A new SkyTronic Stereo Condenser Microphone
As I’ve come to notice over the past couple of months, the audio quality from my Canon FS100 is not really good enough when I’m all the way over the other side of the room. For this reason I sought after an external mic, now I could have gone two ways: either get a USB one and have to mix the audio and video together in Final Cut in post production or get one with a 3.5mm connection and plug it directly into my camcorder. The advantage of my FS100 is that unlike most camcorders it features a mic jack so I chose the latter option as this would require less work and be just like I normally record them.
I picked up a SkyTronic Stereo Condenser Microphone for just under £20, which included a small and mini mic stand as well as two audio cables. A 0.5m coiled one and a 3m longer one each with a 3.5mm audio jack on the end to plug into my camcorder. Now you could say I should have gone down and bought a cheap headset one from the local store but for some reason any microphone I use with the Canon FS100 requires itself to be externally battery powered. So my SkyTronic runs on one AA battery and I have plenty of those and they’re cheapish compared to the smaller AAA.
Then I was all ready to go and after plugging it in I saw the directional mic work really well. When connected to the camcorder, it obviously turns off the internal mic and only uses the external version, I like how it will be directed towards my desk and no longer will it pick up random noises from across the room. The build quality isn’t bad and it feels sturdy enough but it’s pretty lightweight at 110g and I feel I could break it if it hit a hard surface. Better be careful! On the other hand the quality is exactly what I wanted, no more echo and it’s much better attuned to vocals which I’ll be using it for.
So it will definitly be an improvement over the inbuilt camcorder mic and although it isn’t a world class expensive acoustic quality microphone it will do the job for now. If you’ve watched the video you’ll understand how much trouble I had but suffice to say I have finally set it up and secured it properly. You’ll see in the next video how it is and how much of a difference it makes to the quality of the audio feed.
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Hey! I just picked one of these up myself…The only problem is I can’t work out how to open it to insert the battery!! Obviously the cheap price has forced them not to include a flippin manual! I can’t find anything online either…Only your video but unfourtunately you cut out the part where you open it up..
So I have noticed the screws, surely you don’t have to undo these to open it up just to put a battery in??
Mike: Hi
Yes I originally had trouble with it and the scews just open up the actual microphone bit. To get to the battery it is actually simple (I wish I knew when I first did it). All you need to do is unplug the bottom and unscrew the bottom section. Then the middle section will slide down revealing the battery section.
Hope that helps
Daz
Hey there,i happen to be a artist and i recently got this microphone for my recording i’ve found the amplitude on it is rather amazing for it’s cost but i’d like to know how other to get rid of the fuzzy noise when i plug it into my pc,other then having to use my music editing(Cool Edit Pro & Adobe Audition 3) software to get rid of it,i was reading and apparently jack microphones normaly do that but another article said that they shouln’t unless your sound card is poor but my sound card is rather good i’d have to say since it’s a gaming and music computer i’ve kept everything updated,minus the fact that it’s window’s XP lol,well thanks for your time!
Kevin
Kevin: Hey
I’ll agree with you for its cost it does seem to do a good job. As you can see in my video there is no fuzzy noise however it is not being plugged into a computer and when I’ve done that it didn’t work very well. Jack connections are definitely not as clean as USB, so are more prone to noise and interference. Not all jack microphones will make the noise though that is incorrect. And as you seem to have a decent sound card, I’d blame the mic. Either its faulty, or more likely its not good enough for recording music as an artist. If you are looking at it long term then I would propose you buy a decent USB mic. It may be slightly more expensive but it makes it easier to edit and manipulate in a way. Hope that helps.
Good luck!
Daz