i would like to buy a microphone/voice recorder so that I can record my interviews; for the most part, they take place in noisy locations, such as nightclubs.
I recently conducted an interview during an evening, recording the voice with two different microphones:
the one from the video camera (a Samsung ST152F) which sounds good despite the music bass and the noise of some people talking.
the one from the cell phone which, with the music bass, sounds really bad and even in certain parts the voice can no longer be heard at all.
Now the question is this: what microphone/voice recorder should I buy so that the interviewed artist's voice sounds good? What characteristics should I take into account?
If you have to record in very noisy places, you should go for cardioid microphones or directly buy one of those portable recorders that immediately create an MP3 file; having to record in a context where quality is heavily compromised by ambient noise, it is absolutely useless to opt for expensive recorders. One costing 50 euros like this one for sale on Amazon will be enough.
The fact that the camera microphone might sound better than the cell phone's could depend on several things, certainly also signal saturation; obviously, cell phones do not have high-performance microphones and their dimensions are no larger than this O.
In my opinion, you can even save that money... When recording, regardless of the quality of the microphone you are using, move as far away from the speakers as possible to limit capsule saturation. If the music volume is still high, bring the microphone close to the mouth of the person speaking but not too close (the microphone in cell phones is normally located at the bottom of the phone, so while you are conducting the interview, you will have to hold it upside down), otherwise the same saturation problem occurs (in noisy contexts, 5 to 10 centimeters from the mouth is fine). Always try to record via two sources, for example, the cell phone microphone and the camera microphone, so that during editing you can mix the two signals to reinforce the spoken parts, obviously if it's worth doing.
If you have money to spend instead, there are better solutions, the classic interview setup: a separate recorder and a wireless dynamic cardioid microphone (the classic handheld mic you always see in interviews); a Sennheiser FP35 could work very well, it doesn't cost a fortune and works great. The only thing is that, obviously, the wireless receiver must be powered by an electrical outlet. If you have power supply problems, you have to go for a more expensive camera microphone, but here the price rises significantly, reaching even 500 euros. Alternatively, you can use a cable and go with a classic dynamic microphone like a Shure Beta 58A connected to a recorder. Then, if you need to do live broadcasts, the situation changes: there you must go directly into the camera and therefore spend a considerable amount on a wireless camera microphone.
