Not your father’s FrontPage (and talking about Europe’s tech scene)

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" :)

After a looooooong time I've actually watched one of your videos again, besides being somewhat boring it was so hard to listen to it, why can't you afford decent microphones with all that seed money?

Jens: I have a camera that costs $4,000 and it comes with a darn good directional microphone. Oh, you asking me to put a wireless microphone on each subject? Easy. I can't afford an audio engineer to make sure the damn things work right. I do all my own video, my own audio, and I stick with stuff that's easy to do and works and is low cost to produce.

On an unrelated topic,why did you cut the amount of posts displayed on your main page to 5?

I like your interviews, but I agree with Jens that sound could be improved. I'm a former TV reporter/videographer ... what's called a "one man band" in the TV news business. I know it sounds like a hassle to mic interview subjects up, but it's quite simple and soon becomes a no-brainer. You don't need a sound engineer - just a small (and relatively inexpensive) lavalier mic which can be discreetly attached to your subject's shirt. Just do a quick "check, check" on sound levels and you're ready to go. I think the production value bar on user-generated video is currently set pretty low on the internets as a whole ... it would be great if more influential voices - like yours - started nudging it upward.

Robert,

I for one have absolutely no problem hearing the audio.
I always enjoy the products you post.

Take a look at my living textbook: http://www.pass-ed.com/Living-Textbook.html

Oran: a single lavalier microphone pinned on someone's shirt doesn't work for me. Neither does one with a cord. At least not for stuff like the Twitter tour (the most popular video I've posted in the past month) I posted last week.

When you get two microphones complexity goes up by a factor of 2. If you don't set the levels right, you won't hear one of the interviewees. If the cord fails (happened to me twice now) things go nutty and you won't notice until you watch the tape. I can't afford to lose interviews. They MUST work and they MUST be low-cost to produce. That means sticking with the on-camera directional microphone which is pretty good. I listen to every video I do and I can hear everything. I have cheap speakers (and good ones) and maybe it's time to upgrade your speakers?

Wireless microphones? I had one of those fail and you can't rely on them. Anyone who works with wireless knows this. The "pros" have an audio engineer listening as the recording is going on to make sure everything is working. I don't have that luxury.

"The “pros” have an audio engineer listening as the recording is going on to make sure everything is working. I don’t have that luxury."

Maybe just use a hand mike then? Hey, it can't be that difficult to have some half decent audio recorded there. Spending 4K$ on a Camera makes no sense if you can't hear a thing... And I was really trying to understand what Matthias was talking about.

Besides, IMHO you're carrying what interesting stuff is left at Podtech now that GETV is gone, so please, don't make it any harder on your audience than necessary.

Jens: I can hear Matthias on my cheap speakers. Not sure what kind of speakers you're trying to use.

Hand mikes will work in some situations. I'll think about it. It wouldn't work in the "Twitter headquarter tour" situation, though.

The audio quality is great. Just crank up the volume a little in post production. The signal/noise-ratio is excellent, so there's nothing wrong with your mic.

I for one have absolutely no problem hearing the audio.
I always enjoy the products you post
from jade

I like your interviews, but I agree with Jens that sound could be improved. I’m a former TV reporter/videographer … what’s called a “one man band” in the TV news business. I know it sounds like a hassle to mic interview subjects up, but it’s quite simple and soon becomes a no-brainer. You don’t need a sound engineer - just a small (and relatively inexpensive) lavalier mic which can be discreetly attached to your subject’s shirt. Just do a quick “check, check” on sound levels and you’re ready to go. I think the production value bar on user-generated video is currently set pretty low on the internets as a whole … it would be great if more influential voices - like yours - started nudging it upward.
from jade

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