_"Alright, n-now... F-f-for the n-n-next t-t-test..."_ *Visible fog being blown over the keyboard and shivering hands coming into frame to start typing, but nothing.* _"D-d-darn... I think t-t-the switches f-f-froze..."_
as an audio nerd getting into the keyboard world, i thought it was interesting that very few people even mention what mic and/or processing has been done let alone room treatment, desk treatment, etc. fascinating stuff
Yep, this. It's uncommon to rare for a keyboard sound test video to include even just the microphone, much less the audio settings such as gain, post processing, distance to keyboard, etc.
@@dslamngu yeah, gd qn, i wonder how much audiophile-mkb overlap there is, and i suppose the main concern was often the feel and ergonomics, and only more recently thockiness and sound came to the forefront, for what reason idk, maybe cos sound and aestheticd are the main things you can convey thru video (which explain the interest in keycaps, and custom cables, artisans etc too)
@@vans2548 yeah that all sounds right. I don't think people need to be audiophiles to read or compare frequency response charts though. The principles are easy: left of the chart is bass, right of the chart is highs, humans hear 20Hz-20kHz, "thock" is to the left, "silent" is all low, "ping" and "rattle" would be frequency peaks. I'm into gaming PCs and I see RUclipsrs post their own types of benchmark charts all day. I think it's because the MKB crowd is filled with people in their early 20's who are new at methods of analysis that are old news in other hobbies, but they're great at making videos.
I've watched a ton of keyboard videos, (both small youtubers and the "leading" ones like Hamaji Neo and Taeha Types), and I truly believe you have one of the highest production values to your videos. The angles, color correction, fonts, overlays, everything about the video is executed at such a high quality. Hope your channel continues to grow!
…unironically kinda wanna know how a table’s acoustics-and by extension the acoustics of a keyboard placed atop said table-are affected by the attachment of PE foam to it now. Who knows, maybe it could be relatively “practical” to apply a sheet of PE foam to the bottom of a table, for instance, in the event that the material out of which the table they’re stuck with using is negatively affecting acoustics in some way…Someone get on this lol
Thank you for shedding light on to this topic. I've always found that a lot of aspects affect the sound of those keyboard sound tests I listen to, but I love how you broke it all down for us in such a detailed way. Instant Sub!
Yes, I can confirm. Sooooo many things influence the sound of a keyboard/switch. That’s why I’ve always kept my microphone distance in similar positions whenever I record a sound test. I gotta say, I’m a little surprised people use it as a “baseline”. I thought it was just because people like hearing sound tests? (because you know, most mechs sound nice).
Depending on where you're seeing them, the producer may already have a good grasp of the sound signature of the board, and may have gone through multiple iterations before settling on one they like. I bet that probably more often than not, if you follow someone else's build exactly, you'll still be satisfied. The point is, it's never going to be the exact same.
@@nearLucid Of course and it's not going to sound the same with you typing on it compared to me typing. I might be slower, you might be faster, I might be heavier at typing than you are. There is also preference to the user
Great Video! That answers the questions of "why My board doesn't sound "thoccky" like the ones on youtube" !! Another thing I have noticed is that low gain on the mic many folks use during the sound test. I mean in a sense it sounds pleasing to the ears but never brings out the true nature of the board. Also, some folks use dynamic mic instead of the condenser to make sure it brings the best out of the boards. In my case, I don't have an Air-conditioned or soundproof room and My room is by a very busy road. so often it picks up honks and whatnot. So sometimes I do a bit of processing to cancel that out as I use a condenser mic with High Gain to get the real sound of the board rather than a pleasing one!
Yes! I'm glad you mentioned air temp as a factor of keyboard sounds. The first time I built a keyboard, I was so confused about why my keyboard sounds so differently each day, and then it hit me, when it's cold my keyboard would sound better (personally)
Years later, this has helped me so much. I'm just getting into the hobby, and this has eased up the anxiety of 'oh no, if I don't get this exact thing, it won't sound the way I like'. Excited to start the puzzle of 'how do I get this sound in this space, with this config'. Thank you, so much.
Sound tests are just reference to how it would sound against other keyboards. And you can take reference from ONE youtuber’s sound test of a certain keyboard to the other keyboard of his/her to roughly gauge how it sounds.
