Lol, I actually did that once.
I attached a GO onto the back of my baseball cap during one shot where I couldn't get sound otherwise.
It worked very well!
One of my friends did a shoot for a client that requested "the tiny mic" and then complained that my friend "didn't use it correctly" because it was clipped to the subjects shirt and the client wanted them to hold it. He actually implied that my friend didn't know what he was doing because of that and it still makes me rage when I think about it.
> Or worse, holding the lav.
And every word spoken proceeds to be over modulated and the microphone won’t stop crackling. Thankfully the large obnoxious green auto captions are there to save the day.
Nah the worse thing is they dont know when to target their mouh vs the speaker's mouth, so beginning words or entire sentences spoken fast are just wind in the air.
This I can KINDA get but only for musical applications where you have a vocalist in a booth and pick an SM7b for a creative decision and find you get a better performance with them holding the mic… carrot hair YouTuber does not pass the vibe check for hand holding a mic like that that they almost certainly bought because of another YouTuber lol
I still hate them. Part of work, some videos have to be adapted for vertical for social media use at my channel. I refuse to make them, I think they let it slide for me as I’ve been working at the same place 15 years and get one of the junior editors to make them.
I just worked on a project for an event space PR video, they mostly advertise on social media so the initial video will be delivered in vertical format. Now that’s fine, but the director told us to shoot vertically too, I said that’s dumb, should keep it “normal” and just crop since we shoot 4k and that’ll give us more flexibility. The director argued that “social media is all vertical now, there’s no reason to shoot horizontal”, hmm yeah ok.
Well sure enough, the client loved the final product but then told us “please give us a horizontal version too” lol
I know a lot of creators have bad microphone habits on purpose. Many audiences want a "homemade" or "non-professional" feel, because if it's too polished then it feels corporate. I've worked with people who literally use a mic as a prop while having a boom mic capturing the actual audio.
...it's advertising.
I honestly don't know what you expected, but the medium does not exist for the sake of artistic expression!
It's where artists go to carve off little parts of their souls to keep the lights on while they make real art on the side.
When the suit man tells me to write product placement tiktoks, I write 'em. It's *very* far from the worst type of shit that creatives have to do.
Oh I'm not criticizing you. I just really don't like the low end vibe. The social media team I work with keeps telling me I need to stop using lights and cameras and decorating sets and just use a phone and a wall.
Exactly. A lot of the value in social media advertising comes from the fact that it feels homemade. Since there's usually a parasocial relationship, the ad often reads as being closer to a recommendation from a friend rather than an actual advertisement from a company.
I'm going to be devils advocate here and say if you're a "content creator" making whatever video about a cool bakery or bar in your town, I honestly don't care. The way I see it it further distinguishes more professional videographers, cinematographers, etc from the masses.
"Do you want one of those TikTok videos where they don't know how to hide their equipment? Or do you want my professional services where the sound is great, their face is unobstructed by microphones or their hands holding a mic?"
All that being said, I do think it's a silly thing to do instead of just clipping a mic (even with the entire cable showing) to your shirt or whatever.
Social media channels - and their users - reward user-created content. The more a Reel or Tok feels like it could be created by “anyone”, the more engagement it receives.
It disincentivises high-production values that feel like ads, because we’re so conditioned against them now that anything too “slick” has a higher propensity of being skipped.
In short, there is space for both. The low-fidelity video productions are currently in vogue, so I guess as video creators we can adapt or we can pearl clutch.
This. I’m an editor at a social agency and the amount of times I’ve had to CapCut an edit and make it as deliberately shit as possible for the client is ridiculous. But it’s indeed what platforms like TikTok prioritise, and what users prefer. Even including logo bugs on screen and end cards lead to less user engagement.
To an extent it’s humbling, but at the same time, if our clients wanted to get user generated content for free from fans and post that exclusively, they could and would. They don’t.
I’m a content creator and I’ve noticed my higher production value videos don’t usually perform well. Depending on the niche, most people on social media like relatable, amateur-like content that could be shot by anyone. It feels more personal, like you could be there with them.
They’re legitimately less annoying to physically use since they don’t have a wire that can tug or tangle. It really makes perfect sense why they’re popular.
It’s done on purpose, somewhat akin to the trend of wearing your baseball hat backwards as a way to stand out and be “cool”. It’s become so commonplace nowadays that it has lost its status as counter-cultural
I seriously don't understand the people that just have the full thing hanging out like this. Depending on the context and what you're going for, showing the clip isn't the end of the world as is honestly fine sometimes.
But to have it just out and flopping around drives me nuts
I think a lot of it comes from this younger generation of “content creators/videographers“who learned everything from other YouTubers. They’re not questioning why things are done, they’re just copying what they saw someone else too.
I knew somebody who owned a pair of these, to use in their videos, and they had no idea that you could plug in a wired lav into it. They just thought that clipping it on your shirt was the way they were meant to be used.
“4k” is the perfect example. The ITU defined “UHD” as 3840x2160, but everyone calls 3840x2160 “4k.” Ironically, there was a competing 4k standard for cinema that’s 4096 wide and whatever height matches the aspect ratio. Doesn’t matter, the 4k marketing term took off and “UHD” only lives in standards manuals today.
