How to Use Lav Mics

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How to Use Lav Mics

What is a Lav Mic

A lav mic (or lavalier mic) is a small microphone that is attached to a person’s clothes. So that when the person speaks, s/he doesn’t have to worry about holding the microphone in their hands. This gives the freedom of motion and expression: when talking on camera, the person can move her hands freely.

How to Use a Lav Mic in Action

Here are a few tips from Tomas De Matteis, co-founder of FirstCut, on how to use lav mics like a pro (even if you are only getting started).

Tip1. Hide the wire

Even though you can see the capsule of the mic on the person’s clothes, you don’t want to see the wire hanging over the shirt. So what you can do is to put the wire under the shirt and just stick it out in between two buttons.

Tip 2. Use an adjustable clip

The mic has a little clip. That clip helps you attach the mic to the person’s shirt. Choose a clip that is metallic and that you can rotate. This way, you can attach it vertically to the shirt or put it sideways to clip on any side of the shirt. Such clip is very flexible in terms of how exactly you can attach the mic to the clothes.

The point is: you always want to have the capsule facing up to the person’s mouth.

Tip 3. Clip the wire

When the wire goes straight up, it can create a pull, like it will be pulling down on the shirt.

What Tomas recommends that you do instead is to clip the wire inside the clip once and then attach the clip to the shirt. The little loop will absorb all the tension that occurs from pulling on the wire and it’s not pulling on the mic.

Tip 4. Make sure the capsule is not touching the shirt

The other very important thing is that the actual capsule is not touching the shirt, necklace or anything the person might be wearing. The capsule should be suspended in the air. You can try pushing it a little out to make sure nothing is actually touching the lav mic.

If you get some rubbing against the shirt or any other object, you’re going to hear that on audio. So make sure the capsule is up in the air facing up.