The point is that you will not be able to realistically achieve a sound similar to the video in reality. They're idealistic representations of what the keyboard could be at best, lies for clout at worst.
Yes, they are sound tests. Are they lies? Not really, they are all we have because no one wants to give honest opinions on keyboards except for a few YT'ers. It gives people an idea of the sound you can get out of a particular board because we can't all own every switch and keyboard available.
Yeah and even if people aren't being intentionally misleading, I would never expect soundtests from two completely different people or setups to give me a good idea of sound. This is why I like comparative soundtests more than any standalone, if one person is comparing two switches/boards using the same setup, I can at least expect a good level of consistency from that if nothing else.
Desk mat vs. my bare glass desk makes a *huge* difference on my custom board. It goes from smooth but a little clacky-sounding on the mat, to big thocc on the glass. Luckily, it feels the same either way, and I like both.
I have been in this hobby for about 1.5 years and started taking sound profile tests with a grain of salt about half a year ago. The reason was simple - I listened to a sound test through my PC on both my desktop speakers (Creative Katana) and on my headphones (ATH-M50x) just to have a clearer picture of how the keyboard will sound like. I was pretty surprised it sounded different. Even tried the headphones through my phone on the same video and that too sounded a bit different (speakers sounded more thoccky than the headphones but the same headphones on phone had a deeper sound than the speakers). These days, while I still enjoy listening to the sound tests and liked how it sounded and would build one similar, I would expect it won't sound exactly the same as what I hear from youtube.
I learned this the hard way while using my iphone's built in mic for a sound test and comparing it to my Samson Meteor. It was a different board entirely.
Great video providing a holistic view on the topic of sound test. I personally think sound tests should be treated as more of a showcase for viewing or auditory pleasure and entertainment, rather than a benchmark. Regardless its always best if possible to experience a board, switches, or certain modding configurations in person before formulating your opinions on them. Take sound tests with a grain of salt and don't justify a purchase solely based on a 2 minutes video on RUclips 😅.
I'm going to be very honest, apart from the change in desk thickness, there wasn't any real change in the core character of the sound of the keyboard, just that any additional changes added or reduced a lot of room echo. Apart from these I found pretty much every other recording to sound pretty much the same. Changing the mic placement added a lot of room noise to the recording when far away and made it sound peaky and harsh when close by. Pretty standard, but still sounded like expected. changing up mics themselves just further added room noise and sound quality depending on the mic, but still sounds mostly as expected, except for the iPhone mic, which did sound quite veiled. I thought the only real things the deskmats did was reduce a lot of resonance on the first one and every added mousemat just made every individual keypress sound a bit more pronounced. That might be placebo, though I still feel it did add more clarity to each keypress. All in all, I think that the Blue Yeti at 12 inches was probably the most realistic for a real 'demo' like sound, as personally typing on a keyboard sounds a lot more echo-y than most of the keyboard sound demo's on the internet and as such much more representative of the typing experience. Note: I'm not taking into account any possible changes in switches, springs, or even keycaps being used. Who knows how different the sound would be on different tables or desks when comparing an SA profile keycap set vs a Cherry profile keycap set never mind different spring weights and the like...
Awesome video. Audio engineering is an even deeper and more expensive rabbit hole than mechanical keyboards, so it's not surprising it gets brushed over in most demos. It should be standard practice in keyboard demos to list your audio gear and mic placement alongside other things like which stabs you use, because it makes more of a difference than any mod or component
The biggest issue for many recordings is "keep the mic off the desk" or you will get so much desk vibration in the mic. You can clean it up in post, but it's extra work and can sometimes result in the lower end of the board sound being clipped off as well
exactly what i was looking for. great video. i feel eventually the keyboard community is gonna have perfect studio setups with the walls made out of PE foam to isolate sound
The microphone distance test absolutely blew me away! I see sound tests with microphones above the keyboard, often closer than your ears would be, all the time and just thought it was to get cleaner sound with less audio noise. I didn't think changing the distance would completely change the sound. That puts things in a whole new perspective because a lot of expensive keyboards (custom and prebuilt) sound jaw-dropping in a lot of sound tests. In reality, the video could have easily been made to sound as good as possible. Surely the posters notice the difference between in--person and on video? Yet this is the first time I have heard these differences mentioned, let alone demonstrated! This is the kind of detail I like to see when trying to decide what keyboards I like best! (especially as someone on a budget with little to no room for experimentation)
ok, i already love this channel. also this is why i use a micro fiber cloth to dampen and amplify my keyboard sound. it even sounds better on thick plastic tables
Thanks for bringing this topic up. It's very important to point out how incredibly complicated this matter is. The subjectivity of the sound tests became very obvious to me when I compared sound from my camera's on-board mic vs. my dynamic vocal mic. Onboard mic exaggerates desk reverb and overall noise so that the character of the sound is close to what I hear with my ears but somehow it's louder and less pleasant, while the dynamic mic makes the board sound quieter, lower, and overall better but is farther from what I actually hear. This goes without saying, but this is why any proper testing should aim to eliminate all (or as many as possible) variables except the very thing that's being tested. You can't compare two people's videos about the same board, and if someone is really serious about testing and reviews, they should keep their test setup as consistent as possible, with same board/switches/keycaps (depending on what's being tested), same table, mic, mic placement etc. etc.
