“When shooting movies, the sound quality is pretty poor. What do you suggest to get better quality?”
Penny West, Cambridge
BRIAN SAYS… The key to good quality audio is to use an external microphone and put as close to the sound source as possible. For a person talking to the camera, a small tie-clip or lavalier mic is ideal, with either a cable or wireless link back to the camera. A shotgun mic captures sound mostly from in front of where it is pointed, and this makes a lot of sense when mounted on the camera. A microphone like this usually has some suspension or isolation from the camera body to avoid the transfer of vibrations and noise from the camera controls being captured.
If using an external
