Pick the Perfect Lav Mic Placement
With the increasing focus on sanitation standards and precautions around handling and sharing microphones, self-miking by the talent may be a new challenge for audio professionals to manage. Whether you’re an audio novice just learning about body-worn miking techniques or you’re a performer or presenter that chooses to self-mike, there are key considerations to keep in mind with the different lavalier miking options to choose from.
4 Common Methods of Lavalier Mic Placement
Lavalier on the Ear
Miking Lavalier on the Ear: Consistency with Concealment
Liberate the lapel! Lavaliers don’t just have to be for lapels. EMBRACE Microphones are designed for wearing on the ear to guarantee exact placement from the mouth every time with no unsightly boom or tape to the face. This microphone has two patents and offer the easiest self-miking option for non-professionals. Each EMBRACE earmount can be shaped to an exact comfort level for the talent. EMBRACE mounts on top of the ear so do not conflict with jewelry like drop earrings that can bang on mic booms.
» Watch the Product Tutorial
Lavalier on the Lapel
Miking Lavalier on the Lapel: Fast but Unpredictable
While a head-worn boom mic helps with placement close to the mouth, requirements from television, theatre or other high profile productions may restrict this. A long boom arm across the face reaching the mouth may not be the desirable look producers or the costume departments want to see.
Clipping a lavalier to the lapel is one of the most common methods particularly in broadcast or for corporate presentations. There are many types of mic clips from magnet clips to vampire, alligator clips and SLIDER clips for attaching the microphone to clothing—unless that clothing is an expensive silk blouse of the CEO, you’d want to think twice. A lapel microphone is also prone to inaccurate placement—especially in the hands of the untrained—and can easily fall out of pattern when the head is turned.
Hiding a Lavalier
Hiding a Lavalier: Appealing but Painstaking
When it is necessary to completely hide the microphone, lavaliers can be hidden into clothing. Completely obscuring the mic has its challenges including the now increased distance from the mouth, clothing or body noise, and inconsistent pickup when the head is turned away from the mic. Tape, clips, and mole skin are some of the materials that have been used to meticulously secure microphones to clothing or hair. From a self-miking perspective, these techniques are harder to master but some tools can help, like using colored caps windscreen caps over the mic element to match hair or clothing.
Double Mic Lavalier
Double Miking with a Lavalier: Think Twice!
Mic placement and cable dressing can be tough enough when working with just one lavalier, but when a critical live sound application requires backup, double miking using two microphones increases time and complexity. This isn't always an ideal setup for self-miking or even for audio pros as it starts to feel like a tangled web of wires with two mics, two cables and two packs. Some double mic setups use a headset with a lapel mic as the backup, but differences between the mics will be audibly clear to the audience and in recording so having the mics match and set to similar gain structure is essential when preserving the sound quality if going to the backup becomes necessary.
There are some convenient options in headsets and lavaliers that offer built-in backup within the CONFIDENCE Collection. Model CO2 microphones have a patented design placing two separate mic paths into a single cable to reduce all the fuss of double miking.
Lavalier Microphone Placement, Placement, Placement!
In real estate, a well-known catchphrase used by property experts is that the three most important factors in determining the value of a property are "location, location, location". In miking, we can apply a similar mantra by changing this up to “placement, placement, placement”.
For the best microphone performance
Start with the first rule of thumb:
Place the microphone as close to the mouth as possible.
A mic close to the sound source is a basic tenet for getting the highest gain (volume) into the microphone. The strong audio signal helps to masque out undesirable inherent noise from the body-pack, receiver, sound console and more; or from outside sources such as air conditioning, wind noise or adjacent talkers.
The smallest movement away from the mouth exponentially weakens the voice signal entering the microphone (Inverse Square Law) so it is also important to keep this distance consistent as well as close; i.e., don’t move the microphone or have the user turn their head out of the pattern of the microphone once it is set into position.
Download our SELF-MIKING infographic or PDF for easy reference.
