Transcripts
1. Welcome to this Class: Hi there, It's Thomas George and welcome to this audio recording class. I'm an online educator who specializes in audio and music production and have now created over 100 videos online. So in this class I'm going to teach you some tips and techniques so you can record high-quality audio at home. I've created this class for beginners, so no previous experience of audio production is needed to follow along with any of the lessons. So this class may be perfect for you if you're a beginner, video maker or podcaster, and you want to learn how to record high-quality audio at home. So we're going to start off this class by looking at ruined treatment. And then we'll look at audio recording equipment such as microphones and audio interfaces. After this, we'll look at monitors and headphones, and then we'll have a look at some recommended audio recording software. And then we have a behind the scenes tour of the already recording equipment I use to record my videos. So by the end of this class, you should have a clear understanding of recording high-quality audio at home. Also for your class project or what it's used for tips and techniques that I teach you for this class. Apply it to your own audio recordings. Okay, so let's get started and I'll see you in the first lesson.
2. Listen to your Recording Environment: Okay, The next point I want to look at is listening to your audio environments. So when you're in a room, I wait to listen to the ambient sound. So I went to stop this video right now and just listen to the sound of your room. So you may hear birds outside. You may, you may hear cars go past. If you buy a road. You may hear your computer fan. If you need the kitchen, you may hear of your refrigerator. You may hear radiata, you may hear air conditioners, all these different things that pick up in your room. You just need to be aware of the ambient sounds. You want to try and reduce all these outside noises, all these noises as much as possible. So you really want to think how noisy is it outside? Can you control any of this? So you buy a main road, like I said, that can be caused go past, that can pick up on your audio recordings. We could look at microphone's later on with a certain type of microphones that are more sensitive than others. But we look at that a bit later on. Okay, you also need to think about when are the quiet times. For example, if you live by a main road rush hour, you may want to avoid recording when there's loads of Kafka and pass. So maybe later in the evening could be a very good time to record. For example, I'm recording this video right now at 10:00 PM. And wow, Well I live ten PM is a great time. It's not noisy. Its orbit drawing a day. That could be neighbors outside, having a barbecue, being noisy, cars driving past, especially at home. If you're not in a soundproof room, you really need to think about the best times to record your audio. You also need to think about your computer fan. I have a desktop computer and it's quite noisy, especially if I have any screen recording software giving. And it's not that the fan can spin quite a lot. If you listen now. You can't hear the computer fan. I do have some post-production processes on Maya audio right now, but you can't hit it can be to fan. And y actually do is one little trick is I actually put my computer in a cupboard. So I have long cables running around my room and have my computer in a cupboard. Have what our record. I close the doors of the cupboard and then I have foam on the upside to kind of reduce the sound even more. And then when I'm not recording our open the doors of the cupboard so it doesn't overheat. So the computer can get circulation that certain tricks you can do. I know some people that put blankets over the computer. The only one that did this for a short period of time, for a long period of time. This can cause problems, but when you're recording the second thing that you can do, one big problem I hear all the time is the fan sign from a laptop. So many people will record a video and the laptop to have the microphone right in front of their laptop. And it's just picking up all the sound from the laptop fam. So really what we want to do, you want to move your your computer as far away from your microphone is possible. Really see not picking up that sound or at least don't want your microphone pointing towards the laptop sound because the adult fan sound can really pick up a here all the time. There are certain mix and processes you can do to help reduce that sign. But really, like I said, LA, you want to make sure the audio sounds good as possible, so just be aware of that computer fan. Next one is air conditioner or radiator. So the room I'm recording and now it does have a radiator. I live in the UK can get quite cold, but we do have radiators in the room and I many places don't, but I make sure I turn the radiator off when a record, if you're in a hot climate, you may have air conditioner. Obviously make sure you have your air conditioner turned off before you record. Next one is the French. If you're in a studio apartment or if you need kitchen, maybe a slight buzzing sound of the fridge. I've done recordings before where I've had to unplug the fridge because the opposing side can pickups or just be aware, just listened to those ambient sounds. And of course there is over outside noise, the certain things you can't control, like the neighbors making noise. But like I said before, certain times of the day can really help with this.
3. Room Treatment Tips: Okay, now let's look at how can you improve your audio recording environment. So we're going to look at Room and treatment tips now, the first thing is you must be able to hear these issues before we try and fix them. So I want you to actually listen to the sound of your room. Speak in your room now, speak quite loud. Can you hear the reverberated sound? So can you hear the sound of your voice bouncing off the walls and coming back against. So when you speak the audio from your voice, so the sound from your voice is going off into the wall and bouncing back at different directions before it comes back and hits your ears. And the longer it takes to come back and hit your is, the bigger the reverb and also the heart of the surfaces, the harder a bounce off the walls and come back again. But if you can soften these walls, it can soften these surfaces, then the reflections won't be as harsh and the reverb or the big echo sound, it won't be as harsh. And really when he recording voice-overs, you want that dead sound. If you're singing, you might want some nice reverberated big sound. But for voice-over work, for podcasts, for tutorials, rarely you want and dry dead sound. And the best way to do that is to treat your room. Okay, So like say Well listen out for There's echoic codes or the reverb of the room. So what you can do is you can do a clap. If you hear a big reverberated sound, clapping back, you notice some issues. If the clap and it's very dead, then you know, yeah, maybe this one is pretty good. Generally speaking though, if you buy a big window, if you have a laminate floor, if you have a big tall ceiling, you can have a lot of accuracy of reverb. You do want to think of treating that'll finding ways to reduce that. So you may actually have things around your house or ready that you can use to actually treat this reverb. So rho can be great. So if you have a laminate floor, you can put a rug on there and that can absorb some of the sounds. Server carpet really want to record in a room that has a carpet. Also a sofa can be great to absorb some of the rooms. We can even record it in a bedroom. A bed can be, yeah, great thing to actually absorb some of these sounds. And curtains, heavy, thick curse and especially if you have a big window, because that window can reflect the sound effect and can add to that reverberated echoey sound which you really don't want. So make sure when you record you have the curtains closed. And that can help reduce some of the echo reverb of your room. That of course, you have pro level acoustic panels and foam. The rumen right now. It does have a carpet, but it does have different panels of foam around me. So this can really help for you are reducing the echoes if you hear my voice now, you'll notice it's not very accurate, It's not very reverberant. There's no big reverb because of treated this room. So you want to make sure from the record high-quality audio treating the room is the most important thing. It's more important than microphones. You want to make sure the room is treated. That's the main thing I hear time and time again is people don't treat their improperly thereby realized microphone, especially a really sensitive microphone that picks up all of that room sound. And it just sounds like you're recording in a cave, which is really what you don't want.
