November 7, 2006
videocast help wanted
I’ve started working on my latest project: video podcasting. I now have to acquire some equipment.
I’ve just ordered a new Apple laptop for doing the editing [My current Tablet PC is driving me nuts, so I fancy a change], but I’m really thinking more about camera and sound options.
Camera quality doesn’t concern me too much. The videos will be designed to go up on YouTube, so nothing too professional needed. Heck, Scoble tells me he did all his stuff at Microsoft with a $300 camera, so I want to take the same lo-fi approach.
The thing that concerns me most is sound quality, so I guess a good microphone solution will be in order.
Anyone have any suggestions? This is all new to me, so your input would be most appreciated. Thanks.
[Note to self:] Maybe Lloyd can help me. Anyone else?
Like anything, it depends how good you want. Both Rode and Samson are releasing decent mics with built in USB (aimed at the podcast market), which saves you the headache of an Audio Interface. These won’t give you pro-studio quality, but are a massive step-up from a video camera mic or similar and more than adequate for youtube quality. The bonus is both come with suspension mounts, which not only makes them look cool, it actually cuts down on noise.
You’re right about the camera, but you’re ignoring one major component — lighting. Lighting is 90% of quality even at Small Sizes.
Countryman E6 Headset Microphone
http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/COU-E6IO5TSL-SL.prod
Good luck with that. I’m a tech-know-not. lol
I would go for the Samson C01 mic or something lik eit. These are studio condensor mic’s (so good audio quality) with an USB connector. So very handy to work with on a laptop. And very good price/quality. I use the non-USB version of the Samson C01 (and thus need an extra audio interface) and I am very happy about the performance of this mic. The voice on the last album of Mimosa (www.mimosa.tk) is recorded in my living room with this mic, you can check out the audio samples on the site if you want.
There’s a saying for buying sound equipment which goes something along the lines of “buy the best you can afford or you’ll end up buying it again”.
As well as lighting, you also need to consider mic placement. If you’re fairly close to the cam that’s not so much of an issue, but you need to have an awareness of the mic’s pick-up pattern (omnidirection, cardiod, hypercardiod, etc)
You can get a £30 mic, or you can get a £1000 mic (yes £1000, that’s not a typo) and you will definitely hear the difference. Only you can decide if that difference is worth the difference in cost. You can also get used £1000 mics on ebay for a third of the original RRP.
You also need to consider portability — are you sitting at your laptop doing this, or wandering around some convention interviewing people?
And not all cheap cams have an audio input (mine doesn’t), and of those that do they will certainly be ‘unbalanced’ audio — basically meaning long cable runs will be subject to interference.
And there is another adage I should mention before I forget–
“Good sound can carry a bad picture, but a good picture can never carry bad sound”
Sound is 50% of your movie, and the spoken word is more easily remembered than a picture.
So, um. I think I babbled.
This question has been asked in the Yahoo videoblogging group, and we have several sound experts who will be happy to help: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/
Yeah, you link to me you get my attention! Oh god, I’m turning into Scoble (just not as fast)
Sorry, I know I said I’d e-mail you, but I blogged about my kit for the sort of thing I do instead and then forgot to let you know (shoulda linked to you huh!?) It’s here:
http://www.perfectpath.co.uk/archives/2006/10/the_oneman_soci.html
Shout if you’re in pimlico and we’ll do coffee — and that offer of a trip to Tottenham Court Road still stands.
For my music webcasts I just use the microphone on the digital camera, its a Canon Digital IXUS50. I think its supposed to be a stills camera, but the video’s fine and the audio is brilliant.
I experimented with recording audio seperatly with a several mics and a mixer, but getting it all to sync up properly was impossible so I just stuck with the camera.
It its just for YouTube there’s no point in making it too hi-fidelity, I just use Microsofts bundled movie maker for trimming the ends of the videos and editing clips together, its quicker than loading things into Adobe Premier and less hassle.
I wrote a lengthy post on this a while ago, and there was some good continued discussion in the comments:
http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com/2006/10/video-camera-recommendations-for-the-beginning-video-blogger/
Hope that helps — I can’t wait to see what kind of videos you start putting out there.