Your keyboard is amazing. I don't know the first thing about keyboards, but I would love to start my journey. As long as I find myself one day with a keyboard as amazing as yours...
Thank you for talking about this, i was always curious regarding this as I cant seem to mimic the sounds of typing tests. This just confirms that my very thin desk is one of the reasons for it. Also the change in distance of the mic alone changed the sound significantly. Great video! This was very informative!
I think it would be really cool if you guys could take the audio waveforms of each scenario and control for a single variable and systematically measure the differences in waveform per variable. That way, you could empirically figure out which of the factors was the most important/ highest weight in influencing the sound.
Super clean as per usual. Grats on the sponsorship! Another super important thing I'd say affects perception of sound test is microphone isolation. Many interpret desk vibrations as THOCK which is why many "desk-mount-angle" sound tests like the one you compared against at the end sound so good. For any sound test fiends without (or with) shock mounts, please considering applying a high pass filter to your sound tests if you have your mic mounted to your desk in any way. It's not "cheating", as you shouldn't be removing any of the actual keyboard sounds - it's just removing desk reverberations!
I’m glad you made this because I’m an audio engineer and I always think people set up their environments to make their boards sound better! Great video
Honestly, this should've also been an ad for switch testers. So many people think "Holy Pandas" and Gateron Black Inks are endgame due to some really great and slightly skewed sound tests from RUclips. Most people who hate clickies have never tried Box Jades or Whites, much less any clickies. Great video and another reason why people shouldn't base their opinions on something they can't physically test. Sound tests are great for showing off boards and the "potential" sound a board can create.
What do you suggest people base their opinions on, if not sound tests? Sure, they're not perfect, but they're all we have. The fact is that 99% of the time, you won't have the opportunity to try out a board in real life before deciding to purchase it.
Excellent video! For this exact reason is why I listen to multiple tests to attempt to figure out what the real sound of a switch (or other component) based on the ‘average’ of the tests
How is this guy’s content so good like this his setup and camera work/quality easily destroys the biggest competition out there. you deserve 100mil subs for your hard work. I tip the hat for you right here sir. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
I made a couple videos about this a couple months back and I wholeheartedly agree. There are way too many factors in keyboard sound tests that just can be misleading. Edited audio? Desk material? Recording method? Everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
The important part of recording is realizing that microphones do not record what we, as humans, hear with our ears. Your brain filters a great deal of things on a day to day basis that you will never realize is actually present when you record with a mic. When it comes to recording studio environments, a great deal of care is taken to the ENTIRE signal chain to achieve a very specific result. Multiple mic setups are extremely common when trying to record complex instruments or foley (drums is a perfect example). Things like phase, alignment, and timing are all important for a cohesive result. Usually the combination of all these placements, plus a very thoughtful engineer, accomplishes what we perceive as the final, one sound. The reality is that it may /still/ not sound close to the source, or even what another person would consider sounding "real", because at the end of the day, perception and subjectivity still rule over all.