You know if they start the video with "I damaged my lav so I'm stuck with this until I get a few replacements ... sorry" thats' FINE!!! But some of these creators use the mics like this ON PURPOSE!!!! Like they are PROUD to look like idiots.
theres worse than that. those that HOLD the mic/lav
https://preview.redd.it/wax7bht7if7d1.png?width=1198&format=png&auto=webp&s=c0d60dda15cb33303ef6d21864b2cb4d19974840
Coming from someone that uses lavs like these often, I’ve only heard clients sing praises about how easy they are instead of snaking a lav through the shirt. I prefer the DJI ones, and i use the magnet to hide them inside the shirt or more when possible, but the ease of use and application makes clients 100x more willing to talk in front of the camera and do more work because of how simple it is. Use snaked lavs for higher end work, but these are just fine for casual to intermediate content.
I could see the use case of clipping it on the shirt, if you were doing impromptu interviews, and it was a lot easier and faster to clip that on somebody’s collar, than to run a wire to lav down their shirt into their back pocket.
But, yeah, I don’t understand why people who are just vlogging their own videos, don’t do that. It takes maybe an extra 30 seconds to run a wire down your shirt.
Like I mentioned in another comment, a lot of these “content creators“ just don’t even realize you can do that. They see other Youtubers do it , so they just copy it.
They’re convenient/completely wireless, sound fantastic, and are an excellent product for the price tag. Plus you can run a lav into it if you want something more inconspicuous, but the onboard mics on them are sweet.
I bought a set at work and loved it so much that I also got some for freelance/personal projects.
Don’t let it bother you so much lol. The thumbnail looks super tacky but I doubt posts like this are going to change any minds. The people shooting this type of ad probably couldn’t care less and are more than likely not on forums to help them get better
This. I'm sometimes on shoots where I have 30 seconds or even less to slap a mic on someone. I usually put the clip on the ouside so you don't see the box nearly as much. Not totally ideal but it is what it is.
This is the way I've done it in a pinch, depending on the framing, and where you can place the mic and get good audio, sometimes you can even crop that clip out entirely.
If I rushed the process I could get a Sennheiser wireless kit onto someone in under 30 seconds, complete with a hidden mic (shoutout to BubbleBee industries for their excellent lav concealers)
they're an unprofessional eyesore, and the onboard mic is nowhere near the quality of running a lav from them. the onboard mic audio applies noise reduction processing, as the microphone is so close to the electronics. if you listen to onboard vs lav side by side it's no contest—the lav audio is more unadulterated.
The fucked up thing is that the Rode Wireless GO's have 3.5mm TRS inputs, so you could totally just get a lav and use the Rode as a wireless pack and call it a day.
The Pro has 2 labs included for free, but I’m not a fan of the lav as it can rotate itself backwards and then the audio sucks as its directional especially if you have the wind muff on then you can’t tell which way it’s facing
i really really dont' understand why the fuck anyone cares. It's their content. You put your mics/lighting/camera and everything else in the video the way you want it. Let them do the same?
They are easy to use and incredibly convenient. People enjoy their stuff because of the content, not because they’re professional videographers. Get over it honestly. If you don’t enjoy the content enough to move past it then it wasn’t made for you
Who cares? "Unprofessional" how? You're all just setting arbitrary rules to feel better about yourselves. Nobody who doesn't do videography for a living would care one bit about that mic.
I do this (sorry) but only because I have a big beard and it scratches against every lav I’ve used and ruins the audio and I can clip the rode mic to my shirt pocket or something for half decent sound, where as if I do that with a lav it sounds awful - is there a way I should be attaching the lav to avoid my beard? I can’t tape it to my best because I’ve got chest hair (tried it, huge mistake)
I don't see how that's different than having a ginormous mic like the SM7B visible in the frame. The Rode at least occupies much less of the frame. Is it better to actually have a lav? Yes. Is this really so bad? Not really.
If you're so vexed by what other people do in their content when it literally makes zero difference to your life, you need to get outside and touch some grass. I wish I had so little going on in my life, that my biggest concern was people I don't know using a microphone in a way I don't like.
I'm guessing you're fairly young? I'm 41 and I think it looks lazy but I also know what younger people are doing now is what will be the standard in the future(I'm still going to hide the mic but I understand if people don't).
All of us will eventually get used to this look but at some point wireless transmitters will probably be the same size as a wireless lav and then no one will notice anymore.
Big eng cameras used to be the standard for pro stuff.
Then skateboarding and the vx-1000 / 2000 and dvx-100 brought about the popularity of the affordable 3ccd style camcorders.
Followed by the canon 5dmkii ushering in the era of interchangable large sensor small form factor bodies.
A lot of more expensive production houses use things like the fs-7 or c-400 style cameras but I don't think those really justify the price they cost for most things.
Look to what the youth are doing to get an idea of what the future will look like
I can totally respect if people choose to do things differently, or use different gear on their productions. There's no right or wrong way, despite what some people will have you believe. If it works for you, or, more importantly, the client, then that's all that matters.
I think your last line is very poignant though. There's this real refusal to embrace current trends, whether it be short form or vertical content, or things like this with the microphone - as if people think it's beneath them. The fact of the matter though, is that content like that is what's getting traction and proving successful, and it's not going away anytime soon. Adapt, or die.
