Search Marketing Insomniac…The Blog of Adam Henige

As video has become more prevalent across the web, I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend in how it’s being used.  Simply videotaping something and slapping it up on your $25,000 site can be a terrible idea.  Yes, having video can make you look technologically savvy IF you do it well.  Putting a poorly made video on a nice site is like buying a new Lexus and putting your old white walls with 80,000 miles on it.  It will stick out like a sore thumb and take away from the larger message (”I’m loaded, check out my Lexus.” becomes “I bought a Lexus, but I don’t know what I’m doing with it.”).

So what I intend to do is create a short series of articles with pointers on how you can very easily make your videos look professional.  Now, before you start wondering why a search engine marketing guy is telling you how to make your web videos, please know that I have a bachelor’s degree in film and video production and spent four years producing video content for a handful of Fortune 500 companies.

So let’s get down to business.  Today’s topic?  Audio.  One of the things that repeatedly drives me insane about web video is the awful audio quality.  This, in most cases, is very easy to correct.  The answer?  Use a microphone.  Depending on how far away the camera is and the acoustics of the room, not having a microphone can make your subject sound like they’re talking in a cave.  For basic stationary talking head video shoots, a simple wired lavaliere mic can be obtained cheaply and give you marvelous results.  Wireless lavs can be a bit more expensive, and depending on the type of equipment you’re using, can be more susceptible to various forms of interference.

Here’s a video I found from a company that apparently does SEO and actually sells video production services:

Now, here’s one of our videos using a wired lav:

Which sounds better to you?

Of course, things get trickier when you have multiple people, or your subjects are moving.  In these instances, your best bet is to use a shotgun microphone.  Again, these can be obtained pretty cheaply, and you’ll need a fairly long cable as well.  Along with that you will need to either buy a boom or make your own.  A boom is basically a long stick that attaches to the microphone (you’ve seen them on TV shows and movie sets, the guy holding the long stick above the scene towards the actors).  What you can do with a shotgun is have a second person hold it above the shot and direct it at whoever is speaking at the time.

If you have a stationary scene with multiple subjects, you can always buy a small audio mixer and use several microphones, as well.  Connect your microphones to the mixer, and then run them into your camera.

Another important element here is to bring some headphones.  Whenever you’re shooting, make sure the camera man has headphones on to make sure the audio sounds good.  Consumer equipment doesn’t always have the greatest connections, and nothing’s worse than sitting down to edit your footage and realizing the audio is completely worthless.

Now, I’m assuming most people are working with amateur level equipment - basic camcorders and such, so you only have one microphone input to work with.  If you don’t yet have a camcorder, but are looking into doing web video, make absolutely CERTAIN that you have a microphone input.  A lot of the newer digital camcorders you can buy at big box stores don’t have them, and then you’re stuck with the subpar camera audio for your productions.  We use an old Sony mini-DV camera for our work and it does an excellent job given our needs.

So here’s your checklist for making great sounding videos:

• Make sure your camcorder has a mic input
• Get yourself a microphone, whatever suits your needs - we use this very inexpensive wired lav that we picked up at Golden Compass
• Make sure you have a pair of headphones so your camera operator can catch any errors or technical flaws with the audio while you’re shooting

So there you have it.  Step one in making better videos.  Stay tuned for future installments, where we’ll cover everything from lighting to camera techniques to editing.

Other posts of interest:

• How to make YouTube videos that don’t suck, volume 3

Tags: audio mix for web videos, camcorder audio, making good web videos, online video tutorial, professional audio tips, sweeten your youtube audio, web videos that don't suck, youtube audio, youtube audio tips, youtube videos that don't suck

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 8:54 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.