What bugs me the most is not the different audio setups it's that something like lube, tends to have a wear in period of about a week where the sound can change drastically. A freshly lubed keyboard can sound drastically different compared to the exact same keyboard after a week of typing and it never seems to get brought up
This is also a good point, goes for both the stabs and the switches. Personally, I try to get over this period before recording the sound tests and writing about them, but I can't speak for others
one thing to note with microphone distance is that you hear more of the room reverb than the keyboard the farther it's placed. also using your phone to record while it's on the desk, it's bound to pick up the vibrations of the desk as well. you can separate it with a phone stand or a piece of foam and you can get a pretty decent recording. i think sound tests are generally only useless if there's no benchmark or a baseline to compare it to. every youtuber has a different audio setup so we can't really compare different videos of the same keyboard. the most logical use of a sound test is a before and after for modding.
Absolutely love how you filmed this in a 21:9 ratio. But then if only you had uploaded this video without the black parts so people with 21:9 ratios can view the video in fullscreen. Otherwise really great to see a RUclipsr out here talking about this instead of glorifying sound tests and not talk about the problem with it. Keep up the good work, I see huge potential in your channel
This is really true of course. I've also noticed the effect that background noise makes on the board. For me it can cut out some of the lower frequencies and I mainly hear the mid-high ones. Just an observation 😄
So true, the tests should be repeatable to take it seriously, but as you say, giving some comparisons could give an idea of how can sound a board, switch or keycap set. When I started on this hobby I didn't find the difference of lubed switches watching videos but when I tried for myself I see the difference on it. It is so hard for a mic to recreate the same sound that a person can ear.
This hobby just got a whole lot more complicated! Haha just kdding. Great informative video! Hopefully you make a video on how air temp can change the sound. It would be very interesting to see the differences of sound just due to temperature.
This is why if you really want a useful keyboard sound comparison video, then you have to look for videos that are comparing switch A against switch B or keyboard C against keyboard D, in the same video, in the same environment. The keyboard videos that just feature one keyboard is pretty much useful to see how the keyboard looks and get a general idea of what it sounds like, because you can still hear things like springs, pinging, clacking, scratchy switches etc.
very good video, haven't seen anyone else talking about how keyboards would sound in different rooms/mic configuration etc. might be cool to see more custom keyboard youtubers feature more specific details about their setup - like maybe the mic they use (+ two tests with different distances from the keyboard*), the mat thickness - if any, possibly the desk thickness as well. maybe even doing more tests as well, like testing with and without the desk mat, on a different desk, in a different room (without acoustic treatment) etc. room acoustics can change the sound a lot. in the test, the further the mic is from the keyboard, the more of the room you can hear (the room reverb... the keyboard sounds hitting the walls and bouncing back into the mic) and if a keyboard youtuber has a very well treated room (foam on the walls, bass traps etc.) there won't be nearly as much reverb in the mic - even when the mic is further away, therefore sounding better overall and possibly giving the listener an inaccurate sound test.
Should we make a separate video testing air temperature
Yes 😂
Yes please 😂
Yes
_"Alright, n-now... F-f-for the n-n-next t-t-test..."_ *Visible fog being blown over the keyboard and shivering hands coming into frame to start typing, but nothing.* _"D-d-darn... I think t-t-the switches f-f-froze..."_
For science, sure
Can't wait for typing tests to start including air temperature 😂
Forget air temperature, I’m gonna need to know how many molecules are in their boards now!
@@bidoofus7921 Or how dry the lube in the switches are
Big brain advancements
Joe mama
I’m gonna do a sound test in the bathroom right after I finish a hot shower
as an audio nerd getting into the keyboard world, i thought it was interesting that very few people even mention what mic and/or processing has been done let alone room treatment, desk treatment, etc. fascinating stuff
imagine fast forward 3 years and maybe we will have waveform analyses of keyboards
Yep, this.
It's uncommon to rare for a keyboard sound test video to include even just the microphone, much less the audio settings such as gain, post processing, distance to keyboard, etc.
@@vans2548 why not today? Why not 15 years ago? The software is free.
