Ask The Beard - The Importance of Sound In Your Business Videos
Most people think that videos are all about picture quality – actually sound quality often holds more importance you than you might think.
In fact you’ll often find that viewers will put up with a lower quality of picture with great sound…. than a great picture with bad sound. So today we're talking all about sound in your video and microphones that we use as part of our video projects.
Here at GINGERBEARD Media we know that sound matters for your video projects and so we’ve heavily invested in our range of microphones that allow us to adapt to whatever your planning for your next video project.
So in the video above we run through each microphone option and why we would typically use one over another. Because if your videographer turns up and wants to use the onbaord camera microphone, then you may want to rethink who you're using!
Our choices typically fall into 3 different microphones. So let's take a look at each one and talk about why we would typically use one over another.
The Run 'n' Gun
This is a broadcast quality condenser microphone - it's an almost-shotgun type microphone that cuts a lot of sound out from behind it and around the sides. This allows for better a sound focus for where the camera is pointed.
We typically used this mic when it’s a very active shoot - we don’t have that much time to set up – and so usually we’re not looking to capture much more than improved background audio, or perhaps we’re able to get close in doco-style interview situation.
For example, we used this microphone to capture our interviews during our interviews on The Dogs' Refuge Home; The Pound Run because there wasn't the space to set up in the car and for the Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride 2015 because of the space limitations of the shoot.
Wireless Lapel Microphones
Next up are our wireless lapel microphones.
Because they are wireless, they allow for increased distance between the camera and the talent, as well as allowing the talent to move more freely whilst continuing to capture their audio. The microphones themselves sit near to talent’s mouth so they capture clean audio. however, they are a wider mic, which means whilst they are great at capturing the talent’s voice, they can also capture the environment around them – which is not always ideal for some video projects.
We've used this microphone on our recent project with Ultimo Constructions because of the location's limitations for setup, and projects like The Kids Coach and Herasphere because of the active nature of the shoots.
Shotgun Microphone
Our final microphone choice is our professional standard shotgun microphone.
We use this microphone as much as we can because its great sound quality and ability to block out background sounds in busy business environments. You can usually find it when we’re shooting scripted pieces like the video above or projects such as Kirby Swim's scripted videos or Bailey Fitness' promotional video.
As ever I hope this article has been a useful insight into the use of microphones and how GINGERBEARD Media uses a range of equipment to provide the right solutions to our clients and their wide ranging video projects.
As always, if you are interested in talking further about how video could help your small business, please feel free to get in contact.
