As a former college-level audio instructor, I have to say that this is an excellent primer on audio for video recording, full of practical tips. John does a great job of presenting the theoretical aspects of audio (which can be dry and boring to some) in an interesting and relevant fashion. Just one nit-pick on the factual info: consumer level is -10dBV (with a capital "V", referenced to 1 volt), not -10dBv (referenced to .775 volts).
18:05 the eternal position of the sound guy monitoring an interview. Gazing into the horizon, mild smile and ready to tell you to "Give me that one again" after the perfect answer, because he heard a male cuckoo two miles away
I used to be an engineer in a radio station. This is probably the best combined explanation of the entire process I've seen. Also, I bought a Sennheiser 835 years back, now I understand why it makes my voice sound so good, like a late night radio DJ!
I'm not a filmmaker, have little desire to be a filmmaker and many times numbers and tech-talk goes over my head and my eyes glaze over. But, John, there's just something great, fascinating and interesting about watching these lessons of yours and seeing the knowledge and passion you put into them. The videos covering the history of cinema and the various aspects of them are utterly fascinating and great to watch, but it says something about your presentation that I can watch the overly talky and technical videos like this one and just really get into it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion with us. It does make me want to go out there and make a movie myself as I feel your passion.
Brian Straight I know exactly what you mean, there's something great isn't there about watching someone who really knows what he's talking about and is so talented at presenting
And: the only difference between 16 and 24 bits is that the first guarantees a theoretical 96dB range between 0dBFS (the limit before distortion) and the quantization noise, while 24 bits guarantees a theoretical value of more than 144dB. What that means in practical terms is that you can have more headroom between the 0dBFS limit and the audio peaks. In comparison, you can record more than 30dB lower than you would at 16 bit with no signal to noise ratio loss. ;)
John, you should consider publishing a book as a companion work to all this stuff you've done. You've obviously done a lot of background research and your videos are very clear. Your level of knowledge on multiple subjects and ability to explain is it is impressive.
@Garan Fitzgerald - a lav mic plugged into a smartphone... personally I've never done that but I can't say it's a bad idea. I think the downsides of doing that is you drain your phone battery - if it's a long shoot you can't just pop in fresh batteries like with a dedicated audio recorder. Sound Quality should be good if you have the proper inputs. Pulling files is what it is from the phone - it's probably not a whole lot more complicated than pulling from an SD card... Personally, I like having a dedicated audio device as I think the phone could be used for other things during a shoot but it'll work just fine.
Actually that is what I use right now and it's awesome! A lav mic plugged into a smartphone is no problem if you get the right app. I use an Android phone, a cheap LG L15G with Neewer lav mic from Amazon. There is no concern for low battery, just turn on Airplane mode and put the phone on silence. I don't use the phone for any other thing as I got it specifically for this purpose so there is no sim or data connectivity on the phone. There are some things to note though, there is no way to monitor the levels while the recording is going on, also ensure the app you get records 48khz or else you will have audio sync issues and again, ensure to set the right levels to avoid clipping, which applies to all audio capture systems anyway. My system has been working great and I have two of it in case I need to record a dialogue. If I want to improve the quality of my audio, I found out that getting a better condenser mic is all I need at the moment. I still plan to get a Zoom H4N Pro with wireless lav mics but I don't have to do so at the moment but will still do later.
This is an amazing channel and the videos are very informative and dive deep enough into the subject. I want to add one thing though: Recording in 96kHz is really not necessary, and you should not be disappointed if your recorder doesn't support it. I have a friend who actually wrote his diploma thesis on this subject (which quality reductions are actually audible in the ears of professional mixing engineers). And he found that 48kHz in general is enough and any increase does not affect the quality at all, and it also doesn't matter in post production. 16 Bit on the other hand is actually not sufficient for many applications, and professionals can actually hear the difference to 24 Bit recording. So, to sum up: 48kHz is usually enough, but 16 Bit isn't. :)
I was going back and forth whether it was 96kHz or the 24bit that was contributing to the translucent quality of the audio I get off the recorder. I realize a lot of it is "psychological" - but I'll still stick to my 96kHz suggestion even if it's not entirely necessary ;)
Filmmaker IQ You are absolutely right: if your recorder supports 96kHz, there really is no reason not to use it. :) I mean, audio won't be what's breaking your disk size limits, and better safe than sorry. I just wanted to add the comment for other viewers that sound devices that don't support 96kHz are no dealbreaker and that the 24 Bit support is more important if your budget allows only for one of the two. :)
Just thought I'd throw in my programmer's perspective. Just because your software supports 24-bit samples, doesn't mean it'll work with them internally. More likely, it'll convert them to 32-bit floating-point (maybe keeping a buffer in that format on disk in a temporary file) and work on that, only converting to 24-bit again when saving the results. Trying to work with 24-bit values is a headache, because there's no provided way in hardware of working with them as a single unit. The easiest way to handle it is to convert it to some 32-bit format, which the computer can pass around as a single unit, using a third more memory and have readable source code without the clutter of moving odd-sized amounts of memory around. 32-bit floating-point tends to be the format of choice, because nearly everything has a floating-point unit which supports the IEEE754 standard and it's a reasonable amount of memory used for the precision available. It also has the advantage of floating-point versions of many algorithms being much easier to understand than integer versions. On the downside, 32-bit floats only have 23 bits of precision, so you will end up with rounding errors caused by truncation creeping in when doing a lot of summing of values, though they'll probably be small enough to be lost in the background noise.
***** You are right that most likely, the computer software internally will work with 32-bit-floats. But that doesn't really mean anything for the recording quality. An audio quality of "24 bit depth" means that there are 24 bits used to assign a value between roughly -8 million and 8 million as a signed integer with 23 bits precision. This can be, as you know, easily converted to a 32-bit-float with 23 bit precision and an additional exponent, with basically no computing power. On the other hand, if you record with 16 bits, the conversion will just fill in the additional precision of the 32-bit-float with zeros... So you still retain the full quality improvement when switching from 16 to 24 bit recording, which is what all the fuzz is about. :-) Also: Something is really broken with my comment, parts of it seems to be crossed out...
