Aspen Mics* has a new series of lavalier microphones called HQ (High Quality). I first saw these mics tweeted out by @cheesycam who often reviews lower priced gear for DSLR video shooters. For a mic called HQ, these mics had an interesting price point around $50 but what made that attractive was their quality. Upon first listen, the mics seem to produce nice clean audio without having to run your recorders preamp at full gain.
Also great is the optional adapter to allow these mics to be used with iOS devices via the TRRS input. I purchased the HQ-S Stereo Lavalier Microphone and below is the first test.
In this test you will hear how the mic performs while I demonstrate how the room you record in can have a big affect on your audio quality. Put on some headphones and listen as I walk from room to room in my house. You’ll notice that the room I start in has much more reverb than the room I end up in. Just having a smaller room filled with furniture can increase the quality of your audio.
No processing was done to this audio. I recorded directly into an Edirol R-09HR with the Aspen Mic plugged into the mic input set to High Gain, input at 50, limiter/AGC and low pass filter all set to “off.” Recording is at 44.1kHz 16bit wav. The lav mic was clipped to my jacket and placed at mid chest approx. 6-7 inches from my mouth when looking straight forward.
I’ve added three samples from a recent test using the Aspen Mic HQ Stereo Lav into my iPhone 6 using the Bossjock App to record. Connecting the mic to the iPhone requires the TRRS adapter made by Aspen Mics which is available for an additional $10 or included in the Stereo Lav Kit which is what I purchased. This connection kit only works with the Stereo Lav not the Mono version.
The “raw” recording came in at a lower level than I expected. For future recordings I would turn up the mic gain inside of the Bossjock App. Consequently I had to raise the overall level by 17db to reach a target loudness of -16 LUFS. This is the maximum at which I would produce my audio, you can use lower levels.
Despite the large increase of gain in post production, the audio still came out relatively clean. There are two samples which have post processing (EQ, compression and limiting) applied, one with no noise reduction and the other with the noise floor slightly reduced. Both sound good overall IMO.
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A demo using the Aspen HQ-S with an iPhone 6 for video.
The only noticeable difference between this post processed audio and the non processed audio (see below) are the levels.
I used the Filmic Pro app for iOS to record the video which gave me manual control over video settings and audio quality.