@@dslamngu yeah, gd qn, i wonder how much audiophile-mkb overlap there is, and i suppose the main concern was often the feel and ergonomics, and only more recently thockiness and sound came to the forefront, for what reason idk, maybe cos sound and aestheticd are the main things you can convey thru video (which explain the interest in keycaps, and custom cables, artisans etc too)
@@vans2548 yeah that all sounds right. I don't think people need to be audiophiles to read or compare frequency response charts though. The principles are easy: left of the chart is bass, right of the chart is highs, humans hear 20Hz-20kHz, "thock" is to the left, "silent" is all low, "ping" and "rattle" would be frequency peaks. I'm into gaming PCs and I see RUclipsrs post their own types of benchmark charts all day. I think it's because the MKB crowd is filled with people in their early 20's who are new at methods of analysis that are old news in other hobbies, but they're great at making videos.
as a beginner, for me, this is one of the most important topics to cover and this video explains it so well
just don't buy mech keyboards,don't buy keycaps,switches etc...... don't waste your money on this crap.
@IP Televizija Balkan I hope that you realize that building keyboards is just a hobby meaning it's something that you do for fun
@@SpilledBeans just go outside and touch grass m8 he gave a great advice
@@SpilledBeans until you run into the elitists
As an intermediate it is most important to me to abandon this mentally damaging pursuit for "perfect typing sounds" absurd.
I've watched a ton of keyboard videos, (both small youtubers and the "leading" ones like Hamaji Neo and Taeha Types), and I truly believe you have one of the highest production values to your videos. The angles, color correction, fonts, overlays, everything about the video is executed at such a high quality. Hope your channel continues to grow!
Agreed (especially the colour correction/grade is spot on)
You should try PE foam modding the tabletop
table thock?!!?!???!
Yessir
You should cop Mr. Suit for me
…unironically kinda wanna know how a table’s acoustics-and by extension the acoustics of a keyboard placed atop said table-are affected by the attachment of PE foam to it now. Who knows, maybe it could be relatively “practical” to apply a sheet of PE foam to the bottom of a table, for instance, in the event that the material out of which the table they’re stuck with using is negatively affecting acoustics in some way…Someone get on this lol
@@bidoofus7921 If you are messing with tables, you need to consider that anything else on the table will also play a role on how something sounds.
Thank you for shedding light on to this topic. I've always found that a lot of aspects affect the sound of those keyboard sound tests I listen to, but I love how you broke it all down for us in such a detailed way. Instant Sub!
Yes, I can confirm. Sooooo many things influence the sound of a keyboard/switch. That’s why I’ve always kept my microphone distance in similar positions whenever I record a sound test.
I gotta say, I’m a little surprised people use it as a “baseline”. I thought it was just because people like hearing sound tests? (because you know, most mechs sound nice).
Honestly, I've started to build my keyboards completely based off of sound tests and I've yet to be disappointed.
Depending on where you're seeing them, the producer may already have a good grasp of the sound signature of the board, and may have gone through multiple iterations before settling on one they like. I bet that probably more often than not, if you follow someone else's build exactly, you'll still be satisfied. The point is, it's never going to be the exact same.
@@nearLucid Of course and it's not going to sound the same with you typing on it compared to me typing. I might be slower, you might be faster, I might be heavier at typing than you are. There is also preference to the user
Still doesn't mean the sound tests are accurate.
yeah like tbh these differences aren't big enough for me to call it a LIE. Yes there's differences but I feel like the video is kind of exaggerating.
@@daylite34 that's what you call clickbait
Great Video! That answers the questions of "why My board doesn't sound "thoccky" like the ones on youtube" !!
Another thing I have noticed is that low gain on the mic many folks use during the sound test. I mean in a sense it sounds pleasing to the ears but never brings out the true nature of the board. Also, some folks use dynamic mic instead of the condenser to make sure it brings the best out of the boards.
In my case, I don't have an Air-conditioned or soundproof room and My room is by a very busy road. so often it picks up honks and whatnot. So sometimes I do a bit of processing to cancel that out as I use a condenser mic with High Gain to get the real sound of the board rather than a pleasing one!
Yes! I'm glad you mentioned air temp as a factor of keyboard sounds. The first time I built a keyboard, I was so confused about why my keyboard sounds so differently each day, and then it hit me, when it's cold my keyboard would sound better (personally)
Years later, this has helped me so much. I'm just getting into the hobby, and this has eased up the anxiety of 'oh no, if I don't get this exact thing, it won't sound the way I like'. Excited to start the puzzle of 'how do I get this sound in this space, with this config'.
Thank you, so much.
same, I was thinking how could the utubers have such a good stabilizers sound...😮💨
Sound tests are just reference to how it would sound against other keyboards. And you can take reference from ONE youtuber’s sound test of a certain keyboard to the other keyboard of his/her to roughly gauge how it sounds.
