Audio/Video Recording Advice & Tips
WebCam - Screen Recorder - Digital Camera - Microphone - Headphones - Headset
In this section I will be sharing my observations, experiences and techniques with regards to recording audio/video inside a house that has paper thin
walls. This includes general audio/video advice and tips that can help you improve your overall video presentation. I will primarily be focusing on
Audio/Video Equipment and Your Surroundings.
When you start recording for the first time, especially with standard audio/video equipment you may have lying around the house, you will more than likely
be dissatisfied with the results mainly due to the realization that your audio/video equipment is of poor quality and your surroundings are not ideal.
Realizations that only come to light after testing your surroundings and other audio/video equipment.
THE HEADSET
One of the first things you will notice when playing back recorded audio/video footage, using standard audio/video equipment, is the feedback (humming/buzzing)
noise and overall poor sound/voice quality. Something that is quite natural and normally associated with poor quality audio/video equipment such as a cheap
'n' nasty headset (headphones and microphone combined).
Note well: This humming/buzzing sound is totally different from the natural ambient sound coming from a room's atmosphere, that the microphone picks up
naturally regardless of microphone quality.
One reason for using that poor quality headset might be because you use it with a messenger for chit-chatting, perhaps via a webcam, and think "I will use that headset for my video recording.....it works great with the messenger.....and I'm only shooting one video.....so I'm not going to spend money on a quality headset". And while these reasons may be valid, nothing should get in the way of Quality - First Impressions really do count, especially when selling/promoting something via the internet with an audio/video recording.
Don't Be Fooled By Perfect Audio Quality
The headset itself can fool you. For example. A lot of headphones these days have audio filters built directly into them and/or into their software. Meaning. On your computer the audio playback might sound great, because the microphone and/or headphones audio might have been filtered/boosted/cleared in some way either during recording or at playback time, but when played back on another computer it may have a tinny/echoing sound. Although this is something you should research yourself, always playback your audio/video recordings on another computer and send them to friends for comments/ideas.
THE MICROPHONE
Microphones normally come in two flavours - Uni-Directional (Records sound from one direction only) and Omni-Directional (Records sound from everywhere).
When recording audio using a Screen Recorder, WebCam, Digital Camera or CamCorder, for narration purposes, you are better off with a headset microphone
or separate (desktop) microphone that is Uni-Directional simply because the only sound you want to pick up is your voice.....coming from one direction.
You do not need sound coming from every direction (omni-directional) that might pick up unwanted traffic, wildlife, aeroplane and so on sounds.
Your Voice - Too Quiet
If you have a quiet voice, which cannot lunge half a meter away for example, you might prefer using a headset simply because its microphone can be
placed over your mouth whereby you do not need to shout. Some microphones and sound cards are so rubbish at picking up sound (voice volume) that you are
forced to shout through the microphone, causing you to have a sore throat along the way which inevitably leads to fewer quality recordings.
The opposite is also true if you have a loud voice, in which case you should use a microphone that sits on the desktop. The advantage of this is that you are
not seen wearing a headset in your video recording and a desktop microphone also avoids closeup sounds such as your breathing.
Your Mouth - Too Dry
Depending on the length of each recording, and your weight, you may suffer from Dry Throat. As you are talking you might start coughing, licking your
lips, breath heavily and so on. Sounds that a cheap, headset or desktop, microphone can pick up quite easily. Having a glass of water by your side is
okay but this also means the microphone will pick up any swallows, gulps and burps! you make during/after taking the water.
My advice - Drink water before the recording. If you are using a headset and need a drink during the recording; move your mouth away from the headset
first, by taking the headset off completely or moving its microphone to one side, so that any unwanted sounds are out of earshot. Obviously, if you
are wearing the headset in an actual video recording, as opposed to making a desktop screen recording, you cannot do this and will be forced to make an
excuse such as "Excuse me, I just need a glass of water".
