How to not suck at recording audio using the Zoom PodTrak P4 and Shure SM58 microphone

how's it going everyone casey here welcome back to my channel kcn location i've been posting a number of tutorial videos on how to do recordings using either the zoompatrek p4 or the rode roadcaster pro or the zoom h6 recorder in this video i will do something a little different and will discuss the proper techniques for using your microphone for recording and getting the best audio quality before i continue further i will mention that the audio you're hearing now is coming from the rode wireless go microphone lavalier system the rode wireless transmitter is clipped onto my shirt below my collar which is located right here i'm only using the built-in microphone on the transmitter and i find the sound quality to be very good even without having a wired lava mic attached to it i'm going to do a quick mic check now with the rode transmitter right here hello mic check one two three hello mikechik321 i'm filming this video with the canon vixia g60 camcorder in the highest 4k quality setting at 150 megabits per second the camcorder's audio level is set manually at 35 the rode wireless receiver is connected to the g60 camcorder and the rode wireless receiver is set for the lowest gain level i am monitoring my audio level with a 5.5 inch feel world external monitor on top of the camera so i can easily see the audio gain level which is registering between negative 6 to negative 12 decibels which is the perfect recording level so you should be able to hear me loud and clear throughout this video for lighting i'm using the godox sl60 led light with a photix raha 65 circular softbox and honeycomb grid attached for soft directional lighting i have the brightness level set to 60 percent power and the light is set for 5500 degrees kelvin temperature and here is the honeycomb grid attached to the front for diffused directional lighting so i don't get any unwanted light spill okay so for my next magic trick i'm going to use this mirror right here and i'm going to place it right up against the front of the camcorder lens so it will reflect the feel world external monitor which you'll be able to see what i'm seeing so here we go all right so here is the feel world 5.5 inch external monitor that is connected to the top of the camcorder and everything that the monitor is showing externally is exactly the same content that is from the camcorder's 3-inch lcd screen right here so in the mirror you can also see that there is the rode wireless go receiver it's attached to the side of the bracket right over here which in turn is connected to the g60 camcorder by way of the 3.5 millimeter auxiliary cable going into the camera's microphone port i'm going to remove the rode wireless receiver now so you can see that there is a small lcd screen giving me audio level readings as the green decibel bar is moving left to right so here is the rode wireless receiver and you'll notice as i'm talking there's a green decibel bar moving left to right all right let me put it back on the bracket here now the rode receiver is wirelessly receiving my voice signal from the road transmitter clipped to my collar you can see that as i'm speaking into the road transmitter which is clipped to my collar the external monitor has two different decibel scales that are moving there is a larger decibel scale at my bottom right of the monitor that has a white color horizontal bar moving left to right and it's hitting around negative 12 to negative six which is perfect there's also another decibel scale to my left of the screen that is showing a green color vertical bar going up and down and that is an extra way for me to monitor my decibel level so that i can be sure i'm recording at the appropriate level so that's how i'm able to get good audio that doesn't suck for making youtube videos i first set my audio level on my camera's menu to about 35 then i set the rode wireless receiver to the lowest gain level setting because it has a low medium and high setting then i test the audio settings by speaking into the transmitter to see where the decibel bars are reaching with the combination of those audio settings from the camera and the microphone i'm able to achieve between negative 6 to negative 12 on the decibel scale as i'm recording into the rode wireless transmitter which is clipped onto my shirt below my collar when it comes to the subject of getting good audio quality it can be challenging for sure when it comes to making videos such as what i'm doing right now we need to remember that video consists of two separate parts that are equally important one part is the video which is why it's important to use a decent camera with good lighting composition and proper focusing the other part is audio which means we need to use decent microphone equipment and practice proper mic techniques for recording the room and environment also makes a big difference for recording quality as well which i will discuss later on so now let's talk about microphone equipment which really boils down to exactly two different types of microphones the first type is known as a dynamic cardioid mic for example here are two different dynamic cardioid mics right here is the audio technica atr 2100x over here is the shure sm58 mic a dynamic cardioid mic is designed in such a way that it is necessary to speak very closely to the front of the mic capsule in order to properly record the sound of your voice if you are too far away the mic will record your voice too low in volume you need to be literally within two to four inches away from the mic for best recorded quality a dynamic microphone has a cardioid pickup pattern what that means is the mic is designed so that it will pick up the sound of your voice the best while speaking in front of the microphone here however when speaking to the left or right sides or the back side of the microphone the cardioid pickup pattern means the mic will barely record your voice and it will be low in volume this is a good thing because if you are in a somewhat noisy environment such as noisy car traffic across the street or a dog barking in the distance or your two-year-old baby is crying in the next room this dynamic cardioid microphone will barely record any of that unwanted background noise that will otherwise spoil