Demonstrate Your Credibility

Demonstrate Your Credibility

Record Sound In A Quiet Place

By

01 Quiet spot TW rev 02Find a quiet spot to shoot your talking head videos in. If it is very quiet you may not need an external microphone.

Two reasons why your audio is usually awful

One of the most common problems that you might have when first starting out making videos is poor sound quality. The microphone being too far from the source of sound you are recording or the environment being too noisy often causes the trouble. Sometimes the solutions that you attempt to use can make the situation even worse. For instance, when you plug in an external microphone and the connection is bad, you might get no audio or intermittent audio recorded. No sound is definitely much more of a challenge to overcome than poor audio quality.

The best way to get good sound starts with one basic idea

You should always try to record audio in as quiet a place as possible. This is because all sound recording equipment produces a better result when noise is kept to a minimum. That is why when musicians make records they usually go to a recording studio that has a sound insulated room for them to perform in.

The problem is as old as the sound recording and motion picture industry

When filmmakers are about to shoot a scene with actors delivering their lines it is a common practice to say “quiet on the set” before they start the cameras and audio record equipment. Even professionals with decades of experience need to be reminded of the value of being quiet when recording audio.

Record wherever you are, it’s better than nothing

I fully realize that this may be a lot easier said than done and often you just have to shoot where you are, even if it is more than a little bit noisy there.

Two tips for better sounding audio recordings:

Microphones do NOT have a “zoom in” feature

One thing that will make your videos sound better in any environment is getting the microphone close to the sound you are recording.  If you are filming someone speaking, get the camera as close as possible to their face (within reason that is). If you have to back away from the speaker, you should consider using an external microphone. That will allow you to keep the microphone close to the person’s mouth and move the camera farther away. WARNING: this can open up a whole other set of audio related problems, so always test your set ups before recording your actual video.

Test your set up so you can tweak it if necessary

Testing means shooting in as close to the final set up as possible and critically listening back to the recording. I highly recommend you listen back with big headphones on so that you can concentrate on hearing exactly what you have captured. If your test doesn’t sound good, there is a really good chance your final video will not. There is no acceptable “fix” for bad sound; no filter, no magic sauce and no fancy technique can ever make a poor recording sound great.

Who I am:

I’m Philip Quintas and I make it easier for customers to trust you before and after they buy from you by creating simple videos that help you help more people.

If you want one-to-one help with making better videos, I can answer your questions and even write, shoot, edit, upload and promote videos for you or any combination of these services.  Sign up using the Email Address* and First Name* form on this website to get direct access to me, my experience and offerings.

Record 30 Seconds Of Audio With No One Speaking With Each Talking Head Set Up

By

28 silence for 30 seconds TW rev 02This will give you something to insert where and when you cut out words.

Once you are set up to shoot your video record for 30 seconds with no one speaking. You can also record this “room noise” after you are done shooting, with everyone still in position. This is going to give you a sample of the ambient sound in the space you are filming. When you (or your editor) goes to cut the footage together, having this quiet bit of audio will make it much easier and faster to assemble pieces out of order and to make the parts where there is no dialog seem less out of place or dramatic.

Silence verses Quiet

There is big difference between silence and a quiet room. Silence is the absence of any sound and it is noticeable when experienced right after or in between two sections of sound. You want to have quiet “room sound” to insert between the parts of the audio where you have someone speaking so that it all fits together smoothly.

Warning

It can be a little weird and people might be inclined to laugh when you suggest it and they may have trouble being quiet as you are capturing it. Let the people you are working with know in advance that you plan to record some very quiet audio and do the best you can to do this in every situation where you are going to use the sound from an interview.

Reminder

You may not always need this “room noise” you are recording, however, when you do, it is a really helpful bit of media to have available. The thing is you probably won’t know that you need it until you do. If you did not get it when you had the chance, it will be too late. It is very important that everything is as close to the same as when you were recording people talking.

One last thing…

This audio file of “room sound” may be used as a sample to clean up noisy audio and it works best when it exactly matches the ambience of the dialog.

Who I am:

I’m Philip Quintas and I make it easier for customers to trust you before and after they buy from you by creating simple videos that help you help more people.

If you want one-to-one help with making better videos, I can answer your questions and even write, shoot, edit, upload and promote videos for you or any combination of these services.  Sign up using the Email Address* and First Name* form on this website to get direct access to me, my experience and offerings.

Sound Advice for Making Your Videos Sound Better

By

Sound Advice For Making your Videos Sound BetterThese are a few simple tips that will help you get into the habit of making your videos sound a little better. If you are working alone or with a crew of 1 to 100 making these three habits a part of your sound for video recording process will give you a head start on reducing the time it takes to edit and master the your videos’ audio.

28 silence for 30 seconds TW rev 02Get 30 seconds with no one speaking recorded

This gives you something to insert where and when you cut out words.  You can do this before or after you shoot the rest of your video, just make sure you do it in the same place with the same people and before you change the set up.

01 Quiet spot TW rev 02Record sound in a quiet place

If it is very quiet you may not need an external microphone.  No place except a recording studio or a sound stage is completely quiet so do the best you can with where you are.

15 Sound First rev 02Audio First, Cutaways after

Deciding what to shoot is usually easier once you know what the viewer will be listening to (hint: transcribe the talking head audio or go off of the script they used.)

Why this is important

I emphasize the value of having great audio on your videos because it makes it easier when repurposing the content as audio or in other types of video (like Scribble or slideshows) and even as text (by transcribing it.)

Following suggestions like these three will not only increase the quality of your videos, they will also make the editing (which is most time-consuming process of content creation) get done faster. When you have a good, clean audio track to work with everything else will be smoother and easier to deal with. There is no such thing as making bad audio good; you can make it better, however, it will never be good, unless you record it well.

It’s easy to do and it’s easy not to do

In video production, as in almost all other activities, achieving success is mostly a matter of doing simple little things over and over again until they become habits that you do without thinking. At first this can require a lot of reminding yourself and engaging in activities that are uncomfortable and do not feel natural. Persistence is what makes most of these become a part of your normal daily routine. The trick is to choose beneficial disciplines that will make a significant impact over time.

Who I am:

I’m Philip Quintas and I make it easier for customers to trust you before and after they buy from you by creating simple videos that help you help more people.

If you want one-to-one help with making better videos, I can answer your questions and even write, shoot, edit, upload and promote videos for you or any combination of these services.  Sign up using the Email Address* and First Name* form on this website to get direct access to me, my experience and offerings.