4. Dynamic vs Condenser Microphones: Okay, so now we're going to look at microphones and finding the right microphone for you for recording audio. So we have two microphones we're going to look at. The first one is a dynamic microphone. So these microphones generally are more inexpensive and very durable, which means if you drop them, probably not going to break it ever, ever recommend dropping a microphone. But they are very tough, durable. And these microphones really a great and bad sounding rooms because they're not as sensitive as the other type of microphone to pick up the smaller polar patterns. So for example, this microphone hears is a dynamic microphone that picks up a small pattern around it, rather than a more sensitive microphone condenser microphone, that dynamic microphone. Great, Really if you'd have an untreated room and that way you don't have to worry about picking up too much of the room sound because it's not quite sensitive. But it being not a sensitive means it doesn't pick up some of the higher tones of the voice. It can sound a bit nice to have the other type of microphone, which is a condenser microphone, CV here. And pro level recordings that normally be using a condenser microphone. Because it's more sensitive, it picks up the higher range of the voice, some nicer tones, nicer clarity a lot of the time. But these microphones as the more sensitive that pick up more of the room around them. So the pick up more of the room sound. So if he an untreated room, I don't recommend using a condenser microphone. One microphone I hear all the time is a Blue Yeti, which is fine. Microphone is okay. But I hear people in untreated room use this condenser microphone and always picks up the big room sound. Really don't recommend using a condenser microphone unless you treated your room. So just be careful that they are more sensitive as well. And they generally are bit more fragile than dynamic microphones. And condenser microphones also need phantom power, so an additional 48 volts. But if you have an audio interface, should have a little button that says plus 48 V or phantom power, which you need to turn on if you're using a condenser microphone. So you need to think really, where are you going to be recording? Are going to be treating your room. You're gonna be treating your team effectively. If you are, then maybe you can consider a condenser microphone. However, if you have a lot of outside noise, if you have airplanes go past, or if you have the neighbors having barbecues a little time, a low loads of things you can't control that. Maybe want a dynamic microphone that maybe it won't pick up some of that outside sound as much as a condenser microphone. But if you have a really well treated room, is not very noisy to have much ambient sound than I recommend having a look at condenser microphones.
5. Recommended Pro Level Microphones: So which pro level microphone's do I actually recommend and why use? So the first one is the electoral voice over 20. It's the one that pulled up before. So it's this one here. So let's say about 80 to 90 percent of the videos I make a with this microphone, the electric voice over 20. So this is a dynamic microphone. However, it's just really durable. It gets the job done. And it can't always control the sound outside the five typical idea in my head and I want to record a video. I don't always want to wait for the evening time to be able to record. I don't always have to have the neighbors to be quite obviously, I can't control and people around me, but I don't have to wait for certain things. I can just record on that one. I know it's going to sound good. I probably could get slightly better sound if I use a condenser microphone, but this one sounds great. It has that radio tone. It's a very common microphone. You're seeing a lot of podcasts, a lot of radio presenters use this microphone. It's a classic like also has the built-in pop filter here. Also have a postural as well, but it's a very good classic microphone and for my uses is great. Also, it's quite good if I travel, phone, go somewhere else. I often take this microphone with me because it sounds good, pretty much everywhere, which is why I use it. I'd rather have personally enrolled, have a microphone. Sounded good and it can use it whenever I want that a microphone, it's great that can rarely use. And the next microphone is the one I'm using right now, which is the sensitizer and K hateful 16. This is a classic microphone. She used all the time in Hollywood in TV shows and documentaries. This is kinda the go-to industry standards shotgun like as you will, is quite expensive. It's around about $1000 in new. So don't always recommend getting this if you're brand new to making videos are recording audio. But as I do record a lot videos and for talking head videos or videos of a camera like this. I like to use this microphone as I can get it out of shot. And it's just a classic mechanic, has a scent type of sound that people are used to from watching a lot of TV shows, watching documentaries, movies that kinda stuff through often uses Mike and it has a classic sound that I like as well. The next one is a shore SM7B, which I've got right here. So this microphone is a very standard microphone. You may recognize it from certain podcasts such as the Joe Rogan experience for example. It's a very classic microphone. I personally prefer the electoral voice, RE 20, because I do think it captures some of the debt for my voice a little better than this microphone. This one is it doesn't capture the low-end as well as the electric voice. Every 20, there's still a good microphone. It's a little bit more inexpensive than the electric voice. Sorry, 20 different microphone. We looked at their Tobias, it looks pretty cool. I think that's why a lot of people use it. It does have this built, built and pop filter as well. This Nineveh standard microphone, classic upper-level one that I recommend.
6. Recommended Budget Level Mics: Okay, So which budget Mike's do I recommend and do I use? So the first one is the Shure SM58. So this is a classic dynamic microphone, is really durable. It's used on stages for music performance says, you may see when people do that Mike drew up, which I hate so much, You shouldn't have dropped microphone, but when they do it might drop. It's normally the Shure SM58. And that microphone will normally survive a mike drop because it's so drawable on tough, It's quite an expensive. It's around about a $100 new. However, it doesn't really capture the depth of the voice is quite bright sounding like it depends what Sandy you're after. But to me it's a little bit too bright, but it does have built-in pop shield as well, which can be quite useful. So you don't always necessarily need pop filter or a pop filter, this microphone. So great, drawable, inexpensive microphone and it's been used so many times for so many years. And for the price, I personally think it's amazing. Next one is road smart laugh plus. So this microphone is a small clip on lavalier microphone. And with this, it can actually plug into your smart phone. So this can be useful if you want to record videos and you just want to record them on your phone, you can plug it directly and it will sync up with your video on your phone. It's not amazing, but for the size and the price, it is a great microphone. So if you travel anywhere and you literally just got your pockets, you've got no bag. I recommend. Just put it in the road, smart left plus then you know, you can always film a video with audio that sounds pretty decent whenever you want. Like I said, it's not as good as these larger microphones, but it's going to be better than the mike that's on your phone. So this is why I recommend if you're on a budget and you want to be super portable. And the next one is a Zoom SG hate sex, which is this microphone here. It's actually this capsule which you can put on a lot of these Zoom recorders, including this field recorder, the effluent field recorder, and also the zoom hate six or the Zoom H5. You can add this microphone onto these different recorders. And this one's got a shotgun microphone. And to be to be honest, it sounds pretty decent. App uses many times stuff I'm going somewhere and I don't want to take a laptop with me. Often take a field recorder. If it's just myself, I'll take this one because it's smaller. If I'm recording, say a podcast and I want to use desks may be a back-up my core as additional microphone. This is shotgun mike. It's actually pretty decent for the price. This is a good, useful microphone. So yeah, this one is good. If you want to take any field recorders like a Zoom F1 Zoom H5, and H6, I recommend having a look at the Zoom as she hates six.
