Audio recording 101: How to record great sound for video

How important is audio? Very! Your video sound will need to be just as impressive as the footage you put on screen.

In this course, we’ll cover: why sound is so important in video content, which gear to invest in for your video sound, how to record clean audio for your video.

Here we go.

Good sound can help you stand out as a content creator. Sound is one of the most important aspects of any good video. An audience is willing to watch a low-resolution video with good audio, but not the other way around. Let’s test it out. This is how I sound with low-quality video, but high-quality audio. And this is how I sound with high-quality video, but low-quality audio. Which would you rather listen to for five minutes or even a duration of a full-length movie?

Let’s be honest. Buying a new microphone is not as cool as buying a new lens. It’s just not, I mean, how much epic B-roll can you get with a new mic? Regardless of whether it’s cool or not, your audio recorder’s pre-amps will make or break your videos way more than your camera’s resolution.

I believe in this so much that from my workflow, I prefer to make sure the audio is set up to be as crisp as possible before the visuals. I do this because I know the human ear is a lot more sensitive to bad sound than the human eye is the lens sharpness. In another class, we go more in-depth into the different types of audio equipment and their uses. So yes, there will be a gear course. Don’t worry, your pretty little gear head.

Tips to getting good audio. Getting good audio isn’t as hard as you think. Let’s briefly go over a few rules of thumb from the most basic, all the way to the more professional level. Get the mic as close as possible to the source you want to record, whether it’s an actor yourself or wild sound. Wild sound is the sound you record on set, but not necessarily while the camera’s rolling.

If you want to record a voiceover, try recording in a dry place. Dry in this context means surround yourself with objects like fabrics or furniture that will either absorb or disperse your sound in order to reduce the amount of echo as much as possible. A nice, low-budget hack is to record your voiceover in a closet. Which is a small place, so the sound has a shorter distance to travel and where you already have a lot of clothes to absorb the sound.

If you can’t get good audio for your dialog on set, then maybe try to create a video where you don’t need any dialog at all. Just sound effects. This is the easiest while on the shoot but sometimes can take a lot of time and energy during the edit. It’s really up to you, your vision, and your limitations. Another option is to turn the dialog or monologue into a voiceover. That way, you don’t need to see yourself speaking on location and can record the voiceover later in a more comfortable environment.

So far, I hope this helps you see the importance of good sound and the different ways you can record it for your videos. Let’s get more in-depth with the rest of this course.

Today we’re going to learn the differences between a camera mic, a neck mic, and a shotgun mic. Starting off with a camera mic. As the name suggests, it’s the built-in mic in your camera. This mic, while it’s great for what it is, is not the best option for high-quality audio for your videos. For three main reasons. Your camera’s main function isn’t to record high-quality audio-only video, so having the built-in mic is a great bonus to have, but it’s exactly that a bonus. Its main goal is not to record good audio.

The camera mic is just too far away from your actor, or if you’re filming, yourself. Most likely, you’re not going to be within a foot of the camera. And in that case, the camera mic becomes basically obsolete. What is it good for? Basically only for seeking audio in post.

Moving on to a neck mic Lav mic or a livelier mic. It has a lot of names for not a lot of size. There are a lot of benefits and uses for this mic, so let’s list them out. It’s great for a wide shot where your actor is talking and a standing far away from the camera. Another purpose of it is to hide the microphone in a wide shot by taping it under a piece of clothing.

Here’s a pro tip: If you or your actors wearing a hat in the scene, you can tap the mic underneath the brim to get it as close as possible to their mouths without any shirt rustling. If you’re filming a talking head video like this one, then sometimes you don’t need to work so hard to hide the mic. Mainly because this is a more relaxed style video where the subject isn’t acting. You’ll see a lot of this on the news or other live events.

So we all know the vlog setup, right? The mini tripod, your camera of choice and an external camera microphone? No. Hmm. Anyway, a lav mic can be great for vlogging because you can film yourself from far away. You can move around a lot in frame and trust that you’re going to get the best audio possible for that type of filmmaking. I personally love to use the road wireless go one or two. We use the two for our YouTube channel because it’s just easier to get up and film with the least amount of resistance.

