It's been a snowy couple of days here in South Dakota, with blocked roads and closed businesses. So I thought I'd test some recording equipment and share my results.

In this video I compared 4 different audio options for video recording.

I start with the on camera microphone of an iPhone 7. This does a decent job of capturing close-up sound, but if you're more than a few feet away, it will also pick up a lot of noise, especially in a room with echo.

Next, I use the Rode VideoMicro shotgun mic, mounted on my Panasonic Lumix G85 mirrorless camera. This mic is a step up in quality, and does a decent job of focusing on the subject in front of the camera, but it can still pick up a lot of sound from the environment.

For most of my YouTube videos - and all of my recent podcasts - I've been using the AudioTechnica ATR-2100 USB microphone, which has both a USB and XLR connector. This is my recommendation for a starter podcast mic since it can be used with a computer, an audio interface or recorder (like my Zoom H6 portable recorder), and even the iPhone (with a USB to Lightning adapter). It is the best quality IF placed close to the source. But, for most of my videos I place it a few feet away from me so that it is not in the frame. This tends to be a less than optimal sound, although it is noticeably better than the on camera mic, and even the shotgun mic.

Lastly, I try out the Movo LV4-C Cardioid XLR Lavalier Microphone which I just purchased for $40 on Amazon. While the sound is not as appealing as the ATR-2100 microphone, it does a much better job of rejecting room noise and only picking up my voice on the recording. For such a low cost, I'm willing to accept the slightly tinny quality.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of just a few options for recording audio. I've listed other recommended mics not included in this video below.