7. Microphone Audio Comparisons: Hi there and welcome to this video where I'm going to compare the audios, the microphones that we previously looked at. So you can see right now, I have a selection of different microphones and let's now hear what they sound like. Before we get started though, I'm just going to mention I have no processing on any of this audio. So I have now Audio Plug-ins apart from gain. So they're at a similar level. Okay, let's look at the first one which is a send highs are for 16. This microphone is actually out of shot. So this is a shotgun microphone most commonly used for video. So you really want to have this mike add two shots, but you want to have it as close as possible so it can sound as good as possible as it's a shotgun microphone, it only picks up a narrower amount. So if I move to the side like this, you'll notice it doesn't sound anywhere near as good as if the mike is pointing at my mouth. So remember if you're going to be talking to the side like this, a shotgun microphone isn't going to sound great, but it's good if you can have it pointing at you. Okay. The next microphone is this one here. This is the electro voice. Are we 20? This is actually my favorite Mike. So this might, I use for any audio recordings where I don't use video? I think this one sounds really good with my voice. I've been using this microphone many years, and this is the sound of the electoral voice already 20. Okay, next one is this microphone in the middle. This is the shore SM7B, very common podcasts microphone. A little bit more inexpensive than the 20. I personally don't think it sounds good and my voice, but a lot of people do really like this microphone. Very popular one to consider. Okay, going along, we have this microphone here. This is a zoom SG hate 6. So this microphone is a shotgun microphone and you can attach it to the Zoom handy recorders. So the Zoom H5, the Zoom H6, and Zoom at one. So this one you can probably hear sounds pretty decent, It sounds pretty good. So if you wanna be really portable and you just want to take a handy recording of, you don't wanna take a laptop or an audio interface. You can consider this shotgun mic, the Zoom SG hate six. As it is a shotgun microphone, you would normally have it out of shot. So let me just move this over so it's utter shots. You can hear what it sounds like now. So you notice it probably doesn't sound as good as before when it was closer, but it's still sounds decent. So if you want to be portable and that had to take a laptop or audio interface and it had a record like this is definitely want to consider. Let's just move that back in the shot and you can probably hear there. It does sound better when it is closer. And again, it's a shotgun mic. So for move to the side light, this is not going to sound as good as if it's in front of my life. Okay. The next microphone is this one here. This is the Shure SM58. It was originally designed as a handheld microphone for a live stage performances. However, you can still use it for recording podcasts or videos. For example, Tim Ferriss uses this for his podcast. This, Ernie picks up a small amount as well. So if you're in any noisy environments or untreated room, this is a good one to consider. If I made this mike to the side like this, you notice you can't really hear it at all, so it doesn't have to be pointing at you. My friend, I do recommend having it quite close. So if it's further away like this, you notice it doesn't say anywhere near as good as if it's closer like this. Okay. The next microphone is, it's lavalier microphone here. So this is the road smart lab plus. So this actually plugs into your phone. So right now I have it plugged into my phone. You may have to use a dongle like this. Okay, so I'm recording this now on my phone, and this is the audio from the road smart left plus you can probably hit sounds pretty decent, maybe not as good as a larger microphones we just looked at. But for being so small and portable, I think is good. And this is the audio on my phone. So I'm not using the smart enough plus you can probably hear it did sign better before when we use the smart left plus. Okay, so now let's do a quick comparison tests on all of these different microphones. So this is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone as you can here. Using a microphone is very important and I never recommend using the built-in mic on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. So this is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone. As you can here, using a microphone is very important and never recommend using the built-in mic on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. So this is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone as you can here. Using a microphone is very important and I never recommend using the built-in mike on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. So this is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone as you can here. Using a microphone is very important and it never recommend using the built-in mic on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. This is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone as you can here. Using a microphone is very important and it never recommend using the built-in mic on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. So this is an example of me speaking into the microphone. So the audio you can hear right now is coming from the microphone. As you can here, using a microphone is very important and never recommend using the built-in mic on your camera as it's never as good as using an external microphone. Okay, So I personally like the sound of this electrophoresis are 322 of my voice. However, from filming a video and I want to have the mike and shot and may use ashore SM7B. I do think it looks a bit slicker. And if I don't want to have them, I can shatter. All amazed the shotgun microphone like this Anheuser for 16. And if I'm away from the studio and I don't want to take a laptop with me. I will take a handy recorder and we'll use this might care, this Zoom SG hates six shotgun microphone as I think that sounds pretty decent. And if I'm traveling and I'm in a really bad room, I may use the Shure SM58 as this can sound good in untreated rooms. And if I wanted to be super portable and they use a road smart lab plus, and just recall the audio into my phone. Okay, so that is the audio from these different microphones. I hope you found this video useful and I'll see you in the next one.
