Having a good vlog doesn’t just come down to high quality video footage, that’s only a part of making great content. One of the most overlooked part of a video is the audio and ensuring that you’ve got a good microphone to capture your audio is key.
In this post we’re going to talk about one of the best microphones for vlogging if your camera has an external mic input port.
One of the most loved microphone brands for vloggers is Rode. Made in Australia these guys have been making high quality microphones for years and recently I upgraded my old rode Videomic for a new Rode Videomic Go.
- Delivers clear, crisp, directional audio with incredible ease of use
- Rode designed the videomic go with a tight pickup area that focuses directly in front of the mic
- Reduces other surrounding sounds, ensuring that your subject is isolated from background noise
- The integrated Rycote lyre shock mount isolates the video mic go from bumps and vibrations
- No complicated switches or settings and is powered by your camera's external microphone input, required
Build Quality
First thing that you notice about this shotgun mic is the colors. It comes with a black cover and a striking red ricote shock mount which you’ll definitely recognize as one of the main microphones that all the vloggers use. Build quality of this camera feels really solid and sturdy but it is extremely lightweight.
One of the best things about this camera for me is the fact that it doesn’t require any messing about as there are no switches, buttons or batteries required. You just mount it onto the camera, plug in the cable and away you go.
No Batteries Required
The Rode Videomic Go runs from the power coming out of the microphone port on your camera, so batteries are one less thing you have to worry about buying. My previous microphone used a 9v battery to power it, which wasn’t the best although it did seem to have slightly more options available on the mic itself.
It’s important to check that your camera does actually provide power through the microphone port as there are a few models that don’t and aren’t compatible with this microphone.
This lack of a battery has been reported that on some cameras it can cause the battery to run down quite a lot quicker, but I’ve not really noticed this on my Canon 80D.
Replaceable Parts
The cable for this camera is also completely detachable so if anything does go wrong with the cable you don’t have to go buying a full new microphone and can just buy a replacement cable. It looks pretty well built, so I don’t think that it’s going to be something that you will need to be worrying about.
So since setup is so simple, I guess it’s time to talk about the quality of the audio.
Audio Quality
The Rode Videomic Go captures audio between 100Hz – 16kHz, which is great as anything below 100Hz is usually just electrical noise and hums that you would hear from the camera.
In terms of comparing this microphone to the internal microphone, the rode videomic go is a huge step up when recording yourself due to the directional sound recording and the ability for this microphone to cut out echo and hiss.
It isn’t the best if recording yourself from more than six feet, but it’s definitely better than the built in microphone.
The best use for this camera would probably be for recording yourself directly in front of the camera from a few feet away. This is probably what you’re going to be doing if you are a vlogger, but if you’re looking to record audio in different situations to the ones I’ve already mentioned then perhaps a different setup would be better suited.
I’m pretty happy with picking this up and really think it will help improve my video shooting, if you’re thinking of grabbing this as a cheap microphone for youtube vlogging then feel free to drop any questions in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
- Delivers clear, crisp, directional audio with incredible ease of use
- Rode designed the videomic go with a tight pickup area that focuses directly in front of the mic
- Reduces other surrounding sounds, ensuring that your subject is isolated from background noise
- The integrated Rycote lyre shock mount isolates the video mic go from bumps and vibrations
- No complicated switches or settings and is powered by your camera's external microphone input, required