Exactly. Just another clickbait title.
@@artoriasoftheabyss1575 how is the title clickbait? it's not wrong, people think sound tests = reality all the time
The point is that you will not be able to realistically achieve a sound similar to the video in reality. They're idealistic representations of what the keyboard could be at best, lies for clout at worst.
I agree, sound tests work best as a comparison.
Yes, they are sound tests. Are they lies? Not really, they are all we have because no one wants to give honest opinions on keyboards except for a few YT'ers. It gives people an idea of the sound you can get out of a particular board because we can't all own every switch and keyboard available.
Yeah and even if people aren't being intentionally misleading, I would never expect soundtests from two completely different people or setups to give me a good idea of sound. This is why I like comparative soundtests more than any standalone, if one person is comparing two switches/boards using the same setup, I can at least expect a good level of consistency from that if nothing else.
Desk mat vs. my bare glass desk makes a *huge* difference on my custom board. It goes from smooth but a little clacky-sounding on the mat, to big thocc on the glass. Luckily, it feels the same either way, and I like both.
I have been in this hobby for about 1.5 years and started taking sound profile tests with a grain of salt about half a year ago. The reason was simple - I listened to a sound test through my PC on both my desktop speakers (Creative Katana) and on my headphones (ATH-M50x) just to have a clearer picture of how the keyboard will sound like. I was pretty surprised it sounded different. Even tried the headphones through my phone on the same video and that too sounded a bit different (speakers sounded more thoccky than the headphones but the same headphones on phone had a deeper sound than the speakers). These days, while I still enjoy listening to the sound tests and liked how it sounded and would build one similar, I would expect it won't sound exactly the same as what I hear from youtube.
I learned this the hard way while using my iphone's built in mic for a sound test and comparing it to my Samson Meteor. It was a different board entirely.
Great video providing a holistic view on the topic of sound test.
I personally think sound tests should be treated as more of a showcase for viewing or auditory pleasure and entertainment, rather than a benchmark. Regardless its always best if possible to experience a board, switches, or certain modding configurations in person before formulating your opinions on them. Take sound tests with a grain of salt and don't justify a purchase solely based on a 2 minutes video on RUclips 😅.
What do you base your purchases on?
Profile
Mounting
Material
Maker
man this production quality is INSANE. was expecting nearer 100k subscribers. Definitely deserve more
(typed on Lavender Linears...)
Thank you! :) How are you liking those lavenders?
Slickest ad for a desk I've ever seen. The bait and switch was flawless lol
I'm going to be very honest, apart from the change in desk thickness, there wasn't any real change in the core character of the sound of the keyboard, just that any additional changes added or reduced a lot of room echo. Apart from these I found pretty much every other recording to sound pretty much the same.
Changing the mic placement added a lot of room noise to the recording when far away and made it sound peaky and harsh when close by. Pretty standard, but still sounded like expected. changing up mics themselves just further added room noise and sound quality depending on the mic, but still sounds mostly as expected, except for the iPhone mic, which did sound quite veiled.
I thought the only real things the deskmats did was reduce a lot of resonance on the first one and every added mousemat just made every individual keypress sound a bit more pronounced. That might be placebo, though I still feel it did add more clarity to each keypress.
All in all, I think that the Blue Yeti at 12 inches was probably the most realistic for a real 'demo' like sound, as personally typing on a keyboard sounds a lot more echo-y than most of the keyboard sound demo's on the internet and as such much more representative of the typing experience.
Note: I'm not taking into account any possible changes in switches, springs, or even keycaps being used. Who knows how different the sound would be on different tables or desks when comparing an SA profile keycap set vs a Cherry profile keycap set never mind different spring weights and the like...
i don't understand how you have such few subscribers!! the editing and the content is so clean and satisfying.
Awesome video. Audio engineering is an even deeper and more expensive rabbit hole than mechanical keyboards, so it's not surprising it gets brushed over in most demos. It should be standard practice in keyboard demos to list your audio gear and mic placement alongside other things like which stabs you use, because it makes more of a difference than any mod or component
the things is though.....I still choose to follow this rabbit into this rabbit hole
I don't get why this channel only has 8k subscribers... I'm just so glad that youtube recommended this video to me.