8. What is an Audio Interface and How is it Useful: Okay, so now we're going to be looking at audio interfaces. And you may be asking, why isn't the interface and why is it useful? And I've explained this in this video. It's an audio interface. Firstly, is the analog to digital converter. So you have your microphone, which is an analog signal. You need to get this into your computer. So on all your interface does is it's essentially a box that converts this analog signal into a digital signal so you can record audio into your computer. Not the interface also has preamps, so the signal you get from your microphone, it's very quiet in an amplifier to turn this up, audio interface will have dials on there, which allows you to actually amplify the microphone and make it loud enough so as a suitable level for recording audio and audio interface allows you to do this. And the other thing is a digital to analog converter. So an audio interface, it converts the analog signal to digital, but then you want to hear that signal back from your computer. So you convert the digital signal from your computer into analog signal, which means you can plug speakers or monitors into your audio interface or headphones. So that is the uses for an audio interface, the first one, analog-to-digital converter. So the alloc from your microphone into a computer which is digital, we need to convert it. Audio interface allows you to do that. Preamp or an amplifier for your microphone's microphone has low signal needs. Increase it. Yeah, audio interface that allows you to increase it with a preamp. And the third one is a digital to analog converter. Say how the digital signal from your computer, you won't listen to it back. So you can convert that digital signal to an analog signal. So you can list two of your speakers or headphones. So you can, of course, plug headphones into your computer via the headphone jack, but oftentimes it will sound better and you have dedicated outputs. If you use an audio interface.
9. Recommended Pro Level Audio Interfaces: Okay, So which pro level audio interfaces do I recommend and do I use? So the one I'm using right now is called the focus, right? Claret for pre. So this has four preamps on it. And a really nice clean sounding preamps has a lot functionalities on his audience to face a lot of different inputs and outputs on there as well. It's just a generally good studio audio interface. It does require power and it's not very portable. So if you want to travel, I don't recommend this or to interface, but it's a good one I recommend for the studio. Next one is a Zoom hate six. So this one we looked at before is this field recorder, but actually doubles up as an audio interface. So you can plug mike veins enter this and you can record either on the Zoom H6 or you can use it to plug into your computer and use it as an audio interface. And this is very useful filled record audio interface that has many different functions. I also have this Manfrotto pixie mini tripod and shock mount attached to this Zoom hate sex. These can be useful when recording audio. But if you're using the Zoom H6 as an audio interface, then you weren't necessarily need to use a stand or shock mount like this. And the next one is the apogee. Juliet says this audio interface is quite small. It's not tiny, but it's definitely an audience face you can travel with. But the thing that I like about this is to preempt a really nice and clean. So if you want a high-quality audio interface, they can still travel with, I recommend their apogee Juliet has two inputs. Anything that don't like about it is these break-out cables that can get a little annoying at times. But this is a nice quality audio interface if only be lightweight.
10. Recommended Budget Level Audio Interfaces: Okay, So which budget audience faces DO recommend? The first one is the focus, right? Scarlet to i2. It's a very solid, common audience of face. I'm sure you've probably seen that before. The only thing that I like about it is if you put the gain of four, we can get a bit of hes. So if you are using a dynamic microphone and you put the gain all the way up, can be a little noisy, is not clean for example, as this one, the apogee do it, but it's a good one if you're starting off and you not to spend too much money, It's a good, solid budget audio interface. But like I said, preamp can be a little noisy if you crank the, the gain too high. The next one is assure x2, y2. This is a really small audio interface. And this is really great if want to be portable because it's so tiny, so portable. And show often sell it with the Shure SM58. So if you want to be super portable, Shure SM58, shore yea pattern together so that microphone and this audio interface can work really well. The only thing is, again, similar to the focus, right? Scarlet to IT, because this is a bit more inexpensive. When you crank the gain on the preamp, you can get that hes. So if you are using dynamic microphone and you put the gain of four, you can get some Hesse, which is an ideal and actually upgraded from this audio interface to this one here, which is the apogee one to be found not sure off, uh, consider a budget one is quite a lot more expensive than the short x2, y2. But it does have a really nice microphone pre-amp. It's just one input, the apogee one, the Jew, it has to. But if I'm recording, Say and a tutorial or video, it's just me speaking. I will take the apogee one because it's much smaller than the apogee duets. But if I'm doing a podcast or conversation with two people, I will take the Juliet, but this one that really nice preamp and really lightweight. So I recommend this if you want to have high-quality audio, is still want to be portable.
11. My Thoughts on USB Microphones: But what about USB microphone? So if you have a USB microphone, you don't necessarily need an audio interface because this USB mike already has an analog-to-digital converter on it. However, in my experience, the audience gonna sound a lot better if you have an XLR microphone and an audio interface rather than just a USB mic. Usb makes it just not quite there. You have a dedicated box that converts the analog signal to digital signal and XLR microphone. It's just going to sound better than a USB mic. Say yes, a USB mike can be useful if you don't want to audio interface, but no, doesn't sound as good. Maybe in a few years at well, but right now USB mike, just not as good as using an XLR Mike and going into a high-quality audio interface.
12. Microphone Positioning and Accessories: Okay, so now let's talk about Mike positioning and accessories. So the first thing is to put your microphone and angle. So let's imagine my hand here as a microphone. And I'm gonna say this tongue twister, I recommend doing this at home as well. I might mess up, but Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. So the emphasize, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. So you can fill the air on your hand. When you use the words, have a lot of p in them apart. So that creates a plosives. So that's that pop of add breath a value here. And you often hear it microphone recordings if that sounds really bad. But if you have your microphone at an angle, you're going to reduce a lot of those plosive. So let's put your hand there again. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. You notice then Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. We can't feel that the breath of air and air handlers much so really reducing those plosives. So if microphone like this, you see a lot of podcasts where people have the microphone yeah, right front and like this. And you're gonna get a lot of places, even with this filter here, you're gonna get a lot of places. So you really want your microphone like this at the side here. So when you're speaking, you're reducing those plosives. So that's the first thing that I recommend are about Mike positioning. The next one is to use a pop shield or a filter, some of these microphones. And this one here, the shore SM7B does have this filter on top, but I do recommend using a pop shield as well as Mike does actually have a pop filter, but I WO up of a pop shield so much in your hand before. If you have a shield or something in front of it, is reducing that breath of air. So it's reducing those plosives. So yeah, I do recommend using POP shield or a pop filter. You can't get ones. This to have a bit of material. This one is a metal one. I personally prefer the metal one, but the one and materials fine as well, but definitely get yourself a pop shelled or a pop filter. However, if you're using a shotgun microphone like this one here, and it's not close to your mouth, say 20 centimeters or whatever, then you don't necessarily need to use shield or pop filter as the mike is further away and shouldn't pick up many plosives or blast of air from saying certain words. However, if you have the shotgun mic closer to your life, say less than 20 centimeters, then I still recommend using a pump shield or pop filter. As the shotgun mike may pick up plosive sounds or blast of air from your mouth from saying certain words. The next thing is a shock mount. So notice this microphone here. We have this kind of cage around it. So if I bang on my desk or a knock on the floor, it's actually going to pick up through the microphone. So from bang on the desk and the pick up fruitless microphone stand. And if the microtrends attached to it, it's going to pick those vibrations which you don't really want any audio. What one of these shock mounts does is it basically K's holds a microphone so it's not touching the sides or as much as possible not touching the sides. And that way if you have any bangs or bumps or anything like that, It's not going to pick up on the Mike as well and it's going to sound a lot better. Next thing, obviously, a microphone stand. You will need to stand if your microphone, I let these desktop here, these road ones that PSA one, these really great. You can move that microphone around. This other microphone I've got on tops on there as well. I've actually got four days towns all around me. And yeah, definitely the microphone stand. And you can hold your microphone. Microphone is like Shure SM58. You can't hold that if you move your hand, you can pick up the sound of your hand leaving just a lot easier having the Stan, do you recommend investing in a good quality stand, seen any marks not going to fall off or drop. And yeah, is essential. The next thing is a wind muffler. Say for recording outside, you want to have a winner for life inside you don't want the wind muffler. It's essentially like the big furry jacket around your microphone that reduces a lot of the wind sound. So you may have seen people on their YouTube. For film videos by the beach for example, it's really windy or sounds like that. It's terrible. So have some kind of wind MFA if you're going to be recording outside, it can even get when mufflers fall at level MIX that small clip on Mike's, but inside that worry about it.
