Sony ECM LV1 Stereo Lavalier - Great for Capturing Stereo Ambience
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- The Sony ECM LV1 is a stereo lavalier and one that I use not for vocal recording, but for stereo ambience recording. I often record ambience for my videos so that I can place speech into the surrounding sounds with a volume level that I can balance.
This is basically an update of an earlier stereo lavalier that I own and used from way back in the days of digital tape cameras, when we didn't really use on camera shotguns!!
Affiliate Links:
Sony ECM-LV1 - amzn.to/3jwSonh
Gear Used in my Video:
Microphones
Rode NTG5 - amzn.to/2TJ8lh1
Lewitt LCT440: amzn.to/3A1lXF1
Electro-Voice RE320 Dynamic Microphone - amzn.to/3ajshwu
Rode NT1 - amzn.to/3sHIuSl
Stellar X2: amzn.to/3dbm5Z2
Cameras
Sony AX53 - amzn.to/2KrQ6Y...
Canon M50 - amzn.to/3tFaY0v
Canon EF-M 22mm, F2 lens: amzn.to/3dgGlIu
Manfrotto Tripod - amzn.to/2Wfl2y...
Lighting
Irisa 1 Video Light - amzn.to/33DFRXX
Falcon F7 Light - amzn.to/2IRXSe...
Ulanzi VL49 - amzn.to/3oUcY2... and the RGB Version - amzn.to/34h5AG...
Godox SL-60W - amzn.to/2SSurx9
Preamps
Beachtek Preamplifier - amzn.to/2JY6kt6
Behringer 802 8 Mixer - amzn.to/3mUnxCB
Tascam DR60d: amzn.to/3de68kH
Tascam DR70d: amzn.to/3xKnWvE
Recorders
Zoom H1n: amzn.to/3zWfMSP
Zoom H4n: amzn.to/3jdNsFx
Tascam DR05x: amzn.to/3xU6o00
Tascam DR07x: amzn.to/3gXua5U
Sony Camcorders
Sony CX405 - amzn.to/3mZyu5N
Sony CX450 - amzn.to/3aiTHCM
Sony CX625 - amzn.to/2Qc1qeP
Sony CX240 - amzn.to/32rfrI0
Sony AX53 - amzn.to/32o7una
Sony AX100 - amzn.to/32kZhjF
Affiliate link:
Sony ECM LV1 - amzn.to/3JBujXv
Great review! This mic sounds INCREDIBLE for the money. It's big but it sounds great and it's cheap. Cheers!
It is great value indeed. I like it a lot and so handy for am ience as well.
Best review of the Sony ECM LV1 Stereo Lavalier ever. It beats all the other reviews!
Nice review you made. By just listening to your voice with that lavalier mic, I can safely say that the Sony ECM Lv1 is a cheap mic but has some quality to it despite some minor issues you pointed out. I recommend it for those who wanted a good cheap mic, and I might buy this one day
You look like James May from Top gear! Amazing video and you have such a soothing voice. You'd make any mic sound good lol
I find my voice difficult to listen to! I hate my accent. Sounds really common!!!
Just bought that mic, incredible sound, good bass !! very happy for the price.
I used an old version of this, a long time ago. Been around for ages but not really noticed by most folks.
Is it good for indoor use for conference calls on MS Teams or Zoom Etc? Thanks.
I still use a couple of ECM-CS3s today for vlogging. Really great audio and even if it picks up ambient audio my voice is still very clear.
They are good. I used one with an old digital tape camera, years back
Are you able to avoid wind noise with them?
Best to avoid wind because there is no fluffy windjammer for it.
Very nice Ian!! Thanks for the review. I like the sound of it as well. Just needs a dead cat that's all. A wonderful review as always.Hope you're having a great summer so far!! Have a Cornish pastie and some clotted cream in rememberance of my trip to England years ago, you deserve it for sure.
Thanks Cory. I liked the old version too and used it for years; almost like a shotgun mic! It wasn’t until quite a bit later when I actually saw an on camera microphone. I still have the old one, but this one is slightly better.
Great review. Thank you for the video
Thank you Ian I think I’ll be ordering one for my Sony . Regards Fred
Lovely countryside & great review. Thinking of getting this Sony ECM LV1 to pair with my H1N recorder. Thanks
It’s a very nice lavalier. I’ve had the old version of it for an extremely long time and used it going into an old digital tape video camera. Worked really well.
Very helpful video thank you
Thanks for watching it Sam.
