2018 I tried something new in my professional life. It felt like it
was time to shake things up, so I entered a training program in the
insurance industry. The program was with a multi-billion dollar
company offering (as I discovered) quality products. On a sunny
summer day, I showed up at their training center to meet my fellow
candidates and the trainers. The real-life experience of the
trainers and the quality of the training overall impressed me. With
one notable exception.
Their videos sucked.
Compared
to the high quality of everything else, I experienced with that
company, the poor quality of the training videos glared. These were
uncomplicated videos, nothing more than animated slideshows. The
problem wasn’t with the material or its presentation.
The
problem was the audio.
With over 30 years’ experience in
radio, podcasts, and other audio endeavors, I am more sensitive to the
quality of audio than most people. The problem with these videos
wasn’t small technical flaws. It was clear that the company did not
believe that the audio tracks were worth the meticulous attention
that all the rest of their material received. It’s a common issue I
find with audio/visual projects large and small.
In the
case of the training videos, there were the following issues:
1:
They had opted not to use professional voice talent. Yes, that’s
obvious. My bet is the producer had gone around the office collecting
people with “good speaking voices”. In a company based in sales,
that’s easy to find. The problem is, there is a difference between
reading aloud and delivering a script in a natural manner. These all
sounded stilted and artificial.
2: In multi-voice
pieces (people role-playing conversations), they used a single
microphone. It’s easy to catch this one because a voice will fade
out on the last couple of words as they move out of the way of the next
speaker. This also creates an unnatural rhythm to the “conversations”
3: They recorded in a non-studio environment not set up
for recording. There was the unmistakable hollowness known as “room
boom”. But my absolute favorite was when you could hear
conversations in the next office or out in the hall in the
background! I imagine they had set up in a conference room in a busy
section of the office. They didn’t think it would be a problem.
They were wrong.
4: Audio quality varied from recording
to recording. Some were bright and clear, others were muddy or with
extraneous “noise” (hums, buzzes, static). They made no effort to
make the audio consistent and clear.
Finding this lack of
care from a business that can afford to do things right is
unfortunate. But they are not the only times I run into this. Videos
of all kinds, from content providers of all levels of experience and
visibility, too often show this lack of concern about their audio.
They may have cool video effects, but support them with sketchy
audio. Quality audio end-products are no more complicated to create
than video. In fact, they can be simpler. But people seem to be
reluctant to put that little bit of extra effort into their
projects.
The funny part is that what you need to do to
get good quality audio isn’t hard. Once you have the right parts,
setting yourself up for success is quick to reproduce. Here’s a
quick checklist:
Choose a good location. It should be an
area that is quiet as a general rule. Not sure if it’s quiet
enough? Set up your microphone in that room and record about five
minutes at the time of day your plan to do your recordings. If you
can hear people, traffic, or nature on the recording, you may need to
re-think the location.
Create
a “studio” inside the room. A quiet room isn’t enough. You
will still record that “hollow” sound that comes from the
voice(s) echoing off the walls. Our ears filter it out. Your mic will
not. A simple solution? Two science fair tri-fold displays draped
with bath towels. It may look goofy, but it is a simple solution for
next to no investment.
Invest in a decent microphone. A
quality USB microphone, to be used with a computer, is
available for $100 or so. It makes a HUGE difference. My
current mic cost me $99. But I created radio programs for several
years using a $20 gamer headset with a microphone. The quality of the
sound was impressive.
Don’t get hung up on the
“technology”. My current setup is a Windows 7 computer using free
audio software. It gives me all the flexibility I need, and a wide
range of tools for my most complicated projects.
Make
sure you schedule in the time to get it done right. Doing quality
audio doesn’t take that long with the right set-up. But you can’t
just “toss it off”. The ROI is immense.
Get
quality voice talent. Don’t settle for someone who “reads well”.
Not if you’re serious about the project. A personal project that
you voice yourself is fine (although learning the skills associated
with good voice-over work is worth the time). But videos like the
ones I mention above deserve quality work, top to bottom. Talent
costs money, but for a sub-ten minute video, you can get a solid
announcer for under $100. This is a “you pay for what you get”
business. Spend a little on the right project.
This is a
“golden age” for content producers. We have more outlets and more
tools at our disposal than ever before. So I can’t understand why
so many videos end up with sub-par audio.
There’s no
reason your videos should suck.
(My recording set -up
includes an older Acer desktop running Win7, a science tri-fold board
covered in bath towels, a Yeti microphone by Blue Microphones, and
Audacity, the free audio recording/editing software. I use it for
radio programs, podcasts, audio drops, and a range of audio projects.
The quality doesn’t match what you can get from a professional
studio, but it’s close. Swap out the desktop for a laptop and it’s
even portable! The setup for a video where you are seeing the person
talking on screen would be a little different (and a little more
expensive). But there’s no excuse for awful audio. Ever. I have
received no compensation from these companies.)
Stories Are My Life 
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