What Is A Lavalier Mic?

A lavalier mic, also known as a lav or lapel mic, is a small microphone that is good for capturing dialogue. Their size and flexibility allows them to be easily concealed in clothing or hairlines. They are often used in documentaries for interviews as well as in other cases where boom mics are not an option.

Lav mics usually have an omnidirectional pickup pattern, which means that audio is captured from all directions rather than isolating sound from any specific direction. If the lav mic moves slightly away from the speaker’s mouth after being attached to the subject, the omnidirectional pickup pattern is useful in preventing major disruptions in the audio capture.

Lav mics are typically placed as close to the center of the chest as possible, which creates an acoustic shadow from the subject’s chin and results in a slightly less natural sound. Although boom mics offer more natural sound recordings than lav mics, it is not always possible for boom operators to get close enough to the subject who is speaking to pick up a good signal-to-noise ratio. This could be because their boom mics are casting shadows or there is a lot of action in the scene and the boom operators are limited in their movements. In these circumstances, lav mics are better options for capturing audio because their closer proximity to the speaker allows for a much better signal-to-noise ratio.

Learn more about how to use lav mics and where to place them on actors and speakers with respectful consideration:

“PRO TIP: Lavalier Mics” by RocketJump Film School

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