PinMic

On the face of it – the idea looks promising – but is Rode’s first lavalier/headworn/pinable capsule up to scratch? Well, yes – unsurprisingly. I tested it in a few locations, the first being an acoustically treated studio – without the ambient distractions there I could really explore the mic – it’s got a nice full frequency response, with good bass coverage and a smooth high-end – unlike many traditional lavaliers.

Next up was a cathedral – with a reverb time of 3 seconds, it did indeed pick up quite a bit of the ‘room’, but then it is an omni – what can we really expect? Lastly, we had a sports stadium – when using the included ‘mini-dead cat’ it picked up no wind noise whatsoever, and was as clear as possible.

With the PinMic, absolutely all components and cabling stay inside the clothes, except the microphone element itself, which connects to the rest via three tiny pins, which perforate the shirt or dress non-destructively.

The design also makes it quite clear that the only way is the proper way, so that should both cure the bashfulness mentioned earlier, and create an even more discreet appearance.

The PinMic from RØDE is clearly the Ferrari of lavalier microphones, due to it esthetics and flexibility in connectivity.