Great video, John! Just to help your audience: 00:38 Part 1: Audio Signal Chain and Audio Recorders 07:37 Part 2: Pre-amp and Recording Levels 11:16 Part 3: Audio Cables 15:31 Part 4: Microphone Placement & Types
I have a question. What video editing application are you using? I am curious about the CHALK BOARD TYPE OF WRITING IN YOUR VIDEO. And about the microphone, what are you using?
We use all of the Adobe Suite:Premiere to edit, After Effects to animate everything, Photoshop and Illustrator for some graphics, Audition for sound when needed. Chalkboard animations are an animated font called Blackboard. We use Rode mics either the NTG 2 or NTG 55 to record sound on a boom
I did not expect to learn as much as I did. This was a great video. I even learned my recorder is much better than I realized thanks to your explanation of frequency and bit depth. Thanks so much.
Hi, I just bought a zoom h6 to get into field recording and i was kind of lost. I wanted to know the ideal setting and logic behind it. THIS video answered all the question I would ask to a proffesional. I will probably watch this multiple times. Now its time to watch @. Thank you!!
Actually the audio is quite good! The problem here are different standards for audio loudness aka LUFS wars... by modern standards louder means better, even if it degrades the signal...
someone who produces a film records the video on ProRes or RAW ... these 10 MB/s (for multi-track record) for audio doesn't make a diffeence most of the time - audio file are soo small compared to the other departments - just ask a VFX-Compositor - video can consist of more than 100 GB/s ! ;)
Biggest pain in the ass in managing 16 wireless lav mic's with 16 different subjects who keep asking "is it on?". Not to mention you need a tub of batteries because they die all the time! Then hooking it into the mixing console...fun..lol
Brilliant tutorial. I come from cinema, that is film, shooting. I understand double system sound. But, your information is just some much more detailed and helpful.
this was exactly what I was looking for! some of the other "basics of sound" tutorials i watched were way too technical and jargony and this was perfect for a beginner like myself :) clear and concise with really helpful graphics and diagrams
If you had problems hearing this guy pls see a doctor you probably have damaged eardrums due to overly loud distorted sound that you no longer can hear clean low sound....lol
I am just new to recordings, photography, and videomaking. I am so happy that I got the chance to see this video. I am planning to buy an audio recorder with the best quality. Thanks for this. I just subscribed. 😊
Minor corrections. The 1/4" TS [Tip and Sleeve] connector is known as a phone connector, not a phono connector. The phone connector evolved from the 19th century connector used in telephone switchboards: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio) The RCA connector is sometimes referred to as a phono connector: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector
Why can I only give one "thumbs up" on this video? ;) So much valuable information not only as a video creator but for my role as the one who does the sound for our judo events, too. ;)
Wow! By far the best informative and comprehensive educational video on audio recording I've ever seen. Answered all of those questions that I always had around the cables, the different types of mics and all of those different numbers/stats on the audio equipment. Thank you very much for sharing this video and boosting my audio recording IQ!
Although I'm a couple years late on this, I just wanted to say that this video is phenomenal. Very informative and very good delivery of the concepts at play. Instant subscriber.
Immensely informative! I've made the mistake of plugging a mic signal into a line level input and had low sound. I ended up using a TASCAM iXJ2 for my preamp in a dual system.
@15:54 A little inaccuracy in the inverse square law - the sound will reduce TO one quarter of the original power, not BY one quarter of the original power. Otherwise, great!
In my experience, the sound is definitely slightly more important than video. It's much harder editing broken sound in post or getting an actor deliver the same exact dialogue because the previous take had the perfect delivery but bad audio.
I was so confused at the RMS part. I got everything else, but I've never calculated RMS in my life and when looking it up, it confused me even more. I'm sure I'll learn how to calculate it if need be, but for right now I am now aware it exists.
Provided that your recording and playback systems don't have problems in ADC and DAC, the 48 and 96khz should have no audible difference. Some systems have problems in playback if you're up or downsampling from one to the other in realtime. It's a good idea to record in 96khz 24-bit though, if you're planning to do any editing or processing afterwards just to have that extra headroom both dynamic and frequency domain wise. Audibly though as said it doesn't matter.
Audibly, it does matter. If you're not careful, 96 kHz can actually sound WORSE. Recording at 96 kHz includes inaudible ultrasonic frequencies. If you don't do postprocessing correctly, this will cause audible distortions when playing back on systems that can't reproduce ultrasonic frequencies (most of them). End result: don't just record at 96 kHz unless you know what you're doing, and only if your analog equipment is pretty high quality.
lentostinato Dithering isn't really necessary. Simple truncation in that case will only cause some minor articats in the -96db to -120db region which is inaudible. Sure, proper dithering is good to use, but no recording ever got ruined for the lack of it.
Fantastic video! I would add that even though boom mics are preferred for the quality of their sound, sometimes wireless lavs are the best solution, for example, when a location is excessively reverberant or noisy and if the framing for the shot is relatively wide. It really depends on how reverberant or noisy the space and how close a boom mic can get, that is, the ratio of wanted to unwanted sound. If the ratio is relatively low, then you might need to use a lavalier microphone. The reason lavalier mics are sometimes superior in very noisy or reverberant spaces is that the distance from the voice to the microphone would be very small as compared to typical boom mic placement. Also, if a location is extremely noisy, the lavalier mic can be worn relatively high up, say just behind the actor's shirt collar or in their hair. Depending on the actor's voice, the higher placement may not result in a natural sounding voice, so it can be a compromise between sounding natural and reduced noise or reverberation. When it comes to the use of lavs and determining lav placement, it not only depends on location noises or reverberation, but also on the quality of the actor's voice and any chest or throat resonances that may be present. If there are strong chest or throat resonances, they can sometimes be minimized by experimenting with mic placement, or corrected with equalization, either high pass or parametric "scooping" in post, although it is also possible that some actors will never sound as good with a lav as they will with a boom mic, optimally placed.