13. Essential Microphone Polar Patterns: Hi there and welcome to this video where we're going to be looking at microphone polar patterns. So parallel pattern really is just how sensitive the microphone is to sound from different directions. So in this video, we're going to have a look at some common Mike polar patterns, including on the directional cardioid, super cardioid and hyper cardioid and also figure of eight. So let's first have a look at omni directional. So we get two types of polar patterns, really, omnidirectional and unidirectional. So omnidirectional means the sound we picked up equally all the way around the microphone. And unidirectional means sand will not be picked up equally all the way around like that. Be certain area or areas that are more sensitive. So the omnidirectional polar pattern is very popular for lavalier microphones. This microphone here, as this can appoint exactly to my mouth. So the sand will be picked up equally all the way around this microphone. Okay, now let's look at cardioid, which is the most popular unidirectional polar pattern. So for example, this microphone here is a cardioid microphone. And it means sand will mostly pick up from the front of the mic and will be rejected from the sides. Rejection. This microphone. So you can probably hear the audio quite clearly now, less than that. So cardioid microphone like this, It's very useful for rejecting and the background sound. For example, if I type on my keyboard, a lot of the sample will be rejected with a cardioid microphone like this one. Okay, Now let's look at super cardioid and hyper cardioid. Similar to cardioid that Michael pick up audio from the front. And with super cardioid and hyper cardioid, there'll be even more rejection from the sides and it will actually pick up a bit of sound from the rear of the microphone. So this microphone that you can hear right now is a sanitizer for 16. This is a hyper cardioid shotgun microphone. Obviously you can hear the sound right now because it's pointing at my mouth. For the full go to the side. It's rejecting the sound. And if we go into the back, you'd be able to hear slightly. Because hyper cardioid, super cardioid microphones are sensitive to sound right at the back of the microphone. But most of the sound will be picked up at the front of the microphone like this. So super cardioid microphones are more directional than cardioid microphones and hyper cardioid microphones, or even more directional than super cardioid microphones. And the last pilot pattern we're going to look at is figure of eight. So this microphone is also known as a bidirectional, and it pixel equally at the front of the microphone and the rear of the microphone. However, it does reject the sides of the microphone. So think of a cardioid, but picking up equally at the front of the microphone and at the back of the microphone. So this may be useful for a duet. So two people singing at the same time, or maybe an interview where there's two people speaking and you just want to use one microphone. However, I find it more useful to have separate microphones for each person. Then you can mix them independently and post if you wish. Okay, So that awesome common microphone parallel patterns to summarize, omnidirectional picks up all the way around the microphone. Equally, cardioid picks up at the front and rejects the size and measure ejection at the back. Super cardioid or hyper cardioid is more directional and cardioid so picks up more of an hour arrange and rejects the sides, but it's sensitive slightly at the back. And then we have figure of eight which picks up equally at the front and the rear, but rejects the sides. Okay, so it is useful to know about these different polar patterns before you purchase any microphones. So you know you're getting the right type of microphone for your needs. So thank you for watching this video. I hope you found it useful and I'll see you in the next one.
14. Recommended Monitors and Headphones: Okay, so now let's have a look at the recommended monitors or headphones that I use. So firstly, let's look at monitors. So when I say monitors, I mean speakers really edim the audio well-done, immediate removal and monitors. It can't get bit confusing with kind of computer monitors that their screens but the speakers, the first one is the genetics. So these are the ones that I use, the small desktop ones. And the reason I use them is because actually have free screens. So there isn't that much space for any speakers on monitors. So normally I would have larger monitors above as I don't have that much space because I recorded a video screen videos. I have all these computer screens around me. I like these ones. Kids are still high-quality and the conflict on my desk under the Maya, my screens. Next is the focal solar six. These are really high-quality monitors. The R bit more expensive, but these the ones I used to use when a study music production at university, we use these focal monitors and focus of great, the expensive, but they're really high-quality monitors. And X1 is the Yamaha hs five. These, I'm sure you've probably seen many times, especially if you're into music production, these are the kind of standard, kind of second pair of molecules that people have. So you have your main monitors that you have the Yamaha which has fives. So the reason you have a second pair of monitors it so you can check your audio on another pad monitors because people listening to your music or listen to your audio unnecessarily going to have studio monitors. A lot of people are going to be listening on Hi-Fi speakers, Bluetooth speakers, phones, and Yamaha, which has five steps. The kinda famous for not be in that good. But that's the reason why they're good. Because you're emulating kind of lower quality or Hi-Fi speakers with this. So it chair. You really want your audio to sound good on all devices. So you want to check your audio on different devices. So if you do want a second pair of monitors, Yamaha IHS fives are kind of the standard budget monitors, the personas, RS. So personas make their software studio on, but they also make some hardware gear and make some great month is actually under Eris range are good ones to choose. Next ones or an audio AV 42. These are more consumer level ones, say more for kind of listen to music or connecting to your Xbox or PlayStation, but that can be useful for monitoring audio as well. Headphones. So the Bayer dynamic DT, some 70s, I've got some here, these 250 ohms. So the 250 ohm is really needed a headphone amplifier. So anybody recommend getting this if you haven't audio interface, if you just plug in directly into your laptop or computer, you probably want that ATMs, these have these red on the side, which means I have a limited as well. So these are, uh, 1990 bit limiter because I'm always messing around with audio maximum and a mixer 10 NORDIET reliable accident. I was damaged in my ear slightly. So this will limit the audios have accidentally put the audio too loud. Limited topic and above 1990 B, which is useful if you do a lot of audio work or life live audio. I can mess around with audio all the time. These can be used for. The next one is a dynamic DT 1990s. These are open back. So if you go into be recording audio and monitoring audit at the same time, don't want open back headphones. You will want close back headphones going back to the 770 is a closed but the 1990s audio or psi will come out of them when he, when you listen to audio. So not good for monitoring, record or recording audio because for mixing audio. The next one is a sanitizers are hasty T5. These ones here, these account the standard live sound ones for, especially for audio engineers because they're super close back. So you can wear these and you're not gonna get much bleed, not gonna get much sound out there. So good for kind of a live sound or live recording scenarios. However, the bad dynamic ones are really comfortable if you wear glasses because I do wear glasses on the computer a lot. So these unwritten comfortable, These ones are not comfortable if you had glasses, so just bear that in mind.
