A Beginner's Guide to Using Lav Mics

When it comes to filmmaking, audio is one of the most important pieces to telling your story, so you can't afford to mess it up. Now you can't always just use a normal mic to pick up audio, and this is where the lav mic comes in. The lav mic allows you to hide the mic when recording audio and still having good quality audio, that is, if you know who to se it properly.

First off, you need to be able to properly hide the lav mic, but also avoid the sound of the mic rubbing against the fabric where it is hidden. Where the mic is hidden depends on the article of clothing worn. For example, if the actor is dressed in a suit, the mic is commonly hidden inside the collar out of view but still close to the actor's mouth. One of the ways to concur the rubbing audio issue is to use the same tape that would be used to attach the mic to the piece of clothing, and tape the outward facing side, this still allows for clear audio but without the clothe rubbing noise.

Next, you should always be listening to your audio so you can monitor the quality and detect early issues. Finding audio issues early allows time to figure out a solution and to retake quickly while you still can. You really do not want to find issues later and be unable to re record.

Lastly, don't ever try and rig up a lav mic on someone else without asking or knowing how to set it up. The way a lav mic needs to be set up requires the mic wire being run up the inside of the actor's shirt, and doing this without permission or experience can be pretty awkward for all parties. Have the actor get the mic to a comfortable point or at least get permission to do it beforehand.

These tips are very important basics for operating one of these lav mics, and if followed, will help the overall quality of audio recorded from one of these mics. Though some of these tips should be clear, not everyone has used these mics, and this is a great instruction on the basics.

If I get the chance to use this type of mic, I will keep this article in mind. The tips are really helpful and easy to implement in future productions.