Great review. I used your affiliate link and bought one. ;)
Thank you. It is a nice little mic. The only thing I'd like is a wind cover other than the foamie for it because of its unusual shape.
@@iancraig True. You could probably sew two regular lav dead cats together and put them on the ends. Hard to beat the quality for the price though especially considering its Sony branded.
i was looking for a lavalier mic with a budget of 50$CAN maximum, and all i could find were odd dodgy brand mics, but there's this Sony one that popped up for 40$CAN.
I'll be using this in gaming streams, and like you said, i guess i could just use 1 side and dual-mono it or something, if the stereo feature might be a problem.
i don't need an outstanding mic, just good enough to have a good voice pickup. i'm using a USB adapter which have two 3.5mm on it, for headphones and mic.
i was previously using a headset only for the mic on it, for between 10-15 years (paid like 50$ for it, Sennheiser brand), and the mic died or just doesn't work after a while. Too bad though...but yeah, hoping this Sony lavalier mic will do the job just great for me.
Received yesterday and test it. Yes the stereo sound omnidirectional has an deference against unidirectional. In fact is omnidirectional beter for environments as where the area where the presentation is done.
Using on iPhone, pity, trying Rode SC4 and other equals Saramonic and Edutige adapters. The adapters allowed Mono but not the wanted Stereo sound.
I will try it again on iPhone using the Fostex AR101, the old mono tone stereo converter which has an stereo output 3.5mm Jack.If this not work I think I will return it to Amazon. Why, the Fostex AR101 lightning still works fine with iPhone 14 and gives nice unidirectional stereo sound. The downside is that the Fostex and other stereo gadgets are bulky. That’s why the ECM-LV1 is ordered. I will wait some day because I still hope find an solution to get stereo on iPhone.
Dead kitten? Is difficult to understand that Sonny hasn’t made it available but as you mentioned there are selfmade solutions.
Nice presentation by the way.
Thank you.
I use 2 small lavalier "dead cats" on it and it works verywell on the wind.
That’s a really good idea.
good tips! thanks for the review.
Hi Ian hope you are well,great video as always definitely a nice sounding Mic and something I didn't know you could get. Richard stilgoe now that's blast from the past, I remember him on That's life.
Best wishes stay safe Jon
Yes, Stilgoe is quite an age now. His son also lives around the corner and has upset some of the locals with a house extension!
I didn’t particularly like Richard Stilgoe though, tbh. I guess USA people won’t know of him.
The mic is surprisingly cheap. The stereo is not that well defined because it’s two omni directional mics but it works well to provide a wide ambience if I want it which I place underneath mono speech. It’s nice and small so mothing much to carry around.
Very useful review!
Thank you Andrei.
Thanks
Just keep it stereo then turn both into one channel "mono" in post. Ordered it as it's a unique lav and could even hang it in front of a lens for macro.
Or just use the left or right channel.
@Ian Craig - Audio, Video, Reviews & Tips Yup, but you might lose audio volume consistency if you happen to look left and right instead of taking advantage of both sides then combine them into mono.😉
Greetings to you and thanks for the video.
@@iancraig For dead cats you can find many that fit individually, that are universal 0.3-0.5" diameter as those are 0.4" or 1.1cm in diameter. Couldn't post the link here, it's a pack of 5 for $9.9.
Ian, thanks for the thoughtful video, and for showing us the beautiful British countryside.
I need a microphone for making screencasts on my Windows laptop. I want to eliminate some noise like wind, fan, air-conditioner, etc. Currently I have to close the doors and windows and turn off the fan and AC, making it uncomfortably warm. My budget is 100 GBP. I want the audio recording to sound authoritative and inspire confidence, not amateur.
I'm not into audio / video editing yet, except for downmixing stereo to mono. Is this the right mic for me? Or should I buy a shotgun mic? I'm a beginner and confused about all this. Thanks for your insight.
For speech, a mono lavalier would be preferable. With stereo, when you turn your head, the audio might wander left and right. The best lav that I have is quite large but sounds great. It’s called a Little Clippy em272 from a small uk company called MicBooster.com. Rode’s new lavalier sounds quite good.
One thing with most lavalier mics is that they have more self noise than many other types of mic. The Little Clippy though is very quiet in comparison to most other lavs I’ve tried.
The fan noise and ac won’t be lost by any mic really but at least mic noise is buried in it!
