What’s the best microphone for podcasting?
If you’re tossing up between a lapel mic (also called a lav mic) or a more traditional podcast microphone, this should help you decide which one will give you the best sound (and why that matters).
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What’s the difference between lapel mics and podcast mics?
Lav mics (or lapel mics) clip onto your clothes and are designed to pick up sound from a distance and give you more movement while recording.
This is great for video but not ideal for podcasting.
In contrast, podcast microphones are designed to sit right in front of your mouth, so they only pick up your voice and not the sound of the room around you.
This is great for podcasting but sometimes not ideal for video (if you don’t want to be stuck behind a mic).
Why lapel mics aren’t great for podcasts
When you’re watching a video, you don’t notice if you’re hearing the sound of the room because it matches what you’re looking at (someone in a room).
But in a podcast, there are no visuals so the further away you are from your microphone the further away you’ll sound from your listener (and that’s not good).
Also, if you’ve recorded a lot of room noise in your audio it can be hard to remove that without removing the natural tones in your voice.
When you’re recording, your goal should be to capture the best possible audio in the moment and it’s unlikely a lapel mic will give you the best quality sound.
What makes a good podcast mic?
A great podcast mic is one you can speak directly into, so you sound close to your audience when they listen to your show.
You also ideally want your microphone on a stand so it’s out of your hands (because your hands can add a lot of incidental noise to the recording).
Can’t I just use the mic I use for video?
You can, but the experience for your podcast listener won’t be as good (here comes the old video or audio first argument).
Even if a lapel mic works fine for video, you should still prioritise high-quality audio for the podcast version of your content so your audio-only fans aren’t getting a crappy listening experience.
If you record great audio for your podcast and you also use that for video, your video viewers will still have a great experience, but it doesn’t work as well the other way round.
Other reasons lapel mics can be tricky
Because lapel mics clip onto your clothing, they can rub on things like your shirt, hair or jewellery.
That can introduce a whole lot of annoying noise than can be difficult to clean up later.
Ideally, you want to be recording audio that’s as free from noise as possible.
Need help choosing a microphone?
I’ve put together a short list of podcasting equipment recommendations in my free guide.
It includes all the tools and tech you need to set up a podcasting space at home, without spending a fortune.
Click the link below or head to podcastingguide.com.au.
🎙️ Want to start a podcast but feeling overwhelmed?
Grab my free “How To Start A Podcast” guide or get step-by-step support inside my online course, PodSchool.
Got a question about podcasting? Send it my way so I can answer it on the podcast!
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.
Okay, see you next week.