Hi Hugh
As you said, quality doesn’t have to be superhigh as you’re uploading to YouTube. So I’d recommend a decent external mic and simply use the iSight on your Mac for the video when you’re recording in-situ — makes it really easy to edit straight off in iMovie, and for roving recording a simple tape camcorder.
The Mac will happily plug into pretty much any camera or camcorder and download without the added grief of extra software. I have NO film-making ability and I’ve managed to create a few pieces very easily.
Kind regards,
Alison
If you’re serious about the microphone:
http://homerecording.about.com/od/microphones101/a/mic_types.htm
Don’t plan to meet up with me or link to me, because I don’t like you as a person; I only care about microphones.
Get a low end prosumer camcorder if you’re wanting to contain costs. 3 chip cameras (higher quality video) have gotten so cheap lately that it doesn’t make sense not to get one. Just make sure it has an external audio port for a microphone b/c the on camera mics suck, & they will often pick up camera noises. I’m using the Panasonic GS180. 3CCDs, external mic port, firewire, lots of manual options as I get the hang of this, & it works great with my Powerbook. Street price about $360.
The biggest difference from crummy consumer video & better prosumer/professional video is usually the sound. Almost any microphone will make a huge difference (note onboard mic suck above). A great mic to start is the RODE Videomic. It’s a decent shotgun, doesn’t need phantom power (take a 9 volt battery) & already has stereo miniplug that will work with your consumer camera’s external audio port. It’s also cheap for mics in this sphere ($150 street price).
This set up would allow you do produce a pretty high quality vlog without dropping a huge pile on the equipment.
I agree with Nick’s comment about lighting and Chris on sound. The best thing is a decent camera that covers decent videos and audio. You can get an LED external light for about $30(US). Good thing you went with a Mac. iLife’s suite is perfect to cut something simple that integrates videos, pics and music.
I’d echo the sentiments of Martin regarding the GS180. You can’t beat that price for a 3ccd camera.
Hugh,
A few months ago you were praising the Tablet PC, along with Scoble. Suddenly it’s not your hot little number any more. Care to say why? Scoble doesn’t mention it either…
It would be nice to know if it’s still all you measured it out to be a year ago. Could it be anything to do with Scoble not taking the Gates shilling any more? I’ve never tried one, but said I would when Dell sold them.
I have a old logitech webcam and a sony dcr-hc96 camcorder (3 ccds yeah, but it cost me around $1,000 in Mexico, it’s much more cheaper on the US or UK)
I’ve done videoblogging with both of them and well, at some degree they’re the same if you upload them on youtube and don’t expect people to watch the videos full screen and compress the video a lot. So you could use either, but like Martin said I’d go with the camcorder too, specially since most of them have firewire or usb connectivity which makes capturing video a lot more easier (specially if you’d be working on a mac)
Mics are the same story, you could use a headset and it would not be that crappy but I wouldn’t recommend it. I got this marshall mic MXL D.R.K kit for like $90 dollars on ebay and it’s fantastic, the sounds are clear and crisp without all that noisy background (unless you’ve got a fan behind you or something like that)
As for the lightning.. can’t give you any recommendations since I do my recordings at home or at work with whatever light is available.
Qhatever camera you have, keep it within 4 feet of the mouths of those speaking and you will be just fine.
Do that for a while, and then decide if you need an external sound solution.
Should that time come, here’s the question: How much do you want to spend? If $700 or so, try the Sony wireless mic here:
http://www.locationsound.com/proaudio/ls/SSON0106.html
What ever mic you decide (or not) to buy, take your camera down to the brick and mortar store and allow a sales person to help you get the setup together in person.
My gob has been smacked — is this the same Hugh that swore blind by his Tablet PC about to become a Mac fanboy ????!!! That should be an event worthy of a blog dinner!
As to mics — I use Big Boy Shures. If all else fails, they making smashing cluesticks for slapping people over the head with.
You will LOVE MBP (Mac Book Pro), 2.16 GHz or better Intel Core 2 Duo (lightening fast and runs cooler), iSight is kick-*ass great and OS 10.4.8 awesome (wait until you play with PhotoBooth)!