Your Mouth - Heavy Breathing
Being over weight means you tend to breath heavy, with your stomach on your lap!, because air is not passing through you properly. I know this from personal experience. It gets worst when you feel bloated after eating. So in these cases try and sit up straight when recording (for maximum air flow), try not to eat just before recording (to avoid that bloated feeling) and try to take short breathes every now and then by moving your mouth away from the microphone where possible or by breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose....in a silent way.
Atmosphere And Equipment - Too Noisy Or Too Quiet
As mentioned above, your microphone can also pick up unwanted sounds such as the traffic and wildlife around you as well as office equipment. So when
recording try and record in a quiet room away from these external sounds - Switch off your phone, tv, radio, washing machine, tumble dryer and any other
technology equipment whose noise can penetrate the walls. Also close your windows and doors.
Switching off your laptop's PSU (Power Supply Unit), if using a laptop of course, can reduce a lot of unwanted feedback noise - I found this out one day
when I was testing my sound setup. I tried different headsets and rooms and was still getting feedback noise, which I assumed was either from the headset
or the laptop's sound card. I never suspected the psu. It was only when I accidently left the psu switched off that I noticed the feedback noise had
disappeared. I then went into two other rooms and did further sound tests to find each room and test was better with the psu switched off.
Saying this; I noticed if a room was too quiet I sometimes got the "I can hear a pin drop" syndrome whereby the microphone picked up the natural ambient sounds of that room, which could include any vibrations passing through my unsoundproofed walls, which then distorted/spoilt my recordings. Sods Law! It's all to do with Pitch and Low-Level Bass frequency. Read a good article on soundproofing in general for a better understanding of sound. That's what I did.
Atmosphere And Equipment - Unavoidable Noise
Some noises cannot be avoided. If you live in a building whereby the walls are naturally paper thin and you have a community around it, such as a council
flat, you cannot always tell the neighbours to be quiet or tell the lawn mower man cutting the grass in the summer to stop his tractor. Aeroplanes won't
be stopped neither just because you want to record!
In these cases a laptop is ideal because you can take it to the local park, open field or a friend's quiet house and record there. In other words, you
might be forced to move from your noisy enviroment.
You can always try and quieten your environment of course using Foam. Putting foam around a microphone, or even putting a microphone inside a foam lined
cardboard box, can help reduce voice noises (i.e. heavy breathing) and ambient room sounds but these tend to be impractical with regards to a house with
paper thin walls. Putting dense foam around the walls for example might help slightly but will not really help in general because of the way sound easily
travels through foam.
Another thing to consider is your neighbours. If your walls are paper thin you might have a natural tendency to lower your voice, not necessarily
because the neighbours might complain but because you feel stupid. When walls are too thin, and you are conscious that the neighbours can hear your every
word, it's like you are broadcasting to a live audience.....in an uncomfortable way. In these scenarios it really is good to have a laptop!
THE VIDEO
A part from noise, another distraction for the audience can be your visual surroundings. If you have too much clutter on view (i.e. a messy room with too
many plants) and/or an animated room (i.e. a room with a loud television switched on and screaming kids) then you will find your audience looking at those
distractions rather than you. Hence why many professionals, such as live television news channels, have nothing whatsoever in the background.
If you are watching a live news channel whereby the background is offset with office staff working, how many of you will be paying attention to that
guy in the background who is not working.....quite rightly or wrongly saying to yourself "Look at him, lazy so-and-so, he's not doing anything!".
The two points here being, 1) Your attention has been taken away from the newsreader and 2) you have been Judge & Jury! Two things that you need to
be aware of when people are viewing your own videos.
With any video recording, a part from screencast (desktop screen recording) of course, plenty of light is a must if you require that "refreshed" bright
look. Obviously this is impossible to achieve if do not have any light coming into your room a part from the light bulb(s), but there are things
you can do to improve your lighting; such as using light filters, daylight bulbs, painting your room in a bright colour and so on.
THE SCRIPT
Many people believe in having a prepared script and/or set of reminder notes in front of them whilst recording, but if you have ever tried this you will
know it is not a simple case of reading from a script or reminder notes. Using a script or reminder notes is okay in theory but in reality there are some
footnotes to consider.
