Tom Balfe

I have the Zoom H4n, it's got phantom power in case your microphone needs it. It runs off AA batteries. You can use the built-in X-Y mics but they pick up a lot of background noise so if your camera makes any sound at all it will probably pick it up. I would go with a Zoom and as much of a shotgun mic as you can afford.

Blue Spark run through a PreSonus tube preamp sounds nice for the price. Spark through a PreSonus DP My mouth wasn't near the mic when I was recording this. The mic was aimed at the 12th fret of my guitar. This was 9 months ago, I can play quite a bit better now. It's really only good for recording indoor music and V.O., if you want an outdoor shotgun mic try a Sennheiser K3, there have been several versions of them over the years, check eBay. Regards, Tom

If it's like my Super CM 880 then the red button with the lines coming out of it is the backlit button. I don't know how much exposure it adds to the shot but I'm guessing one stop extra light.