15. Other Audio Monitoring Tips: Okay, so now let's have a look at some other audio monitoring tips. The first one is the lesson on different speakers. So if you make some music or you're mixing audio, you definitely want to listen and test your audio or music on different speakers. But even if you recording audio, still want to listen and test your audio on different speakers. Because like I said before, you want to get the highest quality audio possible before you mix it. So people listening to your videos or listening to your audio aren't going to have the same speakers or say monitored as you, not going to be in the same environment, not going into the same room. So really want to test your audio on many different speakers as possible. So if your audio sounds good and all the speakers, you know it's going to sound good. Now, A1's can have studio monitors. People may be listening on the phone or an iPad on a Bluetooth speaker. So you want to test your audio and there's different devices as well, and make sure it sounds good. The next one is you can use something called solar works reference. So what this does is this actually kind of measures your room and that we have a microphone so you play a tone of your speaker, or many different tones, I'd be speaker. And then you record this with a microphone that the software tells you exactly how to do it. But what it does is it calibrate your speakers to match your room and listening environment because your speakers or your monitors always correct the deal. Add coloration that can change the sound of your audio and why you're sitting in your room and listening environment, how you treated, treated your room all affects how your audio sounds. So cenotes reference allows you to kind of calibrate and measure your room, measure your speakers, and get sounding as correct as possible. That's little tip. That's what I use to make sure my audio sounds as correct as it can. Next thing is compare your audio to a pro audio recordings or use a reference track so I can use my audio recordings if you want or any will align that you think has good quality audio. You or listen to the audio and compare yours to them. Why is it audio sound so good? What can you do to make your audio better if the audio sounds dramatically, Betty, kinda one that backwards engineer work at widespread audio sounds so much better. A lot of these YouTubers have a list of the different equipment that you use, can have a look at that. You can look at the studio tours a lot them have studio tours. So what room treatment of the gut, what microphone's of the gut? Where the place in their microphone. But for recording, audio monitoring, or do you want to work at those basic things? Ruined treatment or gear, the gut and also how they speaking into the microphone a wears a microphone placed, but yeah, compare it to something that sounds great in their music tends to call it a reference track that use a reference tracks so you can okay, audio sounding really good, but make sure you use a reference track or make sure you reference someone that has high-quality audio.
16. Capturing Audio Introduction: Okay, so in the next section we're going to be looking at where to actually record your audio. So we're going to be looking at audio recording software or digital audio workstations. I'll also show you the basics of setting up a handy recorder. So in the next video, I'll go over the pros and cons, some of my preferred digital audio workstations or audio recording software.
17. Recommend Audio Recording Software and DAWs: Hi there. Welcome to this video where I'm going to talk about audio recording software or digital audio workstations that I've used. So here is a list of the recommended ones. I'm going to go over the pros and cons of each of these coming up soon. So firstly, we have ScreenFlow. This is a really versatile piece of audio recording and video recording software. I actually use this the most out of all of the pieces of software we are going to be talking about, ScreenFlow is really great for any tutorials. So if you make any tutorials, that software or we want to capture the screen of your computer. Screen flow is absolutely awesome. It isn't afraid, but it is good value for the price is around about $100. And it can actually record your microphone, the screen, that computer audio and a USB webcam all at the same time. And you can actually edit this in Screenflow as well. So you can record it all in Screenflow and edit in Screenflow. Screenflow also allows you to capture an iOS device that you can capture an iPhone or an iPad as well if you wish. Okay, So that is the prize. Now let's have a look at some of the cons of ScreenFlow. Firstly, is quite limited for audio processing, mixing. So I personally mix my audio in another piece of software and I import it into ScreenFlow because audio processing and there is quite limited. So if you're an advanced audio engineer, audio mixer, you may not wish to use ScreenFlow for mixing the audio. The next Khan is it is Mac only. So if you are a Windows user, you won't be able to use ScreenFlow. Also, there is no free version of ScreenFlow. There is only the paid version. Okay, now let's look at Camtasia, which is quite similar to ScreenFlow of camtasia is again similar to Screenflow. This is really great for recording screencast tutorials. And again, you can record your microphone, the screen that computer audio and a USB camera all at the same time. And Camtasia is for Mac and Windows, which is great as well. The cons though is, again, you have some limited audio processing and mixing similar to Screenflow. And African is it is more expensive than Screenflow. Okay, so ScreenFlow and Camtasia, we're ready for creating screencast tutorials. Now let's have a look at some audio recording software specific to recording audio. Firstly, let's look at Adobe Audition, which is a pro level audio. Recall that an editor WE addition has great if you use Premiere Pro to edit your videos, as you can quickly link Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition together. So you can swap between the two to edit your audio and then edit your videos. Next product is Adobe Audition is part of the all apps bundle. So if you're already paying for all apps bundle or addition will be included in this. Okay, Now let's look at some of the cans. Firstly is it will require monthly payments to actually use Adobe Audition and xy. There is no free version of Adobe Audition. This is paid software, but it is prior level. So it really depends on how much you want to spend by Adobe Audition is prior level and in my experience is really good. Okay, Next is Logic Pro Tem, which is great for recording audio and mixing audio. This is a digital audio workstation and it was really designed to create music, become record and mix audio in here as well. This is actually my preferred way to mix audio is in Logic Pro 10. But for recording audio is fantastic as well, and it is a pro level DAW or Digital Audio Workstation. The other great thing about logic, proton, as it comes with a load of stock plug-ins. So things like EQ compression, limiter, meter, all the stuff really need to mix high-quality audio. Logic Pro. It is a one-off price, isn't free. And fortunately, but for the price, I believe it's great value for money. And Logic Pro also comes