If you go for a pencil mic, then you need all kinds of other things like a preamp. The best kinds of mic for room noise rejection are probably dynamic mics. But again, you’d need a preamp.
Shotguns are better outdoors. They can react in odd ways with wall reflections so I wouldn’t use one.
Another nice option is a battery operated mic like a synchro e10. Really good sound for a cheap mic. On a table stand in front of you, it would sound pretty good. I sometimes use that one direct into camera for adding really clean dialogue.
@@iancraig Thanks, one last question -- in this video, when you turn your head left and right, I find the balance shift from left to right very subtle and not distracting; in fact, I'd missed it till I listened to it again. So that's perhaps not a big factor in my decision. What would you say, though, about the overall quality of the Lavalier II as compared to the Sony LV1? This would be a bigger factor in my decision. Thanks so much for your help, once again.
I like the sound quality of this lavalier. In fact, I used the first version of it years ago to use with a digital tape camera. They work well. Vulnerable to wind sound outside but sound and self noise is good.
Thanks for the great review. I got one recently to use for outdoor sounds .Works well with my h1n zoom but zoom h5 does not detect it at all. It takes other mics with similar trs plugs. Puzzled as to how to solve this.
That’s very strange. Is the plug a slightly different size on the Sony?
@@iancraig thanks for the quick response. No difference visibly. The capsule should provide plugin power to the lavalier i suppose. In the amazon reviews a guy speaks about directly using it with h5. Will update here if I come up with a solution.
Ian, toward the end of your video, you mentioned you would use your Mono lav mic, if I may ask which Mono Lavalier Mic were you referring to?
It’s called a ‘Little Clippy’ from micbooster.com. An EM272. Very low noise and really good sound. Cheap but quite big.
@@iancraig Thank you!
Great video. Do you think this could record nature sounds as well?
Yes, it does. For really good nature sound though, I think I’d want a good quality directional stereo mic. I use a Rodé stereo mic, but they cost a lot.
@@iancraig I'm considering Audio Technics ATR6250x. What do you think? Thank you so much!!!
Don’t know the 6250x. I noticed looking it up that no self noise figures are published. That always makes me wonder if they are noisy. Especially for stereo where noise will show more than in mono.
How does this compare to clippy for ambience ?
With the stereo pickup, I think ambience is better on the Sony. You get more of an idea of ‘space’. For speech, the Clippy is fuller with less noise, but the Sony is wider sounding.
Hi Ian - I've watched lots of your videos and they's been extremely helpful! to me - thanks! After following some of your advice I've hit two snags - 1) my breathing is clearly audible (and distracting) on lav recordings - any tips? 2) Any recommendations please on an extension / longer replacement cable for the rode videomicro, as I plan to use it off the camera? I've tried a cheapo but the quality seams to have dropped.
Thanks Ross.
With regards to breathing sounds, you could try moving the lav away. Other than that, make sure you are relaxed when recording. If you are capable of using an audio editor, (audacity) you can use a noise gate, but don’t set the gate to zero, but lower the gaps by 6 to 12dB. What happens is the gate kicks in when you breathe and very quickly lowers the volume.
Rode make an excellent extension cable. I use them all of the time!
@@iancraig Excellent - thanks Ian!! I will follow these tips :-)
Hi, Thanks for the review. Did you use this mic with any action camera in high wind blast? Something like during biking in high speed?
It won’t hold up on a bike unless under your clothes. It only comes with a foamie, not a furry windshield.
If you stand say 10-15 ft away and talk, how well would it pick up? I need an inexpensive "plugin power" equipped mic solution to connect to a security camera. I'm not expecting quality audio or for what's being said to be legible - I just want to pickup general noise in the space being monitored. If you have any other ideas, I'm all ears.
It would pick via security system fine. Not waterproof. It is very sensitive and would ‘hear’ everything around it.
Hello. Can it be used directly plugged into a cellphone so that the video recorded with it already comes with the audio? Thank you!
No, it would need a trrs adapter to do that. It goes directly into cameras.
@@iancraig Thanks. Can you recommend a good mic similar to this one that is good for voice?
Rode lavalier is excellent, but again, not designed for phone and is mono. For voice, mono is better focused. Rode also have a lavalier that will connect directly to phone if that’s what you want.
@@iancraig Thank you, so much!
Thank you so much for this review, I own one of these and noticed a difference in voice/volume level between left and right channels when talking into each one independently. I was begging to think that mine was faulty as no reviewer has mentioned or demo'd this. However I notice in your video that this difference is apparent when you did the same. Could this have been done to prevent clipping?
