Also known as: lapel mic, lav, wireless mic, clip-on mic

Perfect for: shooting from long distances, exercise or active demonstration videos, tours

Lavaliers are the Shirley Temple of microphones: they're super cute, were born during the Depression, and perform well even atop a windy Swiss mountain. There are a variety of lavalier styles and sizes, but the main appeal is that they don't require the subject or sound technician to hold a physical microphone in order to capture and record audio.

Most lavaliers are pinned to the subject's outerwear (often a collar or lapel), but there are a number of ways to conceal them so that viewers can't see the mic at all. Lavaliers are most commonly associated with instructional demonstrations, speeches, and interviews, but they're also great for recording dialogue if you're shooting in a very wide frame or from a great distance. In these instances, a mounted camera mic would be too far away, and a boom would need to enter the frame in order to capture the dialogue.

Not suitable for: musical performances, street interviews, nude scenes

For on-the-street interviews, the added fussiness and time of attaching the mic to passers-by means that a handheld or boom would be a much easier option. For musical performances; the lavalier will do a fine job of capturing the singer's vocals, but you'll need an additional mic to capture the instruments being played.

Lastly, if you're shooting actors in intimate scenes or states of undress, concealing a lavalier is going to be uncomfortable and challenging, so a boom mic overhead will certainly suffice!

Price range: Some lavaliers are designed to hook straight into mobile devices and may only set you back $15 for both the mic and cable. If you're looking for something spiffier, a name-brand, mid-range lavalier set will likely cost you around $150 (and that particular mic does not require a mobile device).

Putting it all together

Your sound recording options aren't limited to just these three popular microphones, but one of the options is likely to do the trick for most video projects.

It's also imperative to test your sound before committing hours of footage to celluloid, so experiment with your equipment in different environments before you go out and shoot. If you're nervous about sound, always reach out to filmmakers you admire and whose video's sound quality is impressive, and ask if they'd inform you of what equipment they used. In the wise words of his highness John Waters; 'A 'no' is free.'

Once you've picked your mic, pick up some useful best practices for recording and editing sound, and ensure your films are up to sonic snuff!

Learn more about how you can use Vimeo before your video gets to the Vimeo video player, you can also leverage Vimeo's editing tools like the video trimmer, video merger, video compressor, video cropping tool, GIF maker, and more.

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