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Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

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Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#261

Post by gwbas1c »

ghaff wrote: post #75
fooblat wrote: post #51

It is amazing to me that we still have such a distance between people on this. Some people have basically created a tv studio at home with a nice set, good lighting, nice background, quality camera, and mic. Having a video call with these people is a nice and smooth. And somehow we still have people that think sitting in a noisy, messy room with the sun at their back and using their laptop's built-in mic/speakers is…

On the one hand, I'm sympathetic that not everyone has a place to create a TV studio at home. On the other hand, there are easy ways to block out the light from a backlighting window and to add a key light.

> On the other hand, there are easy ways to block out the light from a backlighting window and to add a key light.

It's a case of empathy. Do you have enough empathy to check how your video looks and do simple changes?

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#262

Post by corysama »

MattGaiser wrote: post #248
nvarsj wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ModMic is also excellent, and you can attach it to existing headphones [1]. I use this at home with my prized Sennheisers. It baffles me that some people don't seem to care about their audio quality on calls. The most obnoxious are those who use speakers and you get echo on all your talking, and despite telling them, they still never bother to get a decent mic. Another common offender are the Bose QC35s: they hav…

> It baffles me that some people don't seem to care about their audio quality on calls. 1. It is a bunch of extra work and expense for something I probably do not really want to be on. Easy audio communication is bound to induce more audio communication. 2. I have to maintain a bunch of infrastructure for it, manage configuration, and deal with all the wires. It is far from a free and easy improvement. 3. I rarely sp…

> Easy audio communication is bound to induce more audio communication.

Alternatively: if you you are going to be hassled with an online meeting, get it over with quickly and with the least stress. It is very slow and stressful to fumble around with “Can you repeat that?” or worse, people not mentioning that they didn’t actually understanding you and then dragging out the meeting with their misunderstanding.

“If you have to eat a shit sandwich, take big bites.”

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#263

Post by formerly_proven »

Mauricebranagh wrote: post #67
benkuhn wrote: post #13

It's also really easy to have high quality audio! The author recommends a "podcasting" microphone, but a $35 standalone headset mic[1] is almost as good and much easier to use. If you want to hear a comparison, I got kind of obsessed with this problem at one point and took some comparison recordings here[2]. (You need a standalone mic since most headsets, even really nice ones, have really bad mics because most heads…

I think I may have to send this link to our thursday night GM :-) his cheap headset mic keeps popping and has terrible quality. I use a chaepo Plantronics £40 for work but for my steaming I use a Focusrite claret and a separate cheap dynamic mic (plus an exciter). I do need to upgrade that mic to a sm58b or a AT 3035. I have thought about buying a focusrite scarlet and use a separate dynamic mic for work as well.

> his cheap headset mic keeps popping and has terrible quality.

That might have nothing to do with the microphone. For a headset mic it is important that it's placed completely outside the airstream of mouth and nose, otherwise all mics will sound atrocious and full of wind and popping noises. Look at how headset mics are rigged by pros on talent, they're quite a bit back from the mouth.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#264

Post by yoz-y »

nvarsj wrote: post #229
benkuhn wrote: post #13

It's also really easy to have high quality audio! The author recommends a "podcasting" microphone, but a $35 standalone headset mic[1] is almost as good and much easier to use. If you want to hear a comparison, I got kind of obsessed with this problem at one point and took some comparison recordings here[2]. (You need a standalone mic since most headsets, even really nice ones, have really bad mics because most heads…

The ModMic is also excellent, and you can attach it to existing headphones [1]. I use this at home with my prized Sennheisers. It baffles me that some people don't seem to care about their audio quality on calls. The most obnoxious are those who use speakers and you get echo on all your talking, and despite telling them, they still never bother to get a decent mic. Another common offender are the Bose QC35s: they hav…

The most difficult part is testing how you actually sound for other people. The software can do whatever to the signal coming out of your machine.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#267

Post by katbyte »

ricardobayes wrote: post #171
benkuhn wrote: post #13

It's also really easy to have high quality audio! The author recommends a "podcasting" microphone, but a $35 standalone headset mic[1] is almost as good and much easier to use. If you want to hear a comparison, I got kind of obsessed with this problem at one point and took some comparison recordings here[2]. (You need a standalone mic since most headsets, even really nice ones, have really bad mics because most heads…

For those who are not looking to spend a fortune, a simple Apple earpod (wired) is still better than most headsets out there. And it costs 20 bucks. I think my yeti actually sounds worse at it cost 3 times as much.

Also as someone at a company almost exclusively MacBooks, I’ve never noticed and issue with sound or video quality

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#268

Post by squarefoot »

Recording gear is not the most important part: a decent mike paired with a good and properly set up preamp/compressor will do. What is extremely important is the ambient noise and reflections that will be picked up by the microphone in a far from ideal environment. In other words, be prepared to spend more in sound proofing than in recording gear.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#269

Post by formerly_proven »

himinlomax wrote: post #65
diarrhea wrote: post #2

People vastly undervalue good audio quality. It also often makes the difference (given equal visuals) between great amateur and pro in e.g. the YouTube scene. I didn't have data to back this up before, but I bought a good microphone specifically for this purpose. People will simply like the audio, and by extension what I am saying and also me as a person, better. Meanwhile, my ears will continue to bleed from the awf…

> People vastly undervalue good audio quality Providers of conferencing tools undervalue audio quality as well, as evidenced by the fact that they don't provide tools that have been common for audio recording for nearly a century, such as simple vu-meters.

Okay, you are suggesting something (level meters, "you are clipping the shit out of your input"-indicators) that would actively improve things.

Let me suggest instead that they shall start by not actively harming things. Microsoft Teams is an excellent study subject for "how on earth do you make something this bad while owning all of Skype's IP?".

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#270

Post by jcims »

jakebasile wrote: post #196

I have no evidence to back this up, but I strongly believe that video quality would have similar effects. I am a hobbyist photographer and began using my gear to improve my video quality on calls 6-8 months ago and people have continually commented on it, from executives to regular schmucks like me. We're a visual species and having a better view of the person you are talking with will help form connections. It doesn…

I'm surprised nobody has released a reasonable quality USB camera that supports standard lens mounts. There are some out there but they seem to be suited more for computer vision projects than video conferencing.
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