Recording Narration

Following on from my previous post where I shared with you my most recent YouTube video, I’d like to talk briefly, here in this blog post, about how I recorded the narration.

So, using a compact digital camera without a ‘mic in’ port, I have often found that recording narration over the video footage is a good way to get clear audio. There are a number of reasons for this and, until earlier this year, I’d spent the past three-years making the most of an affordable Logic 3 headset.

It’s primarily designed with gamers in mind but it helped to get me going with the narration idea. One thing I leaned immediately was that built-in laptop microphones can be absolutely appalling.

Sometime last year, I managed to accidentally snap the the headband of this headset. All of the electronics remained fine; it became less comfortable and more inconvenient to wear properly, as I attempted to hang each piece over my ears.

I’d been thinking about upgrading to a Snowball Mic

for a while, even though I wasn’t keen on the price. A number of people on YouTube seem to have these but I’m glad that I haven’t splashed out on one just yet.

With the Snowball microphones though, you can purchase inexpensive ‘pop filters’ that reduce the ‘popping’ that can accompany your Ps and Bs, for example. This was an issue with my Logic 3 headset that I was never able to resolve. Plus, I would occasionally experience a buzzing sound that unfortunately found its way on to several uploads.

As I mentioned briefly in my previous post; I used my smartphone as the recording device this time and the inspiration for this idea came from one of Jay Bates’ blog post last year.

Jay went a little bit further and ‘modified’ a set of earphones in to more of a conventional Lav Mic. For me, right now, sat behind a computer screen; I’m happy to have a pair of buds in my ears while I narrate. I did actually purchase two pairs of these earphones (they were advertised on eBay for iPods and iPhones)so that I can ‘modify’ one of them and still have a spare in case it doesn’t work.

When I’m next in a workshop and looking to speak in front of a camera, I’ll be using a similar setup. I did actually purchase a Clip-On Lav Mic

from Amazon at the start of this year but, even though it has the 3.5mm jack, my smartphone does not seem to respond to it.

So, that’s what I’m doing right now and I hope that this information helps someone.

Thanks for reading.