I don't think so Michael. Probably a case of cheap mic, less quality control.....
It's not 'true' stereo in any case. It also might be the mic not clipped on exactly straight so one capsule points slightly up and the other slightly down.
@@iancraig Review your video, when you speak directly into one end then the other, one side is clearer the other slightly muted. Even when you are not in frame and your talking about ambience audibly I can hear this disparity, yet with it level/horizontal the output on my speakers is identical? I bought the mic to use as a Moto vlogging tool inside my full face helmet, I bought a fake fur scarf to make dead kittens out of £2 versus a fiver a pop, that'll be my Scottish blood. I chose the LV1 because of its ambience, hoping to pick up exhaust note at the same time as voice. It worked quite well with the Rode wireless Go untill the receiver flew off the cold shoe mount at speed :-( I then bought the Synco G2 A2 system but unfortunately it seems to not like vibrations? First I thought wind was the issue but when stopped at roadworks on a scarified surface ready to accept new tar, I had to follow an escort vehicle at 2mph it became clear the vibrations from the tyres up were causing signal break up. Now waiting on the Rode wireless Go 2 to arrive, hopefully my audio problems are behind me?
Hmmmm. I either like your voice or this mic sounds great. I am looking for good sounding lavalier, can this be the one?
The one I normally use is called a Littlr Clippy em272. Very low noise, but the Sony is nice too.
I played around with two Lavalier Go mics set up on my chest as stereo. I actually liked the effect when I was turning my head.
What would be best microphone for indoor conference calls on zoom or MS Teams? Is there a cardioid lavalier microphone? Thanks.
A stereo lav might not be so goo. I would use a mono one. The one I use which is excellent (but fairly large for a lav) is the Little Clippy em272. It is sold only by MicBooster.com and is very low in self noise.
Hi,
Shall i purchase this for outdoor shoot or vlogging for go pro 8. please suggest..
Thanks.
If you like the sound of it, yes!
Hi Ian, thanks for the informative video. I bought one of these recently but the mic volume is extremely low in any source I've used it in so far. I'm not sure if I've bought a faulty unit or it needs some sort of preamp. Did you find this mic hard to drive?
I think you may have a faulty mic. Mine isn't the most sensitive lavalier I have but it doesn't have to be raised massively higher than other lavs.
@@iancraig Thanks for getting back to me, Ian. If I can get a good unit that sounds anything like yours in this video, I'll be happy.
Quality control might not be so great at its low price.
Anyone know where to get replacement wind shields??
The only place I think would be Sony themselves. It’s a real pain. There’s nothing to fit it around.
I am looking for a stereo microphone for on line chatting in door. any suggestions?
I would choose a good cardioid mono mic and use two, or use one and sit both people within its polar patterm.
A fantastic (but expensive) option is the Lewitt LCT441 Flex. Set it to a figure 8 pattern. One person in the front and one behind the mic - figure 8 pattern will pick up both perfectly.
Please help. where can I find replacement foam windscreen for this? I have googled to no avail!
I haven’t been able to find one Danny. Sorry. Contact Sony or just buy another mic.
@@iancraig thanks...
I love your channel, Danny. I put on weight just watching it!
@@iancraig thanks, coming soon. my weight loss series!
Hi Ian. Just wrote a message yesterday, but it got taken down (might have looked like spam). I asked your thoughts (if I may) on the fact that I cannot seem to get stereo sound out of this mic. I bought it yesterday, because of (amongst others) your review and I loved the quality. However, here with my (Windows) laptop and (Android) phone I only seem to be able to get 2x mono sound. I used Audacity and various Android apps that support stereo mics, but it seems to remain 2 of the same channels. When I move the mic from left to right, the sound will remain the same in both channels. Any thoughts (or by the community) would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm missing something to get the sound quality to the level this mic can be at. Thanks a bunch! Note: I use a 3.5mm splitter that splits the audio and mic signal to my laptop and phone.
Hi. Is the splitter mono? If you connect a mono splitter, you will indeed get two mono signals.
The stereo pattern that this mic gives is very 'unfocused'. The reason being that they are two Omni capsules facing away from each other. While this gives a wide sound, the stereo imaging is vague. For more accurate stereo image, you really need two cardioid mics
I use this one as an ambience collector which I sometimes place under dialogue. For proper, high quality stereo, I use a cardioid type stereo mic (Rode) or two individual cardioid mics.