with the Apple Loop Library, which has thousands of audio clips. These all royalty-free as well, which can using a music we can also use in your videos as well. So a lot of these are musical lips, but also includes a lot of sound effects as well. You can use few videos if you wish. And again as legit proton is a digital audio workstation. You can make music with the software. Okay, so the main cons of legit proton and my opinion is it's Mac Emily, and there is no free version. Okay, now let's look at what Udacity. So this is a free recall that an editor and is available for Mac and Windows. The cons of it though is it is quite limited and prose where that mixin here, but it's okay if you just want to capture or record audio. Okay, now let's look at protocols and the main protocols. Protocols is this is a prior level of DAW. If you ever go to any recording studios, they'll mostly be using Pro Tools. So protocols is for Mac and Windows. And it has a lot of great stock Audio Plug-ins included. And it allows you to do some really advanced audio editing protocols does offer a free version called Pro Tools first and again, you can make music with the software, okay, so the cons of protocols is it can be quite expensive to buy at rights. Tools does offer a monthly subscription, but now a lot of people don't want them monthly subscription that you want to buy the software. Our rights, like a set Pro Tools does have a free version called Pro Tools first, but it is quite limited compared to the full version. So the full version of Pro Tools is very powerful, is what the premises, but it is quite expensive. Okay, Next is studio at one. This is a very powerful DAW. And again, this is for Mac and Windows. So this does include loads of great pro level audio plugin. So if you want to record your audio and mix your audio, studio one is one to consider as well. Shoot anyone does have a free version of the software and you can't make music in studio one as well. But the cons, however, is the free version is quite limited for mixing audio. Okay, now let's look at Ableton Live, which is a pro level DAW. This again is for Mac and Windows. And the full version of able to live includes loads of great plugins for mixing audio. So you do have different versions of Ableton Live at different price points. And again, you can make music in the software. Okay, now let's look at the cons. So the intro or light version of the software is quite limited in terms of audio plug-ins for mixing audio. The full version is much more powerful and has LOS different plugins, but this is a lot more expensive than intro or light version of the software. Okay, now let's look at GarageBand is free. It's perfectly fine for recording audio. And again, you can make music in the software if you wish, the cons arts macaroni. And again, it's quite limited in terms of mixing audio in the software, but for recording audio is fine. Okay, so that was some pros and cons of some different audio recording software or digital audio workstations. It really depends on if you want to mix your audio as well, or you just want the software to record your audio. Also depends on your budget and how serious you want to take this. It also depends on what software you're already use and what type of videos or recordings you want to make. So for example, if you want to make screencast tutorials, so wanted to record your screen. I recommend that either ScreenFlow or Camtasia. If you're a Mac user, I recommend ScreenFlow because it is a bit more inexpensive that if you're a Windows user, I recommend Camtasia. It also depends on if you want to mix audio and the software or just record audio for just wanted to record audio or recommend one of the three pieces of software. So it could be GarageBand or dusty Studio one prime or Pro Tools first. However, if you want to record a mix audio or recommend having a look at one of the pro level pieces of software as they have more functions and features for mixing audio. So this could be the full version of Pro Tools Studio one, logic, proton, Adobe Audition or Ableton Live, also for your video maker and already using Premier Pro, I recommend considering Adobe Audition, has this works really well with Premier Pro, okay, So that's my opinion of some different audio recording software or digital audio workstations that I've used. I hope you found this video useful and I'll see you in the next one.
18. A Quick Look at Some Handy Recorders: Okay, so now let's have a look at a couple of different handy recorders. So a handy recorder can be a useful way to record your audio. And it stops you actually recording your audio of software. You can just record your audio directly into these handy recorders. So you don't need an audio interface as well. And a lot of these handy recorders have a built-in microphone and other handy recorders allow you to add multiple microphones. This handy, recall that I've got over here is a zoom hate six. And this allows you to add up to four microphones and you have a capsule on top as well. Other hand, the recorder is the Zoom F1. So this one, you can't actually add any additional microphones, but it does allow you to add a capsule on top. So how the shotgun capsule and the X-Y microphone capsule on the Zoom hate six. So these are really a useful way of actually recording audio, especially if you're out and about. So the handy recorders because they have to be honest, quite handy. So they're also called field recorders because you can be out on the field, so out of the studio, out on location. And you can record audio. I find them especially useful if we want to record audio with video. So don't need to take a laptop or an audio interface with me. I can just take one of these handy recorders if I have my camera. Of course, many cameras allow you to plug in a microphone, but I do find the audio quality is better on one of these handy recorders than actually plugging in Mike directly into the camera. For example, this Zoom H6 here is especially handy if you want to record any podcasts. As this allows you to add up to four microphones. That's what does the capsule on top? The Zoom F1, however, is very useful as it's very small. And this is the one I use if it's just me speaking on the camera and I'm out of the studio. And like I said, you can't blog microphones into this soon. Hate six. But if it's just you talking, you could have a look at the F1. And they're both record onto SD card. And then you can plug this SD card into your computer and edit the audio there. You can also attach these handy recorders to shock mounts and tripods, which I have done here. Because really you don't want to have your hands on the handy recorder when you're recording, as this can pick up additional unwanted noise. You can also attach headphones to these handy recorders, which allows you to monitor the audio in real time while she recording. So this can be useful for podcasts. So you can hear yourself or the guests back in real-time while she recording. You can actually use many handy recorders as an audio interface as well. So you can plug them into the computer via USB. So you can record the audio into your computer with these handy record as to if you wish. Okay. So just wanted to show you a couple of handy recorders. I hope you found this video useful and I'll see you in the next one.
