Susan, after picking myself up off the floor (just kidding), I would recommend that you read through some of the threads in this other forum I participate in:

pana3ccduser.com Microphones and Sound Management

Once you get the video and audio into VMS ... you can split just the audio and delete out the bad audio parts.

oh - and by the way - I admire your ingenuity.

Your camcorder mic sounds hollow or distant because it is picking up your voice direct from you to the camcorder but also picking up all the reflections of your voice as it bounces off walls and floors, etc.

A shotgun mic will help because it is designed to mainly pick up just what it's pointed at and to not pick up sounds from other directions (like the sound reflections off of the floors and walls, etc.) In your case you could put one on a stand or tripod just out of camera shot and pointed at your mouth. It could be hung overhead, as suggested, but if your shot is only from the waist up you can have it on a short tripod in front of you, near the floor and pointing up at you.

A well respected "budget" shotgun mic is the Rode Videomic:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html

Expect to pay $120- $140 or so (and yes, that's pretty cheap for this kind of mic). You would also need an extension cable for it.

A small "clip on" mic is also called a "lavalier" microphone. It will help because even though it might not be as directional as a shotgun mic (though some are), the benefit is that you clip it onto your shirt or sweater and therefore it is much closer to your mouth when you speak. So the audio directly from your mouth to the mic is much louder than the distant reflections off the walls and floor, which then end up being almost non-existent by comparison.

Here is an inexpensive lavalier clip-on mic:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/664437-REG/Audio_Technica_ATR3350_ATR3350_Omnidirectional_Condenser_Lavalier.html

One drawback with a clip-on mic is that as you turn your head the audio quality may change significantly because you are now talking away from the mic rather than talking more directly too it. Clip it somewhat off to the side in the direction you will be talking when you turn. Or try to turn your entire torso instead of just your head.

Most people are accustomed to seeing a clip-on mic on a presenter or newscaster so you really don't need to worry about keeping it out of sight.

The crackling you got with your other mic could have been a bad connection or could have been the result of fabric brushing against the mic as you turned. There are some mics (probably expensive) that are similar to clip-on mic's but flatter and made to be taped inside your clothing so that they are completely concealed. In this case the mic itself is put against the fabric and then covered with a big piece of tape so that the mic won't move at all against the fabric and won't create that scratchy noise.

Tim L

While using a shotgun mic at 10ft would be better than using the internal camcorder mic .. at that distance it will not give you "good audio" Three or four feet is about the maximum distance for a shotgun.

A lavilier mic (pretty much what you created) would work much better. Since yours is "home made" I'm not sure if the crackling is coming from the mic or (more likely) the extension cord (more precisely the *connectors* on the extension cord).

Why don't you try to tape up the joint where the mic goes into the extension cord and see if that stops the noise. You can also try a "real" lavilier mic, and if that does not work, a better extension cord.

Here's a YouTube example of someone demonstrating the AT3350 lavalier clip-on mic that I linked to above.

The review is almost 10 minutes long, but you really only need to watch a minute or two to get an idea of the placement and the sound quality.



You can find this mic new on Amazon or eBay for about $25, so it is very affordable. It has a very long cord -- about 20' -- and can plug directly into a video camera.

Thanks everybody. Lots of helpful information and good practical suggestions. I'll probably start with the simplest and proceed at a rate not so slow as to be frustrating and not so fast as to be lost. :-)

.....Susan

Those inexpensive A-T mics are what I would have suggested for you if I had jumped in earlier. I own one, it is fine for wired voice (not music) production, and they are purchased by the thousands by public school districts and agencies of local government.

The reasons are simple; they are cheap, they work, they are available, and they hold up well. As a beginner, you can always graduate to something better without feeling like you have sacrificed something.