"Audio is More Important than Video" - This has also been known in the networking world for a long time. Good network administrators who deal with live conferences give highest priority to audio. This is because human brain can easily compensate for video imperfections or occasional dropped frames, but compensating for broken audio is much harder and causes breakdown in communication.
I worked for a TV news station 20+ years ago. My old boss told me if you keep audio going, but lose the picture, people will stay for as long as 30 seconds if they’re actively watching and wait for it to come back. You lose audio? They’re gone almost right away. Same with mics. They can’t clearly hear you? Normal people get frustrated and turn the channel to someone with good audio. Some things don’t change.
I just sent links to Curtis and Bandrew’s channels to a young person I am mentoring in video production. Now they realize how important audio is to their video’s success.
This is one of the first things that they taught us in Video Production class. In fact, the camera isn’t even the second most important thing. First it’s Audio, then Lighting, and THEN the camera…
Well put! Voice-over audio quality is something that is easy to overlook, but it's very obvious and distracting when not done well. Then again... maybe we're a bit biased as well 😉
Once did a stream and my camera died, but the audio was still going. I still had 300 viewers even though it was only a black screen. Afterwards some people contacted me to say that they could concentrate better because the video was off. Point and case. Audio is a necessity , video is optional
When pandemic started and my church needed to start live-streaming, they asked me to come in and set up the audio. I hacked together an audio arrangement designed to deliver a clear, clean signal with minimal room reverb to the iPhone they wanted to use to originate the stream. Worked great! Other churches wanted to know how we were generating such great streams with an iPhone. It's all about the sound, baby!
@@roku-man I could, but I can't see what value it would have for anybody else. It was a crude arrangement of the equipment that we happened to have available, with mic and speaker cable taped to the floor. Entirely "bespoke", but I'm being generous with that term! The principals are simple enough: Capture the audio as early as possible, as clean as possible, and present it to the iPhone as clean as possible. The church space has plenty of natural reverb, so the big challenge was avoiding as much of that as possible. We shut down the house amplification system entirely, because it introduced so much reverb into the livestream; very muddy, almost impossible to understand online.
@@Uzumachii none! The iPhone had a plug-in microphone of slightly better quality than the onboard microphone. We took the house sound and ran it out of a speaker very close to that iPhone. Seriously ridiculous, but it sounded great.
Yes. Agreed. All points. If the audio sucks it’s unwatchable regardless of camera quality. My UA-cam channel videos are shot primarily with my iPhone and any device with a camera I can get my hands on. “Fix in post” should be a last resort, not defacto. Stellar job!👍
Kia ora, Bandrew. As a blind viewer, I greatly appreciated the natural way you described your video demonstration. as to the reason we may appreciate good audio over video, could it bee that you can take in visual information at a glance but audible information must be absorbed linearly, i.e. one word at a time? That means you could gloss over poor vision but you can't avoid poor audio. Does that make sense?
That makes perfect sense. If i ever do something that makes it difficult to understand, please let me know. I typically try to explain visual components that I am discussing, but I'm 100% certain I screw up frequently. Just call me out if anything needs elaboration. Thanks for the comment Kylee.
I taught high school kids how to make videos for a decade. Every year I saw students learn how important audio is. Crisp video is fun, but if the audio isn't there, it really doesn't matter. And I say this as someone who's obsessed with cameras 😬
I have been saying this for years, I was an audio guy for television for 15 years, now at 33 years in media and I am a Cameraman…I still know that it’s all radio with pictures. Audio is actually more important than video.
Wonderfully stated and demonstrated. My wife looked at me weird when I bought her the Shure MV7 and a boom arm for her work. Then when she did a Zoom interview with the local news 3 weeks later she wished she had taken it out of the box.
You sounded brilliant, except on the sample with the bad audio. Even the cheap audio setup made the point. Thanks. If only a single creator heeds your advice, the world will be better for it.
I run a video production company and I've always said that audio is more important than video. I've even been called an "audio snob" by some of my fellow video producers.
I was a victim of this common misconception for a long time. I put zero thought into my audio for my livestreams for the first 3 years of my content creation life. ~12 hours a week of sub-par audio because it's a problem you can't SEE and since I think the sound of my own voice sounds weird to me, so I probably blamed that for the bad quality. Fast forward to today and I still struggle with audio, but I feel I'm way ahead of where I was even a year ago. Funny enough, I use a mirrorless camera for recording my videos but I use a smartphone with a lav mic to record my audio and then sync in post. I still have a ways to go, but at least I'm pointed in the right direction now thanks to channels like yours! 👍
The livestreaming crowd are marred with misconceptions about video, audio, and basic audience engagement/retention. Too many will go with a trendy mic, camera, and lights, and hate on those that don't follow. Good content and audio goes a long way in the long term, and it doesn't take much to reach the quality you're aiming for.
What's most important is the type of equipment you're using and WHY you need it. Most of the equipment you want is not only equipment you don't need... but equipment that will be even harder to use right. Mirrorless cameras are a no-no for most people. Stupid expensive and offer no real benefit over just using a decent webcam. But everyone wants to do it because the 'big streamers' do it. You also might be tempted to go for a very sensitive high end condenser mic from Royer or something but don't do that either. You're not recording a movie and you will be capturing more of the room (especially if you go for a ribbon mic) so even a cheap mic (on the condenser side like a Samson C01 or a dynamic mic like the behringer xm8500) with a decent mixer is going to be instantly more useful to a streamer than an insane setup. (Heck... most of the time you wont need the insane setup even if you're a pro) Know-how > Equipment
Audio is sooo much more important, especially since you can listen to a lot of clips on-the-go, when you don't have time to watch the video itself. Besides, you demonstrated time and again that you don't need to invest a lot of $ for a decent audio setup. :)
I kind of disagree with the conclusion. The arguments clearly demonstrate why "bad audio is worse than bad video" but that doesn't support audio being superior to video, just that bad audio is really awful. Furthermore, I would argue that just as audio has a more dramatic significance when is bad, video has MORE significance when is really good. After all, how many people are able to sort out good audio vs studio quality audio? Not many... Now how many people can sort out good visuals (the average YT channel) vs great visuals (studio production), many many more. I would personally say that bad audio is WORSE than bad video but AMAZING video is wayyy better than studio quality audio. But anyways thanks for all the videos man, I really appreciate them!
Oooo dropping truth bombs on this one. I almost closed the video during the first sample with bad audio. I've never heard the phrase "Get it right before the box," so now I will start saying get it right in the box.
@@thecyberquake618 Not really, phones have an all around field. It will detects everything in actually a wide radius. My room suffers from reverb, and my phone was a catastrophe. I had to stop my channel until I could afford a cardioid patern. Yes, phones will get your voice very well, as it will get everything else around very well. I can understand it fits some people needs, not mine unfortunately.
@@LesArtsdelaParole we are talking about using phones for video, not audio. Combined with a decent audio source (even a cheaper lav can get someone started) the video from a phone camera is perfectly fine.
@@LesArtsdelaParole You're good lol. Yeah no, just using a phone for audio without at least something like a lav is awful in most cases. The video quality from the camera though is pretty great though. So always pair with some kind of half-decent attempt at good audio, never use built-in audio on pretty much any device.
This reminds me of a phil Class i took in uni about the phenomenology of perception (bare with me). Goated philosopher Merleau Ponty posited that sound is so much important than visual information because of the 1. Immediacy and 2. Intimacy of it. The sound of a heartbeat or a partner’s breathing, or their voice is rated by most as more emotionally appealing than looking at them. Significantly deaf people apparently complain about crushing loneliness often. Also, visuals are perceived in a space, whereas sound is perceived FROM space, in our heads and location of perception. This point took me a second to understand, but it was really mindblowing when i did. Visuals of things are outside of us and perceived to be that way. That bird is over there, that chair is close to me, etc. but sound is experienced intimately, always, no matter where the sound originated from. It is perceived at our point of perception, or to de-jargonize in our heads. Loved that class. Sound gang all the way
This is true, many people that i watch in UA-cam or others medias and many friends of mine, choose to watch something because of the good audio of the video. It is more pleasing to our ears to hear nice sound than watch something that had a nice video quality. I am trying to get started in this world of streaming and looking for a good microphone (Around the $100 Dollars price a little more or less) to start this and right now i am watching many review of you about different microphone to choose someone because i saw that you review them with 100% honesty without trying to sell something to us and i really apreciate and like that. Continue with these videos that you help a lot of us to learn how to focus on something that we do not take into account.
I absolutely agree!! I´m a professionell Video Editor/Colorist and Sounddesigner and THIS is a real problem even in the Real Film and TV World. Another point ist the emotional factor of good sounding audio. In my opinion u can achieve and "play" with emotions in a Movie only with good audio design and Quality.
3:44 Yup. Bad video is somewhat okay, but bad audio is a big no. Recently I have been watching lots of dankpods' videos. I knew that he recorded his video using his phone and it doesn't bother me at all. But then I watched a video where his microphone doesn't work and he ended up using the inbuilt microphone, I immediately closed the video.
20+ year veteran of television production here. You’re absolutely correct. Audio is 65% of video at least. Tv, at lower levels does a HORRIBLE job with audio (check for levels and that’s it) and that’s how even amateur viewers can sense lower production value.
So, I work for a school district. There was soooo much focus on cameras when everyone went to remote learning. No one paid attention to audio. I designed my solution with GOOD audio from the start, using a MXL AC360 mic for a room, which does a great job picking out people compared to solutions costing thousands (and had a neato camera everyone loved). If you can't hear, then it takes you out of the experience of learning.
I think it's because many people are used to listen to phones and crappy listening devices, so most of them don't really know there's better quality audio out there.
At the start of COVID my college class was pushed to online. Was really funny having people go "Wow you sound so good". Like yeah it's because I do audio/video and have spent way too much on too many microphones xD
@@heavymetalmixer91 Most people listen to amazing sounding influencers all day. I think they just don't understand that they could have something like that themselves, and have even less idea how to even begin.
@@heavymetalmixer91 No. It's a common misconception that the key to better video is to always upgrade the camera first. In reality, good audio and lighting goes a long way.
Hindsight 20/20, I should have closed the blinds and shut off the key light. Lighting made it look too good. I'll make sure to get bad video later today.
This makes a really great point. There are so many people debating over whether they should be posting in 4K vs 1080 when they should probably be addressing their sound quality first.
The cost of items between where you are and I am - in Canada - is striking. I have the c922 pro, which currently runs about $120, and I think the c920 is $100 vs your $40. I think the cheapest interface here is $80. But using the smart phone is a good idea and likely many people never think of it: I know I didn't. BTW: I did end up purchasing a ATR2100x because of you. I watched so many of your videos to figure out what roughly I wanted, I think I started to have nightmares of microphones. haha. The ATR2100x wasn't my first choice, but the fact that it came with both usb to startout with, and XLR as a good upgrade path, together with updated circuitry in contrast to the Q2U made it a good option. What I really had hoped for was a NEAT worker bee with interface, but, as I wrote above, they're not as easy to just buy in Canada.
Incredible that there are still people who do not prioritize audio over video quality, I learned this the hard way by watching hundreds of videos on YT and leaving many where noise or poor audio quality left their "bad audio" sample as something minimally decent haha. greetings from Chile!, great channel.
There are big UA-camrs that I really admire who have really inconsistent audio and it drives me nuts. They'll cut to talking over footage and their audio will vastly improve. Arg.
Ive now come to a point where if i have audio questions I ONLY look for your videos, you also just straight up know so much more than many of the other people on here
Nailed it-thank you for addressing this! The worst is when you see an interview with a Grammy-winning producer, seated in front of a vintage SSL or Neve desk and flanked by an insane amount of premium outboard, and the interviewer/crew uses either the on-cam mic or a badly positioned shotgun. Makes me want to cry…
100% agree. It's very easy to get good enough video with a phone and some lighting but the only reason I click off a video for quality reasons is almost exclusively audio. Bad audio is really bothersome, even painful at times.
Audio (spoken word) gets us the information, but we expect to have video even though it's useless like in this video. I'm only getting info from what you say. I could listen to this without watching. I would walk away and go do something while I listen. You make a great point. We "need" video, but we rely on audio.
0:30 consumer DSLR with iPhone mic. 1:29 Logitech webcam with AT875R (short shitgun) mic ($170 list) through Focusrite. 2:38 regular studio setup with Shure SM7B ($400 list). (Added to my YT "better audio" playlist.)
I agree %100! We invested in good digital mixes in the late 90's, to what was essentially just carboard cutouts wiggling on the screen. If the sound is impressive, it allows people to "buy it" easier!
Drone nr 67463 here agreeing with you, since this is virtually always correct. Aside from my own tastes; My SO has the unfortunate taste in videos and podcasts (fashion, female life, etc) where many creators don’t value audio. The effect is that sometimes their audio is unintelligible at lower levels, and not exactly enjoyable at high levels. We’ve tried playback on our TV/hifi equipment thinking it was only her speakers, but no, even on higher end devices their audio is often very hard to decode. We also did a test where I took the MP3 of one of her podcast and did a tiny bit of EQ and some compression etc; even starting off from their terrible mastering it’s trivial to increase the audibility quite a bit. If you compare this to the more “nerdy” & “pro” creators I follow, it’s so much easier. You hear every word clearly in almost everything. And audio vs video, when video is more important; if you just collect natural audio intended for playback at -12 or -18db under the music, audio issues like wind into the mic etc is okay and might also add a bit of lo-if / indie color to the product :) but eh, aside from “everything depends”, 99.9% audio is most important, if you are producing for the hearing people. We just value audio over video when it comes to actual consumption.
Yep completely agree. I've even shut off a video because not only was it all echoey, but they had clearly recorded with a stereo mic built into the camera, and they were sitting slightly off centre, resulting in the audio being balanced sightly into my left ear - super distracting through headphones, and would have been so easy to mono before publishing, making it sound so much better!
I agree with this 100 percent. People are focusing on video over all. I constantly turn off videos because the audio is trash. It can have the hollow sound like your first sample or the gain is just way too low. This is a common problem in the archery segment of UA-cam.
Agree! Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s I produced shows for 3 major Canadian Planetariums. In those days I also designed and managed the best audio studio in any planetarium because I realized that if I controlled the audio track I could deliver all of the intelligence and about 80% of the drama in a show. Poor producers tried to find music and sound effects to ‘go with the visuals.’ Wrong thinking. The music and sound effects inform the audience about what the are seeing and, if the theatre audio system is up for it, ensures that they are having the appropriate emotional response. For instance, imagine you are observing a massive volcano on a planet. If the story is about the way the planet generates new surface topography, the track makes it seem that we are watching a flower blooming. If it is about the 1815 eruption of Tambora that devastated parts of the Earth and caused killing frosts in New England the following summer, I’m going to rock the theatre. In both cases you are seeing the same visuals. This is true of movies too. You don’t see a movie, you hear a movie. In my opinion, by comparison, the visuals are just shadows on the wall. That said, the visual production is usually the more expensive.
Thanks for the great video! I’m with you on clicking past videos with bad audio. It drives me crazy. It’s also the worst with podcasts when the host is using a good setup and the gust is using the microphone on their laptop.
It's an interesting subject. I'm somewhat biased, being a voice over actor, however, here are my thoughts: 1. I think the new platforms are making people used to a more basic quality of audio (for example, Tik Tok or Instagram). And I find somewhat painful the irony of investing so much money in audio equipment while a part of me knows the audio will be listened to in phone speakers. As a general rule, I'd say audio in Tik Tok and Instagram is less important than image, which might be obvious but in UA-cam or Twitch, audio might be more important. 2. On the other hand, I think for the majority audio is more of a subliminal thing. You might not now if you're listening to a Neumann U87 ai or an Audio Technica, but on the long run you might stay with someone and you don't know why, and better audio might be the answer, it's just a theory. 3. Far more important than any of those, I think is the charisma of the person speaking and how well the content is presented. The only time I remember clicking off a video because of the poor audio quality, it was because it was a content creator that got me accustomed to great quality audio. I don't know what happend that time, but it sounded like he was recording in a bathroom, I could even hear background noise. Also, I've found out I can't stand people with piercing voices who are rude and speak very loud and quick, but that is a combination of a comunication style that doesn't match my preferences with a piercing sound. 4. Finally, in line with your last week video ideas, its also important to get the right equipment for your circumstances and don't "buy the dream". It's not about getting the most expensive gear, it's about getting the best gear for your content, style and enviroment. It might be an irony, but the sample I enjoyed the most was the third one, and I disaprove deeply of Beringhers tactics (and also, the fact that your recording room is acustically treated was also important) To sum it up, you've got to understand your platform, enviroment and activity to make the best investment, and again, answering those questions might be easier today, but people should analize them by themselves, besides just googling it.
Great points. Regarding hearing things from Iphone means less range of frequencies, some mid range distortion usually yes but I can still pick out overtone / muddling of room reverb. So maybe the room / treatment is very first before the type of mic (dynamic vs large or small confessor etc), as this is often Why the audio is off putting.
I use one of those Logitech cameras. It's 1080p, which was cream of the crop when it came out. My computer can only stream standard definition anyway though. But when my audio sounds bad, that's when I get real bummed about a stream. And I click off a TON of videos with bad audio. Nothing worse than someone "demoing" a guitar pedal with their dang camera mic. Should be illegal.
As someone who is often consulted on what is the best camera to buy, I often point out exactly what you’re saying here. Good video means nothing without the audio to match. And if the audio is really bad, then it will legitimately annoy your audience.
Agree audio is very important. It is very easy for background sounds and hiss or muffled sound can ruin watching a video. Going to be helping some people with audio 😉. Love your videos sir.
Thanks for the video. Just like you, I have never skipped a video due to bad video quality but have definitely skipped, on numerous occasions, skipped videos due to bad audio quality.
You are correct, and this advice even applies to home theater and home stereo setups, plus there is the law of diminishing returns factor in play, and even with cameras and audio, there is the law of diminishing returns factor and this applies to everything else.
New sub! Came for a mic review but stayed for the great content! As a person who has abandoned great videos with poor sound and sometimes bad video and bad sound I totally agree! I love your content! Tell them please we care about audio - our brains subconsciously care a lot even if we are not aware!!!! I have the best gear for video but I have taken the longest time for audio and still searching for that "perfect mic"!
It truly is and I made a massive mistake there, focused on makeup, script, editing, camera, lighting, background, the story etc. But never the sound 🤦🏾♀️ yesterday I got my Sennheiser MKE600 😭. Just put it on a boom arm and can't wait to try it out. Thank you for all your help ❣🌻
The only reason I didn't click out of sample 1 within 5-10 seconds was... Well, to listen to the comparison. If I ran into that in the wild, I'd have clicked out within 5-10 seconds, and not thought twice about it. I personally feel that it really should go audio, lighting, then video for focus. Why lighting before video? There are plenty of good quality lighting solutions that aren't too expensive, and good lighting will offset any "disadvantages" that something such as a smartphone's camera would have. Quotes used because yes, larger sensors do have advantages, but if you only have (or are only willing to risk) a few hundred dollars using what you more than likely already have for video alongside a decent quality (but not too expensive microphone) and reasonable lighting is going to get you pretty far. Example 3 was a really good way of showcasing this kind of thing. Most streamers I've followed long term did precisely this method. Put most of their budget into audio because if you're talking a lot (and more than likely being background noise for a good portion of people) clear audio is definitely needed, with bonus points for being able to have things such as air conditioning or fans circulating air either being minimized or not picked up at all. Or smartass roommates/spouses :P But yeah, one miniature painting streamer I've watched for almost two and a half years now started with a basic but reasonable microphone on a shockmount and a boom arm and went with arch lighting for their desk so there was even lighting and few shadows as it makes life easier for painting but also shows up on camera better, and then a year or so in after several months of research wound up picking up a Lumix G7, and their old C920 they were using for what they were painting wound up becoming the face cam.
Honestly each of the video quality differences in the video (and in general) don't seem to make almost any difference when I watch on my phone, where I often watch things. Yet whether on my phone or PC, I always notice the audio differences, and as you said, it's the first thing I notice that portrays "low quality" or even "grating". Though that's not just a matter of quality equipment. Good mic technique and knowing the strengths of your setup and yourself is important. I tuned into a stream a few days ago in hopes of checking out a new game, and the video looked great and audio was clearly high fidelity. But the streamer had it so close to their mouth and kept coughing so much that I felt like I was going to get sick just listening to the phlegm in high definition. Video being low quality or even going blank at times is barely an issue at all as long as the audio is bearable, and if the audio is good, it could be a still image on screen and I may still tune in. Audio deserves initial priority.
Agreed, totally. Nice demonstration of your point. Hey, say more about that supercardioid Neumann mic (KMS 105, maybe?) that made such an impression on you a while back. Expensive, yes, but so many people who know audio well seem struck by its sound quality.
I have to agree. As a 60th birthday present to myself. I am going on a cruise for 21 days. A pair Line Audio CMS4s for ORTF Stereo for ambient sound. A Sanken CS-M1 for talking heads in a tin box cabin with balcony, and Sanken COS 11D Lav with Sennheiser G4 wireless for around the ship. All to be recorded with the sound devices MixPre 6 II. A big treat to myself any thoughts on my choices.
It's like I know that the way a microphone looks on camera isn't supposed to be important compared to how it sounds.. But I'm still really mad that the "royal purple" windscreen in the sE V7 BFG wound up being pink. It's like, I paid $30 extra for a color, and Customer service was like "nah that's the correct color, we just said it was purple in the marketing Because Billy F Gibbons likes purple".... But I like purple too, you know. I also like it when ads are accurate.
I agree. Bad audio is a skip for me most of the time. If it's a critical clip, like live or recent news stuff, that won't cause me to leave. But if it's a video that the presenter is delivering information, them if the audio is bad, I just skip it.
I totally agree. That being said, your Good Video made me think it was a bad setup, while your Good Audio made it just seem "old" (as in a video from like 2010).
What luck, the mic I bought a number of years ago just happened to be that at875r you were using. I use it with a Behringer UM2 interface as my audio for playing multiplayer online games and people sometimes comment on how good I sound. It has been a great setup for the Minecraft videos my kids want to make. I was also able to take the line out from the UM2 and feed it to an hdmi audio injector so I can push mic and pc audio mixed together on the hdmi connection to my atem mini for live streaming.
It’s so funny that this actually is the case, because if I’m not mistaken we are visual creatures by nature. This is especially evident in how hard it is for us to actually understand what we are hearing; it certainly takes more training than seeing stuff does lol
I will certainly agree with certain caveats. For most things UA-cam, where someone talking is 90% of the content, audio is absolutely the most important. This is the vast majority of what I watch. When it's something that requires detailed viewing and just has someone telling a tale (to my mind a lot of collectible card opening videos fall into this category), and you'd get 90% of the same experience if you muted the video, the video is more important. This is a small amount of what I watch.
Audio is more important than video for me in youtube but in twitch... id say cam quality is closer to audio in importance... also still above all is content quality in everything ^^/ Like you have really good content, good audio and video quality and have helped me ton with mic decisions! Its usually your videos that i look for when researching anything related to mics, interfaces or tests between two mics! Also you have a good singing voice ^^/ You are important, funny, charismatic and enjoyable content creator! Keep doing these videos until you dont feel like it! I hope ya have a good day ^^/
I couldn't agree more. If it sounds terrible you will most likely tune out. If you went to a blank screen and just had audio this would stand out even further.
The difference between sample 1 and 2 was night and day. Although I don't think the video was that bad in sample 2. But I 100% agree that audio > video. Visuals are a nice bonus though
I’m glad you said this because I’ve felt that way for a long time especially as a Engineer. I’ve seen many bands and even churches want video but their audio be bad sometimes and it’s like hey the audio is just as important. Some are not aware of this message about making sure the audio is good for the vids and everything to be hand and hand. I’m not a video person I love more audio lol but yes thanks for this video !!!
Wholeheartedly agree with this video. Rules I like: Put mic close to mouth. Find a room with lots of soft things and texture. That's 70% of the battle, IMHO.
I honestly think that I did the right thing, and went for audio first. Bought the NW-800, then AT2020, and (as of today) RODE Procaster. So far, I only have 2 webcams, mainly just for laughs. This really is a very good way of conveying the importance of audio, especially for the starters
I totally agree! I just spent about £5000 on acoustic treatment so that my videos sound as good as possible. Mr Ballen is a great example of a popular youtuber who I often click OFF simply because he has too much reverb and this makes him very difficult to listen to.
I don't know If I am the only person that feels that ways but liked your voice in the sample two to a lot more than your normal recordings because it sounds more airy and easier to listen to. It felt like less pressure on my ears and or less exhausting to listen to.
Great piece of evidence! Keeping focus is way harder with inbuild omnidirectional mics in bad acoustics. Compression on top and nobody can listen painlessly. This became worse in the pandemic when so many people just did use their devices to be heard at TV or in the classroom. Sometimes a directional 30$ USB mic works wonders...
i totaly agree with you. bad audio breaks a video for me too. but i would like to understand why are very few people using shotgun mics? i feel they could make up for some of the challenges a podcaster or streamer has to deal with. first there is background noise rejection, witch is very good on shotgun mics. second there is bad mic etiquette. when you change distance just slightly on a mic thats very close to you, you have significant changes in audio levels. if you´d move the same ammount on a mic thats further away you wouldnt even notice. just my thoughts on that. maybe you can give me a clue to why that is. thanks for the great content regards
It’s almost like because the audio is good it tricks you into thinking the video really isn’t that bad. Definitely would pick your webcam with the AT vs the camera audio anyday
5 seconds into the video, and it's a instant yes for me. human are not really visual sensitive (resolution, colours, fps and stuff) but definitely audio sensitive.
im pretty sure one of the reasons i ended up getting my current video editing job is because i was pretty up front that I am an audio guy, first, and recognize that video is only going to be as good as your audio. Think the guy that hired me agreed with the logic. Im now the "audio guy" people come to if they have issues with news clips. Now if only I could convince photography to run their sound correctly so i can stop slamming my head on my desk because stuff is too quiet or way too loud. or they just forget to close mic the subject entirely
When my clients say a video is "so good" I know deep inside that they loved the audio because they weren't distracted by it.
"Audio is More Important than Video" - This has also been known in the networking world for a long time. Good network administrators who deal with live conferences give highest priority to audio. This is because human brain can easily compensate for video imperfections or occasional dropped frames, but compensating for broken audio is much harder and causes breakdown in communication.
also usually (unless you are watching a movie) most of the information is in the audio, the video is only there to support it
This is a good reason that "Audio is More Important than Video"
Veryyyy inteligent, Amazing , you ONly is capable to suave the world
Watching movies in CRT TVs with analog signal.
It causes listening fatigue and it's harder to pay attention to what people are saying.
I worked for a TV news station 20+ years ago. My old boss told me if you keep audio going, but lose the picture, people will stay for as long as 30 seconds if they’re actively watching and wait for it to come back. You lose audio? They’re gone almost right away. Same with mics. They can’t clearly hear you? Normal people get frustrated and turn the channel to someone with good audio. Some things don’t change.
Bad audio makes me tired. Good audio makes me happy. You're so smart. Please keep making great sounding videos.
I agree. BTW Curtis Have you thought about doing UA-cam videos about good audio? :-)
@@JAmediaUK I’m thinking about it. 🎙🎧
@@curtisjudd I hear you :-)
I just sent links to Curtis and Bandrew’s channels to a young person I am mentoring in video production. Now they realize how important audio is to their video’s success.
@@NewIndigo 🙏
This is one of the first things that they taught us in Video Production class. In fact, the camera isn’t even the second most important thing. First it’s Audio, then Lighting, and THEN the camera…
Yep,definitely
For sure. A cheap camera with good lighting looks better than a good camera with bad lighting.
Its actually, STORY first, then audio, then lighting etc..
Well put! Voice-over audio quality is something that is easy to overlook, but it's very obvious and distracting when not done well. Then again... maybe we're a bit biased as well 😉
Hi Lewitt
Lewitt certainly has the microphone quality to be bias... They truly understand what it is to give some "sound advice" ;)
Once did a stream and my camera died, but the audio was still going. I still had 300 viewers even though it was only a black screen. Afterwards some people contacted me to say that they could concentrate better because the video was off. Point and case. Audio is a necessity , video is optional
This is why I love music and audiobooks so much. It allows you to paint the picture yourself.
When pandemic started and my church needed to start live-streaming, they asked me to come in and set up the audio. I hacked together an audio arrangement designed to deliver a clear, clean signal with minimal room reverb to the iPhone they wanted to use to originate the stream. Worked great! Other churches wanted to know how we were generating such great streams with an iPhone. It's all about the sound, baby!
Can you explain how you made it cleaner?
@@roku-man I could, but I can't see what value it would have for anybody else. It was a crude arrangement of the equipment that we happened to have available, with mic and speaker cable taped to the floor. Entirely "bespoke", but I'm being generous with that term!
The principals are simple enough: Capture the audio as early as possible, as clean as possible, and present it to the iPhone as clean as possible. The church space has plenty of natural reverb, so the big challenge was avoiding as much of that as possible. We shut down the house amplification system entirely, because it introduced so much reverb into the livestream; very muddy, almost impossible to understand online.
@@Timflan What interface you used to connect to an iPhone
@@Uzumachii none! The iPhone had a plug-in microphone of slightly better quality than the onboard microphone. We took the house sound and ran it out of a speaker very close to that iPhone. Seriously ridiculous, but it sounded great.
Yes. Agreed. All points. If the audio sucks it’s unwatchable regardless of camera quality.
My UA-cam channel videos are shot primarily with my iPhone and any device with a camera I can get my hands on.
“Fix in post” should be a last resort, not defacto.
Stellar job!👍
Kia ora, Bandrew. As a blind viewer, I greatly appreciated the natural way you described your video demonstration. as to the reason we may appreciate good audio over video, could it bee that you can take in visual information at a glance but audible information must be absorbed linearly, i.e. one word at a time? That means you could gloss over poor vision but you can't avoid poor audio. Does that make sense?
That makes perfect sense. If i ever do something that makes it difficult to understand, please let me know. I typically try to explain visual components that I am discussing, but I'm 100% certain I screw up frequently. Just call me out if anything needs elaboration. Thanks for the comment Kylee.
The 50% audio and 50% video has lead so many astray. I don't know what it is, but your point is sooo true. :)
I taught high school kids how to make videos for a decade. Every year I saw students learn how important audio is. Crisp video is fun, but if the audio isn't there, it really doesn't matter. And I say this as someone who's obsessed with cameras 😬
Unless the subject has nothing to say
I have been saying this for years, I was an audio guy for television for 15 years, now at 33 years in media and I am a Cameraman…I still know that it’s all radio with pictures. Audio is actually more important than video.
This is the most important video on UA-cam 🦇 even with the late intro haha
You are too kind. Thank you so much.
Wonderfully stated and demonstrated. My wife looked at me weird when I bought her the Shure MV7 and a boom arm for her work. Then when she did a Zoom interview with the local news 3 weeks later she wished she had taken it out of the box.
You sounded brilliant, except on the sample with the bad audio. Even the cheap audio setup made the point. Thanks. If only a single creator heeds your advice, the world will be better for it.
I run a video production company and I've always said that audio is more important than video. I've even been called an "audio snob" by some of my fellow video producers.
Nothing to throw. He is 100% right and I’d love to share this with everyone who ever went onto a zoom call.
I was a victim of this common misconception for a long time. I put zero thought into my audio for my livestreams for the first 3 years of my content creation life. ~12 hours a week of sub-par audio because it's a problem you can't SEE and since I think the sound of my own voice sounds weird to me, so I probably blamed that for the bad quality.
Fast forward to today and I still struggle with audio, but I feel I'm way ahead of where I was even a year ago.
Funny enough, I use a mirrorless camera for recording my videos but I use a smartphone with a lav mic to record my audio and then sync in post. I still have a ways to go, but at least I'm pointed in the right direction now thanks to channels like yours! 👍
The livestreaming crowd are marred with misconceptions about video, audio, and basic audience engagement/retention. Too many will go with a trendy mic, camera, and lights, and hate on those that don't follow.
Good content and audio goes a long way in the long term, and it doesn't take much to reach the quality you're aiming for.
What's most important is the type of equipment you're using and WHY you need it. Most of the equipment you want is not only equipment you don't need... but equipment that will be even harder to use right.
Mirrorless cameras are a no-no for most people. Stupid expensive and offer no real benefit over just using a decent webcam. But everyone wants to do it because the 'big streamers' do it.
You also might be tempted to go for a very sensitive high end condenser mic from Royer or something but don't do that either. You're not recording a movie and you will be capturing more of the room (especially if you go for a ribbon mic) so even a cheap mic (on the condenser side like a Samson C01 or a dynamic mic like the behringer xm8500) with a decent mixer is going to be instantly more useful to a streamer than an insane setup. (Heck... most of the time you wont need the insane setup even if you're a pro)
Know-how > Equipment
Audio is sooo much more important, especially since you can listen to a lot of clips on-the-go, when you don't have time to watch the video itself. Besides, you demonstrated time and again that you don't need to invest a lot of $ for a decent audio setup. :)
I kind of disagree with the conclusion. The arguments clearly demonstrate why "bad audio is worse than bad video" but that doesn't support audio being superior to video, just that bad audio is really awful. Furthermore, I would argue that just as audio has a more dramatic significance when is bad, video has MORE significance when is really good. After all, how many people are able to sort out good audio vs studio quality audio? Not many... Now how many people can sort out good visuals (the average YT channel) vs great visuals (studio production), many many more.
I would personally say that bad audio is WORSE than bad video but AMAZING video is wayyy better than studio quality audio.
But anyways thanks for all the videos man, I really appreciate them!
Oooo dropping truth bombs on this one. I almost closed the video during the first sample with bad audio. I've never heard the phrase "Get it right before the box," so now I will start saying get it right in the box.
Thank you! The Internet needs to hear this.
You are too kind. Thank you so much Michael!
Danke!
WOAH! Rainer you are far too kind! Thank you so much!
@@Podcastage You're dearly welcome, Bandrew! You made a very good and important point with this illustrative video!
I agree 100%. I just film with a cellphone and record with an AT4040. If a video has bad audio I stop watching and look for something else.
Honestly phone cameras are good enough now where for anyone starting they are more than capable unless you have a specific need.
@@thecyberquake618 Not really, phones have an all around field. It will detects everything in actually a wide radius.
My room suffers from reverb, and my phone was a catastrophe. I had to stop my channel until I could afford a cardioid patern.
Yes, phones will get your voice very well, as it will get everything else around very well.
I can understand it fits some people needs, not mine unfortunately.
@@LesArtsdelaParole we are talking about using phones for video, not audio. Combined with a decent audio source (even a cheaper lav can get someone started) the video from a phone camera is perfectly fine.
@@thecyberquake618 sorry, I completely missread...
@@LesArtsdelaParole You're good lol. Yeah no, just using a phone for audio without at least something like a lav is awful in most cases. The video quality from the camera though is pretty great though. So always pair with some kind of half-decent attempt at good audio, never use built-in audio on pretty much any device.
This reminds me of a phil Class i took in uni about the phenomenology of perception (bare with me). Goated philosopher Merleau Ponty posited that sound is so much important than visual information because of the 1. Immediacy and 2. Intimacy of it. The sound of a heartbeat or a partner’s breathing, or their voice is rated by most as more emotionally appealing than looking at them. Significantly deaf people apparently complain about crushing loneliness often.
Also, visuals are perceived in a space, whereas sound is perceived FROM space, in our heads and location of perception. This point took me a second to understand, but it was really mindblowing when i did. Visuals of things are outside of us and perceived to be that way. That bird is over there, that chair is close to me, etc. but sound is experienced intimately, always, no matter where the sound originated from. It is perceived at our point of perception, or to de-jargonize in our heads.
Loved that class. Sound gang all the way
This is true, many people that i watch in UA-cam or others medias and many friends of mine, choose to watch something because of the good audio of the video. It is more pleasing to our ears to hear nice sound than watch something that had a nice video quality. I am trying to get started in this world of streaming and looking for a good microphone (Around the $100 Dollars price a little more or less) to start this and right now i am watching many review of you about different microphone to choose someone because i saw that you review them with 100% honesty without trying to sell something to us and i really apreciate and like that. Continue with these videos that you help a lot of us to learn how to focus on something that we do not take into account.
I absolutely agree!! I´m a professionell Video Editor/Colorist and Sounddesigner and THIS is a real problem even in the Real Film and TV World. Another point ist the emotional factor of good sounding audio. In my opinion u can achieve and "play" with emotions in a Movie only with good audio design and Quality.
3:44 Yup. Bad video is somewhat okay, but bad audio is a big no. Recently I have been watching lots of dankpods' videos. I knew that he recorded his video using his phone and it doesn't bother me at all. But then I watched a video where his microphone doesn't work and he ended up using the inbuilt microphone, I immediately closed the video.
20+ year veteran of television production here. You’re absolutely correct. Audio is 65% of video at least. Tv, at lower levels does a HORRIBLE job with audio (check for levels and that’s it) and that’s how even amateur viewers can sense lower production value.
So, I work for a school district. There was soooo much focus on cameras when everyone went to remote learning. No one paid attention to audio. I designed my solution with GOOD audio from the start, using a MXL AC360 mic for a room, which does a great job picking out people compared to solutions costing thousands (and had a neato camera everyone loved). If you can't hear, then it takes you out of the experience of learning.
I think it's because many people are used to listen to phones and crappy listening devices, so most of them don't really know there's better quality audio out there.
At the start of COVID my college class was pushed to online. Was really funny having people go "Wow you sound so good". Like yeah it's because I do audio/video and have spent way too much on too many microphones xD
@@heavymetalmixer91 Most people listen to amazing sounding influencers all day. I think they just don't understand that they could have something like that themselves, and have even less idea how to even begin.
@@heavymetalmixer91 No. It's a common misconception that the key to better video is to always upgrade the camera first. In reality, good audio and lighting goes a long way.
This is a good advertisement for that webcam. I think that picture of the "bad video" is better than half my videos!
Hindsight 20/20, I should have closed the blinds and shut off the key light. Lighting made it look too good. I'll make sure to get bad video later today.
This makes a really great point. There are so many people debating over whether they should be posting in 4K vs 1080 when they should probably be addressing their sound quality first.
The cost of items between where you are and I am - in Canada - is striking. I have the c922 pro, which currently runs about $120, and I think the c920 is $100 vs your $40. I think the cheapest interface here is $80. But using the smart phone is a good idea and likely many people never think of it: I know I didn't.
BTW: I did end up purchasing a ATR2100x because of you. I watched so many of your videos to figure out what roughly I wanted, I think I started to have nightmares of microphones. haha.
The ATR2100x wasn't my first choice, but the fact that it came with both usb to startout with, and XLR as a good upgrade path, together with updated circuitry in contrast to the Q2U made it a good option.
What I really had hoped for was a NEAT worker bee with interface, but, as I wrote above, they're not as easy to just buy in Canada.
I’ll be sharing Sample 3 for many years to come. Holy Cow that sounded and looked amazing.
Incredible that there are still people who do not prioritize audio over video quality, I learned this the hard way by watching hundreds of videos on YT and leaving many where noise or poor audio quality left their "bad audio" sample as something minimally decent haha. greetings from Chile!, great channel.
There are big UA-camrs that I really admire who have really inconsistent audio and it drives me nuts. They'll cut to talking over footage and their audio will vastly improve. Arg.
Ive now come to a point where if i have audio questions I ONLY look for your videos, you also just straight up know so much more than many of the other people on here
Nailed it-thank you for addressing this! The worst is when you see an interview with a Grammy-winning producer, seated in front of a vintage SSL or Neve desk and flanked by an insane amount of premium outboard, and the interviewer/crew uses either the on-cam mic or a badly positioned shotgun. Makes me want to cry…
100% agree. It's very easy to get good enough video with a phone and some lighting but the only reason I click off a video for quality reasons is almost exclusively audio.
Bad audio is really bothersome, even painful at times.
Audio (spoken word) gets us the information, but we expect to have video even though it's useless like in this video. I'm only getting info from what you say. I could listen to this without watching. I would walk away and go do something while I listen. You make a great point. We "need" video, but we rely on audio.
0:30 consumer DSLR with iPhone mic. 1:29 Logitech webcam with AT875R (short shitgun) mic ($170 list) through Focusrite. 2:38 regular studio setup with Shure SM7B ($400 list). (Added to my YT "better audio" playlist.)
I agree %100! We invested in good digital mixes in the late 90's, to what was essentially just carboard cutouts wiggling on the screen. If the sound is impressive, it allows people to "buy it" easier!
I completely agree. Good audio is one of those things that's "invisible" but it's something that I find is really noticeable when it's bad.
Drone nr 67463 here agreeing with you, since this is virtually always correct.
Aside from my own tastes; My SO has the unfortunate taste in videos and podcasts (fashion, female life, etc) where many creators don’t value audio.
The effect is that sometimes their audio is unintelligible at lower levels, and not exactly enjoyable at high levels.
We’ve tried playback on our TV/hifi equipment thinking it was only her speakers, but no, even on higher end devices their audio is often very hard to decode.
We also did a test where I took the MP3 of one of her podcast and did a tiny bit of EQ and some compression etc; even starting off from their terrible mastering it’s trivial to increase the audibility quite a bit.
If you compare this to the more “nerdy” & “pro” creators I follow, it’s so much easier. You hear every word clearly in almost everything.
And audio vs video, when video is more important; if you just collect natural audio intended for playback at -12 or -18db under the music, audio issues like wind into the mic etc is okay and might also add a bit of lo-if / indie color to the product :) but eh, aside from “everything depends”, 99.9% audio is most important, if you are producing for the hearing people. We just value audio over video when it comes to actual consumption.
Yep completely agree. I've even shut off a video because not only was it all echoey, but they had clearly recorded with a stereo mic built into the camera, and they were sitting slightly off centre, resulting in the audio being balanced sightly into my left ear - super distracting through headphones, and would have been so easy to mono before publishing, making it sound so much better!
Yup! Agree 100%…I change videos immediately if they have bad audio. It is such an experience breaker..
I agree with this 100 percent. People are focusing on video over all. I constantly turn off videos because the audio is trash. It can have the hollow sound like your first sample or the gain is just way too low. This is a common problem in the archery segment of UA-cam.
Agree! Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s I produced shows for 3 major Canadian Planetariums. In those days I also designed and managed the best audio studio in any planetarium because I realized that if I controlled the audio track I could deliver all of the intelligence and about 80% of the drama in a show. Poor producers tried to find music and sound effects to ‘go with the visuals.’ Wrong thinking. The music and sound effects inform the audience about what the are seeing and, if the theatre audio system is up for it, ensures that they are having the appropriate emotional response. For instance, imagine you are observing a massive volcano on a planet. If the story is about the way the planet generates new surface topography, the track makes it seem that we are watching a flower blooming. If it is about the 1815 eruption of Tambora that devastated parts of the Earth and caused killing frosts in New England the following summer, I’m going to rock the theatre. In both cases you are seeing the same visuals. This is true of movies too. You don’t see a movie, you hear a movie. In my opinion, by comparison, the visuals are just shadows on the wall. That said, the visual production is usually the more expensive.
Thanks for the great video! I’m with you on clicking past videos with bad audio. It drives me crazy. It’s also the worst with podcasts when the host is using a good setup and the gust is using the microphone on their laptop.
Practicing your voiceover gives you confidence to perform better on camera
It's an interesting subject. I'm somewhat biased, being a voice over actor, however, here are my thoughts:
1. I think the new platforms are making people used to a more basic quality of audio (for example, Tik Tok or Instagram). And I find somewhat painful the irony of investing so much money in audio equipment while a part of me knows the audio will be listened to in phone speakers.
As a general rule, I'd say audio in Tik Tok and Instagram is less important than image, which might be obvious but in UA-cam or Twitch, audio might be more important.
2. On the other hand, I think for the majority audio is more of a subliminal thing. You might not now if you're listening to a Neumann U87 ai or an Audio Technica, but on the long run you might stay with someone and you don't know why, and better audio might be the answer, it's just a theory.
3. Far more important than any of those, I think is the charisma of the person speaking and how well the content is presented. The only time I remember clicking off a video because of the poor audio quality, it was because it was a content creator that got me accustomed to great quality audio. I don't know what happend that time, but it sounded like he was recording in a bathroom, I could even hear background noise.
Also, I've found out I can't stand people with piercing voices who are rude and speak very loud and quick, but that is a combination of a comunication style that doesn't match my preferences with a piercing sound.
4. Finally, in line with your last week video ideas, its also important to get the right equipment for your circumstances and don't "buy the dream".
It's not about getting the most expensive gear, it's about getting the best gear for your content, style and enviroment. It might be an irony, but the sample I enjoyed the most was the third one, and I disaprove deeply of Beringhers tactics (and also, the fact that your recording room is acustically treated was also important)
To sum it up, you've got to understand your platform, enviroment and activity to make the best investment, and again, answering those questions might be easier today, but people should analize them by themselves, besides just googling it.
Great points. Regarding hearing things from Iphone means less range of frequencies, some mid range distortion usually yes but I can still pick out overtone / muddling of room reverb.
So maybe the room / treatment is very first before the type of mic (dynamic vs large or small confessor etc), as this is often Why the audio is off putting.
This is exactly why I made sure to purchase an endgame microphone before upgrading my camera gear. Audio is the soul of your video.
I use one of those Logitech cameras. It's 1080p, which was cream of the crop when it came out. My computer can only stream standard definition anyway though. But when my audio sounds bad, that's when I get real bummed about a stream.
And I click off a TON of videos with bad audio. Nothing worse than someone "demoing" a guitar pedal with their dang camera mic. Should be illegal.
As someone who is often consulted on what is the best camera to buy, I often point out exactly what you’re saying here. Good video means nothing without the audio to match. And if the audio is really bad, then it will legitimately annoy your audience.
Agree audio is very important. It is very easy for background sounds and hiss or muffled sound can ruin watching a video. Going to be helping some people with audio 😉.
Love your videos sir.
Thanks for the video. Just like you, I have never skipped a video due to bad video quality but have definitely skipped, on numerous occasions, skipped videos due to bad audio quality.
You are correct, and this advice even applies to home theater and home stereo setups, plus there is the law of diminishing returns factor in play, and even with cameras and audio, there is the law of diminishing returns factor and this applies to everything else.
I just wanted to give props for the Descendents record in the background at 1:30. Nice!
New sub! Came for a mic review but stayed for the great content! As a person who has abandoned great videos with poor sound and sometimes bad video and bad sound I totally agree! I love your content! Tell them please we care about audio - our brains subconsciously care a lot even if we are not aware!!!! I have the best gear for video but I have taken the longest time for audio and still searching for that "perfect mic"!
You’re so right!
Audio always First.
Light is second.
Camera is the last thing you should invest into.
It truly is and I made a massive mistake there, focused on makeup, script, editing, camera, lighting, background, the story etc. But never the sound 🤦🏾♀️ yesterday I got my Sennheiser MKE600 😭. Just put it on a boom arm and can't wait to try it out. Thank you for all your help ❣🌻
The only reason I didn't click out of sample 1 within 5-10 seconds was... Well, to listen to the comparison. If I ran into that in the wild, I'd have clicked out within 5-10 seconds, and not thought twice about it.
I personally feel that it really should go audio, lighting, then video for focus. Why lighting before video? There are plenty of good quality lighting solutions that aren't too expensive, and good lighting will offset any "disadvantages" that something such as a smartphone's camera would have. Quotes used because yes, larger sensors do have advantages, but if you only have (or are only willing to risk) a few hundred dollars using what you more than likely already have for video alongside a decent quality (but not too expensive microphone) and reasonable lighting is going to get you pretty far. Example 3 was a really good way of showcasing this kind of thing.
Most streamers I've followed long term did precisely this method. Put most of their budget into audio because if you're talking a lot (and more than likely being background noise for a good portion of people) clear audio is definitely needed, with bonus points for being able to have things such as air conditioning or fans circulating air either being minimized or not picked up at all. Or smartass roommates/spouses :P But yeah, one miniature painting streamer I've watched for almost two and a half years now started with a basic but reasonable microphone on a shockmount and a boom arm and went with arch lighting for their desk so there was even lighting and few shadows as it makes life easier for painting but also shows up on camera better, and then a year or so in after several months of research wound up picking up a Lumix G7, and their old C920 they were using for what they were painting wound up becoming the face cam.
You are spot on. Spoken word sound effects music and silence add a lot to a video poorly produced it makes a world of difference.
Honestly each of the video quality differences in the video (and in general) don't seem to make almost any difference when I watch on my phone, where I often watch things. Yet whether on my phone or PC, I always notice the audio differences, and as you said, it's the first thing I notice that portrays "low quality" or even "grating".
Though that's not just a matter of quality equipment. Good mic technique and knowing the strengths of your setup and yourself is important. I tuned into a stream a few days ago in hopes of checking out a new game, and the video looked great and audio was clearly high fidelity. But the streamer had it so close to their mouth and kept coughing so much that I felt like I was going to get sick just listening to the phlegm in high definition.
Video being low quality or even going blank at times is barely an issue at all as long as the audio is bearable, and if the audio is good, it could be a still image on screen and I may still tune in. Audio deserves initial priority.
Agreed, totally. Nice demonstration of your point. Hey, say more about that supercardioid Neumann mic (KMS 105, maybe?) that made such an impression on you a while back. Expensive, yes, but so many people who know audio well seem struck by its sound quality.
I listen to videos on my car rides a lot. And it's SO frustrating to not be able to hear things because of example 1.
Great video!
Your audio audience on your audio youtube channel agrees with you that audio is more important.
I have to agree. As a 60th birthday present to myself. I am going on a cruise for 21 days. A pair Line Audio CMS4s for ORTF Stereo for ambient sound. A Sanken CS-M1 for talking heads in a tin box cabin with balcony, and Sanken COS 11D Lav with Sennheiser G4 wireless for around the ship. All to be recorded with the sound devices MixPre 6 II. A big treat to myself any thoughts on my choices.
It's like I know that the way a microphone looks on camera isn't supposed to be important compared to how it sounds.. But I'm still really mad that the "royal purple" windscreen in the sE V7 BFG wound up being pink.
It's like, I paid $30 extra for a color, and Customer service was like "nah that's the correct color, we just said it was purple in the marketing Because Billy F Gibbons likes purple".... But I like purple too, you know. I also like it when ads are accurate.
100% agree! i'd only watch sample 1 if you were talking about a subject i was interested in and NO ONE ELSE did a vid on it! :)
I agree. Bad audio is a skip for me most of the time. If it's a critical clip, like live or recent news stuff, that won't cause me to leave. But if it's a video that the presenter is delivering information, them if the audio is bad, I just skip it.
I totally agree. That being said, your Good Video made me think it was a bad setup, while your Good Audio made it just seem "old" (as in a video from like 2010).
What luck, the mic I bought a number of years ago just happened to be that at875r you were using. I use it with a Behringer UM2 interface as my audio for playing multiplayer online games and people sometimes comment on how good I sound.
It has been a great setup for the Minecraft videos my kids want to make. I was also able to take the line out from the UM2 and feed it to an hdmi audio injector so I can push mic and pc audio mixed together on the hdmi connection to my atem mini for live streaming.
It’s so funny that this actually is the case, because if I’m not mistaken we are visual creatures by nature. This is especially evident in how hard it is for us to actually understand what we are hearing; it certainly takes more training than seeing stuff does lol
That SMR shock mount in the background evokes bittersweet feelings. I hope they will bring it back
I will certainly agree with certain caveats. For most things UA-cam, where someone talking is 90% of the content, audio is absolutely the most important. This is the vast majority of what I watch.
When it's something that requires detailed viewing and just has someone telling a tale (to my mind a lot of collectible card opening videos fall into this category), and you'd get 90% of the same experience if you muted the video, the video is more important. This is a small amount of what I watch.
Audio is more important than video for me in youtube but in twitch... id say cam quality is closer to audio in importance... also still above all is content quality in everything ^^/ Like you have really good content, good audio and video quality and have helped me ton with mic decisions! Its usually your videos that i look for when researching anything related to mics, interfaces or tests between two mics! Also you have a good singing voice ^^/ You are important, funny, charismatic and enjoyable content creator! Keep doing these videos until you dont feel like it! I hope ya have a good day ^^/
Preach brother and next time, you should overhead mic with the SM7b.
I don't have the skill or know how to properly boom with an SM7b.
I couldn't agree more. If it sounds terrible you will most likely tune out. If you went to a blank screen and just had audio this would stand out even further.
The difference between sample 1 and 2 was night and day. Although I don't think the video was that bad in sample 2.
But I 100% agree that audio > video. Visuals are a nice bonus though
You're right.
I shut off Contents with bad audio too , even my Close friends Videos. I am completely feeling your words .
I’m glad you said this because I’ve felt that way for a long time especially as a Engineer. I’ve seen many bands and even churches want video but their audio be bad sometimes and it’s like hey the audio is just as important. Some are not aware of this message about making sure the audio is good for the vids and everything to be hand and hand. I’m not a video person I love more audio lol but yes thanks for this video !!!
I can't agree more. I, and perhaps others, need some instruction on how to use the mic to merge it with the camera at the time of recording. Thanks.
I like how he called out basically my exact setup with the XM8500 running into a UM2 with a $30 cable and a $20 mic arm.
Wholeheartedly agree with this video. Rules I like: Put mic close to mouth. Find a room with lots of soft things and texture. That's 70% of the battle, IMHO.
Since watching this video I noticed that it is absolutely true. Ill keep watching if it has good audio but I'm gone like the wind if the audio sucks.
Sample 2 is just so much better. You are yet again 100% correct.
I strongly agree with this video because while video is half of the presentation, audio is definitely key with anything that you produce.
I'm in cameras a lot but I agree with you. Importance of audio is often underrated in UA-cam videos.
I honestly think that I did the right thing, and went for audio first. Bought the NW-800, then AT2020, and (as of today) RODE Procaster. So far, I only have 2 webcams, mainly just for laughs.
This really is a very good way of conveying the importance of audio, especially for the starters
I totally agree!
I just spent about £5000 on acoustic treatment so that my videos sound as good as possible. Mr Ballen is a great example of a popular youtuber who I often click OFF simply because he has too much reverb and this makes him very difficult to listen to.
I don't know If I am the only person that feels that ways but liked your voice in the sample two to a lot more than your normal recordings because it sounds more airy and easier to listen to. It felt like less pressure on my ears and or less exhausting to listen to.
Great piece of evidence!
Keeping focus is way harder with inbuild omnidirectional mics in bad acoustics. Compression on top and nobody can listen painlessly. This became worse in the pandemic when so many people just did use their devices to be heard at TV or in the classroom. Sometimes a directional 30$ USB mic works wonders...
i totaly agree with you. bad audio breaks a video for me too. but i would like to understand why are very few people using shotgun mics? i feel they could make up for some of the challenges a podcaster or streamer has to deal with. first there is background noise rejection, witch is very good on shotgun mics. second there is bad mic etiquette. when you change distance just slightly on a mic thats very close to you, you have significant changes in audio levels. if you´d move the same ammount on a mic thats further away you wouldnt even notice. just my thoughts on that. maybe you can give me a clue to why that is.
thanks for the great content
regards
It’s almost like because the audio is good it tricks you into thinking the video really isn’t that bad. Definitely would pick your webcam with the AT vs the camera audio anyday
✨as a streamer good quality audio make my audience more entertained. Good video i love it
5 seconds into the video, and it's a instant yes for me. human are not really visual sensitive (resolution, colours, fps and stuff) but definitely audio sensitive.
im pretty sure one of the reasons i ended up getting my current video editing job is because i was pretty up front that I am an audio guy, first, and recognize that video is only going to be as good as your audio. Think the guy that hired me agreed with the logic.
Im now the "audio guy" people come to if they have issues with news clips.
Now if only I could convince photography to run their sound correctly so i can stop slamming my head on my desk because stuff is too quiet or way too loud. or they just forget to close mic the subject entirely