You are talking about audio and your own audio quality isn't that great. The level of your audio is so low that I had to increase the volume a LOT to hear you and still isn't that great. Come on man...
Daiman Webb don't get too caught up in the recording settings - the single most important thing to get right (aside from decent microphone placement) is recording levels and also mixing levels...
Once again, what an incredible and exhaustive lesson. Can't wait for your next video! I knew nothing about audio and have been reading left and right, your lesson not only taught me so much, but also helped me get an organized and clear understanding of audio in my head. Filmmaker IQ is golden, as always, I have watched many film school lectures online and live and none are even close to being as compressed and helpful. You are a great teacher!
I went to graduate film school with a master's in film. But this guy is splendid and irrevocably superb in 21st Century sound acquisition. Exquisitely professorial and great to watch with propulsive musical cadence. Great job! -Godfrey Silas cinematographer
I have been tempted on several occasions to pick up the Tascam DR60D just to have it but since I have and use the HD-P2 I just haven't pulled the trigger. The P2 is a great recorder (which I got used from a guy in Alaska) and it's got a ton of pro features like gen lock (which I haven't used). I'm a fan of Tascam, I've had them repair the P2 and they're a solid company with good products.
Filmmaker IQ I did eventually pick up a DR60D. It's good but I've had some issues with batteries and long recordings (1hr +) I got a DR70D as well but I had to send it into the factory because of a faulty screen.
I have one and it's definitely a step up in quality from the Zoom H4 I used to use. Filmmaker IQ is right though, it eats batteries like crazy (as most higher quality systems do) so you want to plan ahead with many rechargeable batteries or run off of AC whenever possible.
Excellent video sir. I have (in the past) experienced audio drift in trying to match music to video for music video shoots. I believe the issue was the difference between the 44khz CD recording and 48khz video recording. I also thought that possibly the CD player was clocked at a different playback speed then the digital audio file on the computer. If you could share some thoughts on that, I would appreciate it.
This can get really into some tricky stuff regarding clocks and how your editing system handles the resampling rate between 44.1khz and 48khz. Best advice I could give on that is to resample everything to the final playback (48khz) and work inside that. But the clock drift is can be a real problem especially mixing consumer gear with broadcast gear. I've seen drift occur trying to sync up GoPro footage.
Thank you very much for your response. Very much appreciated. I have had better luck matching sound for typical vocal recording using the Zoom H4n @48khz.wav. Definitely, can be a pain in the butt when matching music and having to use a CD player for the scratch track. Thanks again....I really enjoy your videos. The history pieces you do are very riveting. Take care.
15:35 A microphone placed twice as far decreases the signal BY 3/4 not BY 1/4, ie you GET 1/4 of the signal. A microphone placed three times as far reduced the signal BY 8/9 not BY 1/9. The way you said it, it sounded like you get more signal when the microphone is three times as far than when it's twice as far.
Nice video as usual. It's ironic though that a video about audio seems to have the audio level much lower (too low) than all other Filmmaker IQ videos. 13:13 Whilst the terms "Hot" and "Cold" are often used, "+" and "-" are also used, and probably more accurate. 13:19 A better way to describe what's going on and how noise is "cancelled", would be to say something like "The input to the pre-amp only amplifies the difference between the plus and minus inputs and not signal which is in phase, or common to both inputs (measured as Common Mode Rejection Ratio - CMRR). Typically, noise is induced on the cable by the same amount and in phase on both the plus and minus wires, so the pre-amp does not amplify the noise (at least not much, based on the CMRR)." 14:24 Great to mention Impedance. But you forgot to mention WHY it may be a concern: Impedance mismatch can lead mostly to poor signal to noise ratio, and loss of frequency response.
I own the Zoom H4n Pro along with my VideoMicro, SmartLav+, and the Filmmaker Wireless Kit and absolutely love it. Don't have any problems with my audio. I do the video on my Apple iPad Air 2 and then sync it together. Great products that I use.
WOW! I've been watching A LOT of video's about "film" making (both audio and video techniques) and this is by far THE BEST tutorial I've watched. So good in fact this is the first time I was ever inspired to make a comment. Keep up the great work!
Thanks John. As a DJ there are similarities to understanding the technical aspects of recording live audio DJ Mixes and video/audio sound recordings. I appreciate the in-depth specifics of your tutorial. My current focus is to film/record my sets and quality sound is imperative. Again - thanks for sharing, and I look forward to learning more...
± Thanks for posting ± Audio failures abound on RUclips. And this is from producers who are supposed to know what they are doing. ± Sampling rate question is almost as divisive as the digital vs. film debate. ± Using a boom microphone is preferable; however make sure that boom isn’t in your shot. (one instance that comes to mind when the boom entered the frame, was a church scene in the movie The Sixth Sense) ± Always enjoy learning from Filmmaker IQ. I promote your channel. :)
I just finished my schooling at The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, and I must say I really enjoy your videos. You remind me of some of my instructors. :)
@@FilmmakerIQ I've just changed the settings! Thanks so much for the quick reply, really appreciate! Also, subscribed and notifications are on! I always like in-depth knowledge on something, thanks for sharing it!
I think audio is the most misunderstood part of making videos, so this video is a must for everybody wanting to get into video production. A couple of things to bear in mind: dedicated audio recorders not only generally have better preamps and resolution but better converters. A high quality converter can still sound noticeably better than a cheap converter even at the same resolution. The most important aspect of course is the mic. Optimal mic selection and placement are crucial and I don't like "hiding" lav mics not only due to risk of noise but it also changes the tone. Most lav mics need to be 6-8" from the subject, pointed towards the mouth (even omni-directional mics are still somewhat directional) to sound natural. The more directional a mic is, the farther away it needs to be to sound natural, like 1M for shotguns and 6" for cardioids.
Dude, before I got t your channel I didn't even know I had a passion for movies, Video and Audio recording. I've been bing watching your videos for days.
