I have always stated that great video starts with great audio. It doesn’t matter how fantastic the video looks, if it sounds like crap, nobody will watch it.
I go to extreme lengths to ensure the audio in my videos are top notch. I went so far as investing over $700 for a set of professional Sennheiser wireless mics. The mic works flawlessly with my Olympus OMD EM1 digital camera, and if you have the money and the compatible camera, I highly recommend you pick up a set.
That being said, I’ve received emails from many readers asking if there was another solution that can give great audio, but do it without breaking the bank? The answer is yes, if you’re willing to do a bit more work in post production.
The Tascam DR-22WL is a portable digital audio recorder. It records audio via its built in stereo X-Y mics, or from a line in audio source. By pairing the Tascam with a MIC-J 044 Lavalier mic, I create a really nice setup to record my voice.
The extra work comes when you have to sync the audio with the video. This really isn’t that hard, and if you’re using a pro editing software, like the latest Adobe Premiere, it’s done for you automatically.
At less than $125, the Tascam with MIC-J is a huge saving over the Sennheiser mic. This is a great solution if your digital camera doesn’t have a mic input. Even if it does have a mic input, you may still want to use the Trascam because the audio preamp on the DR-22WL will easily outperform the preamp on the most expensive DSLR. In the future, I will be inputing the audio from the Sennheiser into the Tascam instead of the digital camera.
The video below shows the different between using a the Tascam DR-22WL with MIC-J 044 Lavalier against the built in mic of the GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition. Let me know what you think.