If you’re tossing up between a lapel mic (also called a lav mic) and a more traditional podcast mic, this episode breaks down the pros and cons of both.
While lapel mics are great for video, they often sacrifice the sound quality you need in a podcast.
I explain why podcast audio needs to be more intimate, and why your mic setup can make or break your connection with your audience.
💡 What You’ll Learn:
The difference between lapel mics and traditional podcast mics
Why audio intimacy matters in a podcast
What makes a mic sound “professional”
Why mic distance and background noise can impact your show
What happens when you rely too much on post-production
This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wangal people, of the Eora Nation.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present.
Transcripts
Voice over:
Got dreams of being a professional podcaster but have no idea what you're doing. This is impossible. That's about to change. A new kind of school. Welcome to the Pod School Podcast.
Rachel:
Hello, welcome to the show.
Today I'm going to be answering a question from Stephen, and that is: Would you recommend lav mics like the Rode Wireless or a desk-mounted podcast mic like a Procaster?
Now, if you don't know what a lav mic is, it's basically just one of those small clip-on mics that you clip onto your clothes. Sometimes it's called a lapel mic, and it's usually catching the audio of yourself and a lot of the room. So these things work really well for video, but I don't think they're as good for podcasting.
My recommendation when it comes to a podcast microphone is ideally to have a microphone that you can sit really close to and speak directly down the barrel of. The reason for this is because the further away from a microphone you are, the more it is picking up everything around you.
And when you're recording a video, that doesn't matter so much because you've got vision. So people are watching, and it doesn't seem weird to watch somebody in a room and for it to sound like they are in a room. But when you're listening to a podcast and you don't have any vision, the sound of someone being in a room just sounds like somebody being far away from you.
And that's not what you want in a podcast. In a podcast, you want somebody to sound like they are right up in your ears, talking directly to you.
So the more of that you can get in the record, the less work you're going to have to do when you're editing. Because if you've got a lot of room noise and echo and you sound far away, you're going to have to try and remove some of that.
And ideally, you don't want to do much to the track that you've recorded when you're in the editing process, because the more you have to fiddle with it and put processing on it and remove stuff from the background, the more you remove your voice and the natural tones in your voice.
So ideally, you want to be recording audio that can go out as it is, or maybe just needs a tiny little polish, but doesn't need much work.
And you're going to get much better audio by talking into a microphone that is directly in front of you.
This is also why I often don't recommend the Blue Yeti as a podcast microphone. It does have settings in it that mean you can improve the sound of it, but for the way most podcasters use it, they sit far back from it, it collects a lot of room noise, and it doesn't create as rich and as intimate a sound as you would like in a podcast.
So my recommendation would be: If you're doing video, those lav mics work fine because you've got the vision to support you as well, and it makes sense to an audience that you would sound like you were in a room.
But when you don't have that vision, it's really important that you are focused just on what is the best audio quality here. Naturally, you might be using video as well for your podcast, but audio that's recorded for a podcast that is attached to video sounds great.
So there's no disadvantage to thinking about what is the audio-first version of this, so that I can make sure I get the best sound for the podcast listeners. And then that sound attached to a video is going to be great for the video watchers as well.
So my recommendation would be to speak directly into a microphone you can put right in front of you. Get that microphone in a mic stand so it's out of your hands.
The other thing about lapel mics is that they can rub on things. If you're wearing a necklace, it can go back and forth and rub on that microphone. It can rub on your shirt. So there's all of this incidental noise that can be brought into the recording that can just be annoying to listen to and really annoying to try and remove if you need to do that.
So that would be my recommendation.
If you want any specific recommendations on microphones, I have a free podcast guide that you can download at podcastingguide.com.au. I've also got the link in the description of the episode, and that just details some of the different microphones, different levels of price.
There are a million microphones out there, so this is not an exhaustive list, but it's certainly a list of microphones that I've used personally and think are good quality. It's just a small list of recommendations, because sometimes when you get 700 recommendations, you're like, “I'm just as confused as when I began.” You know what I mean?
So you can find that and download it if you want to set up your home studio.
Thank you so much for the question, Stephen. I really appreciate it. If you would like to submit a question, the link is in the description of the episode.
And if you'd like a little more help with your podcast, then make sure you check out my online podcasting course at podschool.com.au.