One of the best tutorials regarding basic sound recording. Always nice to get a refresher course, as it was eons ago that I first studied audio/visual sound design. Man I was rusty! Excellent, and subscribed!
9:40 - Truly bad digitizers wrap around!!! EVEN WORSE WORSE WORSE !!!!!! 11:50 - 1/4" PHONE plug. The RCA plug show next is called a phono plug from its original use in the 1950s.
Best, most comprehensive video I've ever seen on the often-neglected realm of audio. Unlike video, there are no zoom lenses in audio (although shotgun microphones certainly help)! He explained complicated concepts like bit rate and impedance very clearly, and straightened me out on several things I didn't know about sound. Excellent, overall, might actually make me part with some cash, this series is so instructive and so well done!
Thank you for making audio more understandable for me. Your lessons are well organized, full of great info and perfectly executed. You waste none of my time and make complex concepts simple to grasp.
Excellent intro to sound recording. Love how you give the full perspective of the "audio signal chain". Perfect balance of providing detailed tech info but still offering easy to understand explanations. Thank you! Will share with my students.
Not many use 11 kHz audio, not since the 90s and early 00s; the low range for internet radio is more of 22 (or 24) kHz for internet. In fact some compression techniques with AAC+ take 64/22 and upscale it to sound nearly identical to 128/44.
Real benefit of 96KHz (or more) is the flexibility it offers in post production (to me). With more samples you get a more precise digital signal processing, and less phase issues when processing the audio. 48KHz sounds as good as 96KHz to my ears (I would say that I hear quite well), but won't offer this extra step. On the other hand, a broader bit depth will really give you quieter noise floors that are always handy to have. 48KHz / 24bits is still a good combo, and for distribution even CD quality or good MP3 conversion will provide pleasant sound :)
I must again admit that John's informative videos (doesn't matter whether they are about filmmaking history or practical aspects, as this one) are excellent - information isn't very dumbed down, and is kept at perfect balance so it's interesting to novice as well as serious enthusiasts with expirience as well. Keep up the great work, thanks! Btw - when we can expect next video about history of filmmaking and industry?
Hi! Thanks for great videos, keep up the good work. I want to shoot indoor RUclips videos, won't be moving around. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 with a Røde VideoMic PRO. But want to switch to a lav mic. What lav mic should I go for? And should I do it with a Zoom H5 or Saramonic SmartRig+ or Beachtek DXA Micro PRO? Sounds quality (without noice) is the priority but would love to not have to do anything in post (such as syncing the audio with the video). What is your opinion in these options or should I go with something else?
Info Good. NOISE of chalk-on-the-blackboard effect is... well, I suppose there is a whole lot of psychological research and study in back of using that. To me, it was a distraction. But maybe I am on the extreme of the Bell Curve. Thanks.
I started my recording journey recently, coming from an audiophile background I thought it’s gonna be easy as I do have an understanding to a certain degree, but boy oh boy was I wrong. This video helped me connect the dots and clear the fog that my previous knowledge kept me in. Thanks you lots
Dead wombat? Seems to me they missed an opportunity. Surely it has to be called "RØDE kill"!
+William Millard brilliant
Buahahahahaha! - Has been hit on the ""RØDE to glory"! - Made my day, William. Thank you!!! :-D
William Millard what about Dead Rodent?
You WIN!
William Millard was it a combat wombat?
another brilliant video, it's nice to have all of the relevant (and oh so important) audio knowledge in one series!
DSLRguide I learnt from you too from your channel. Good to see free sharing of knowledge. That helps breed creativity.
I like your videos.
DSLRguide I agree
As a former college-level audio instructor, I have to say that this is an excellent primer on audio for video recording, full of practical tips. John does a great job of presenting the theoretical aspects of audio (which can be dry and boring to some) in an interesting and relevant fashion. Just one nit-pick on the factual info: consumer level is -10dBV (with a capital "V", referenced to 1 volt), not -10dBv (referenced to .775 volts).
Pistachio Studio Thanks! Those dB designations can be so confusing :/
hey @@FilmmakerIQ can u put the following line in description before the line containing "0:38 ..."
0:00 Intro
i learned a lot , thanks , big thanks for your hardwork to explain it :D
Eh ada mas
Pripun kabare mas laiqul ?
Alhamdulilah
18:05 the eternal position of the sound guy monitoring an interview. Gazing into the horizon, mild smile and ready to tell you to "Give me that one again" after the perfect answer, because he heard a male cuckoo two miles away
I used to be an engineer in a radio station. This is probably the best combined explanation of the entire process I've seen.
Also, I bought a Sennheiser 835 years back, now I understand why it makes my voice sound so good, like a late night radio DJ!
I'm not a filmmaker, have little desire to be a filmmaker and many times numbers and tech-talk goes over my head and my eyes glaze over. But, John, there's just something great, fascinating and interesting about watching these lessons of yours and seeing the knowledge and passion you put into them. The videos covering the history of cinema and the various aspects of them are utterly fascinating and great to watch, but it says something about your presentation that I can watch the overly talky and technical videos like this one and just really get into it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion with us. It does make me want to go out there and make a movie myself as I feel your passion.
Brian Straight I know exactly what you mean, there's something great isn't there about watching someone who really knows what he's talking about and is so talented at presenting
And: the only difference between 16 and 24 bits is that the first guarantees a theoretical 96dB range between 0dBFS (the limit before distortion) and the quantization noise, while 24 bits guarantees a theoretical value of more than 144dB. What that means in practical terms is that you can have more headroom between the 0dBFS limit and the audio peaks. In comparison, you can record more than 30dB lower than you would at 16 bit with no signal to noise ratio loss. ;)
John, you should consider publishing a book as a companion work to all this stuff you've done. You've obviously done a lot of background research and your videos are very clear. Your level of knowledge on multiple subjects and ability to explain is it is impressive.