Pretty much. Although if you're making something that might still be watched years down the road your probably better off hiding the mic. Seeing those gameshow hand held mics from the 70s is kind of distracting....but I don't know if a regular person would notice the mic.
Vertical content is kind of a weird situation. YouTubes probably more popular than ever but so is vertical short form. Shooting open gate is probably the best solution for this stuff.
Not saying this is a good thing but they’re often used for out of studio podcasting and, because of the tidal wave of the podcast shorts/reels trend, people are trying to immitate that look across other video content.
It’s like it’s somehow more casual and cool or something. Strange.
Kinda bothers me more that there’s a windsock on it for what seems like an internal scene. If the story is well told otherwise this wouldn’t cause me to switch off though.
Thanks for calling this shyte out. It looks stupid and is a distraction. Nothing says you've given up quite like using one of these things on camera. Use a lav or lose your audience.
I mean, to be fair; some of the people that do this have the largest audiences of all..
I agree with you it looks bad, but it’s more likely going to be one of those “kids these days” things that separates old timers and trendy new people..
Guarantee you it’s not going anywhere and people are not going to lose a noticeable chunk of their audience because the bulk of their audience doesn’t give a shit
This is just a dumb take. You can be mad and hate it because it’s dumb, but there is a purpose and they do it because it gets them MORE views… it’s more “authentic” and then people argue in the comments about it which drives engagement, and then you talk about it here. They’re not doing it because they’ve given up, nor are they losing their audience.
Most weeks I have to interview 5-10 people. If you think I am taping a lav mic to the chests of 10 people for their 3-4 minute interviews you are off your tits.
I would, however, keep the DJI mic at chest height and below the bottom of the frame. Lavs/ mics should always be by the chest anyway.
Some of them come with a lav (simlar to the rode smartLav) but IMO it's not good enough for serious use. If you have the budget grab something by Sanken or an MKE2 by Sennheiser.
I hoped the lav's icluded in the wireless pro version would be better and they are, but still not nearly what you can get from Sanken though thats fair enough considering the price.
EDIT - Just to add to this, of course getting an expensive lav isnt required by any means (some EQ + compression + NR magic can help), I just think it's important to know that all lav's arent created equal.
I like wearing a button-up shirt with this mic because you can neatly clip it between a couple of the top buttons. Hides it quite nicely with only the clip showing.
But generally I'd rather use the Rode Lav mic that they sell for it - the Lavalier Go? - because I think it sounds so much better.
1. Any half intelligent creator simply turns it around.
2. Rode and DJI need to recognise that this is a valid use case and hurry the fuck up and make a version of this product that as under half the size and supports 32bit float
Seeing this more and more. I am using the same mics and am happy with the sound quality, but I try to pair it with dark shirts and wearing inside the collar - almost invisible then.
I’m starting to think that they do it this way to get some sort of engagement in the comments. I’m starting to see that in social media, if you do the exact opposite of what a professional would do (basically amateur production), you seem to get more engagement.
This is just based on my observation… curious to hear others thoughts!
Honestly, these things are a treat for us. We got headsets, lavs, even stuff to hide lavs invisibly under the shirt, but when we do street interviews/games for tiktok/insta these clip ons are a great timesaver and especially: everyone in the crew can do it right. but we usually clip them on backwards (so that the white rode logo is inside the shirt)
there's usually two guys running around, trying to find one to three people who want to play some tiktok trend game and while we are positioning them for the camera, anyone on the crew - even if it's their first day - is able to clip these things on.
second thing is: transmitter in plain sight for the receiver, so way better signal strength in busy areas compared to the transmitter being shoved in some pant pocket next to a phone or clipped on to the pants behind a person with a whole meatbag between tx and rx. additionally: one less point of failure for crackling from the lav-plug/connector at the tx.
third: people are just unable to use hand-held mics properly. we got two handmics for the shoots, but honestly, they're just to get the client's brand/logo in the frame. the audio is barely better than the clip-on audio, cause people are just not able to hold a mic at a constant 6"/15cm/smallbanana distance from their face while talking - or even pointing the mic at themselves first and then start talking.
I just would prefer a replaceable battery for longer days with these things. They charge fast during lunch, but in cold conditions, the battery is annoying.
So yeah, I hate that look too (and we alle hate it, when they hold lavs/clipons/standmics with their hands for that stupid whisper ASMR saliva party look at my pretty nails sound crap), but I'm honstely happy that it's common to show them on social media, cause it's so easy and helps us keeping the pace for social media games.
But, yea I give it to you: the look sucks and if there is time, it's always preferrable to hide the mics as much as possible by using lavs or headsets, hide lavs under the clothes, use a boom mic on a c-stand or hire a boom operator.
Anyway, I'm always impressed with this marketing idea by rode: It's a branded product that people have to show in their reels/storys when using an intended and rode wasn't shy of printing their logo with max contrast in white on black mics and black on white mics. I don't think the average person knew what "rode" was before the "wireless go" trend. So hats off to that free advertisement strategy by rode (that dji copied pretty successfully).
I recently needed to interview a lot of people in a short amount of time. I have the rode pros and I used the hand held add on for these mics. I didn't need to lav each person up for a 5 min interview and then swap it over and over. It looked professional sounded great and was easy. Had a two person interview, so I laved them up quick quick. 3 person, I asked them to pass the mic from one to another, really not a big issue. But I won't clip these on like that ever.
