If you're just starting out with online videos for your business or personal brand, you know there's nothing wrong with starting on your phone. IPhones especially have very nice video quality, but they almost always need some kind of audio enhancement. So before you make any kind of investment in a microphone for your iPhone, there's some very important information you need to know about that lightning connection.
Sennheiser is my personal favorite microphone brand (they did not pay me to say that!). I recently met Rob at the Sennheiser booth at VidCon 2019. He's going to give you some very important tips.
Do not invest in a microphone for your phone until you talk to Rob.
What's with the iPhone and Audio?
When looking at the iPhone technology particularly when Apple got rid of the headphone jack there is something weird with the audio. What they also got rid of was an easy way to do microphone input. So what happens is if you want to have an analog microphone that goes into your iPhone, you need to use the lightning adapter dongle. Now there are other microphones out in the market that are purpose-built specific for lightning connectors but there's advantages and disadvantages with that.
One of the really big advantages is it's easy to just plug it in and use it, but the downside of that is you have a product that is purpose-built for that device only. So it can't really grow with you once you want to get out of an iIPhone and maybe move into a digital SLR, a mirrorless camera or a shoulder camera, that product really can't come along on your purchase journey or on your customer journey.
You will be stuck with the microphone that just connects to your phone if you were to get something that just has that lightning connector. If you have an intention of buying better video equipment, maybe you want to get something for audio that can grow with you.
Sennheiser Products
MKE 400
There is a product called the MKE 400 and if you notice this product has what's called a TRS connector. You have these three rings on the connector. A phone looks for something that has four rings and the reason that's important is that additional ring is what allows you to get a microphone signal into your phone.
Some people look at this and they say “oh I can't use it with my phone too?. Well, that's not exactly true. There's a lot of different accessories out there that will allow you to do that.
Adaptor Cable
An adaptor cable basically breaks out your signal from the lightning connector for your microphone and for your headphone so you can now plug this 3.5 millimeter TRS signal in and have a 4-pole connector that I can plug into my adaptor and then I can plug that adaptor in.
Now, this is not elegant by any means and of course, you want to have some strain relief but you can absolutely do this. There are a couple of other products that Sennheiser makes.
MKE 600
One of the products by Sennheiser is MKE 600. It's a shotgun microphone and you can get great professional quality audio from an MKE 600 with this cable. Just plugin with that 4-pole connector and that 4-pole connector then plugs right into your phone and you could have a professional-grade shotgun microphone to match up with a great looking video.
Talk about Fast Fashion
This is gonna sound like a silly analogy but I think it's a good one. You know there's this concept of fast fashion nowadays where they make really cheap products and you can buy a $10 shirt but you can bet after a few washes that shirt is gonna be no good in a year.
Sometimes if you invest in something that's a little more high quality it can come with you on your journey. When you graduate from a phone to perhaps a more professional camera you would be able to keep that microphone and you would be able to use it for your next camera. That's something to think about when you're making an investment in a microphone for your phone if you're currently shooting on your phone.
It's also all about just learning a little bit about the accessories. There are all sorts of products around the market that can allow you to interface products to your phone, to your DSLR or to a camcorder. If you do a little bit of research you'll find ways to really utilize the best possible product for your application and then you'll have that along your journey. Make that one-time investment and then educate yourself a little bit.
Have Budget Constraints?
Now if you don't have a lot of money to invest, I do have a video for people with 20 bucks or less to just get started so they're not just using that in phone microphone. If that's really more of your budget right now make sure you check out that video and remember never give up on your dreams, you deserve to take the spotlight, always be a Dare to Dreamer.
Where should you start with audio for your videos if you have a set budget? Well if you have a minimum of $300 to start, I'm here with Rob at Sennheiser at VidCon 2019 and we're going to talk about some options that you have.
If you have a business or personal brand where you're ready to invest a few hundred dollars or more to start, I have Rob here from Sennheiser to talk about some of the product lines for 2019 if you're ready to get started with audio.
Audio Equipment on a Budget
Audio is a very important part of your video and it's something that a lot of people don't focus on necessarily. They're always focused on that perfect shot. While video feature is always important, people are going to turn off your channel, turn off your station or turn off your tutorial if your audio is bad. This definitely going to happen.
So investing in your audio is extremely important. And at Sennheiser, they have a great product range for beginners.
It's so important to have good audio. It's an important investment. I Use Sennheiser for my audio. That's what I use in film school. And I've stuck with Sennheiser ever since because I will say truthfully, you get what you pay for and if you make that investment upfront, they're not paying me to say this, then your equipment's going to last. That's something to think about if you're ready to invest in your business.
XS Wireless
XS wireless digital allows you to quickly and easily get into great audio for your blog or any of the other content creation that you might be doing. This starts at $299.
XS Wireless Digital just launched this year January 2019 and has a variety of different systems, but the systems we're focused on here at VidCon or dedicated to audio from video. The most common system is going to be our Lavalier, a 3.5-millimeter locking connector with an Emmy to Lav Mike, which is one of the most popular Lavaliere microphones with our a receiver and cold shoe mount. That system is going to be $349 and it's a great entry into getting great audio for your video. The nice thing about the system is that it's entirely plug and play. You don't have to do anything other than turn the system on, plug it into your camera and you're good to go.
What are Lavalieres?
So if you're not familiar with Lavalier, that's what many people have put on their collars. It's the kind of microphone that you wear. It's mobile and wireless and is a really good investment for that sort of thing if you've got the budget for it. It allows you to walk around, and the audio stays the same. And one of the things that people don't always think about, especially if they're doing it blogging, is if filming while the camera is far away. Having wireless freedom is an important part of being comfortable when you're on camera.
Also, these products can grow with you. If you're doing a seminar or anything where you want to record yourself, maybe you're going to be 20, 25, 50 feet away from your camera person, having a wireless option as opposed to a wired microphone always makes for a good investment. And again, the XS Wireless Digital at $349 for that Lavalier set is a great place to start.
Evolution XS Wireless System
Let's say that we've got somebody who's rolling in the dough and they're ready to invest a little bit more in their audio. What would be the next tier?
Well, for Sennheiser, a lot of things they do are in good, better, best. So XS Wireless Digital is going to be the good and then the better will be Evolution in Wireless systems. Those start off at around $599. It is a comparable system in a UHF analog system, which just means that it's not as plug and play friendly as XS Wireless Digital and you have to know a little bit more about audio to get into the Evolution Wireless series.
AVX Wireless System
Finally, there is the AVX line. AVX is excellent in that same plug and play kind of concept. You have a receiver here that plugs into your DSLR or the side of your camera; your choice of either a handheld microphone or a Lavalier microphone. These systems start around $700.
So again, that's also plug and play. It just operates on different frequencies whereas XS Wireless Digital is in 2.4 gig, which shares with WiFi. AVX is at 1.9 gigahertz. You have a little more flexibility in terms of if you're in a crowded RF environment.
So if you have more money to spend, you can get better audio acoustics. That can be a better Lav Mic or a better handheld.
Don't be intimidated if this seems intimidating. It's not. These systems are just plug and play. If you don't know anything about audio, you can take these out of the box and you can be ready to go that minute.
If you're not ready to go to this level, we are also going to talk about microphones systems you can use for your phone and specifically something you really need to know if you have one of the newer iPhones that have the lightning connection. So make sure you check out that video as well. Catch next time, Dare to Dreamers.
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Michelle Osorio is a singer, filmmaker and content creator turned entrepreneur sharing her secrets to growth on social media and livestream.