@Garan Fitzgerald - a lav mic plugged into a smartphone... personally I've never done that but I can't say it's a bad idea. I think the downsides of doing that is you drain your phone battery - if it's a long shoot you can't just pop in fresh batteries like with a dedicated audio recorder. Sound Quality should be good if you have the proper inputs. Pulling files is what it is from the phone - it's probably not a whole lot more complicated than pulling from an SD card...
Personally, I like having a dedicated audio device as I think the phone could be used for other things during a shoot but it'll work just fine.
Actually that is what I use right now and it's awesome!
A lav mic plugged into a smartphone is no problem if you get the right app.
I use an Android phone, a cheap LG L15G with Neewer lav mic from Amazon. There is no concern for low battery, just turn on Airplane mode and put the phone on silence. I don't use the phone for any other thing as I got it specifically for this purpose so there is no sim or data connectivity on the phone. There are some things to note though, there is no way to monitor the levels while the recording is going on, also ensure the app you get records 48khz or else you will have audio sync issues and again, ensure to set the right levels to avoid clipping, which applies to all audio capture systems anyway.
My system has been working great and I have two of it in case I need to record a dialogue. If I want to improve the quality of my audio, I found out that getting a better condenser mic is all I need at the moment. I still plan to get a Zoom H4N Pro with wireless lav mics but I don't have to do so at the moment but will still do later.
This is an amazing channel and the videos are very informative and dive deep enough into the subject.
I want to add one thing though: Recording in 96kHz is really not necessary, and you should not be disappointed if your recorder doesn't support it. I have a friend who actually wrote his diploma thesis on this subject (which quality reductions are actually audible in the ears of professional mixing engineers). And he found that 48kHz in general is enough and any increase does not affect the quality at all, and it also doesn't matter in post production. 16 Bit on the other hand is actually not sufficient for many applications, and professionals can actually hear the difference to 24 Bit recording.
So, to sum up: 48kHz is usually enough, but 16 Bit isn't. :)
I was going back and forth whether it was 96kHz or the 24bit that was contributing to the translucent quality of the audio I get off the recorder. I realize a lot of it is "psychological" - but I'll still stick to my 96kHz suggestion even if it's not entirely necessary ;)
Filmmaker IQ
You are absolutely right: if your recorder supports 96kHz, there really is no reason not to use it. :) I mean, audio won't be what's breaking your disk size limits, and better safe than sorry. I just wanted to add the comment for other viewers that sound devices that don't support 96kHz are no dealbreaker and that the 24 Bit support is more important if your budget allows only for one of the two. :)
Just thought I'd throw in my programmer's perspective. Just because your software supports 24-bit samples, doesn't mean it'll work with them internally. More likely, it'll convert them to 32-bit floating-point (maybe keeping a buffer in that format on disk in a temporary file) and work on that, only converting to 24-bit again when saving the results.
Trying to work with 24-bit values is a headache, because there's no provided way in hardware of working with them as a single unit. The easiest way to handle it is to convert it to some 32-bit format, which the computer can pass around as a single unit, using a third more memory and have readable source code without the clutter of moving odd-sized amounts of memory around.
32-bit floating-point tends to be the format of choice, because nearly everything has a floating-point unit which supports the IEEE754 standard and it's a reasonable amount of memory used for the precision available. It also has the advantage of floating-point versions of many algorithms being much easier to understand than integer versions. On the downside, 32-bit floats only have 23 bits of precision, so you will end up with rounding errors caused by truncation creeping in when doing a lot of summing of values, though they'll probably be small enough to be lost in the background noise.
***** You are right that most likely, the computer software internally will work with 32-bit-floats. But that doesn't really mean anything for the recording quality. An audio quality of "24 bit depth" means that there are 24 bits used to assign a value between roughly -8 million and 8 million as a signed integer with 23 bits precision. This can be, as you know, easily converted to a 32-bit-float with 23 bit precision and an additional exponent, with basically no computing power. On the other hand, if you record with 16 bits, the conversion will just fill in the additional precision of the 32-bit-float with zeros... So you still retain the full quality improvement when switching from 16 to 24 bit recording, which is what all the fuzz is about. :-)
Also: Something is really broken with my comment, parts of it seems to be crossed out...
Must be the illuminati...
AWESOME VIDEO!!!
Great video man he really knows how to explain this subject
Why do I have to crank up my volume level to hear this video’s audio better. Ironically, it talks about good audio.
Me to. Doesnt help that they also used a sound effect that sounds like digital clipping???
@PH VlogLine. HaHa! That was my first thought, too.
ON LEFT BOTTOM Window type to search - take off enchancement -also you can type fix audio -i have to constantly do this --
Great video, John! Just to help your audience:
00:38 Part 1: Audio Signal Chain and Audio Recorders
07:37 Part 2: Pre-amp and Recording Levels
11:16 Part 3: Audio Cables
15:31 Part 4: Microphone Placement & Types
I have a question. What video editing application are you using? I am curious about the CHALK BOARD TYPE OF WRITING IN YOUR VIDEO. And about the microphone, what are you using?
We use all of the Adobe Suite:Premiere to edit, After Effects to animate everything, Photoshop and Illustrator for some graphics, Audition for sound when needed. Chalkboard animations are an animated font called Blackboard. We use Rode mics either the NTG 2 or NTG 55 to record sound on a boom
I did not expect to learn as much as I did. This was a great video. I even learned my recorder is much better than I realized thanks to your explanation of frequency and bit depth. Thanks so much.
With videos like these, you are definitely improving Internet itself, as a source of knowledge, empowerment and education. Thank you, guys!
Hi, I just bought a zoom h6 to get into field recording and i was kind of lost. I wanted to know the ideal setting and logic behind it. THIS video answered all the question I would ask to a proffesional. I will probably watch this multiple times. Now its time to watch @. Thank you!!
Funny. I've learned this in my sound design classes!
Very Accurate. :-)
Ironically I could hardly hear the audio on this video! Had to whack my volume up to full!
I'm using a Galaxy 10 phone right now and the audio is loud and xrystal clear. You may have a not so great set of speaker(s).
I agree.
I even put headphones on and it was difficult to hear.