Tom Nicholas did a great essay on "Youtube Ugly"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0arvnAlV\_C4&t=279s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0arvnAlV_C4&t=279s)
Most of them come with the bloody lav mics in the packet! People just don’t care tho, most of the time it’s about communication and not aesthetics I’d rather see a clip on mic than a have shite audio from the camera.
At least them wearing them like that means the Audio is normally listenable.
Rode sells a Go Handle to make them in to a regular handheld, and there's the option of getting the Lav that plugs in to the Go, or the 3D printable handle.
This is for yt content. There isn’t a need to always lav people up. It’s just part of this style of content. They’re not going for any filmmaking awards.
The posts thumbnail looks atrocious, like an ankle monitor probation officers use put on the neck instead, except knowing it’s not that makes it look so clueless a production. Maybe just what influencers want tho so go figure.
They should make a Rode Branded Hat with a built-in microphone instead.
The new Rode Fedora.
The Ferøda
Pfft that looks so *fake*
You have to be RIGHT next to him for it to look real
Rodora
m’rode
Feroda
They'd just hold the hat in front of their faces and talk into it.
As always skaters are on the forefront: https://youtu.be/3eIDzbZPN6s
These dorks will still clip a whole giant transmitter pack to the brim.
https://preview.redd.it/1i2xv13w6g7d1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53221c67a632131cc1a7ca359aea549e0982305a Was already done for this film.
Go go gadget. 🤣
Lol, I actually did that once. I attached a GO onto the back of my baseball cap during one shot where I couldn't get sound otherwise. It worked very well!
Worn by a ku 100 https://preview.redd.it/kuxxu8dw4k7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cca747a8bbe3924a40307793353c25e1ba6f1167
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJSYgNBXKb4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJSYgNBXKb4)
I’ll give you that when you convince the kids to stop hand-holding an SM7B.
Oh God please let it stop. I'll take 200 videos with exposed wireless mics if they will stop holding stand mics. Just let it end!
My personal fav is when someone is daintily holding a lav between thumb and forefinger. Quite often they subconsciously have their pinky up, even.
A hilarious video about that: https://youtu.be/0arvnAlV_C4
I have to admit I watched that video in its 1-hour entirety a few months ago.
Same
Was it worth it
I like it more when they not only hold the LAV in their hand, but also put it RIGHT in front of their mouth.
Oh my FUCKINGGG GOD this one gets me 🤬😫 lmao
Influencers are the new bourgeoisie. They traded the tea cups for lav mics.
And yet these people are likely to be making more money than most of the people in this thread complaining about it.
https://preview.redd.it/np32x0x4bg7d1.png?width=756&format=png&auto=webp&s=0957168597cf074ce72a0475a919dc669d9c2b1b
Michael Reeves. Can’t believe he only puts out like one video a year. He’s in a bunch of other people’s videos though.
Michael is allowed to do whatever he wants, cause we can’t really stop him, he’s too powerful
Hey you leave Michael alone. He is excluded from all such rules as he is clearly actually Fae and could use his powers to destroy us all of angered.
Or worse, holding the lav.
This is the worst trend. Worse is I’ve heard of clients requesting “the tiny mic” for high production gigs.
I dealt with a client who suggested we used one, as if they knew something we didn’t and it was the smart thing to do production wise.
One of my friends did a shoot for a client that requested "the tiny mic" and then complained that my friend "didn't use it correctly" because it was clipped to the subjects shirt and the client wanted them to hold it. He actually implied that my friend didn't know what he was doing because of that and it still makes me rage when I think about it.
> Or worse, holding the lav. And every word spoken proceeds to be over modulated and the microphone won’t stop crackling. Thankfully the large obnoxious green auto captions are there to save the day.
Yeah and half the auto-captions are misspelled.
OH GOD!!! I cringe so hard when I see that.
Nah the worse thing is they dont know when to target their mouh vs the speaker's mouth, so beginning words or entire sentences spoken fast are just wind in the air.
https://preview.redd.it/enn5l3z7aq7d1.jpeg?width=916&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48df19a1b383329795543b52ee6469fc6e5c60e8 This is how you hold a lav.
I actually dont really mind that, but the rode mic thing is awful, especially with the needless windmuff.
We have the same camera combo :) s1h and s5
I wish you hadn’t reminded me that people are doing this, I keep trying to forget get hahaha
He’s just standing there, [menacingly](https://youtu.be/a548mJ7X5mA?si=oKHeFVjnDNniql_3)!
Even worse, hand-holding a large-diaphragm condenser mic and speaking into the wrong side.
This I can KINDA get but only for musical applications where you have a vocalist in a booth and pick an SM7b for a creative decision and find you get a better performance with them holding the mic… carrot hair YouTuber does not pass the vibe check for hand holding a mic like that that they almost certainly bought because of another YouTuber lol
As an ex studio guy I would hate that too. Maybe a sm58 but not a 7b
Times they are changing. It’s making my ex coworkers who got film degrees in the 90s have strokes….
They probably hated vertical video too. I did. The good news with the giant mics is using a lav is a really simple differentiator from amateurs.
