make a great picture seem amateurish and poorly-executed.
So again, be sure to use all options available at your disposal. Redundancy is a good thing when talking about production audio. don’t just slap a lav on the talent. Also use a shotgun mic on a boom pole to get an extra layer. If your camera doesn’t capture scratch-track audio, connect a mic to it. Three solutions for one sequence. It sounds like overkill, but when the time comes to edit the film, the editor has a lot of flexibility. This is a good thing.
Video from Pro Coalitions
5. What Mic Accessories Do You Need?
Just getting a video production mic alone will get you rolling, but you’re going to need a few accessories to achieve optimal quality. Here are a few items that will help in the long run.
Shotgun Mic Accessories

Lavalier Mic Accessories

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