Whenever the super-talented child struts the stage in the school concert, singing and dancing and warming the cockles of the doting parents' hearts, one thing is for sure – the smartphone comes out and the video production begins.
And why not? Never has it been so easy to capture such high quality moving pictures with such a small device. The latest phones even take 4K videos, four times the resolution of any HD TV channel. Sadly there is one thing the phone does not do well and that is capture the sound of the Infant Phenomenon's angelic voice. The phone's microphone is not up to the job and, in any case, is pointing in the wrong direction.
![Australian made, the Rode VideoMic is a great smartphone accessory.](/web/20161016173250im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/u/b/n/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grub9k.png/1476301148210.jpg)
Help is at hand in the form of external microphones. If you are a stingy parent then you might make do with a cheap and cheerful stereo mic from eBay. For $3.50 or thereabouts, expectations are not high and expectations are met.
It is not often that we get to recommend an Australian-made product in the high-tech category, so it is exceptionally encouraging to be able to advise that the Rode VideoMic ME is the outstanding microphone for the job. For $77 RRP you get a beautifully made (in Sydney) directional monaural microphone that plugs into the headphone socket (sorry, iPhone 7 owners) and records brilliant sound.
The little mic comes with a clever clamp to stop it moving around in the headphone socket, and a wind-sock, looking like a dead baby wombat, comes in the box.
One word of advice: make sure that the phone, Apple or Android, is in aeroplane mode when you are recording because the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmissions from the phone cause a sort of scratchy interference static.
Believe us, the Infant Phenomenon has never sounded so sweet as she will with the Rode.