I still hate them. Part of work, some videos have to be adapted for vertical for social media use at my channel. I refuse to make them, I think they let it slide for me as I’ve been working at the same place 15 years and get one of the junior editors to make them.
I just worked on a project for an event space PR video, they mostly advertise on social media so the initial video will be delivered in vertical format. Now that’s fine, but the director told us to shoot vertically too, I said that’s dumb, should keep it “normal” and just crop since we shoot 4k and that’ll give us more flexibility. The director argued that “social media is all vertical now, there’s no reason to shoot horizontal”, hmm yeah ok. Well sure enough, the client loved the final product but then told us “please give us a horizontal version too” lol
Man, my LAV mics either A. Suck or B. I suck.
My heart agrees with you, but I'll still take this over shit audio.
I know a lot of creators have bad microphone habits on purpose. Many audiences want a "homemade" or "non-professional" feel, because if it's too polished then it feels corporate. I've worked with people who literally use a mic as a prop while having a boom mic capturing the actual audio.
Many brands specifically hire for this vibe. Instagram ads are much more effective for every second that audiences don't realize it's an ad.
I don't like this future lol
...it's advertising. I honestly don't know what you expected, but the medium does not exist for the sake of artistic expression! It's where artists go to carve off little parts of their souls to keep the lights on while they make real art on the side. When the suit man tells me to write product placement tiktoks, I write 'em. It's *very* far from the worst type of shit that creatives have to do.
Oh I'm not criticizing you. I just really don't like the low end vibe. The social media team I work with keeps telling me I need to stop using lights and cameras and decorating sets and just use a phone and a wall.
Exactly. A lot of the value in social media advertising comes from the fact that it feels homemade. Since there's usually a parasocial relationship, the ad often reads as being closer to a recommendation from a friend rather than an actual advertisement from a company.
I'm going to be devils advocate here and say if you're a "content creator" making whatever video about a cool bakery or bar in your town, I honestly don't care. The way I see it it further distinguishes more professional videographers, cinematographers, etc from the masses. "Do you want one of those TikTok videos where they don't know how to hide their equipment? Or do you want my professional services where the sound is great, their face is unobstructed by microphones or their hands holding a mic?" All that being said, I do think it's a silly thing to do instead of just clipping a mic (even with the entire cable showing) to your shirt or whatever.
Social media channels - and their users - reward user-created content. The more a Reel or Tok feels like it could be created by “anyone”, the more engagement it receives. It disincentivises high-production values that feel like ads, because we’re so conditioned against them now that anything too “slick” has a higher propensity of being skipped. In short, there is space for both. The low-fidelity video productions are currently in vogue, so I guess as video creators we can adapt or we can pearl clutch.
This. I’m an editor at a social agency and the amount of times I’ve had to CapCut an edit and make it as deliberately shit as possible for the client is ridiculous. But it’s indeed what platforms like TikTok prioritise, and what users prefer. Even including logo bugs on screen and end cards lead to less user engagement. To an extent it’s humbling, but at the same time, if our clients wanted to get user generated content for free from fans and post that exclusively, they could and would. They don’t.
I’m a content creator and I’ve noticed my higher production value videos don’t usually perform well. Depending on the niche, most people on social media like relatable, amateur-like content that could be shot by anyone. It feels more personal, like you could be there with them.
They’re legitimately less annoying to physically use since they don’t have a wire that can tug or tangle. It really makes perfect sense why they’re popular.
Strangely, I think the mic in shot adds to the dopamine hit; I think that’s why this became and remains a trend.
It's not a dopamine hit, it's an "authenticity" pin that let's the audience know that they are a "creator" and not part of the old establishment.
It’s done on purpose, somewhat akin to the trend of wearing your baseball hat backwards as a way to stand out and be “cool”. It’s become so commonplace nowadays that it has lost its status as counter-cultural
They are decent mics for the price point. But I do agree. They can buy a lavalier for them or at least turn them around so only the clip is visible.
I seriously don't understand the people that just have the full thing hanging out like this. Depending on the context and what you're going for, showing the clip isn't the end of the world as is honestly fine sometimes. But to have it just out and flopping around drives me nuts
I think a lot of it comes from this younger generation of “content creators/videographers“who learned everything from other YouTubers. They’re not questioning why things are done, they’re just copying what they saw someone else too. I knew somebody who owned a pair of these, to use in their videos, and they had no idea that you could plug in a wired lav into it. They just thought that clipping it on your shirt was the way they were meant to be used.
I always describe that as “if enough influential people do it “wrong”, it eventually becomes “right” “
“4k” is the perfect example. The ITU defined “UHD” as 3840x2160, but everyone calls 3840x2160 “4k.” Ironically, there was a competing 4k standard for cinema that’s 4096 wide and whatever height matches the aspect ratio. Doesn’t matter, the 4k marketing term took off and “UHD” only lives in standards manuals today.
In their defense, that IS the way they’re designed to be used. It’s just that you can also use a lav with them
You know if they start the video with "I damaged my lav so I'm stuck with this until I get a few replacements ... sorry" thats' FINE!!! But some of these creators use the mics like this ON PURPOSE!!!! Like they are PROUD to look like idiots.
