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Lavalier and iPhone: the recording setup

The picture from the front camera of a current iPhone is good enough for most videos. The sound from the built-in microphone usually isn’t: it is a metre away from your mouth and picks up the room, every echo, every fridge. The biggest upgrade for little money is a clip-on microphone.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • A wireless lavalier with a receiver for USB-C (iPhone 15 and later) or Lightning (older iPhones). The transmitter clips to your shirt, the receiver plugs into the iPhone.
  • A tripod with a phone mount, so the iPhone is at eye level and stays still.
  • Light from the front, most simply a window.

Bluetooth headphones and microphones are not a good choice: their sound is made for phone calls, and Prompt Flower does not use them.

The microphone

Section titled “The microphone”
  1. Clip on the transmitter: about a hand’s width below your chin, centred on your shirt or collar. Too low sounds thin, too high picks up every head movement.
  2. Hide the cable and transmitter: the cable under your shirt, the transmitter on your belt or in a pocket. With microphones that clip the transmitter to the lapel: keep the transmitter straight, logo facing inwards.
  3. Check your clothes: rustling fabrics, necklaces and scarves rub against the microphone. A small foam or fur windscreen helps outdoors.
  4. Plug in the receiver. Prompt Flower switches to the receiver immediately and shows its name in the camera bar. If it comes loose during the recording, the recording continues with the built-in microphone, and you get a notice.

Many receivers have a volume control. Make a short test recording and listen to it with headphones: too quiet adds noise, too loud distorts. Err on the quieter side.

The camera

Section titled “The camera”
  • Eye level: the lens at the height of your eyes, not below.
  • Distance: for a chest-up shot, 1 to 1.5 metres. The distance also helps with reading: your eye movement is less noticeable. Set a larger font to match.
  • Portrait: Prompt Flower 1.0 records upright, which suits Reels, Shorts and Stories.
  • Resolution: 1080p is enough for social networks and saves space; 4K if you want to crop later.

The light

Section titled “The light”

Sit facing the window or at a slight angle to it. Light from behind turns you into a silhouette. With artificial light: a bright lamp at an angle in front of you, not directly above.

The room

Section titled “The room”

Carpet, curtains, a bookshelf and a sofa absorb echo. An empty room with bare walls sounds like a bathroom, even with a lavalier. Turn off fans, air conditioning and notifications.

Before recording

Section titled “Before recording”
  1. Read the text two or three times in practice mode.
  2. Check the camera preview, then hide it with a tap.
  3. Start recording: recording and voice follow start together.
  4. Fluffed it? Stop briefly, tap Sentence, start again. The rough cut does the rest.