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Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

mattstauffer.com

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Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#111

Post by outworlder »

> Mine is the C930e, but Wirecutter now recommends the c920s, which is cheaper and adds a privacy shield.

Ah, Wirecutter. The same guys who will one year absolutely recommend dual-hose portable ACs (and cite many sources, including the Department of Energy) and utterly demolish the efficiency of single hose models. Then, next year, say that this is not actually important at all. Because they are less practical or something. Which is an argument they themselves discarded just one year prior.

What changed? That's left as an exercise for the reader.

They may be fine if you use them to check products that you might otherwise have missed. But as far as recommendations go, I'm not sure they have no agenda.

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#112

Post by emj »

Insanity wrote: post #103
nickjj wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Headphones play a big role here. If I plug in my budget earbuds I can't notice anything but with my studio headphones (which I normally use for everything) it's super distracting.

Studio headphones ftw! But yeah it's true, you hear more 'imperfections' when using higher-end audio gear. Wouldn't go back though.

I had the same experience way back, dithering on old CRT with composite videos is smoother since you create new colors given how the signal is transfered and converted compared to a high resolution computer display (800x600). Now days I'm pretty sure there are GPU filters for that.

Can this also be fixed by filters?

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#113

Post by nickjj »

klodolph wrote: post #97
nickjj wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). The DBX…

> But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). An awkward reality is that while prosumer preamps like those in the Scarlett are very nice for what they are, you often find yourself needing more clean gain than they comfortably provide. The Scarlett Solo’s gain range is listed…

> While the DBX is nice, everything but gain can be done in software later on.

Totally, but...

Doing it in software can be a pain because ideally you just want to flip your recorder on, talk and be done with it. Especially when your day to day involves recording many videos.

I know OBS has VST support but if you ever record outside of OBS everything sounds different.

Or if you want system wide software processing, it gets really complex with audio redirects / patching where it becomes a ceremony just to begin recording, and you need to worry about xruns, pops and other weird abnormalities unless the software you use is 100% amazing.

The only software I ever found to work well for that was in Windows using ASIO Link Pro to patch the real-time output of REAPER as microphone input to any app, but the author literally died and his license key server went offline (I bought it like 4-5 years ago). That is what eventually lead me to use the DBX. Now I just turn it on and never think about it, because it works the same across all apps with no ceremony, and will work on Linux too (or any OS).

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#114

Post by robbrown451 »

nickjj wrote: post #96
robbrown451 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that linked YouTube video, I didn't hear hiss or find anything objectionable in the sound. But I found it really distracting the way the microphone was so big in the picture. It even looked like it could be easily adjusted so the mic was in the same place but the stand was more out of the way. But if it was me, I'd go for a smaller / less obtrusive one even if the sound wasn't quite as good. Funny how different pe…

Headphones play a big role here. If I plug in my budget earbuds I can't notice anything but with my studio headphones (which I normally use for everything) it's super distracting.

Ahh. Using speakers.

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#115

Post by geocrasher »

pc86 wrote: post #57
Nicksil wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWH79A [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JX8O0Y

Thank you for providing non-affiliate links for those of us who don't want someone else making money off our unrelated purchases in the next 24 hours.

I know, the idea that somebody could link to something useful and then be compensated for the value of their recommendation is so awful. It should be illegal for people to make money for doing things online. It should all be free. If we could get farmers and ranchers in on it, then municipalities and auto makers- heck- lets get the whole government on it- everything will be free and everyone will work for the common good. What could possibly go wrong!

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#116

Post by rjvs »

nickjj wrote: post #50
lostapathy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to disagree on a lot of this. The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. Also worth noting that the fethead is tiny - it sits inline with your cable, whereas that dbx requires you to mount 19" rack gear at your desk, which is a big…

> The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). The DBX…

The title is "Remote Work, Podcast..." not focused on creating a personal recording studio. It's not really appropriate to have a rackmount pre-amp to just make you sound slightly better on a conference call.

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#117

Post by emilburzo »

Pigo wrote: post #60

I recently got a green screen to use during my video conferencing. I thought it would be fun just to mess with my co-workers, make it look like I'm on the Mars or something. I've yet to figure out how to get it to work with gotomeeting/skype/hangouts video though. I've found apps that can do it for recorded video, but I suppose it's on the camera to have the chroma effect available. Which the one I have doesn't do. I…

Zoom has this feature built-in, it's called virtual background.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/210707503-Virtual-...

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#118

Post by emilburzo »

uncensoredjrk wrote: post #58

Spending money on decent lights and cameras to then block the view with a GIANT microphone doesn't make sense to me. I've been involved with professional audio for 23 years--if I were doing this, I would use a decent single ear, earset style mic. That would keep the mic out of view, provide excellent sound quality, and keep the audio consistent if you turn your head (away from a fixed mic). It actually drives me nuts…

> I would use a decent single ear, earset style mic.

Any specific ones you'd recommend?

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#119

Post by jnwatson »

Pigo wrote: post #60

I recently got a green screen to use during my video conferencing. I thought it would be fun just to mess with my co-workers, make it look like I'm on the Mars or something. I've yet to figure out how to get it to work with gotomeeting/skype/hangouts video though. I've found apps that can do it for recorded video, but I suppose it's on the camera to have the chroma effect available. Which the one I have doesn't do. I…

I've done it for shits and giggles. Every once in a while I set it up when the team needs a laugh. If you use Linux, it isn't too hard to set up a virtual camera source that OBS Studio writes to.

Re: Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

#120

Post by jnwatson »

wdroz wrote: post #35
m00dy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also looking for its virtual-camera plugin which is only window :(

I'm was looking (still looking actually) for a virtual camera for GNU/Linux, but all the solutions I found involve lot of hacks. That would be awesome to be able to switch scenes from OBS inside a "corporate" video conference setup.

I've done it without too much trouble. I did have to compile and load a small kernel module, but it wasn't too hard. I have notes on how I did it if you're interested. Most of my time was spent in OBS tweaking the look.
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