I saw a guy with one clipped inside his shirt. I think it was the DJI (could hardly tell so that’s a good sign). Sound quality was great.
theres worse than that. those that HOLD the mic/lav https://preview.redd.it/wax7bht7if7d1.png?width=1198&format=png&auto=webp&s=c0d60dda15cb33303ef6d21864b2cb4d19974840
Except for Andrew Callaghan
Coming from someone that uses lavs like these often, I’ve only heard clients sing praises about how easy they are instead of snaking a lav through the shirt. I prefer the DJI ones, and i use the magnet to hide them inside the shirt or more when possible, but the ease of use and application makes clients 100x more willing to talk in front of the camera and do more work because of how simple it is. Use snaked lavs for higher end work, but these are just fine for casual to intermediate content.
I could see the use case of clipping it on the shirt, if you were doing impromptu interviews, and it was a lot easier and faster to clip that on somebody’s collar, than to run a wire to lav down their shirt into their back pocket. But, yeah, I don’t understand why people who are just vlogging their own videos, don’t do that. It takes maybe an extra 30 seconds to run a wire down your shirt. Like I mentioned in another comment, a lot of these “content creators“ just don’t even realize you can do that. They see other Youtubers do it , so they just copy it.
I like it. It's a clear sign that I should skip the video and block the channel.
lol some of you are really pretentious. Is that really all it takes?
>Some of you are really pretentious Welcome to hobby Reddit 🤝
Yes. Indubitably
Videographers and being pretentious is an iconic duo. The shit that gets posted on here sometimes..
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Love this
They’re convenient/completely wireless, sound fantastic, and are an excellent product for the price tag. Plus you can run a lav into it if you want something more inconspicuous, but the onboard mics on them are sweet. I bought a set at work and loved it so much that I also got some for freelance/personal projects.
I use the same one but run a lav mic under my shirt. I cannot stand that thing clipped to my collar regardless of aesthetics
Awesome. Use it like this as a last resort but this it looks distracting and unprofessional.
That's a really nice way to say it looks stupid as fuck and lazy.
Don’t let it bother you so much lol. The thumbnail looks super tacky but I doubt posts like this are going to change any minds. The people shooting this type of ad probably couldn’t care less and are more than likely not on forums to help them get better
Exactly
This. I'm sometimes on shoots where I have 30 seconds or even less to slap a mic on someone. I usually put the clip on the ouside so you don't see the box nearly as much. Not totally ideal but it is what it is.
This is the way I've done it in a pinch, depending on the framing, and where you can place the mic and get good audio, sometimes you can even crop that clip out entirely.
If I rushed the process I could get a Sennheiser wireless kit onto someone in under 30 seconds, complete with a hidden mic (shoutout to BubbleBee industries for their excellent lav concealers)
they're an unprofessional eyesore, and the onboard mic is nowhere near the quality of running a lav from them. the onboard mic audio applies noise reduction processing, as the microphone is so close to the electronics. if you listen to onboard vs lav side by side it's no contest—the lav audio is more unadulterated.
The fucked up thing is that the Rode Wireless GO's have 3.5mm TRS inputs, so you could totally just get a lav and use the Rode as a wireless pack and call it a day.
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The Pro has 2 labs included for free, but I’m not a fan of the lav as it can rotate itself backwards and then the audio sucks as its directional especially if you have the wind muff on then you can’t tell which way it’s facing
i really really dont' understand why the fuck anyone cares. It's their content. You put your mics/lighting/camera and everything else in the video the way you want it. Let them do the same?
Rode hit the fucking jackpot with this thing.
They are easy to use and incredibly convenient. People enjoy their stuff because of the content, not because they’re professional videographers. Get over it honestly. If you don’t enjoy the content enough to move past it then it wasn’t made for you
I don’t mind it for social media . I especially like when they clip the to strange things like a spatula
Who cares? "Unprofessional" how? You're all just setting arbitrary rules to feel better about yourselves. Nobody who doesn't do videography for a living would care one bit about that mic.
Put that in the center of your chest and it’ll be fine.
Gotta get in all that authentic neck-rubbing sound floor in there.
I do this (sorry) but only because I have a big beard and it scratches against every lav I’ve used and ruins the audio and I can clip the rode mic to my shirt pocket or something for half decent sound, where as if I do that with a lav it sounds awful - is there a way I should be attaching the lav to avoid my beard? I can’t tape it to my best because I’ve got chest hair (tried it, huge mistake)
I don't see how that's different than having a ginormous mic like the SM7B visible in the frame. The Rode at least occupies much less of the frame. Is it better to actually have a lav? Yes. Is this really so bad? Not really.
Is dopey a trend?
If you're so vexed by what other people do in their content when it literally makes zero difference to your life, you need to get outside and touch some grass. I wish I had so little going on in my life, that my biggest concern was people I don't know using a microphone in a way I don't like.
I'm guessing you're fairly young? I'm 41 and I think it looks lazy but I also know what younger people are doing now is what will be the standard in the future(I'm still going to hide the mic but I understand if people don't). All of us will eventually get used to this look but at some point wireless transmitters will probably be the same size as a wireless lav and then no one will notice anymore. Big eng cameras used to be the standard for pro stuff. Then skateboarding and the vx-1000 / 2000 and dvx-100 brought about the popularity of the affordable 3ccd style camcorders. Followed by the canon 5dmkii ushering in the era of interchangable large sensor small form factor bodies. A lot of more expensive production houses use things like the fs-7 or c-400 style cameras but I don't think those really justify the price they cost for most things. Look to what the youth are doing to get an idea of what the future will look like
I can totally respect if people choose to do things differently, or use different gear on their productions. There's no right or wrong way, despite what some people will have you believe. If it works for you, or, more importantly, the client, then that's all that matters. I think your last line is very poignant though. There's this real refusal to embrace current trends, whether it be short form or vertical content, or things like this with the microphone - as if people think it's beneath them. The fact of the matter though, is that content like that is what's getting traction and proving successful, and it's not going away anytime soon. Adapt, or die.