The Sony is just handy little mic that gives an impression of 'space' in the recording.
Gently tap each capsule to make sure it really is mono, but I suspect the splitter!
Cheers
Ian
@@iancraig Hi Ian. Thanks for your reply. Mine got removed now for the 2nd type. I guess because I shared the link to Amazon with the splitter I use. Do you know A. How to understand if this splitter is mono and B. How to select one that isn't (assuming it exists)? To avoid being remover again, this is the title on Amazon: UGREEN 3.5mm Headset Adapter Kabel 2 naar 1 Aux Kabel voor Headset en Microfoon Nylon Jack Kabel Compatibel met Headset, PS4, Xbox One, Mobiele Telefoon, Laptop.(20CM). Thanks again for sharing your expertise.
To check whether the splitter is mono, look at the plugs. They should have two thin bands on them if stereo and one if mono. For stereo, there should be three separate metal sections separated by two bands whereas mon only need two segments, separated by one band.
It might be that the femal end is converting two stereo signals to mono as well. I’ll see if I can find the cable.
The easiest way to find out is just plug the mic straight in without the adapter to one thing only.
Can you copy the link so I can see the actual cable?j Is it this cable? www.amazon.de/UGREEN-Headset-Adapter-Mikrofon-kompatibel/dp/B091N1RDD1/ref=sr_1_6?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=Ugreen+3.5mm+headset+adapter+kabel+2+naar+1+aux+kabel+voor+headset+enmicrofoon&qid=1636555673&qsid=260-8175706-5448161&sr=8-6&sres=B08RB17ZY1%2CB08T1BFDWB%2CB07QLWQCWM%2CB088CZLHGL%2CB081Q8MXL8%2CB091N1RDD1%2CB086MMHLVW%2CB07MR5TPKV%2CB00LM0U8I6%2CB07Q6K37BD%2CB091N38K2V%2CB07S5QFWCR%2CB01D82XXGO%2CB08S6WGZ1F%2CB08NVNFJXH%2CB07RWT73RZ
If it is, the plug has 3 black bands which means that it is for iphones. Not sure what the two other sockets are though. One is marked headphone, so I would expect stereo from it. To be honest, it is better to avoid these splitters because you just don’t know exactly how they are wired. You want a 3.5mm stereo plug to two stereo 3.5mm sockets. Sometimes, these cables are made so that a stereo signal is picked up but each side gets split to the other sockets, so you only get left out of one socket and right out of another.
Just plug the mic only in and tap each side. Then try the adalter to see if you get the same effect. I suspect it is the cable tbh.
@@iancraig That is indeed the right splitter you mentioned. To make matters more confusing (for me at least 😅) js that the Sony LV1 doesn't seem to work when plugged into my laptop (single headset input) nor phone (via a USB C > 3.5 mm jack converter). Both seem to have as a result that the built-in mic works.
Any thoughts on which splitters would work (to push the stereo signal from the mic through)?
Or perhaps a better question: how can you create a scenario where you use a better mic (LV1?) and a (audio output only) headset in combination with a laptop/phone for calls (inside and outside)?
To me it seems that all (if not most) wired/wireless headsets, even with a mic boom, perform poorly to say the least. A lavalier sounds best to me, however, it's not the most ideal setup in terms of practicality (as our little talk proves perhaps).
To be honest, I don’t really know. The mic input on that lead (and most mic inputs) are dual mono because most people don’t use stereo microphones for speech capture. I always use mono for speech. So I’m guessing that the mic input on that lead is a dual mono rather than two separate channels. The reason for this is that you would only get audio on one side if it weren’t dual mono. I’m guessing that the headphone out is stereo?
The only sure thing I could suggest is to record the audio separately into a cheap little H1. Then it will be stereo! I’m thinking that adding another mic with that lead would still be dodgy unless it was mono but the H1, with its own inbuilt mics works exceptionally well and is proper stereo recorded as 24bit wav.
For more portability, I use a lavalier into miniature recorder made by Tascam, which is excellent.
Can you use this in phone?
I think that it would need an adapter. It has a stereo plug.
Oh god I just googled dead kitten to figure out what it is. Do yourself a favor and add the word "microphone" to your search.
Sorry. It’s unfortunate terminology I guess. A ‘dead kitten’ is a small version of what is known as a ‘deadcat’. A furry windshield. No offence was meant.
www.adencamera.com/Rode-Microphones-Dead-Kitten-Windscreen-P949.aspx