Microphone that wont require additional sound enhancement

Hi,

I'm currently working on creating a few courses, but the process of having to use Audacity to enhance the recordings is becoming a bit tiresome. Are there microphones that will produce a better quality sound without needing such enhancements? Or, is this simply part of the process? I'm using a fairly cheap mic so I wasn't sure.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

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unknown

It's worth investing in a good microphone that won't pickup the room echo. A good cardioid mic such as the blue yeti with the gain turned down, on cardioid setting, will save a lot of editing if you speak close to it and use a pop filter.

if doing slides voiceover, I use the rode podcaster which is a condenser mic and you need to be right on top of it - hence very little room echo.

ultimatley, sound editing is king! Despite being a sound and recording nerd, everything gets run through software to tweak it.

it's well worth the editing as poor sound will lose you a student immediately and risk a poor course review.

all the best with your course creations.

FrankKane

Sometimes better microphone placement is all you need. If it's too far from you, it will pick up more room echo and noise, and your voice will sound less resonant. Placement can be even more important than the quality of the mic. Buying a boom arm to let you get it right where it needs to be might be a good investment - or simpler solutions would be using a headset mic or lavalier mic. Those headset used by gamers can be surprisingly good.

Taking the time to get the input level right on your mic is also important and can save a lot of time in post-production.

Personally I'm using a Shure SM-7B. You can set it up so that you basically have it right up to your mouth, and that really works wonders in eliminating any echo or room noise - and it's a high quality mic. Not cheap though, and it needs specialized pre-amps and some sort of XLR -> USB device in order to work with your PC.

I used a Blue Yeti on a boom arm for a long time though, and it sounded almost as good while being much simpler.

Apart from editing out mistakes, I don't do any post-processing of my audio.

GeneSukhorukov

Good question! I think sound is the most important part of the video :smileyhappy:

You need a dynamic mic (not condenser!) if you don't have nicely treated room.

If you are just doing voice over, something like ATR 2100 XLR/USB will work great. It is used by many podcasters becasue it does not catch room sound as much as other mics.

If you are in the frame, then lavalier mic will work best. Try Rode SmartLav

You can plug it into smart phone and it works great! I've used it quite a few times.

Finally, if you really want to get fancy, Heil PR-40 is what you may wnat (you would need preamp for it). If you check out my course I just released, I'm recording audio using that mic.

On the other hand, I still do a little bit processing... Much less than I did when I used other mics.

Good luck!

ChrisTusa

Thanks so much for the feedback. I really appreciate it.