The content of the video was good but the audio sucked.
Thumbs down for me sorry.
Maybe get some not so shitty headphones or watch in a quieter environment.
@@FilmmakerIQ
Other people complained as well.
So it's not just me.
Actually the audio is quite good!
The problem here are different standards for audio loudness aka LUFS wars... by modern standards louder means better, even if it degrades the signal...
someone who produces a film records the video on ProRes or RAW ... these 10 MB/s (for multi-track record) for audio doesn't make a diffeence most of the time - audio file are soo small compared to the other departments - just ask a VFX-Compositor - video can consist of more than 100 GB/s ! ;)
Biggest pain in the ass in managing 16 wireless lav mic's with 16 different subjects who keep asking "is it on?". Not to mention you need a tub of batteries because they die all the time! Then hooking it into the mixing console...fun..lol
LOL
Had to manage 96 Lav's about 2 Months ago
Brilliant tutorial. I come from cinema, that is film, shooting. I understand double system sound. But, your information is just some much more detailed and helpful.
Good info but felt the audio quality was bad for the video itself
Absolutely totally I agree lousy audio on this video.
Learn the difference between low levels and bad audio. Levels were low I admit, but the quality is just fine.
@@FilmmakerIQ
I agree good quality
But the level was too low. Just curious?
Were you using the mic on the camera or Lav of Mike ?
Keith Kuhn
Boom mic. Watch the video. It's all laid out.
Awesome video and explanation not just this one but all your videos John , I can just thank you by subscribing..
this was exactly what I was looking for! some of the other "basics of sound" tutorials i watched were way too technical and jargony and this was perfect for a beginner like myself :) clear and concise with really helpful graphics and diagrams
If you had problems hearing this guy pls see a doctor you probably have damaged eardrums due to overly loud distorted sound that you no longer can hear clean low sound....lol
God bless your beautiful face. I spent way too much time spinning my wheels on audio due to lack of understanding. Thanks a lot!!
Excellent video, thanks!
I am just new to recordings, photography, and videomaking. I am so happy that I got the chance to see this video. I am planning to buy an audio recorder with the best quality. Thanks for this. I just subscribed. 😊
Me too, today
Minor corrections. The 1/4" TS [Tip and Sleeve] connector is known as a phone connector, not a phono connector. The phone connector evolved from the 19th century connector used in telephone switchboards:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)
The RCA connector is sometimes referred to as a phono connector:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector
that was very informative. A bit too technical for some people I imagine, for me it was perfect.
Best tutorials on the web. Great teacher.
Thanks
Why can I only give one "thumbs up" on this video? ;) So much valuable information not only as a video creator but for my role as the one who does the sound for our judo events, too. ;)
Thanks very informative. However your audio level is low. I had to turn my speaker volume very high to hear you. Please adjust in future recordings,
this was sooo well made. wow
Wonderful video ,World class explanations right here.
I don't even make films, but I love this guys' videos! :)
Deep enough to be really useful, shallow enough to catch the really critical info the first time around. Thanks!
This. Is. Gold.
Thank you.
Wow! By far the best informative and comprehensive educational video on audio recording I've ever seen. Answered all of those questions that I always had around the cables, the different types of mics and all of those different numbers/stats on the audio equipment. Thank you very much for sharing this video and boosting my audio recording IQ!
Although I'm a couple years late on this, I just wanted to say that this video is phenomenal. Very informative and very good delivery of the concepts at play. Instant subscriber.
Well I'm five years late, but I'll say the same thing.
@@FreeStockHub Hold my beer..
@@FreeStockHub 6 years and i also agree.
Hey,your videos just make me want to get out of my chair and make some great film.
Immensely informative! I've made the mistake of plugging a mic signal into a line level input and had low sound. I ended up using a TASCAM iXJ2 for my preamp in a dual system.
Least it's not the other way around - you can fry a preamp if you accidently send a electric spike into a mic level input ;)
Thanks for the info! The device I thought had a built-in preamp was a MacBook Pro. I guess the key thing was line input.
@15:54 A little inaccuracy in the inverse square law - the sound will reduce TO one quarter of the original power, not BY one quarter of the original power. Otherwise, great!
That's what I meant
In my experience, the sound is definitely slightly more important than video.
It's much harder editing broken sound in post or getting an actor deliver the same exact dialogue because the previous take had the perfect delivery but bad audio.
I was so confused at the RMS part. I got everything else, but I've never calculated RMS in my life and when looking it up, it confused me even more. I'm sure I'll learn how to calculate it if need be, but for right now I am now aware it exists.
Provided that your recording and playback systems don't have problems in ADC and DAC, the 48 and 96khz should have no audible difference. Some systems have problems in playback if you're up or downsampling from one to the other in realtime. It's a good idea to record in 96khz 24-bit though, if you're planning to do any editing or processing afterwards just to have that extra headroom both dynamic and frequency domain wise. Audibly though as said it doesn't matter.
Audibly, it does matter. If you're not careful, 96 kHz can actually sound WORSE. Recording at 96 kHz includes inaudible ultrasonic frequencies. If you don't do postprocessing correctly, this will cause audible distortions when playing back on systems that can't reproduce ultrasonic frequencies (most of them). End result: don't just record at 96 kHz unless you know what you're doing, and only if your analog equipment is pretty high quality.
You need add digital dithering when converting 24bit to 16bit in order to avoid distortion.
***** You sir, are very confused by sample rate vs frequency response. Though they all us Herz as unit, but they mean totally different things.
***** This is true. When downsampling to 44.1 or 48khz you need to do careful lowpass filtering to avoid aliasing artifacts.
lentostinato Dithering isn't really necessary. Simple truncation in that case will only cause some minor articats in the -96db to -120db region which is inaudible. Sure, proper dithering is good to use, but no recording ever got ruined for the lack of it.
