The Microphone For The Me Generation

Or the you generation, if you insist. The important thing is that it is a microphone that will make us sound good when we use our smart devices. The Apple iPhone and iPad are wonderful things for communication - they can be as complex as any millennial would wish for communicating with each other or catching Japanese electronic monsters. They can be simple enough for this writer to Skype his family from interstate. The battery life is even sufficient to allow me to annoy them until they hang up... But the sound can be less than me, or it might be less than you. The microphones that can be crammed into a phone may be fine for close-to-the-mouth communication but fall down when you're trying to capture a bigger scene with people speaking further away. Video makers who use their phones need better signal to noise ..well, they just need less noise, actually. Step in Røde - the Australian firm with the Scandinavian name who make a great range of supplementary microphones for the audio and video industry. The VideMic Me is their addition to the Apple products - and it is a little corker. The microphone plugs into the dedicated socket of the phone or pad and a supplementary plastic bracket keeps it pointed forward or back to let you record yourself or others. If you are a breathy sort, or if you are in a windy environment, there is a miniature dead kitten wind shield that you attach to the body of the mic. You'll have to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous Dad jokes when you use it, mind, but that is the lot of the sound recordist worldwide. There's a socket, as well, in the rear of the microphone for headphones to connect and monitor your sound. It's a directional mic, so you'll get more of the sound from the place that it is pointing than you would with the in-built Apple mic. The packaging says that your videos will be clear and intelligible, but that may be hopeful - I've listened to people speak when they make their own YouTube stuff and their voices can be a mixed experience...