19. Behind the Scenes of my Audio Recording Equipment: Hi there. Welcome to this behind the scenes video. I'm going to show the audio equipment I've been using to record this class. Okay, so the first thing we're going to look at is the microphone. The microphone to be using as a shotgun microphone. So this is this Mike here. So this is the sanitizer for 16. So the reason I use this mike is because it's a cardioid shotgun mike and I can have that out of shot. Got it on this road PSA stand. So we can quickly adjust this so it's out of shot. So the microphone's not too far away, right about 20 centimeters away from my face. And I record a video and it's out of the shot. So this microphone is connected via XLR. And then there's XLR cable goes down to my outboard gear over here. Okay. So this is the outboard gear that I use. So this is a preamp and EQ and a compressor. So do actually have an audio interface over here. So this has preamps on it. However, I like the sound of this pre-amp here. There's earthworks 5210 d t. So really nice, clean sound and microphone preamp. And after that, go to this EQ. This is the radial key free. So this allows me to sculpt the frequencies are my audio. And then they'll go into a compressor, which is the effects comp 800. So it can add compression and EQ and the software. But I'd like to get my audio sound as good as possible before it goes into the computer. And then this has two outputs, and one of the outputs goes to my audio interface. So this will then convert that analog signal to digital, So can record in my computer. And the other output actually goes over to my mixer, which is this here. So this I can monitor myself back in real time. So this mixer isn't elephant special really. You're just allows me to have multiple inputs in here that can monitor myself back with my headphones. And the headphones I use. Are these ones here. The bad dynamic, sudden 70s that have the red on them, which means I have a 99 dB limiter because I'm always matter grammarian of audio. I can sometimes damage your hearing if they have the audio too loud. So this just limits ADA in 1990 day to make sure I don't damage my hearing. One other thing to mention is this radial Goldberger over here. So this is actually a microphone selector. So this allows me to plug four microphones into this, but just have one output. So I can have for Mike's going into this, but just use the one that I've outboard gear. So I actually use four different microphones. Okay. The monitor is, I use these here, the Johnlock 80, 100. And the reason I use these, as you notice here, I have three monitors or screens. So actually use two monitors when I'm recording. And then I have another monitor which are used for testing the software and testing ideas out. So because I have these free month says Hey, I don't have much space. These generics are great because they're smaller, fit under my screens here. And it still sounds really good. So these might experience a great desktop monitors. It may sound slightly better if I have larger monitors on the stand behind the sound pretty good. So I have a midi keyboard here. This isn't anything to do with recording audio. This is for the music software stuff that we do. Then because I have two computers, I actually have two trackpads too. Keyboards and mice got small fan over there, USB fan, which are don't use when I'm recording audio, but that's useful if it gets too hot. Okay, Let's have a look at some of the other microphones. So going up here, I have show SM7B. So this microphone is useful if I'm recording any podcasts or videos or when they want to have the miking shot. The thing about this mike is it looks cool. So I don't mind having getting shot because it's quite slick looking microphone. Okay. And then the microphone I have at the back here, a slight MR1. So this allows me to emulate a lot of popular microphones. You will have to use software to actually emulate the microphones. But I use this for singing really or for any music work is a condenser microphone, but it can sound great. I don't really use it for any tutorials or audio for video, more for music work. And then we have my lecture voice RE 20, actually use this microphone the most, so uses for my tutorials and is screencasts. So when I don't use the camera and mostly be using this microphone sounds really good. My voice, I've been using this mike for many years and I really like it. You'll notice swelling the wall. I have all of this foam. So this is to help deaden the sound of the room, to get rid of some of the reverb and echoes of the room. I also have acoustic panels on the wall to help reduce some of the echoes or reverb of the room. Okay, so now let's talk about some of the software that I use. So to record audio from doing the talking head video. So video with my camera, I will be using Logic Pro 10. So this is a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation for Mac only. I've been using this for many years, is a great one for recording audio. If I'm editing videos, I will use Premiere Pro. This is for Mac and Windows Pro level video editor. You have some audio editing features in there as well. There's want to dive a bit deeper. You can use Adobe Audition. I personally like to use Logic Pro under from recording screencast tutorials, I'll use ScreenFlow. This allows me to record the audio from a computer, audio from my mike. And also if you're using a USB webcam, you can record that as well. Screenflow, however, is Mac only. An alternative you can use is Camtasia. So the contagious for Windows and Mac. Okay, so that is my audio recording software. And then one thing to mention is my camera. I am using a Sony mirrorless camera and also have this Elgato light. So there's light up here and a continuous on enough pharma computer. Okay, so now let's have a look at my computer or use a MacBook Pro. And this computer is actually a curb or now when I'm recording my videos, actually close the door, my cupboard to try and reduce any fan sound because the computer fan can get quite noisy, especially if I'm using any software. And how that big long cable that goes all the way across my room. So my computer is as far away from my microphone as possible because I don't want to pick up any of that computer fan sound. So my hard drives, my hard drives are in this cupboards as well. And the Mac Mini, which are used as the second computer. So that's one little tip is put your computer it in a colored and close the doors. When you recall, however, remember to open the doors up when you're not recording because you don't want your computer to overheat and you do want to get some circulation in there, but that's what I do just to reduce that computer fan sound. Okay, so that is a behind the scenes tall. My audio recording setup, I do have a few of the things for my video as well, such as this backdrop here of some keyboards. I also have a light, I can turn on the back, this red lights, and they have some pop-up backdrops as well that you use just to make the room look a bit slicker and tidyr. Okay, so I hope you found this behind the scenes video useful. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you soon.
20. Thanks and Bye + Class Project: Okay, We're now at the end of this class and I hope you found it useful. And I went to use some tips and techniques that I've taught you to improve your audio recordings. So if your class project, I want you to write a paragraph about what you actually did to improve your audio recordings, including room treatment, what microphone you use? A microphone position. So thanks again for watching. I hope you found it useful and bye for now.
Tomas George, Music + Audio Production Instructor
