Sound, minimally
Internal versus a 3.5mm mic, setting levels, monitoring with headphones, and why audio comes first.
- Explain why audio quality matters more than most people expect
- Choose between the internal mic and an external one
- Set and monitor levels so sound is usable
Here is the principle that surprises new filmmakers: bad audio ruins a video before bad image does. Viewers will happily watch a slightly soft, imperfect picture, but muddy, echoing, or clipped sound makes them leave within seconds. Sound is half of video, and it is the half beginners neglect.
Internal versus external
The a6700’s internal microphone is convenient and fine for reference or a casual clip, but it captures the room — echo, handling noise, whatever is nearest — rather than your subject. The single biggest upgrade to your video is a 3.5mm external mic in the port on top:
- A shotgun mic on the camera rejects the sides and reaches a subject a few feet away.
- A lavalier clipped to a speaker gets clean, close, consistent voice — the best choice for interviews and pieces to camera.
You do not need an expensive one. Almost any dedicated mic, placed close to the source, beats the internal mic placed far from it. Proximity matters more than price.
Setting levels
Record too quiet and you lift a hiss when you turn it up; record too loud and it clips — a harsh, unrecoverable distortion. Aim for peaks that sit comfortably below the top of the meter, with headroom to spare, and set levels manually rather than trusting auto gain, which pumps up room noise in the quiet moments. When in doubt, err slightly quiet — a clean quiet signal recovers; a clipped one does not.
Monitor with headphones
You cannot fix what you cannot hear. Plug headphones into the a6700’s monitor jack and actually listen while you record: a loose connector, a rubbing lav, an air conditioner you had tuned out, a battery-dead wireless mic. The internal mic quietly saving your take when the external one fails is a discovery you want to make in the field, not in the edit. Ten seconds of monitoring saves an unusable clip.
In the field
Record the same short piece to camera three ways: the internal mic from a few feet away, the internal mic up close, and — if you have one — an external mic. Listen on headphones. The gap between them is the whole lesson, and it will change how you prioritise your kit.