- Hey everyone, it's me, Hallease, back with another video.
Today I wanted to talk to you about audio
and some simple hacks, tips, and tricks
that you can use to up your audio value,
whether you're just starting out
and have little to absolutely zero budget,
or you have started to up your production value
and have a little bit of money to play with.
All of these hacks will work for you.
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My first tip, turn off your appliances,
dishwashers, washing machines, dryers,
your air conditioning, turn off all of those things.
Because what we tend to do as humans
is we notice when they come on
and then we notice when they come off.
And so, in between, you kind of forget that they're on,
and our ears learn to just adjust
our sound level accordingly.
Your camera won't do that.
It's gonna hear that hum going on in the background,
and it can be very distracting and take away from
what your viewer really wants to see and hear,
which is your voice.
Now something else you can do
if you have an auditory distraction in your video
and you can't necessarily turn it off or get away from it,
then call attention to it and show it in your vlog.
For example, for me, in one of my latest vlogs,
Watermelon Mango Orange Margarita Sorbets,
in the beginning, I'm outside working on the wagon
with my father, and we're in my garage.
Now it's Texas, so it's very hot, so we often have
these large fans running in my garage
while we're working on the wagon.
And instead of trying to turn those fans off,
so I had the most quiet environment possible,
it's way too hot, I just recorded the fan.
And then my next shot, so establish that sound.
And then my next shot, you hear my dad talking,
and for y'all, what ends up happening is,
what I hope, anyway, is that you kind of more or less forget
about the fan, or you learn to adjust your hearing
to compensate for the fact that
that distracting sound is there.
So that's also an option, to let your viewer
see what's making the noise, if it fits in
with the vlogging style that you're trying to achieve.
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Usually where people will film themselves is their kitchen
when they're starting out, and the reason why they do that
is because, since they don't have lights, their kitchen
is usually the most, the best-lit place in your house,
because there's usually a lot of overhead lights
in kitchens and things like that.
So it can be a great place to shoot.
I would recommend, though, unplugging your refrigerator,
because once again, the same thing
for the rest of your appliances, your fridge is loud.
Unplugging your fridge for a couple of hours
while you shoot isn't gonna mess up your food
or anything like that,
as long as you just keep the door closed.
I do that even now when I'm recording with better gear.
I still unplug my fridge.
And the way to remember to plug your fridge back in,
and this is an old film trick from what I learned
when I was on set, is everybody puts their keys
in the fridge, so that way, at the end of the shoot day,
no one can leave unless the fridge is plugged back in.
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Be aware of your surroundings.
A good rule of thumb is if you can hear it,
then the camera can.
So a lot of times the content I watch
is very much vlog-style content like this,
someone talking directly to the camera
and addressing their audience directly.
And I really enjoy that type of content,
but it irks me when I hear things like an ambulance pass by,
or a plane go over their house, or, you know,
the mailman walking up and knocking on the door,
or a dog, or a baby, or just whatever it is, you know,
unless it's part of your character.
Say you're a mommy vlogger and your kid starts crying
in the background, and you're like, well,
let me go handle that,
and you make it part of the thing, then cool.
But, you know, if it's not adding
any sort of supplemental content to who you are
as a character or a person
or whatever you're trying to showcase yourself as,
try to minimize outside sound.
And again, if you can hear it, then the camera can,
so, you know, wait for the ambulance to finish passing by,
then start talking.
Wait for that plane to fly overhead,
then start talking, you know.
All of those things,
all of those little attention to details,
add to the overall production value of your video.
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Finally, for the zero-to-no-budget folks,
use your phone as a recording device,
and this is something that is pretty easy to do.
Most smartphones now have a voice memo app.
Just put that on, hit record, and voila.
Your phone is gonna have pretty decent audio.
Just make sure you keep it just out of sight of your camera,
so, you know, don't have it here.
Maybe have it about right here, you know.
And make sure it just doesn't look awkward.
That's the thing, just don't look awkward.
You can also buy little phone stands
that you can get online now and maybe prop it up,
you know, right next to you or something like that.
Again, just keep it out of frame,
and now you've got good audio.
Another trick that I know is that some women will hit record
and then, you know, make sure the phone is kinda off
or whatever, and just kinda slide it,
and now they've got good audio
because the phone's picking up the vibrations of your chest
right on you, so your audio's probably gonna be pretty good.
This is a great way to start practicing
syncing sound in post, so that way, when you do finally
get that good microphone that you spent the money on,
you'll know exactly how to sync your sound well.
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Okay, so now you've got just a little bit of budget
to play with, and you're ready to dabble
into the art of syncing sound,
or maybe you upped your camera and you can actually buy
a microphone for your camera, and your audio can go
directly into it, and you don't even have to sync sound.
Props to you.
These tips and tricks are for you.
So the H1N Zoom is a great starter audio mic.
I love these things.
I think they're under $100,
and it's a really great starter microphone.
It's actually what I used to do my vlogs for a while.
I think I just upgraded my audio again.
And I would essentially put it right outside of the frame
and on a little mic stand, and just point it directly at me,
and that was it, and then I would go into post
and sync the audio with the video later.
It's a really awesome little microphone.
It runs on a micro SD card, and something else
that's really cool about it, if you so desire,
you can buy a little lav for it, and clip that
and plug directly into it, stick it in your pocket
or put it to the side.
Boom, you've got a nice little lav set.
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Now maybe you've actually upgraded your camera itself,
so much so that you can actually plug microphones
directly into your camera,
and now you don't even have to sync sound on the back end.
Props to you.
Another microphone that I would highly recommend
is the Rode Video Micro.
It's a nice, tiny little microphone
that goes directly onto your camera,
that can plug directly into your camera
and usually will sit on top of your camera.
And since Veda, that's what I have been using.
It's once again comparable in price to the H1N Zoom,
so not too bad, and it's also a great vlogging camera,
instantly will up the audio quality of your vlogs,
if you're the type to do the run and gun,
I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere,
and has a low profile on your camera.
'Cause, you know, vlogging in public is quite weird,
and so keeping as low of a profile as you can
really does help.
That's a great microphone for that.
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Finally, if you're really, if you're past these steps
and you're ready to go to the big time, if you will,
I mean, what's the big time, though?
Honestly, what's big time?
I would recommend a Rode condenser microphone,
or, as I call them, boom mics.
You're gonna get the best audio quality
when you can boom from above, looking down at you.
I boom from above, I have a boom.
I have my mic connected to a boom pole
that is then connected to a light stand
and an extra-long cord
that is plugging directly into my camera, and that is how
I do my audio when I'm sitting here and I have the time
to set up lights and set up audio
and all that kind of stuff.
This is what I do.
All of the information for all the products
that I've mentioned will be in the description box.
If you're interested in purchasing, check out those links.
In the comments below, let me know if you have
any other audio tips and tricks.
Share them so other people can see.
Like, share, follow, and subscribe
if the spirit moves you, and I'll see you when I see you.
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