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I am looking to buy some fairly reasonably priced (<£400) microphones, maybe lappel, for recording video interviews involving two individuals standing or sitting close-by.

The microphones should be good at dampening background noise, as some of these interviews may be in noisy environments.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

George

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  • If you're spending 400 quid on a mic, rent it first & test it. Sub 50 quid mics you can just buy & assume they'll be at best average, for £400 you want to try first. tbh in that price bracket I wouldn't look at anything other than DPA. The 4060 [& family] are about as good as it gets.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 29, 2018 at 19:32

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Dynamic mics like the Shure SM58 are really good at rejecting (i.e. cancelling out) noise from behind the mic. They are used extensively by singers at concerts who need to hear their backing music using loud monitors positioned in front of them - a sound which needs to be cancelled from their own vocal feed and the mic is actually designed to do exactly this. These mics are also known for their resilience in harsh environments. So point the mics away from the main background noise source and get them close to the speakers mouths. When using a dynamic mic, instruct the speakers to talk directly into the TOP END of the mic i.e. speaking down into length of the mic. Especially, they must NOT hold it vertically in front of their face and talk to the side of it, as many are prone to do if they have used condenser style mics in the past or seen sports commentators using condenser mics on TV, or they risk sending most of their voice into the 'back' of the mic and getting it cancelled out!). Don't get mics with a switch, its just another weak connection point and prone to get turned off accidentally or introduce static 'hiss'.

For a quick easy setup in quieter environments, check out the ZOOM q2n webcam, which has pretty good quality stereo crossover mics, so you get video AND stereo sound from one source. The stereo recording will separate the speakers voices and make ambient noise / applause sound truly 'live'.

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No lavalier will be able to 'dampen' background noise. The only benefit of using a 'lavalier' is that it gets you closer to the source of the desired sound - increasing the overall signal to noise ratio.

"shotgun" (interference tube) microphones do 'reject' off axis sound in environments with low levels of early reflections however you'll probably get a better result and bang for buck with a good quality lavalier such as the COS 11D or the DPA dScreet: series.

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