Fantastic video! I would add that even though boom mics are preferred for the quality of their sound, sometimes wireless lavs are the best solution, for example, when a location is excessively reverberant or noisy and if the framing for the shot is relatively wide. It really depends on how reverberant or noisy the space and how close a boom mic can get, that is, the ratio of wanted to unwanted sound. If the ratio is relatively low, then you might need to use a lavalier microphone. The reason lavalier mics are sometimes superior in very noisy or reverberant spaces is that the distance from the voice to the microphone would be very small as compared to typical boom mic placement. Also, if a location is extremely noisy, the lavalier mic can be worn relatively high up, say just behind the actor's shirt collar or in their hair. Depending on the actor's voice, the higher placement may not result in a natural sounding voice, so it can be a compromise between sounding natural and reduced noise or reverberation. When it comes to the use of lavs and determining lav placement, it not only depends on location noises or reverberation, but also on the quality of the actor's voice and any chest or throat resonances that may be present. If there are strong chest or throat resonances, they can sometimes be minimized by experimenting with mic placement, or corrected with equalization, either high pass or parametric "scooping" in post, although it is also possible that some actors will never sound as good with a lav as they will with a boom mic, optimally placed.
Your audio is incredible. I hope I can learn to get decent sound too. Thank you for all the info!
You are talking about audio and your own audio quality isn't that great. The level of your audio is so low that I had to increase the volume a LOT to hear you and still isn't that great. Come on man...
The level is low but the quality is just fine.
Yeah he lost me someone help
Daiman Webb don't get too caught up in the recording settings - the single most important thing to get right (aside from decent microphone placement) is recording levels and also mixing levels...
Daiman Webb how are you going bro trust me I struggle alot to understand stuff too
Once again, what an incredible and exhaustive lesson. Can't wait for your next video! I knew nothing about audio and have been reading left and right, your lesson not only taught me so much, but also helped me get an organized and clear understanding of audio in my head. Filmmaker IQ is golden, as always, I have watched many film school lectures online and live and none are even close to being as compressed and helpful. You are a great teacher!
John P. Hess you beautiful man, that was super informative, just love it
I went to graduate film school with a master's in film. But this guy is splendid and irrevocably superb in 21st Century sound acquisition. Exquisitely professorial and great to watch with propulsive musical cadence. Great job!
-Godfrey Silas
cinematographer
+Digital Glamour Television Wow - thank you!!
Nice Reservoir Dogs reference on the radio announcer gag.
Brilliant video... I learned SO much. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Really amazing.
Very good! thank you very much! what do you think about Tascam DR60D?
I have been tempted on several occasions to pick up the Tascam DR60D just to have it but since I have and use the HD-P2 I just haven't pulled the trigger. The P2 is a great recorder (which I got used from a guy in Alaska) and it's got a ton of pro features like gen lock (which I haven't used). I'm a fan of Tascam, I've had them repair the P2 and they're a solid company with good products.
Filmmaker IQ I did eventually pick up a DR60D. It's good but I've had some issues with batteries and long recordings (1hr +) I got a DR70D as well but I had to send it into the factory because of a faulty screen.
I have one and it's definitely a step up in quality from the Zoom H4 I used to use. Filmmaker IQ is right though, it eats batteries like crazy (as most higher quality systems do) so you want to plan ahead with many rechargeable batteries or run off of AC whenever possible.
Very educational, but the chalk board sound effect was super distracting!
I know this is an old video, but damn... you give great info in this. And the video editing is super. Thanks for putting this together.
Excellent video sir. I have (in the past) experienced audio drift in trying to match music to video for music video shoots. I believe the issue was the difference between the 44khz CD recording and 48khz video recording. I also thought that possibly the CD player was clocked at a different playback speed then the digital audio file on the computer. If you could share some thoughts on that, I would appreciate it.
This can get really into some tricky stuff regarding clocks and how your editing system handles the resampling rate between 44.1khz and 48khz. Best advice I could give on that is to resample everything to the final playback (48khz) and work inside that.
But the clock drift is can be a real problem especially mixing consumer gear with broadcast gear. I've seen drift occur trying to sync up GoPro footage.
Thanks for posting this, this is very helpful :)
Excellent presentation. Top grade.
Every 6 months I come back to this video and learn something new. Such an asset to the internet!
Another superb video! Absolutely invaluable information! Excellent J.
Thank you very much for your response. Very much appreciated. I have had better luck matching sound for typical vocal recording using the Zoom H4n @48khz.wav. Definitely, can be a pain in the butt when matching music and having to use a CD player for the scratch track. Thanks again....I really enjoy your videos. The history pieces you do are very riveting. Take care.
15:35 A microphone placed twice as far decreases the signal BY 3/4 not BY 1/4, ie you GET 1/4 of the signal. A microphone placed three times as far reduced the signal BY 8/9 not BY 1/9.
The way you said it, it sounded like you get more signal when the microphone is three times as far than when it's twice as far.
Yes. Do as I meant not what I said :P
@@FilmmakerIQ Ha ha! Cool :')
I reckon 99% of people understood.
Nice video as usual. It's ironic though that a video about audio seems to have the audio level much lower (too low) than all other Filmmaker IQ videos.
13:13 Whilst the terms "Hot" and "Cold" are often used, "+" and "-" are also used, and probably more accurate.
13:19 A better way to describe what's going on and how noise is "cancelled", would be to say something like "The input to the pre-amp only amplifies the difference between the plus and minus inputs and not signal which is in phase, or common to both inputs (measured as Common Mode Rejection Ratio - CMRR). Typically, noise is induced on the cable by the same amount and in phase on both the plus and minus wires, so the pre-amp does not amplify the noise (at least not much, based on the CMRR)."
14:24 Great to mention Impedance. But you forgot to mention WHY it may be a concern: Impedance mismatch can lead mostly to poor signal to noise ratio, and loss of frequency response.
I own the Zoom H4n Pro along with my VideoMicro, SmartLav+, and the Filmmaker Wireless Kit and absolutely love it. Don't have any problems with my audio. I do the video on my Apple iPad Air 2 and then sync it together. Great products that I use.
