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Bad audio ruins good video

By Lewis Whitter, wedding & events photographer (11+ years) · How we pick

Viewers will forgive grainy video, but they will not forgive bad sound. It is the most common mistake in phone filming.

Your phone microphone sits a metre or more from your mouth, so it picks up echo, traffic and fridge hum as loudly as your voice. The fix is cheap.

Clip a wireless lavalier microphone to your collar, about a hand's width below your chin. Then record ten seconds and listen back with headphones before you film anything else.

If you hear hiss, move closer, not louder. Best rated lav mics are cheap, and spec for spec they beat any phone upgrade for clarity.

Fix your sound first, and your video instantly feels more professional.

Bad audio ruins good video
Photo: Harrison Jones, CC BY-SA 4.0. Credits

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