your recording so this is why choosing a dynamic microphone with a cardioid pickup pattern is ideal for recording because this type of mic will mainly record your voice only and will reject the unwanted background noises coming from the sides and the rear of the microphone it doesn't have to be expensive either both of these dynamic microphones here on the table are only one hundred dollars each there are even less expensive microphone models such as the shure sm48 that only costs 40 dollars and will also get the job done well there is an even cheaper mic that is the behringer xm 8500 dynamic cardioid mic that only costs 23 dollars and has good reviews that will also work i will enter links for these microphones mentioned so you can order these if you like some good places to buy microphones and audio gear are sweetwater audio and b h photography and even your local best buy store the other type of microphone is known as a condenser mic i would say that for most people you really do not want to use a condenser type of microphone and why is that you might ask because the design of a condenser mic makes it much more sensitive for picking up sounds from a distance including sounds you don't want to record this means all the annoying background noises such as dogs barking or traffic noise including the room ac or fan ventilation that can easily be heard by the condenser mic and it will spoil your audio this also means you will have to do extra work in post-processing to repair and try to get rid of that unwanted background noise however if you insist on using a condenser mic because maybe that's what you already have then you will want to try to reduce all the unwanted background noise as much as possible for example you can record with your condenser microphone inside your closet because it's probably very quiet inside your closet plus all the coats and clothing hanging inside the closet will help to absorb any voice echo and will improve your audio the other important factor to consider if using a condenser microphone is that it needs to be powered by your recording device a condenser mic requires power otherwise it will not work for recording any sound so that means whatever recording device you are using it needs to have a feature known as 48 volt phantom power that will enable a condenser microphone to be able to record sound otherwise there will be silence for example over here is the zoom pod track p4 there are four different channels to insert separate microphones into here's channel one two three and four there are also four separate horizontal levers below each channel with different settings that you can choose depending on whether the mic being used is a dynamic mic or a condenser mic so these are the four separate levers that you can choose depending on whether the mic being used is a dynamic mic or a condenser mic so if you're using a dynamic mic the lever should be set to the left side because no phantom power is required so it should be set to the left side it already is but let me just demonstrate that this lever can be switched left to right so if you're using a dynamic microphone that does not require phantom power it should be set to the left side however if you are using a condenser microphone you need to move the lever over to the right side which will enable 48 volts of phantom power this is only necessary if using a condenser microphone so if let's pretend this is a condenser microphone you need to switch this over to the right side because there is a little icon there that looks like a thunderbolt which means 48 volts of phantom power is enabled to power the condenser microphone you will also need to keep in mind that by enabling phantom power for a condenser microphone this will drain your battery life faster for whatever battery source your recording device is using therefore you should really use an external battery pack for powering your podrack p4 especially if you are using condenser microphones for recording and by the way i don't want to give the impression that using a condenser type of microphone is always bad for example the only one condenser mic that i have is this somewhat expensive 170 dollar blue yeti x usb microphone resting on this adjustable microphone boom arm there are many reviews online that poo poo the blue yeti usb mic for recording and you know what i would have to generally agree with that a blue yeti mic is not the ideal microphone to use for recording purpose because it's simply way too sensitive for picking up all the surrounding background noise that you don't want included however in my case i'm only using my blue yeti mic for doing simple casual zoom video call meetings because this blue yeti mic is a condenser mic which is extra sensitive for picking up sound from a distance i'm using that to my advantage that means i don't need to speak very closely into the blue yeti for my voice to be heard i can simply lean back on my comfortable chair and lift up my feet on the table while talking to the mic from a distance so that's how i use my blue yeti mic otherwise for any type of recording projects i only use my dynamic microphones which also include my rode pod mics right over here for recording into my rode road caster pro so here are my two rode pod mics and right behind there is the rode road caster pro regardless whether you are using a dynamic or condenser microphone it's a good idea to add sound dampening panels on your walls plus the ceiling and carpeting on your hardwood floors so that your voice will not bounce around the room and causing an echo that can spoil your audio here's an example of sound panels that i added to the wall in front of me these are 12 inch square foam panels that come in different colors these panels are cheap in price and comes in the package as three black and three red panels and these are available on amazon i chose alternating red and black squares but you might like different colors like white or blue these two inch thick foam panels help to absorb the sound of your voice so that it reduces that annoying echo when you're recording okay so now let's talk about proper microphone techniques for getting the best audio quality there are two main things i want to go into details about the first is known as the proximity effect the second is known as plosive sounds the