The last reason for using a lav mic that we’re going to talk about is for redundancy. There is a rule when it comes to audio recording. It goes a little something like this: two is one and one is none. Meaning if you’re recording off one audio source and it fails on you for whatever reason, interference, battery dies, something not plugged in, someone forgot to repress record. Believe me, you don’t want to be caught in that situation. Have redundant audio sources.

But there are a few cons for using a lav mic. Usually, it sounds muffled since it’s placed under a lot of clothing, so a lot of frequencies are filtered out. Since they are sensitive, they will probably receive a lot of background noise, and it can get pretty noisy. It can also get noisy when recording a dynamic shoot with moving subjects. That will result in a lot of rustling sounds and will be harder to clean up in post.

Shotgun mic. You’ve seen this before the benefit of any camera. There are two different shotgun mics that are standard in the industry. The first one is a shotgun that you can mount to your camera and has a 3.5 mm jack aka a DSLR mic. These mikes are usually self-powered with a built-in battery. This mic will record the audio straight into camera. This is called baked-in audio. The pros and cons of this type of mic are very clear.

Pros: High-quality audio recording straight into camera without such a big crew can sometimes eliminate the need for your audio synchronization in the edit. Good for backup audio. High-quality scratch audio. Great for documentary-style videos. Is very good at isolating the sound that is directly in front of a mic. Record high-quality audio while filming a vlog. Great for dynamic vlogs because the mic will pick up sound wherever it’s being pointed to.

Let’s move on to the cons. Not your first choice for recording dialog because, like we mentioned before, we want the mic to be as close as possible to the subject talking so you shouldn’t rely on this for your only audio source. Recording straight into the camera is convenient, but won’t provide the best audio quality while recording using an external recorder, will.

The second type of shotgun a mic is called a boom mic. It’s very similar to the DSLR mic, but has an XLR jack. It needs phantom power to operate, that 48-volt symbol you have there, and depending on your production needs, is usually placed on a mic stand or a boom pole. The boom pole originated from the early days of civilization. It was first called the Bam Pull like Bamm-Bamm from The Flintstones, then eventually became known as a boom pole since it was adapted to film production during the boomer generation.

Not really. I have no idea where this name comes from, moving on. The point of the boom pole is to get the microphone as close as possible to the subject without getting it into frame. Usually, on bigger shoots, a production sound mixer or sound guy will be on set to record the sound with this whole apparatus, where the mic is on the end of the pole, with the cable running down to the external recorder and a sound bag that the sound mixer is wearing. They also wear headphones to make sure the take goes off without a hitch.

Boom mic set up pros and cons breakdown. Here we go. Pros: you can get very high-quality audio. You can get very specific with your audio selection by pointing the mic directly where you want it. Working with a professional sound mixer to run audio onset said allows you for more efficient and effective production. Cons: a good setup can be expensive, you can’t run it on your own or it’s not recommended you need to hire someone and they’re usually not cheap, or you’ll need somehow to convince your friends to work for free for your project. Overall, not as convenient because of all the size of the wires and the audio package.

So in conclusion, I hope you can see that there isn’t one perfect way to record audio for your videos or your films. Like all film gear, each microphone setup has its pluses and minuses, and they’re very specific to certain circumstances. Just like any piece of equipment you need to write your script with your limitations in mind. If you don’t have a boom mic set up or you write a scene which requires a boom mic set up, then maybe reconsider your choice of scene type and fit the story to your limitations rather than your limitations to your story.

That’s about it for this lesson. Thank you so much for watching. To learn more about the importance of audio for your videos and films, check out the other classes on this course. Thank you.

Hey, my name is Ezra, and here’s why using an external sound recorder is one of the best ways to level up your video or film production value.

Audio is 90% of the viewing experience. Don’t ask me where I got that number from. I’m a filmmaker, not a statistician. First, let’s talk from the microphone itself. When using an external microphone like a lav or shotgun mic, you have two options. Option one: if your camera allows you to plug in your mic directly into the camera. And option two: you can plug your microphone into an external recorder. Both of these options have their respective pros and cons.