WOW! I've been watching A LOT of video's about "film" making (both audio and video techniques) and this is by far THE BEST tutorial I've watched. So good in fact this is the first time I was ever inspired to make a comment. Keep up the great work!
Six years old. Still valid and interesting content. That's just awesome.
Thanks John. As a DJ there are similarities to understanding the technical aspects of recording live audio DJ Mixes and video/audio sound recordings. I appreciate the in-depth specifics of your tutorial. My current focus is to film/record my sets and quality sound is imperative. Again - thanks for sharing, and I look forward to learning more...
± Thanks for posting
± Audio failures abound on RUclips. And this is from producers who are supposed to know what they are doing.
± Sampling rate question is almost as divisive as the digital vs. film debate.
± Using a boom microphone is preferable; however make sure that boom isn’t in your shot. (one instance that comes to mind when the boom entered the frame, was a church scene in the movie The Sixth Sense)
± Always enjoy learning from Filmmaker IQ. I promote your channel. :)
I just finished my schooling at The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, and I must say I really enjoy your videos. You remind me of some of my instructors. :)
So, should I start recording 24bit and 96khz on my zoom h6? I do in-person interviews
I recommend 24bit all the way but 48khz is fine. 96khz won't give you much more.
@@FilmmakerIQ I've just changed the settings! Thanks so much for the quick reply, really appreciate! Also, subscribed and notifications are on! I always like in-depth knowledge on something, thanks for sharing it!
Has anyone told you that you sound just like Steven Wright ? Great video!
I didn't go so deadpan on the KBilly Delivery :P
I think audio is the most misunderstood part of making videos, so this video is a must for everybody wanting to get into video production. A couple of things to bear in mind: dedicated audio recorders not only generally have better preamps and resolution but better converters. A high quality converter can still sound noticeably better than a cheap converter even at the same resolution. The most important aspect of course is the mic. Optimal mic selection and placement are crucial and I don't like "hiding" lav mics not only due to risk of noise but it also changes the tone. Most lav mics need to be 6-8" from the subject, pointed towards the mouth (even omni-directional mics are still somewhat directional) to sound natural. The more directional a mic is, the farther away it needs to be to sound natural, like 1M for shotguns and 6" for cardioids.
Thanks for such an awesome presentation.
one of the best videos i've ever seen for these topics! Thanx a lot! ;)
Phantastic video. I am looking forward to watching more of your videos
Eventually you wanna look at my channel and videos too.
15:35 mic placement, what I came here for
Dude, before I got t your channel I didn't even know I had a passion for movies, Video and Audio recording. I've been bing watching your videos for days.
One of the best tutorials regarding basic sound recording. Always nice to get a refresher course, as it was eons ago that I first studied audio/visual sound design. Man I was rusty! Excellent, and subscribed!
9:40 - Truly bad digitizers wrap around!!! EVEN WORSE WORSE WORSE !!!!!!
11:50 - 1/4" PHONE plug. The RCA plug show next is called a phono plug from its original use in the 1950s.
Upstanding tut ,wow
Thank you for a very talented condensed info 🌹❤️
Thanks for this Video. Quite simply you guys are Amazing. I appreciated
Best, most comprehensive video I've ever seen on the often-neglected realm of audio. Unlike video, there are no zoom lenses in audio (although shotgun microphones certainly help)! He explained complicated concepts like bit rate and impedance very clearly, and straightened me out on several things I didn't know about sound. Excellent, overall, might actually make me part with some cash, this series is so instructive and so well done!
Thank you for making audio more understandable for me. Your lessons are well organized, full of great info and perfectly executed. You waste none of my time and make complex concepts simple to grasp.
Incredibly good information. Thank you! Kinda makes the hobbiest's head spin though. I've just nailed my head down again. I've got a lot to learn.
Excellent intro to sound recording. Love how you give the full perspective of the "audio signal chain". Perfect balance of providing detailed tech info but still offering easy to understand explanations. Thank you! Will share with my students.
You did an excellent job on that video. Cheers.
Not many use 11 kHz audio, not since the 90s and early 00s; the low range for internet radio is more of 22 (or 24) kHz for internet. In fact some compression techniques with AAC+ take 64/22 and upscale it to sound nearly identical to 128/44.
Real benefit of 96KHz (or more) is the flexibility it offers in post production (to me). With more samples you get a more precise digital signal processing, and less phase issues when processing the audio. 48KHz sounds as good as 96KHz to my ears (I would say that I hear quite well), but won't offer this extra step. On the other hand, a broader bit depth will really give you quieter noise floors that are always handy to have. 48KHz / 24bits is still a good combo, and for distribution even CD quality or good MP3 conversion will provide pleasant sound :)
I must again admit that John's informative videos (doesn't matter whether they are about filmmaking history or practical aspects, as this one) are excellent - information isn't very dumbed down, and is kept at perfect balance so it's interesting to novice as well as serious enthusiasts with expirience as well. Keep up the great work, thanks!
Btw - when we can expect next video about history of filmmaking and industry?
Hi! Thanks for great videos, keep up the good work.
I want to shoot indoor RUclips videos, won't be moving around. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80
with a Røde VideoMic PRO. But want to switch to a lav mic. What lav mic should I go for? And should I do it with a Zoom H5 or Saramonic SmartRig+
or Beachtek DXA Micro PRO?
Sounds quality (without noice) is the priority but would love to not have to do anything in post (such as syncing the audio with the video).
What is your opinion in these options or should I go with something else?
Jesus, these are the basics?
I’m officially a dumb dumb watching this video. What a great, informative video! Crazy good. Subscribed.
Info Good. NOISE of chalk-on-the-blackboard effect is... well, I suppose there is a whole lot of psychological research and study in back of using that. To me, it was a distraction. But maybe I am on the extreme of the Bell Curve. Thanks.
I started my recording journey recently, coming from an audiophile background I thought it’s gonna be easy as I do have an understanding to a certain degree, but boy oh boy was I wrong. This video helped me connect the dots and clear the fog that my previous knowledge kept me in. Thanks you lots