Two of them being the way you communicate and remember. Meaning, the way you express yourself on the phone might be completely different to the way you
express yourself in a written letter. And the way you remember scripted lines in your head might not be the way you end up saying them in your final
recording.
Why? Perhaps because you feel nervous, and give yourself unwanted preassure, about making the perfect video the first time around. Or perhaps your
ability to remember long paragraphs is poor. There are many reasons. I sometimes start a video as "Hello. Welcome to ? dot com. My name is John White
and I....." even though my script might of stated "Hello. My name is John White, the owner of ? dot com. In this video I.....".
Too Much To Remember
One problem with using a script, or even talking straight from the head to the camera, is that you have to remember Past, Present and Future events. What
you have already mentioned in the video recording, what you are currently saying and what will you be saying next.
Your script or reminder notes might state - Welcome Introduction. Talk About The Product. Talk About Its Value, Benefits, Price And Special Offers - but
when you are actually recording and speaking about the product benefits you might have already forgotten whether or not you mentioned the special offers.
In other words, the level of concentration required catches many people out. They think "It's only 15 Minutes long" or "It's only 3 Short
Paragraphs"....."How difficult can it be?".
If you do not have that level of concentration you will find yourself pausing (stop, starting) your speech, because you cannot remember what to say next
for example, and/or find yourself saying "Erm...Er....Where was I.....As I was saying" and other repetitive statements that end up annoying the
audience. With more practise and confidence you will get better but at first you may get a fit of the nervous giggles!
Rehearse Your Script
Ideally you should know what you are talking about in the first place (know your subject matter) so that you only need reminder notes, if anything at all.
People who have been doing their hobby/job for years are perfect examples of this (i.e. Chefs, Computer Engineers, Arts & Craft Designers, Massage
Therapists, Etc). This does not mean they are video professionals but means they are more likely to be able to record a lengthy script, perhaps with
adlibs, with ease.
Regardless if you know your subject or not, practise makes perfect. So always rehearse your scripts, if you are using one, and do as many video recordings
as necessary until YOU are confident with the final recording. I say YOU because your video recordings will not please everyone, for whatever reason(s),
and people will always criticise it.....so do not be too hard on yourself.
My particular style is to record off the top of my head without rehearsals, but this is only because I have been around computers for too long! And even then I normally have to make up to three hours of test/mistake recordings before I get the final, 30 Minutes, take finished.....Usually because I am interrupted during recording or because I make mistakes due to lack of concentration.
Professional Or Amateur?
Although speaking from a memorised script makes you look more professional, especially in front of the camera as opposed to narrating a screencast
(desktop screen recording), it is very difficult to achieve; baring in mind that your spoken words then have to sound naturally spoken and not robotically
read from. Reading from a manuscript directly into the camera will definitely make you look amateurish of course. So what is the solution?
One solution is to record your video, preferably spoken from a memorised script, regardless of mistakes and then edit out those mistakes with an
audio/video editor.
AUDIO/VIDEO SOFTWARE
Audio/Video Software can be scarey, regardless if you have used it before or not, simply because you have to know about the different types of audio/video
file formats out there and the overall video editing process. Luckily, software such as ULead Video Studio/Editor (now owned by Corel as
Video Studio Express)
and Microsoft's free Windows Live Movie Maker
make this process a doddle, especially as Movie Maker for example allows you to upload your edited video straight to your YouTube and Facebook accounts.
These type of software come with Drag & Drop, Cut & Paste and Crop/Trim features built-in to make your video editing experience a pleasant one.
You can also save your un/finished work as a Project, so you can edit/amend it further at a later stage. Other features include brightness, contrast and
colour correction and the streaming of live audio/video into your project via a webcam or camcorder; which is great for those who still have a DV
CamCorder for example.
I recently bought this
Easy Capture Device
from a computer fair for £11 and found it does its job nicely. It works with Windows 7 and comes with ULead Video Studio/Editor (SE). I used it to stream
and convert a Panasonic DV Tape from a 2005 Panasonic MiniDV CamCorder.