Option one into the camera. The pro of plugging your mic directly into the camera is that it’s simply convenient. There’s no need to synchronize your audio files in the edit because it’s basically baked into your footage. In this context, baked-in means the footage and the audio files are recorded together in the same interface and therefore one file. The con is that most cameras are not meant to record high-quality audio internally. The majority of the time when we do record audio into the camera, we use it for something called scratch audio. Scratch audio is used to help your video editing software sync up your externally recorded audio and your in-camera audio.

Something else that’s extremely helpful to sync up your external audio with your scratch audio is a clapper board. You know that thing film productions use right when they’re about to start filming a scene – well that actually serves a purpose. Aside from the visual aid it provides, you know, helping the editor better organize the clips in post-production through having the shot information written on the board, the clap sound it produces helps your video editing software automatically sync up your internal and external audio.

Option two – external recorder. Moving on to external audio recording where you plug the microphone into an audio interface that is designed to record high-quality audio files. On film and commercial shoots, you can see these on audio carts, or even sometimes on smaller or more dynamic shoots in the bag slung around the shoulders of the boom operator. The pro of this is pretty obvious. You can get very high-quality audio files due to the nature of external sound recorders. As opposed to recording in-camera, audio recorders are meant to record audio. That is their one job. Cameras, on the other hand, obviously shoot video that’s their main job. The cons of this method of recording are mainly logistical problems. You need to organize and sync up your audio and your editor and a lot of the time, it can cost a lot of money to have audio recorded externally. In addition to the cost of your camera package, you would also need to buy more equipment to support the external audio recording.

In summary, using an external audio recorder is always preferred, especially on medium to big production shoots. On a bigger production, the jobs get more and more specialized the bigger it gets. And we want to make sure that audio is handled by someone whose job it is to produce the cleanest, highest quality audio possible, even on smaller shoots with a compact crew, using a clapper board or even just clapping with your hands can raise the production value instantaneously and simplify your job and production that much smoother.

So that’s it. To learn more about the importance of audio for your videos and film, check out the other classes on this course. Thanks so much for watching.

Today we’re going to learn how using SFX can bring your video content or your films to a whole other level. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: [scene]

Here are some of the benefits of using sound effects. Number one: immerse your audience into your video. Two: helps with your pacing. Three: creates a whole world through just sound. Four: raises the production value for relatively low price.

Let’s start talking about how to immerse your audience into your video or film. The main point of a video is to bring your audience along for the ride. What better way than to engage as many of the five senses as possible? Sound is one of the most sensitive senses we have. As filmmakers, we want to use that to our advantage and add as many relevant sounds as possible to bring your film or your video to life in the ears of your audience.

For example, you’re filming a scene in a coffee shop with somebody typing on a computer and you want to isolate a specific character within that scene. So here’s a great example of when you can use a keyboard typing sound effect.

Let’s move on to how it helps you with your pacing. A great way to tell if your visual storytelling is on point is if you can play your film with just the audio and you feel immersed in the story. It’s like being told the story as a child and you just let your visual imagination run wild. Once the audio is on point, pair it with some epic visuals and you have a powerful piece of content right there.

Creates a whole world through just sound. Imagine this: someone is telling you a story from their last trip. First without sound effects. Then with sound effects. Which version of the story gets your attention more? Exactly. the version with the sound effects is so much more compelling and keeps your attention for a lot longer. This is kind of like the filmmaking adage show don’t tell except it’s make heard don’t tell.

Raises the production value for a low price. There are so many ways to level up your videos to make it look like a million bucks when in reality it costs you 50 bucks to produce. Sound effects are one of the best ways to do that. Let’s say, for example, you only have enough budget for two actors for a dialogue scene at a party. But your script requires at least 10 background actors. Well, with some creativity and access to the right sound effects, you can make a two-person party seem like ten through sound. Just film the dialogue scene between the two actors in frame and use a party chatter or crowd sound effects like this one on the Artlist library. Use this to make the party seem more real.

So that’s it. I hope you enjoyed learning the various uses of sound effects in your videos or films. To learn more about the importance of audio for your videos, check out the other classes on this course. Thanks so much for watching.