A wireless microphone plays an important role in today’s age of vlogging, streaming, and gaming, A lavalier mic is a small microphone that you can clip onto clothing. You have probably seen a lavalier mic being used by TV presenters, YouTube vloggers, Gamers and film makers. The wearable mics deliver great clear sound due to the fact that they can be positioned quite close to the mouth. The wearable mics are also unobtrusive and allow complete freedom with your hands. There are two things to consider when using a lavalier mic: Positioning and Connectivity. Regardless of which mic you are using, you can position and clip the wearable mics the same way. However, when it comes to connectivity, different types of mics are designed to work with different types of devices.
If you need freedom to move around then wireless system is the best option. The traditional wired microphones convert sound to electronic single and send it over a cable. A wireless microphone simply replaces the cable with a radio signal. Similar to the radio in your car, a wireless microphone has a transmitter and a receiver. With wearable mics, a Bluetooth signal is sent to the receiver device, such as a camera, smartphone, speaker, laptop, or recorder.
Hooke Lav: How does it work
Hooke Lav is a wireless microphone that uses Bluetooth at low latency for audio transmission. The microphone has 8 GB of internal storage so that it can pick up the audio even if Bluetooth cuts out. Hooke Lav has a custom codec that allows 24bit 48kHz mono and dual-channel streaming of audio. On Apple iPhone and Android smartphones, the audio is received using Hooke Lav mobile app. If you don’t have a device that supports Bluetooth, you can use receiver mode that requires 2 lavs, which allow you to override the internal microphone on your phone/camera/computer and record with Hooke Lav. The first device connects wirelessly to the second device, which then transmits audio into the recording device using a 3.5mm cable. You can also use one LAV device to record alone in Solo Mode or pair with a second for 2-channel input in Duet Mode.
Hooke Lav incorporates active noise cancelling technology to reduce background noise and focus upon the recorder’s voice. Hooke Lav comes standard with two windscreens. One “dead cat furry” windscreen for severely windy conditions and one standard wind screen for normal windy conditions. iOS and Android do not natively support our proprietary Bluetooth recording codec yet, so the Hooke Lav app is required on your smartphone. When using live stream apps like Facebook Live and Instagram live, two lavs must be used in receiver mode in order to physically override the built in mic on your phone.
Hooke Lav: Technical Specifications
The competition
There are many different wireless lavalier microphones available on the market. When looking at the Rode Wireless Go and Sennheiser G4 Lav, the Hooke Lav offers a few advantages in terms of both cost and features. The Hooke Lav costs less and features internal storage for uninterrupted recording. In addition, the hooke lav also supports 24bit sound recording compared to 16 bit on Rode Wireless Go. The difference between 16-bit audio and 24-bit audio isn’t just a matter of eight bits. With every bit of greater resolution, the number of levels double so the 24 bit sound represents 16.7 Million levels compared to 16 bit audio with 65,536 possible levels. Lastly, the physical dimensions of the Hooke Lav are smaller and entire device weighs less than the competitors, which is a big deal as it increases the convenience and usability for a wearable device.
Pricing and Availability
The Hooke Lav is currently available as part of a crow-funding campaign on Kickstarter. It has already raised close to $250,000 (USD) with pledge from 1600 backers and 24 more days to go. You can pledge $109 (USD) for Hooke Lav device and you get a charging cable, carrying case, and microphone wind screens. Due to the pandemic and long lead times on parts, the estimated delivery time is April 2021.
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav