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How to give your voiceovers that professional presence in Adobe Audition

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No matter how good the equipment we use to record audio, there’s always some room for improvement. Of course, we have to record it properly, eliminate background noise, echo, ground hum and pre-amp hiss, but there’s more to it than that. High-end voiceovers just have a feel about them that isn’t just a plain old voice recording. They have a warmth and richness to them.

Getting that feel isn’t so difficult. Your mileage will vary depending on the source material (your natural voice), but it’s just a few simple steps in Adobe Audition. In this video, Nathaniel Dodson from Tutvid walks us through the whole process.

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How to record great audio for your videos even with a phone

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For those of you who aren’t planning to ditch YouTube and will keep making videos, you know sound is important. People will forgive a slightly dodgy video if the audio’s perfect. But if the audio isn’t great, then it doesn’t matter how pretty the picture is.

Getting good audio can be a struggle, although it’s really not that difficult. As with lighting, you just need to understand the principles. Once you do, you can even get good quality audio with your phone. In this video, Darious Britt offers up a whole bunch of tips and techniques for recording audio and the principles for getting good sound.

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How to understand microphone specs to get the best sound for your project

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With more and more people shooting video and creating content for YouTube, microphones are more ubiquitous than they used to be. But when you want to go for one that’s a little more serious, they come with all kinds of tech data. The question most of us want to know the answer to, though, is simply “How good does it sound?”

But the answer is a little more complicated than we might think. Each of those specs means something, and it’ll affect the sound in a certain way. And which is “best” depends on what you’re trying to record. This video from Podcastage looks through 10 of the most important microphone specs and breaks down their meaning in simple terms.

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Give your visuals feeling and mood with music and sound effects

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Other than having a good microphone to pick up voices, sound is something that new filmmakers often ignore. But sound is easily as important as the visual, if not more so, when it comes to video production. Sound sets the mood and tone for the video as a whole, or for individual scenes. It can create tension and excitement. Or, it can make the viewer feel comfortable and relaxed.

In this video, young filmmaker and YouTuber Rory Marion talks us through some of his tips and tricks for the sound design process. It begins with selecting music and adding audio effects to enhance the visual. At only 14, Rory may still be young, but he has some good insight and a promising future.

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Using an invisible shotgun microphone right in the shot

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Sometimes, you want to use a shotgun microphone, but the angle is too wide, or the location demands that the microphone would be very close to the subject. So close that it gets in the shot. Videographer Griffin Hammond has a great tip on placing a shotgun mic very close to your subject, while not seeing it in the final frame. Think invisible shotgun mic.

The trick is to actually place the shotgun very close to the subject (i.e. in the frame) but making sure that nothing is moving behind or in front of it. Then masking the video “in post” with a piece of frame that does not have that microphone in it.

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How to DIY a $15 tactical bag into a custom audio kit bag

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When you start to get more serious about video and recording your audio separately, the gear can be a pain. Sure, you start off with a Tascam DR-100 recorder or something, with its little pouch that clips onto your belt. But then, before you know it, you need 4 channels (bigger recorder), wireless mic receivers, battery packs and all kinds of doohickies.

Purpose designed audio bags are available, but can be very expensive. You may decide you want a pricey one eventually, but right at the start? Surely it’s better to just modify a cheap general purpose $15 tactical bag? This video from Devin at DSLR Film Noob shows us how to adapt this bag to your field recording needs.

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Sound may have the biggest impact on how well your film tells its story

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It’s often said that the camera is the least important aspect of shooting video. That people will watch a low quality noisy video without any problem, as long as the sound is flawless. But sound isn’t just about getting a clean quality recording. You do want to get clean audio from your talent. That’s an obvious one. But sound can enhance your story even more than the visuals.

This video from The Royal Ocean Film Society looks at how sound is used in film for storytelling effect. Like camera movements, or shot transitions, story-enhancing sound is often so perfect, you barely even notice it’s there. Sometimes, it’s obvious and in your face. And occasionally, sound isn’t there at all. Either way, playing with sound can produce very dramatic and telling results.

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How and why to use audio effects to make incredible videos

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Although most of us are photo and video lovers, you have to admit – there’s no good video without good audio. You can watch a video with poor video quality, you’ll get through it. But it’s quite difficult and annoying to watch one with bad sound, with lots of muffling and crackling.

Audio plays a huge role in telling the story and rounding up the video work. So, Peter McKinnon tells you more about it. Here are some ideas how to incorporate good music and sound effects into your videos, how and where to get them and how to use them to make your videos amazing.

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DSLR Audio: Aputure A.lav vs. RodeLink Filmmaker Kit vs. Rode VideoMic Pro

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When it comes to DSLR and audio you really don’t want to use the microphone in your camera. It involves echo, directionality, mic quality, sound bouncing and more. The short version is that it just sounds crap.

We compared three options for DSLR audio (four if you count the crappy in-camera sound) and we wanted to put it out there. Of course, you want to get the best microphone out there, but there are other aspects than sound quality, like budget, intended usage, power and wired vs wireless.

The three microphones we are comparing are:

Aputure A.lav, a wired Lav mic @$35: Amazon | B&H
RodeLink Filmmaker Kit, a wireless lav mic @$400: Amazon | B&H
Rode VideoMic Pro, a shotgun mic @$229: Amazon | B&H

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How to get better audio in your video edits by using the environment

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Whether you’re editing for a cinematic short, a promotional video, interview or even a vlog, good audio is vital. Or at least, consistent audio. One of the things many people forget with recording sound, though, is ambient noise. No matter where you are, there’s always something going on in the background. It might be birds chirping, cars in the distance, or the hum of an air conditioning unit.

Our brains typically tune out this “noise” and ignore it. But when it’s absent, we do pick up on it and it’s very noticeable. When editing video, separating out clips or switching to b-roll, these audio gaps can start to pop up here and there. This video from Ray Ortega at The Podcasters’ Studio shows us how to overcome this problem by recording our environment.

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