Microphones for Zoom & Teams Meetings for Beginners
In this episode, we cover the basics you need to know when choosing a USB microphone for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or any other online meetings. We teach you the difference between dynamic and condenser microphones and when you might want to choose each. We cover directionality, also referred to as polar patterns. And then we demo two different USB microphones — the Shure MV7 and the RODE NT-USB Mini.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVEStore, Perfect Circuit, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Shure MV7 dynamic USB microphone - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- RODE NT-USB Mini condenser USB microphone - B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Amazon
- Desk microphone stand - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L lens - B&H, Amazon
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens - B&H, Amazon
- Aputure C120D II LED light - Aputure, B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Sound for Video Session: Hide Lavalier Mic Under a T-shirt & Q&A
In this week's Sound for Video Session, we cover your sound related questions.
Article describing cardioid microphone design.
Video covering the key light I use for livestreaming.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Moleskin for hiding lavalier mics - Amazon
- Transpore tape for hiding lavalier mics - Amazon
- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 Camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon
- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Why Do Pros Use Gear Like the RF Venue Diversity Fin Antenna?
Why do professional sound mixers use antennae like the RF Venue Diversity Fin Antenna? In this episode, we talk about wireless microphone antenna basics and demonstrate how the Diversity Fin extended the range of the Audio Ltd. A10 wireless system by about 25 meters when recording outdoors in a wide open space.
I purchased all of this equipment myself and no companies or anyone else has paid me to make this video.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVEStore, Perfect Circuit, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- RF Venue Diversity Fin Antenna - B&H
- Audio Ltd A10 wireless microphone system - B&H
- Shure Twinplex TL48 lavalier microphone - B&H, Sweetwater
- Sennheiser MKH8050 microphone - B&H, Amazon
- Sound Devices 888 audio field recorder/mixer - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 lens - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C200 camera - B&H
- Canon EF 24-105 f/4L lens - B&H, Amazon
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Sound for Video Session: Loudness Meters & Q&A
In this week's Sound for Video Session, we have a look at various loudness meters, from hardware to software, and then we cover your sound related questions.
ITU-BS.1770-4 Loudness standards document
Thanks to Musicbed for the music for this session - “Sunset Drive” by Virgil Arles. Get the best music for your videos at Musicbed. Also check out the playlist of songs we've used over time on the streams.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- tc electronic Clarity M stereo loudness meter - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 Camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon
- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Izotope RX Phase — Fix Uneven or Asymmetric Audio Waveforms
Have you ever found that your audio waveforms are uneven or asymmetric — where the top of the waveform hits a much higher peak level than the bottom of the waveform? Or vice versa? And, is it a problem when it does? It turns out that this sometimes happens, especially with some men’s voices. And the problem is that you just aren’t left with enough headroom to boost or normalize the sound levels for your online videos or podcasts. In this episode, we show how you can use Izotope RX’s phase plugin to fix this issue. This will allow you to boost your sound levels without clipping or distorting.
The Phase plugin is available in RX Elements, Standard, and Advanced. See link for Izotope RX below.
Videos on Loudness: Volume vs Loudness How to Loudness Normalize your Audio
Special thanks to Paul Figgiani who provided valuable insights on waveform asymmetry and how to fix it.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVEStore, Perfect Circuit, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Izotope RX - B&H, Sweetwater
- Sennheiser MKH8050 microphone - B&H, Amazon
- Sound Devices 888 audio field recorder/mixer - B&H, Sweetwater
- Earthworks SR-314 microphone - B&H, Sweetwater
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series audio recorder - B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Amazon
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Sound for Video Session: Sennheiser MKE 400, Coda MB-Stealth, & Q&A
In this week's Sound for Video Session, we demonstrate the Sennheiser MKE 400 camera-top tiny shotgun microphone (we'll use it set up as a mic for live streaming), the Coda Music MB-Stealth (an inline microphone preamp like the Cloud Lifter or FETHead), and then answer your sound for video related questions.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Sennheiser MKE 400 camera-top shotgun microphone - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Coda Music Technologies MB-Stealth inline microphone preamplifier - Coda Music
- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 Camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon
- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Izotope RX De-click & Mouth De-click Demo
The Izotope RX De-click and Mouth De-click modules/plugins are helpful tools in managing mouth clicks, pops, and saliva noise in spoken word audio. In this episode, we demonstrate where, when, and how to use each of them.
The De-click plugin is available in RX Elements, Standard, and Advanced while the Mouth De-click plugin is only available in the Standard and Advanced versions of RX.
Mouth De-click is generally less aggressive and can be used to remove saliva noise and clicks within dialogue audio. The De-Click plugin is more aggressive and I usually only use it when I can select just the mouth click I want to remove.
Special thanks to Paul Figgiani who provided valuable insights on how best to use the De-click and Mouth De-click plugins. Paul shares insightful information on spoken word audio post processing over at Produce New Media.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVEStore, Perfect Circuit, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Izotope RX - B&H, Sweetwater
- Earthworks SR-314 microphone - B&H, Sweetwater
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series audio recorder - B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Amazon
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Sound for Video Session: Setting Gain Across Devices for Live & Q&A
In this week's Sound for Video Session, we demonstrate how to ensure the gain staging of your audio is consistent through the entire signal chain when interconnecting multiple audio devices for live streams. Then we cover your sound for video questions.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 Camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon
- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Izotope RX Voice De-noise In Depth - Remove Room Noise
In this episode, we demonstrate how to use Izotope’s RX Voice De-noise plugin to reduce things like fan or any steady sort of noise in the background. We dive into the details of how the plugins works and what each of the settings do so that you can optimize your recordings and de-noise effectively. The Voice De-noise plugin is part of Izotope RX Elements, Standard, and Advanced.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVEStore, Perfect Circuit, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Izotope RX - B&H, Sweetwater
- Earthworks SR-314 microphone - B&H, Sweetwater
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series audio recorder - B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Amazon
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd
Sound for Video Session: Doc Justice, CAS
In this week's Sound for Video Session, we are joined by Doc Justice, CAS. Doc is a production sound mixer and the founder of Halter Technical - maker of headphones for video and film production sound.
Halter Technical - check out Doc's piece titled, "The Future of Production Sound" at Halter Technical.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon
- Canon C70 Camera - B&H
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon
- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H
Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.
Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd