Sound Check

If you've watched any amount of amateur video, you're familiar with bad audio quality. It comes in many forms, including background noise drowning out the speaker, static, an annoying hum or buzz, or loud pops and bursts on the mic.

The fact is, for high-quality audio recording, you can't count on the microphone built into your camcorder. Most camcorder manufacturers (even the professional ones) devote much more energy to developing great video quality; the microphones are usually just cheap add-ons, necessary but not adequate.

If you're interested in recording good sound with your home videos (and you should be!) you'll need an external camcorder microphone. But purchasing a camcorder mic can be confusing: you'll find multiple types of microphones at a wide range of prices. To help sort through your options, check out our camcorder microphone buying guide. Once you have your camcorder mic picked out, you'll be well on your way to recording clear, crisp audio to complement and accentuate your video projects.