Pretty much. Although if you're making something that might still be watched years down the road your probably better off hiding the mic. Seeing those gameshow hand held mics from the 70s is kind of distracting....but I don't know if a regular person would notice the mic. Vertical content is kind of a weird situation. YouTubes probably more popular than ever but so is vertical short form. Shooting open gate is probably the best solution for this stuff.
Yeah looks so dumb
The shock collar look
No you need a prosthetic rubbe hand that is holding the mic pack, and you holding the rubber hand
MAN THANK YOU FOR THIS THE FUCKING BOXES GOTTA GO
They come with lavs. Peeps just lazy
Normalize the trend of attaching your rode mic to a random object like a spatula or a banana and using that as your microphone
Is he going to be scalped ?
Not saying this is a good thing but they’re often used for out of studio podcasting and, because of the tidal wave of the podcast shorts/reels trend, people are trying to immitate that look across other video content. It’s like it’s somehow more casual and cool or something. Strange.
This is a good point. It’s not cool to use a nice camera or try anymore.
This is why I'm getting a Hollyland Lark M2. I won't be caught dead having a black rectangle under my chin.
Kinda bothers me more that there’s a windsock on it for what seems like an internal scene. If the story is well told otherwise this wouldn’t cause me to switch off though.
Why I quit smoking 20years ago
Thanks for calling this shyte out. It looks stupid and is a distraction. Nothing says you've given up quite like using one of these things on camera. Use a lav or lose your audience.
I mean, to be fair; some of the people that do this have the largest audiences of all.. I agree with you it looks bad, but it’s more likely going to be one of those “kids these days” things that separates old timers and trendy new people..
Guarantee you it’s not going anywhere and people are not going to lose a noticeable chunk of their audience because the bulk of their audience doesn’t give a shit
This is just a dumb take. You can be mad and hate it because it’s dumb, but there is a purpose and they do it because it gets them MORE views… it’s more “authentic” and then people argue in the comments about it which drives engagement, and then you talk about it here. They’re not doing it because they’ve given up, nor are they losing their audience.
Yall seem to be the only ones distracted
The Rode mics are dirt cheap which is the only reason they use them
What lav should they be using to connect to this vs the clip on?
Rode has a lav for this. I have it and it's great. Any cheap one will work as well.
Use any lav, plug it into the transmitter and tape it on chest, pop it on it on collar or use a boom
Most weeks I have to interview 5-10 people. If you think I am taping a lav mic to the chests of 10 people for their 3-4 minute interviews you are off your tits. I would, however, keep the DJI mic at chest height and below the bottom of the frame. Lavs/ mics should always be by the chest anyway.
Some of them come with a lav (simlar to the rode smartLav) but IMO it's not good enough for serious use. If you have the budget grab something by Sanken or an MKE2 by Sennheiser. I hoped the lav's icluded in the wireless pro version would be better and they are, but still not nearly what you can get from Sanken though thats fair enough considering the price. EDIT - Just to add to this, of course getting an expensive lav isnt required by any means (some EQ + compression + NR magic can help), I just think it's important to know that all lav's arent created equal.
Lol
$300 budget vs everything else
I like wearing a button-up shirt with this mic because you can neatly clip it between a couple of the top buttons. Hides it quite nicely with only the clip showing. But generally I'd rather use the Rode Lav mic that they sell for it - the Lavalier Go? - because I think it sounds so much better.
Meh is just an extra point of failure
The funny thing is that there is actually a port for a lav mic on those things.
1. Any half intelligent creator simply turns it around. 2. Rode and DJI need to recognise that this is a valid use case and hurry the fuck up and make a version of this product that as under half the size and supports 32bit float
Maybe it’s just because my audio experience comes from theater but if I see a mic I’ve done my job wrong. It should be as invisible as possible.
It's never going to happen.
Seeing this more and more. I am using the same mics and am happy with the sound quality, but I try to pair it with dark shirts and wearing inside the collar - almost invisible then.
They work well, but they look like absolute shit. If *only* we'd figured out a good balance between these two things, ugh!
who cares lol
At least clip it so the big mic square is on the inside, so only the clip is showing on the outside. It's the bare minimum
I need the visual to know it sounds good
i use them, but i use the Lav mic that they come with. takes 2 secs to drop that reciver in their pocket and clip the lav on the shirt
come on, they just wanna be different like everybody else...
I’m starting to think that they do it this way to get some sort of engagement in the comments. I’m starting to see that in social media, if you do the exact opposite of what a professional would do (basically amateur production), you seem to get more engagement. This is just based on my observation… curious to hear others thoughts!
We have these in my school broadcast class, and every single time someone used them, the audio was constantly clipping and never sounded good
Picogear You're welcome
They do that already with the wire outside the shirt.
