How To Use 2 Lav Mics with 1 Audio Recorder
Channel: Ray Ortega
Date: 2016-04-22

How do you use more than one 3.5mm lavalier microphone with an audio recorder... you use this adapter. ► All gear linked below*.

I have used the AspenMics Stereo and Mono lav microphones for awhile now** and have been very happy with their price to quality ratio. For about $50 U.S., you can get a lav mic that can be plugged directly into most audio recorders, a DSLR or any other video camera with a 3.5mm input supplying plugin power, and/or a smartphone with the TRRS adapter.

But what if you wanted to have more than one lav mic plugged into your audio recorder for conducting interviews or if you had multiple hosts for your podcast or YouTube channel? In most cases, you can't because most audio recorders only have a single 3.5mm input. 

Well I finally found a solution that will allow you to use the additional XLR/Line In combo inputs on multichannel recorders such as the Tascam DR60D, Zoom H5 and H6. 

You may have seen other people using XLR to 3.5mm adapters and then using phantom power to adapt additional lav mics to combo inputs but that is a BAD idea. Don't do it. You're likely to damage your microphone. 

Lavalier microphones that use phantom power are built to receive that level of power. Consumer (cheaper) lav mics with 3.5mm connections are made to be used with far less power. These mics only need 1.5 volts of powered compared to phantom powered mics that use 24 or 48 volts. That is a big difference and using phantom power with plugin power mics is not a good idea and it's just not the proper way to handle your mics and audio. 

These AspenMic 3.5mm to 1/4" adapters are powered by a single AAA battery and supply the right amount of power for the AspenMics Mono Lav which is the only lav this is guaranteed to work with and the only lav that has been tested with the adapter.

In fact I have the stereo version of this mic as well and it will not work with this adapter unfortunately. So if you want to use these adapters, you should purchase them along with the approved AspenMic MONO lav. 

The only downside I have found with this adapter is there is no battery level indicator so if you were doing a long recording session you'd want to make sure you were monitoring your audio so you'd know when and if your battery went out. But I suspect that they last a good amount of time. As you see in this video, I use rechargeable batteries and they work really well for me (linked below). 

The audio you hear is the raw audio recorder to the #DR60D and was only processed to meet web delivery standards for Loudness (-16LUFS). However, the audio actually came out louder at -13LUFS and the noise floor is still relatively low which shows you how well this mic, recorder and adapter combo works. 

Some other fun details of this video: 
• Shot on a #Canon #80D using (single point) continuous AF and a Canon 28mm F2.8 IS lens

• Filmed at 1080p 60fps (80D can do this, yay) and converted a small clip to slow motion (tossing adapter in the air at the beginning montage).

• Color graded in Premiere Pro CC using Lumetri presets

• Secondary audio captured with a Rode VideoMic Pro set to +20db

• I created a progress bar motion graphic to help the viewer see how much time the text is on screen (just for fun and I find it helpful)

• I used motion tracking in After Effects to place my face inside my Snapcode (which actually works, try it!). 

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**GEAR USED TO MAKE THIS VIDEO**

• HQ-M MONO LAV MIC WITH 1/4 INCH POWER ADAPTER http://aspenmics.com/products/hq-m-mono-lav-mic-with-1-4-inch-power-adapter

• Canon 80D http://podhelp.me/80DbodyBH

• Canon 28mm f2.8. http://podhelp.me/Canon28mmf28ISBH

• Tascam DR60D audio recorder (markII linked, mine is markI & discont.) http://podhelp.me/DR60DmkIIBH

• Eneloop (pro) rechargeable batteries (non "pro" seen in video) http://podhelp.me/enelooppro4AAwChargerZon

• Transcend SD card 32GB Class 10 UHS1 http://podhelp.me/trans32uhs145zon

*all links should be considered affiliate links. I encourage you to shop around for the best prices at the time you are viewing this. You can read my ethics statement via http://thepodcastersstudio.com/ethics. Thanks!
**disclosure: this adapter was given to me by AspenMics after I requested to test it out. I don't have to send it back but I wasn't asked to make a review/demo video about it either. I made this video to let you hear how it works and I get no credit (money) for linking to this specific product.