Looking for Lapel Microphone

shuffles03

I'm looking to get a lapel microphone to clip onto my top. I'm currently creating product demonstrational videos in work and I'm having trouble adjusting the sound in clips taken from a distance. Can anyone suggest a good microphone and extension cable that would do the job?

I use a Mac and a JVC Everio HD video camera. I was on Amazon and came across these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=microphone+lapel&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amicrophone+lapel

Are any of those suitable?

I'm looking for a mic and extension cable that will connect straight to the camera itself.

Cheers in advance.

Ballyman

They will all be fine if your camera has a mic in 3.5mm jack for it. However the sound still won't be anything special as the quality on handicams isn't great to begin with. I use the speedlink ones in the attached and when hooked up to a Zoom H1 Recorder the sound is excellent.

If you are editing the clips you are recording then this setup is ideal as it's simple to replace the camera audio with the audio from the Zoom during editing and you will have professional quality audio on your video.

Be sure and use a clapper (clap your hands loudly at the start of the recording!) so you can sync the audio afterwards. It's actually all a lot simpler than it sounds!!

shuffles03

I'm not sure if there's a 3.5mm jack. The only input I can see is an av one. Is this it?

The main problem I'm having is that there is such a drastic sound difference when the shots change between closeup clips and ones that are farther away. The far away clips are only shot from 2 metres away at most but you can definitely hear the difference when the video moves onto the next shot.

I'm using iMovie to edit my videos and have played around with the audio to try and decrease the difference but I'm thinking a mic will sort that out?

shuffles03

A noob question about how it works:

I just assumed that once it was plugged into the camera the audio would automatically be enhanced as it was recording. How come the audio needs to be edited into the video afterwards?

GeorgeBailey

shuffles03 wrote: »

A noob question about how it works:

I just assumed that once it was plugged into the camera the audio would automatically be enhanced as it was recording. How come the audio needs to be edited into the video afterwards?

The solution Ballyman was suggesting was to record onto a Zoom H1 which is an external recorder. So you would then need to sync up your audio.
If your camera has a mic in port though and the audio quality is good enough for you then I'd go ahead and do that.

shuffles03

Excellent thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm new to this. So in theory, once I plug it into the camera the audio in the video will automatically be enhanced as it records. I won't have to do anything once it's uploaded into iMovie?

Sorry for all the questions.

GeorgeBailey

shuffles03 wrote: »

Excellent thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm new to this. So in theory, once I plug it into the camera the audio in the video will automatically be enhanced as it records. I won't have to do anything once it's uploaded into iMovie?

Sorry for all the questions.

It'll definitely be improved from recording far away from the on-board mic and should be at least as good as the quality of audio you're getting when you stand close to the on-board mic (really it should be better than that).
So I guess the main thing for you is to find out whether your camera has a mic jack.

shuffles03

Cheers. I just checked the camera and it has an av port. I googled the camera specifications and it said that it was a Composite video/audio. Am I good to go?

GeorgeBailey

shuffles03 wrote: »

Cheers. I just checked the camera and it has an av port. I googled the camera specifications and it said that it was a Composite video/audio. Am I good to go?

Are they yellow white and red? If so I'm pretty sure that's just for connecting your camera to a tv/monitor.
What you're looking for is a small port the same size as a headphone jack. More than likely would have a small picture of a microphone beside it.

shuffles03

Yep it's just one small port the size of a headphone jack that says av beside it. There's no picture of headphones though.

My camera is a JVC Everio GZ-E15SEK

GeorgeBailey

shuffles03 wrote: »

Yep it's just one small port the size of a headphone jack that says av beside it. There's no picture of headphones though.

My camera is a JVC Everio GZ-E15SEK

Unfortunately it doesn't look like your camera has a mic jack. You probably got a cable with your camera with a headphone type connection at one end and then yellow, white and red connections at the other end. This is so you can connect your camera to a tv/monitor.
I guess your only options are to do what Ballman said, buy a new camcorder or make do with the current quality of audio you're getting.

Ballyman

I never said buy a new camcorder

Buy a Zoom H1 and the Speedtest lapel mike (you should get both for less than €100 delivered) and you will have perfect audio

GeorgeBailey

Ballyman wrote: »

I never said buy a new camcorder

yeah I know. bad punctuation on my part. Was giving him 3 options, the first being yours.