proximity effect refers to how your voice sounds the closer or farther away you are from the front of the microphone the closer you are speaking into the microphone the more of the deeper bass tone will be recorded from your voice conversely the farther your mouth is from the microphone the less of the bass effect will be recorded plus the volume of your voice will be lower and lower the farther away you are from the microphone in order to really hear the difference you need to record with your headphones on i'm going to give you a demonstration here for the demonstration i will record into the powtrack p4 and i will later add the actual recording to the finished video in post sync i have the shure sm58 mic here and it's plugged into channel 1. this is the only microphone connected to the podrack p4 and the gain dial is set to 6. the other channels 2 3 and 4 have no microphones attached i will sometimes go as high as six and a half or even seven on the gain dial but no higher to avoid any potentially unwanted background noise the gain dials on channels two three and four are set to zero gain because those channels are not being used it's important to always set the gain dial to zero for any channels that are not used even though no microphones are attached otherwise there might be unwanted background noise introduced into the recording the input select switch for channel 1 right here is set to the left side because the shure sm58 mic is a dynamic microphone whereby 48 volts of phantom power is not required here are my headphones and i have the headphone volume knob set to six so that i can monitor my audio while recording at a good volume without being too loud so here is the sure sm58 microphone the distance is about 12 inches away from my mouth i will now press the record button on the podrack p4 to start the demonstration i'm now speaking into the shirt sm58 microphone which is about 12 inches away from my mouth and this is how my voice sounds hello mic check one two three four five six now i'm speaking about six to eight inches away from the mic and notice how my voice sounds hello mic check one two three four five six now i'm speaking about three to four inches away from the microphone and notice how my voice sounds hello mic check one two three four five six now i'm speaking about one inch away from the microphone and notice how my voice sounds hello mic check one two three four five six so you should have noticed a difference in how my voice sounds as i kept getting closer to the microphone i should also point out that it's possible to speak too closely to the mic whereby it sounds almost creepy because you will sound like you're right up against the person's ears let me demonstrate that by speaking into the mic very closely whereby my mouth is almost touching the microphone hello mic check one two three four five six my mouth is touching the microphone and this is what it sounds like does it sound a little bit creepy because i'm so close to your ears okay i'm ending the recording now on the pawtrak p4 so in summary for good audio quality you need to speak very closely to the microphone within two to three inches away but not too close you will need to experiment for yourself to find out what is the ideal distance for your own microphone and recording setup the other important thing for better recording quality is to reduce what is called plosive sounds plosive sounds are words that start with the letter p such as pizza or power or words that start with the letter c such as coughing or choking or even words that start with the letter s like sam sap spit spot let me demonstrate this by removing my wireless road transmitter here on my collar and speak various plosive sounds very closely to the microphone mic check pizza power coughing choking sam sap spit spot when you speak these plosive type of words there's a quick breath of air that comes out of your mouth and that hits the microphone and it sounds annoying to the listener who hears all these plosive sounds the plosive sound is similar to me using a finger to tap on the microphone and let me tap on the top of the microphone capsule here to demonstrate this so this is what plosive words sound like that you want to try to avoid or at least to reduce so that your listeners will have a better listening experience there are different ways to help lessen these plosive sounds some methods cost money to buy special equipment such as attaching a windscreen pop filter in front of the microphone a pop filter only costs around 10 to 15 dollars and is usually a circular shaped metal screen in front of the microphone capsule and has a handle that attaches somewhere to the mic stand so when you speak the pop filter helps to reduce the plosive sounds coming from your voice an easier method is to simply attach a windscreen foam cover such as this one over here right here on the shure sm58 microphone that costs only five dollars and it fits very tightly over the microphone capsule i find this very convenient to use and i suggest that you at least get a windscreen foam cover for your own particular microphone but let's say you need to do a recording right now but you don't have any pop filter or windscreen cover what else can you do well there is another method that will help you to reduce the plosive sounds even without using any type of equipment instead of talking directly into the front of the microphone you can have the microphone positioned off to the corner of your mouth so that when you speak plosive words the breath of air coming out of your mouth misses the front of the mic capsule using this method will help to reduce the plosive sounds entering the microphone and will improve your audio so let me demonstrate instead of speaking directly in front of the microphone like this i'm going to position the mic off to the corner of my mouth like this then i will go ahead and speak normally i'm going to record the test audio using the zoom powertrack p4 so that you can hear the actual recording in this video when i add this later in post sync first i'm going to do a sound test by speaking directly into the front of the microphone and i will do so with the wind foam cover removed so you can hopefully hear the difference i'm still speaking with a mic very close to my mouth about two to four inches away for the