Why improved audio quality is the main reason you should consider hiring a professional videographer

Phone cameras have left their microphones behind

Phone cameras have come on leaps and bounds in a very short space of time, and nowadays it’s how many business owners choose to film their social media videos. But while the picture quality has really improved, one thing that hasn’t is the audio quality. And for me, this is far more important when making a video than the image is.

That’s because by and large, your audience would put up with an image which didn’t look exactly right – especially on social media when there is a lot of video compression. However, if people can’t hear what you’re saying, then the message is lost completely.

How is it better when a professional videographer records the video?

Firstly, the placement of the microphone makes a huge difference to the audio quality. One of the reasons phone audio is so terrible is because the microphone is on the same device you’re filming from, which is usually at least a metre away from the speaker. This means the microphone picks up a lot of the room atmosphere before it records your voice, resulting in echoey audio with a lot of background noise.

At VideoHQ, we use professional lapel microphones instead. These attach to your shirt, and so get as close as possible to the audio source. They’re also directional microphones, meaning they only pick up audio in the direction they’re pointing, which removes a lot of background noise.

Secondly, we have a range of audio gear that works in different situations. While the lapel microphone is best for a sit-down indoors video, we also have shotgun microphones we can use, for example, when filming music events. We can record up to six different microphones at once to a single audio mixer, which creates an incredibly immersive audio experience – it feels like you’re actually there hearing it with your own ears.

Finally, it’s all very well having the equipment, but you also need to have the knowledge to use it. I’ve actually spent a number of years working in radio production – where as you can imagine, audio quality is king! This work has included recording multi-microphone events like church services, and mixing that audio for broadcast on the BBC. So trust me – if I can get audio sounding incredible in an echoey, old, stone church, I can do it at your business!

Hear the difference for yourself

I’ve put together this video to illustrate the quality difference between phone videos and professional microphones:

If you’d like to chat to VideoHQ about your video needs, please get in touch to book a consultation call. It includes a review of one of your existing videos and a one-month video marketing plan – absolutely free!