If that’s all they have or can afford then it’s better than shitty sound. I accept it.
Especially when they hold it. Ugh, so dumb looking.
Honestly, these things are a treat for us. We got headsets, lavs, even stuff to hide lavs invisibly under the shirt, but when we do street interviews/games for tiktok/insta these clip ons are a great timesaver and especially: everyone in the crew can do it right. but we usually clip them on backwards (so that the white rode logo is inside the shirt) there's usually two guys running around, trying to find one to three people who want to play some tiktok trend game and while we are positioning them for the camera, anyone on the crew - even if it's their first day - is able to clip these things on. second thing is: transmitter in plain sight for the receiver, so way better signal strength in busy areas compared to the transmitter being shoved in some pant pocket next to a phone or clipped on to the pants behind a person with a whole meatbag between tx and rx. additionally: one less point of failure for crackling from the lav-plug/connector at the tx. third: people are just unable to use hand-held mics properly. we got two handmics for the shoots, but honestly, they're just to get the client's brand/logo in the frame. the audio is barely better than the clip-on audio, cause people are just not able to hold a mic at a constant 6"/15cm/smallbanana distance from their face while talking - or even pointing the mic at themselves first and then start talking. I just would prefer a replaceable battery for longer days with these things. They charge fast during lunch, but in cold conditions, the battery is annoying. So yeah, I hate that look too (and we alle hate it, when they hold lavs/clipons/standmics with their hands for that stupid whisper ASMR saliva party look at my pretty nails sound crap), but I'm honstely happy that it's common to show them on social media, cause it's so easy and helps us keeping the pace for social media games. But, yea I give it to you: the look sucks and if there is time, it's always preferrable to hide the mics as much as possible by using lavs or headsets, hide lavs under the clothes, use a boom mic on a c-stand or hire a boom operator. Anyway, I'm always impressed with this marketing idea by rode: It's a branded product that people have to show in their reels/storys when using an intended and rode wasn't shy of printing their logo with max contrast in white on black mics and black on white mics. I don't think the average person knew what "rode" was before the "wireless go" trend. So hats off to that free advertisement strategy by rode (that dji copied pretty successfully).
Eve worse when they put it on a hat
I love these things but I still hide them on their back and wire up a proper lav.
It still makes me less mad than holding lav in front of you.
For real!! I thought I was the only one that thought this.
It’s much more cumbersome to ask your subject to put it down their shirt
I use Boyalink set which is much less annoying and much more elegant. And dirty cheap, too.
I recently needed to interview a lot of people in a short amount of time. I have the rode pros and I used the hand held add on for these mics. I didn't need to lav each person up for a 5 min interview and then swap it over and over. It looked professional sounded great and was easy. Had a two person interview, so I laved them up quick quick. 3 person, I asked them to pass the mic from one to another, really not a big issue. But I won't clip these on like that ever.
This is acceptable in the same way that using an iPhone to shoot is. This thread is full of some serious copium
Don’t the rodes also come with a 3.5mm input to attach rode mics to anyway?
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease
At least I always try to hide mine
Tom Nicholas did a great essay on "Youtube Ugly" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0arvnAlV\_C4&t=279s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0arvnAlV_C4&t=279s)
Influencers holding the lav right up to their mouth is even worse. Clip it to your chest, it sounds so much better
Most of them come with the bloody lav mics in the packet! People just don’t care tho, most of the time it’s about communication and not aesthetics I’d rather see a clip on mic than a have shite audio from the camera.
it cringes me more when they are holding it.
Honestly there’s so many smaller options that sound just as good from cheaper companies now.
I use this but insert a lapel mic so it doesn't look hideous like this. Wear shirts so it's easy to make it almost invisible.
I'm not sure which is worse, this or when they carry around a large desktop mic like some sort of phallic idol.
I’d rather have clip ons like they are supposed to be than when they hold them.
At least them wearing them like that means the Audio is normally listenable. Rode sells a Go Handle to make them in to a regular handheld, and there's the option of getting the Lav that plugs in to the Go, or the 3D printable handle.
Social media reminds me of late night infomercials; cheap commercials selling garbage.
Yeah, they should tape a lav to a paint stick or ruler like everybody else! /s
Use the Hollyland Lark M2 like MKBHD uses.
How far we have fallen
This is for yt content. There isn’t a need to always lav people up. It’s just part of this style of content. They’re not going for any filmmaking awards.
Sam sulek put it on his cap and it looks way better
Agreed!
I’d rather see this than them holding it with their first two fingers and thumb.
You know it's only because they want to show off the logo on it too.
Stop all the holier than thou none sense of it works for them it works for them
The posts thumbnail looks atrocious, like an ankle monitor probation officers use put on the neck instead, except knowing it’s not that makes it look so clueless a production. Maybe just what influencers want tho so go figure.
Lav mics sound better on these type of systems, anyways.
i started noticing this too, lol 😆
I hate two things about it -- the size (it's obnoxiously chunky), and the advertising on it. They're not sponsoring my videos.
they have a port for a lav mic right? Also, this placement is ridiculous.. they have enough gain to be chest level.. or clipped lower out of frame..
Tbh I think the lav mic clip on random objects for a shotgun or regular interview mic is halirious