various sound tests coming up so for the first test i will be speaking directly into the front of the microphone like this and there will be no wind foam cover on so i'm going to press the record button on the zoom pod track p4 now to start the test here's the test tony's pizzeria in san francisco has the best pizza on the planet and now i'm going to position the microphone off to the corner of my mouth and i will hold the mic at an angle like this and i'll repeat the same sound test again tony's pizzeria in san francisco has the best pizza on the planet and now i'll put back on the wind foam cover and do the same test over again and we'll speak directly from the [Music] microphone tony's pizzeria in san francisco has the best pizza on the planet okay now i'll position the microphone off to the corner of my mouth and hold at an angle like this and repeat the same sound test again tony's pizzeria in san francisco has the best pizza on the planet okay that's the end of the sound test i'm going to end the recording of the zoom potrak p4 now so i hope you were able to hear the difference from the sound test for my own preference i usually record with a wind phone cover on and speaking with a microphone off access to the side of my mouth to help reduce the unwanted plosive sound effects these are all examples of proper microphone techniques to improve your audio quality and i encourage you to do the same please keep in mind that if you decide to get a pop filter or windscreen cover you will need to find one that will fit your particular microphone there are many different types and sizes available in order to get good audio quality you will need to monitor your decibel meter to make sure you are recording at a good volume level that means you want to record between negative 6 to negative 12 decibels on the decibel scale for example if you are recording with the zoom pod track p4 because there are no decibel numbers on the lcd screen such as 0 or negative 6 or negative 12 or negative 18 decibels you want to monitor the vertical decibel bars carefully to make sure they are hitting somewhere between 75 to 80 percent of maximum if the vertical bars are consistently registering between 75 to 80 percent of maximum this represents the equivalent of approximately negative 6 to negative 12 decibels which is perfect for recording level here is an example of the ideal recording level between 75 to 80 percent of maximum on the lcd screen so notice my pen right here on the screen mic check one two three mic check one two three mic check one two three this vertical bar that's going up and down is approximately now at 75 percent of maximum this is the ideal recording level right here also it's important to not record at a volume that is too high or too low because that's also a problem so for example if the decibel bar is hitting at the very top of the lcd screen that represents zero on the decibel scale which means you are way too loud and you will need to reduce the volume if i tap on the top of the microphone here you will notice that the decibel bar is hitting at the very top of the lcd screen this is what i mean by zero decibel and the audio is way too loud so you will need to adjust your levels accordingly now let me give you an example of recording volume that is too low if the decibel bar is hitting at the halfway mark on the lcd screen your level is too low if the decibel bar is below the halfway point that's even worse so let me show you again what is good volume recording level which is when the vertical decibel bars are reaching somewhere between 75 to 80 percent of maximum on the lcd screen hello mic check one two three hello mic check three two one if you'll notice on the lcd screen there are decibel bars that are hitting roughly between 75 to 80 percent of maximum this is the ideal recording level right here what you see on the lcd screen right now now here's an example of recording volume that is too low hello mic check one two three hello mic check three two one notice the decibel bar is barely moving up it's way too low so you will need to make adjustments to bring up the recording level most of the time for the podrack p4 i usually have my gain dial knob set to about six or six and a half but no more than seven at the highest i find this is the ideal setting when using either my audio technica atr 2100 x or sure sm58 microphones for achieving 75 to 80 of maximum on the decibel scale also for any channels that are not being used you want to have the gain dial set to zero so there is no potential for unwanted background noise to be introduced even if there are no microphones attached to the unused channels the last thing i want to mention is that for your monitoring headphone volume while recording you do not want to have the volume set too high such as 8 9 or 10. if you are using headphones to monitor your recording and you should your headphone volume should be set no higher than 6 or 7. i usually have mine set to about six right here if your headphone volume is set too high you will be deceived into thinking that your recording volume is sufficiently loud enough when in fact it might be too low again the more important thing is to constantly monitor your decibel scale on the lcd screen so that the vertical bars are consistently reaching between 75 to 80 percent of maximum for ideal recording level the decibel scale is the most accurate indicator whether you are recording at a sufficient volume level so do not rely on your ears and headphone volume to determine whether you are recording at a sufficient level so i hope you found this video interesting and you can apply some of the lessons mentioned to improve your own audio recording trying to improve your audio can be challenging but it's important so your listeners can understand you clearly and they will appreciate it so i encourage you to keep improving your audio quality until you nail it thanks for watching this video and i'll see you again soon

Channel: Casey On Location

Views: 2,296

Keywords: Zoom PodTrak P4, PodTrak P4, PodTrak, Zoom, Canon Vixia G60 camcorder, Canon G60, Canon Vixia, Rode Wireless Go, Shure SM58 microphone, Shure SM58, Audio Technica ATR2100X microphone, Audio Technica

Id: ri5kkgX0Vb0

Length: 28min 39sec (1719 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 10 2020