I recommend David Pogue’s book on Tiger (August 06 printing) from the Missing Manual Series.
Vidcasts and Vlogging… How cool is that!!
Rock on Hugh!
aha, did wonder how long it would take you to succumb to the lure of the lovely mac.
I switched a while ago, it took me a little while to get used to OSX and for a while I wasn’t sure about my decision (where’s the damned right mouse button??) but by golly its so much better once you get used to it.
Hugh,
You’ve got enough suggestions to keep you busy for awhile — as we say in the production biz, “Sound is Half of the Picture.” It’s hard to find consumer cams that allow you to plug in a good mic so you might want to start at the level of cam that allows you to plug in an external mic you’ve already chosen (i.e. XLR input).
Cheers,
S
Mr. MacLeod… Depending upon the MacBook you have on order… you might not need anything additional.
I’m finding my iSight camera and the built-into-it microphone + the iMovie HD and the occassional dip into FinalCut Pro Studio HD are quite sufficient.
(Pay attention to Lloyd. He’s to blame for my corporate podcasting mis-adventures!)
Heya,
Please do post about what you figure out here. I have been interested in making some simple videos myself, less for podcasting but maybe to send videos to my father showing him little bits of what my life is like in San Francisco.
Thanks,
–danny
The problem I’ve found is that the cheap and moderately cheap CamCorders don’t have a decent Mic-in socket anymore. They seem to have dropped this recently. Sony expect you to connect audio through the hotshoe on the top of their Handycams. They also have a strange AV input. They have a range of Mic-Guns that sit on top of the camera, and now have a wireless system that goes with it too. But it’s a nuisance because Sony aren’t known for quality microphones. It might actually be better to buy an older camcorder on ebay — one that has a proper input.
Believable sound will enhance your ‘cast much more than you would imagine.
I think a cheap-ish camera a la Scoble will work, but would advise complete abandon on sound. The reason: Macs have great stereo out of the box. A decent portion of your audience will therefore be ready for great sound, and your killer sound will draw the audience in beyond your wildest dreams (…the way your big heart draws the audience with your illustrations).
I have a $100 Audix stereo condensor mic I use with a portable Sony MiniDisc player, for instance, and I love it for mobile recording of talks, meetings etc. It overachieves.
A good mic is like a Zeiss lens on a Leica. And now Ziess makes some lenses for point&shoots, so the quality at low price is getting really really good.
But for my “studio” rig for the blog I have killer mics and intend to record in Mid-Side to an HHD MiniDisc pro unit (with XLR mic inputs and onboard 48v phantom power) I got on eBay. (I’ll need to mix this down on ProTools to get the awesome ambient imaging, but it’s worth it to me.)
I have some fuggeddabaaatit mics. The only mics I’d like to add to my stash are ribbon mics, which do voice in a you-are-there fashion. These are way expensive, but I think they are worth it ’cause I’m a nut (tube amps & vinyl LPs).
So you could look in the $300 range for any of the new (Chinese?) large diaphram condensor mics at Tekserve or B&H in NY or call my favorite pro audio guys in Massachusetts (Mercenary Audio) and they will spend time with you. If you’re absolutely insane, then a good mic preamp will add a lot (ask them about the Fearn…ohmygod!); but even I’m not that crazy. (It’s YouTube…not the BBC
(Irrelevant: I like MiniDisc for its sound-quality & small size and because it’s removable…because editors I work with at FT can take a raw disc overnite if I’m in a pinch and don’t have time to mix down. My mixes are laughably time-consuming: Minidisc into iMic interface on PowerBook G4 -> record tracks to Audacity -> import to iTunes -> convert to mp3 -> upload to trusty server. Hehehe.)
If you agree or are curious, then you could look, for example, at the Audio Technica AT825 (a stereo XY field recording mic), which could attach on top of a decent, even cheap, camera. One thought.
With all this, it’s the content that matters most. If it’s good content, then good recording will make it special and durable.
But I would spend about 1/3 of your budget on the mic. Yes, unequivocally!