Hey, there, and welcome to the non-techie video tip podcast series.
My name is Ozzy Eyre and I’m your non-techie guide to the wonderful world of video creation.
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OK – so, if this is the first time you’ve listened to this podcast, what just happened will not mean much to you – but if you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that that sound means we have a winner! The listeners have spoken and we now have a theme tune for this show.
I tried out a different tune on each of the first 7 episodes and, in the 8th, played them all again and asked the listeners to vote for your favourite – and you did! It was a close-run thing between tune 1 – Isolated – and tune 6 – Improbable – but tune 1, Isolated, just nicked it.
Which, seeing as it was the first tune I played, I guess means I wasted my time finding all those others!
That also explains why there’s been something of a gap between the last episode and this – I’ve been waiting to give you sufficient time to vote. Clearly, I have no idea when you’ll hear this, so, if you’re listening to this a year or two after I recorded it and you feel strongly that your fellow listeners made the wrong choice – drop me an email and let me know at ozzy at elitevideoacademy dot com
You don’t have to be having a disagreement to email me there – you can ask me questions, too, or tell me about your current video topics and any non-techie tips and tricks you may have figured out for yourself.
Right, today’s tip, then, relates to something that’s even more important than the image quality of your video. Can you guess what it is? Yep – that’s right – it’s the sound.
Just think about it. I’m guessing there have been times you’ve been watching videos on YouTube when the image quality wasn’t great but, because your were interested and you could hear perfectly well what was happening, you stuck with it until the end.
How about, though, when the problem is not with the image, it’s with the sound? In fact, the image quality can be fantastic but if the sound is muffled, or crackly, or indistinct for any reason to the point where it makes it difficult to hear easily what’s going on, then the chances are, you’ll click away before the end.
Now, I go into a lot of detail in my course, Elite Video Creation 101, about how to ensure you get great sound for your video – but even though I go into detail, it’s still all totally non-techie and jargon-free. Getting good sound is one of those things that is much easier to demonstrate than it is to talk about on an audio podcast – I’m going to give it my best shot, though, to at least give you a few basic pointers.
The main thing you should do if you want better sound is stop relying on the onboard microphone on your phone or camera – this really is only suitable in an emergency if you really have only one opportunity to get the shot and you don’t have an alternative with you.
If your camera or phone has a mic input, then you have options available to you for using a lapel mic, or maybe what’s known as a shotgun mic, mounted on the hotshoe of your camera.
But what if there is no mic input? Well, what I do is have a lapel mic plugged into an mp3 recorder I have tucked in my pocket, then I match up the sound and video in my editing software. Again, I go into all of this in detail in Elite Video Creation 101, together with tips and tricks on how to position and conceal your mic for best result.
Just time for one more tip before I go. If you’re recording outside on a windy day, the chances are your microphone will pick up the noise of the wind and it will probably be far louder than your voice. So, if you can, use a windshield specially designed to fit your mic – these are fluffy covers you will no dobt have seen on TV and their fluffy appearance gives them their other name – dead cat.
If you don’t have a dead cat with you and can’t get out of the wind, the next best option is to try attaching your mic beneath your outer clothing. This will most likley result in a somewhat muffled sound for your voice but should cut out the worst of the wind noise and will definitely be an improvement over simply recording with no protection for your mic.
Don’t forget, if you would like free non-techie video tips delivered direct to your inbox, just head over to https://elitevideoacademy.com/non-techie-videos – leave your detail in the box and I’ll do the rest.
Or, if you’d prefer to dive straight in to the full Elite Video Creation 101 course and discover more in-depth tips on getting great sound as well as so much more, then head over to https://elitevideoacademy.com/evc101 – don’t worry, I’ll put the link in the shownotes. Oh! And if you fancy getting 20% sliced off the regular price of the course, just enter the coupon code pod20 before checkout.
I’ll be back again with another tip soon – in the meantime I’d love to hear what video projects you have planned.
I’ve been Ozzy Eyre, your non-techie guide to the wonderful world of video creation – take care and make some video!
