Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

mattstauffer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 131 posts

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

#51

Post by nickjj »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #34
nickjj wrote: post #10

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA , there is a HUGE amount…

> home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. You can definitely baffle a lot/all of that noise away, but you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic. I've been privy to s…

> the example you posted is so obvious I was surprised at it.

Yeah I was surprised too. Considering that clip is from the author of the post.

> you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic.

Mine is on the floor, under my desk, which has a large thick piece of wood (the desktop) as a barrier and it still comes through without a noise gate. My mic is on a boom arm like 5 feet above my tower (I use a standing desk) and the mic is positioned opposite of my computer to further reduce it picking it up.

Also, a lot of people use laptops as their main computer which is even worse. Chances are you'll end up with your laptop on the top of your desk instead of below it.

That's why I was so taken back by him creating this article without mentioning noise cancellation.

Fortunately I do have the DBX and the noise floor is almost silent without clamping down too hard on natural frequencies. I've recorded about 400 videos, some with the DXB and some without and there's such a huge difference.

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

#52

Post by falcolas »

Another audio option I don't see mentioned often is a headset with a boom microphone. Some of my best sounding coworkers have these. They also typically have ambient sound rejection, meaning you can be in a relatively noisy environment (AC) and still sound good.

A nice pair of headphones can have a boom mike added with little hassle, using something like an Antlion Modmic.

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

#53

Post by nickjj »

balfirevic wrote: post #36
nickjj wrote: post #10

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA , there is a HUGE amount…

> As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. Do you know of any device with similar capabilities but in smaller form factor (even if more expensive)? Something of the size of Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 [0]. Or at least not meant to be mounted in a rack? [0]: https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio…

The 4i4 is just like the 2i2 (which is what I use). It basically acts as a way for you to plug in an XLR mic (or instrument) into your computer. It's classified as a USB audio interface.

It won't help you when it comes to background noise cancellation or any type of processing. For that you need something like the DBX or you can find other hardware that combos as a USB audio interface + pre-amp + processor (with comparable options to the DBX). I don't know of any offhand but maybe something exists.

Also, you can go the software route too to avoid needing any hardware (and just use a USB mic), but it gets a little more complicated. OBS supports VST plugins which is straight forward enough, but if you plan to record in other programs you won't have those effects applied.

Or you can delve into the wonderful world of software based audio redirecting where you can redirect the output of a DAW like REAPER into another app as input to capture and process audio in real time. I did this for years until the software I used stopped working due to the author dying and his license server went offline. Alternative software doesn't exist on Windows with the requirements I had so I decided to go with hardware.

The cool thing about the AT2005 mic I recommended from earlier is it has a USB and XLR connector, so you can try both out.

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

#54

Post by schrijver »

balfirevic wrote: post #36
nickjj wrote: post #10

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA , there is a HUGE amount…

> As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. Do you know of any device with similar capabilities but in smaller form factor (even if more expensive)? Something of the size of Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 [0]. Or at least not meant to be mounted in a rack? [0]: https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio…

Don’t know of any small units that also include a noise gate but otherwise something like a http://www.joemeek.com/threeq.html could do the job. A compact channel strip. Plenty of these units and their predecessors on the used market too.

Running your signal through analog EQ and compression is super useful, because they’re intuitive to use (just twist knobs) and once you’ve got your settings dialed in, it will survive any OS update or kernel panic :) And you’d need some dynamics processing digital or analog if you want to approximate the kind of voice people associate with radio or voice over.

I think a noise gate is tricky though, if set up wrong it can make the audio sound choppy. If at all feasible, reduce the noise at the source. Especially if you use a compressor, because as great as it can sound, it will also amplify the noise. You might notice this less if the compressor has a very fast release time (i.e. its amplification drops out immediately after the audio drops below the level where it’s supposed to kick in) but also that risks making the audio sound choppy and unnatural.

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

#55

Post by nickjj »

kwerk wrote: post #46
davzie wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A more directional and less sensitive mic like the NTG-2 may work better with some dampening on the walls or by adding a carpet. Additionally if you can't fix the room you can use a plugin to help reduce noise in dialog, something like Izotope RX7 will do a good job of doing this, but fixing the room should always be the first step. I've used both the SM7B and the NTG-2 and I would record vocals all day with the SM7B…

Does the NTG-2 work well in a desk setup with minimizing typing? I’m looking to find a better quality mic (blue yeti now) that does better at minimizing keystroke sound.

The problem with the NTG-2 is it sounds reasonable enough when you have nothing being compared to it, but when you put it side by side with a decent dynamic microphone where you can listen to each one in an A / B test then it falls apart due to sounding super muddy and thin. It's something you can pick out in a blind test 100 out of 100 times if you have decent headphones and there's nothing you can do in post-processing to fix it.

Shotgun mics with a very good dynamic range and a pleasant tone tend to be pretty expensive. Usually in the $1,400+ range. Compared to something like the AT2005 which is a dynamic mic and is $80, but now it sits in front of your face.

This video has a pretty decent comparison of a high quality dynamic microphone to a $300 shotgun mic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiYEX-omlFk. It has both talking and typing tests. It's not the NTG-2 shotgun mic tho, it's the Deity-S. But it does serve as a decent base line comparison of how much worse a shotgun mic sounds unless you go up to the very high end.

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

#56

Post by [deleted] »

nickjj wrote: post #10

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA , there is a HUGE amount…

[deleted]

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

#57

Post by pc86 »

Nicksil wrote: post #33
nickjj wrote: post #10

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA , there is a HUGE amount…

[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.

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

#58

Post by uncensoredjrk »

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 when podcasters use the SM7B mic and have their low-end cranked or don't apply a strong enough HPF to compensate for the mic's proximity effect. That's incredibly tiring to my ears--I usually end up reducing the low end via my playback device's EQ.

99% of the pre-amp options don't matter as long as you get a strong, clean signal into a decent ADC stage. Spend your efforts on learning how to properly process the signal chain instead (apply High-pass filter, proper gain, apply dynamic compression, possibly EQ/de-ess, etc.).

Sorry for the rant. :)

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

#59

Post by balfirevic »

nickjj wrote: post #53
balfirevic wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. Do you know of any device with similar capabilities but in smaller form factor (even if more expensive)? Something of the size of Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 [0]. Or at least not meant to be mounted in a rack? [0]: https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio…

The 4i4 is just like the 2i2 (which is what I use). It basically acts as a way for you to plug in an XLR mic (or instrument) into your computer. It's classified as a USB audio interface. It won't help you when it comes to background noise cancellation or any type of processing. For that you need something like the DBX or you can find other hardware that combos as a USB audio interface + pre-amp + processor (with comp…

I know what both of those are, I was asking if there was anything with functionality of DBX but with a form-factor of Scarlett 4i4. It doesn't even have to have an integrated USB audio interface, although that would be cool.

Thanks anyway for the recommendation of DBX.

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

#60

Post by Pigo »

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 don't want to spend too much just for a joke.
Post reply on HN