I knew my desk was fire already, but now that nearLucid has it.. it’s confirmed.
The biggest issue for many recordings is "keep the mic off the desk" or you will get so much desk vibration in the mic. You can clean it up in post, but it's extra work and can sometimes result in the lower end of the board sound being clipped off as well
exactly what i was looking for. great video. i feel eventually the keyboard community is gonna have perfect studio setups with the walls made out of PE foam to isolate sound
LOL
The microphone distance test absolutely blew me away! I see sound tests with microphones above the keyboard, often closer than your ears would be, all the time and just thought it was to get cleaner sound with less audio noise. I didn't think changing the distance would completely change the sound.
That puts things in a whole new perspective because a lot of expensive keyboards (custom and prebuilt) sound jaw-dropping in a lot of sound tests. In reality, the video could have easily been made to sound as good as possible. Surely the posters notice the difference between in--person and on video? Yet this is the first time I have heard these differences mentioned, let alone demonstrated! This is the kind of detail I like to see when trying to decide what keyboards I like best! (especially as someone on a budget with little to no room for experimentation)
ok that outro, bro that was so SMOOTH
ok, i already love this channel. also this is why i use a micro fiber cloth to dampen and amplify my keyboard sound. it even sounds better on thick plastic tables
True! I'm using micro fibre towel as well and it drastically changed the acoustics a lot.
This is so underrated. The production quality of your channel is out of this world!
So much editing and hard work went into this video. I can't imagine all the hard work and money that was implemented in this.
i cannot stress enough how much of an underrated youtuber you are. you just earned a loyal sub. keep up the good work!
Thank you for making a better video than mine, I will share this one over mine :p
Totally didn't expect to see you here and I totally didn't mean to do the same idea LOL, Love your work thanks for stopping by
Thanks for bringing this topic up. It's very important to point out how incredibly complicated this matter is.
The subjectivity of the sound tests became very obvious to me when I compared sound from my camera's on-board mic vs. my dynamic vocal mic. Onboard mic exaggerates desk reverb and overall noise so that the character of the sound is close to what I hear with my ears but somehow it's louder and less pleasant, while the dynamic mic makes the board sound quieter, lower, and overall better but is farther from what I actually hear.
This goes without saying, but this is why any proper testing should aim to eliminate all (or as many as possible) variables except the very thing that's being tested. You can't compare two people's videos about the same board, and if someone is really serious about testing and reviews, they should keep their test setup as consistent as possible, with same board/switches/keycaps (depending on what's being tested), same table, mic, mic placement etc. etc.
When you talk about air temp. influence on typing sounds... can we finally acknowledge this is an absurd obsession that only drain your energy?
Yes
Your keyboard is amazing. I don't know the first thing about keyboards, but I would love to start my journey. As long as I find myself one day with a keyboard as amazing as yours...
Thank you for talking about this, i was always curious regarding this as I cant seem to mimic the sounds of typing tests. This just confirms that my very thin desk is one of the reasons for it. Also the change in distance of the mic alone changed the sound significantly. Great video! This was very informative!
Love how there’s super chill background music, and then typing in the sound tests goes “BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR”
wow, the production quality of this video is really top tier.
I cannot be convinced that you only have 15k subs! Your Videos are higher quality than 95% of gamer vids. Big up.
i was watching this video like 'oh there are slight differences' and then the different microphones + distances part came on and i was like 'wtf'
I think it would be really cool if you guys could take the audio waveforms of each scenario and control for a single variable and systematically measure the differences in waveform per variable.
That way, you could empirically figure out which of the factors was the most important/ highest weight in influencing the sound.
I love that this does an awesome job showing all the different factors that affect sound, thanks Lucid! ^^
I almost passed out when it cut to the a7iii at 5 inches away. Such a drastic change. Great content dude!
great vid. and next to test are the 3 pillars of keeb noobdom: THOCC, FLEX, RGB
Small channel, enormous amount of professionalism. Keep going!
Super clean as per usual. Grats on the sponsorship!
Another super important thing I'd say affects perception of sound test is microphone isolation. Many interpret desk vibrations as THOCK which is why many "desk-mount-angle" sound tests like the one you compared against at the end sound so good. For any sound test fiends without (or with) shock mounts, please considering applying a high pass filter to your sound tests if you have your mic mounted to your desk in any way. It's not "cheating", as you shouldn't be removing any of the actual keyboard sounds - it's just removing desk reverberations!
100% This.
I’m rolling through the chapters on my phone and it’s oddly satisfying
This was amazing! I never knew anything about this! Great video! I subbed and turned on notifications! 😀😃
the iphone audio's difference was MASSIVE. I had no idea this was a thing, thanks for enlightening me
das a smooth ad right there sir, sexy edit as always
the quality of your videos is insane, keep it up
I’m glad you made this because I’m an audio engineer and I always think people set up their environments to make their boards sound better! Great video
This was so helpful! Looking to build my first board and in doing research I was getting hung up on how it would sound once it was built. Thanks!
The font typography, white space so on so forth.. you know the design language really well. looks really clean 🦉
Wow, did not expect 4 desk mats to sound so good. Brb, ordering 3 more. The Quadmat mod.
honestly being consistent like using same desk exact area mic etc would be accurate
The thing this video taught me the most, is that I really want a Mode Eighty even more now lol.
this can be said about most reviews. mics, headphones, speakers. most things that make noise will effected by the things around them.
Honestly, this should've also been an ad for switch testers. So many people think "Holy Pandas" and Gateron Black Inks are endgame due to some really great and slightly skewed sound tests from RUclips. Most people who hate clickies have never tried Box Jades or Whites, much less any clickies.
Great video and another reason why people shouldn't base their opinions on something they can't physically test. Sound tests are great for showing off boards and the "potential" sound a board can create.
So you are able to get every switch and keyboard released to physically test it? It's not realistic and it's only used as a guide.
@@bakeraus that's what I said
@@tauntyyt cheering you on! :)
What do you suggest people base their opinions on, if not sound tests? Sure, they're not perfect, but they're all we have. The fact is that 99% of the time, you won't have the opportunity to try out a board in real life before deciding to purchase it.
@@AD-nq2nz Yep, exactly what we are saying. It's typical nerdy prick behaviour to make others feel shit for doing so.
Excellent video! For this exact reason is why I listen to multiple tests to attempt to figure out what the real sound of a switch (or other component) based on the ‘average’ of the tests
your videos are way too underrated, you'll make it big eventually
How is this guy’s content so good like this his setup and camera work/quality easily destroys the biggest competition out there. you deserve 100mil subs for your hard work. I tip the hat for you right here sir. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
I made a couple videos about this a couple months back and I wholeheartedly agree. There are way too many factors in keyboard sound tests that just can be misleading. Edited audio? Desk material? Recording method? Everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
yeah ive seen a couple videos where the sound is clearly edited, like the mouse click was bassy and deep
What do you think with 3ildcat?
The important part of recording is realizing that microphones do not record what we, as humans, hear with our ears. Your brain filters a great deal of things on a day to day basis that you will never realize is actually present when you record with a mic. When it comes to recording studio environments, a great deal of care is taken to the ENTIRE signal chain to achieve a very specific result. Multiple mic setups are extremely common when trying to record complex instruments or foley (drums is a perfect example). Things like phase, alignment, and timing are all important for a cohesive result. Usually the combination of all these placements, plus a very thoughtful engineer, accomplishes what we perceive as the final, one sound. The reality is that it may /still/ not sound close to the source, or even what another person would consider sounding "real", because at the end of the day, perception and subjectivity still rule over all.
That’s why hearing keyboards side by side recorded consistently is still useful for relative comparison
Amazing video, great production and content!
What bugs me the most is not the different audio setups it's that something like lube, tends to have a wear in period of about a week where the sound can change drastically. A freshly lubed keyboard can sound drastically different compared to the exact same keyboard after a week of typing and it never seems to get brought up
This is also a good point, goes for both the stabs and the switches. Personally, I try to get over this period before recording the sound tests and writing about them, but I can't speak for others
One minute in and already a flexispot add… these guys are everywhere
I found this very interesting! Thank you for making this vid.
WHY IS YOUR TYPING SO SATISFYING
one thing to note with microphone distance is that you hear more of the room reverb than the keyboard the farther it's placed. also using your phone to record while it's on the desk, it's bound to pick up the vibrations of the desk as well. you can separate it with a phone stand or a piece of foam and you can get a pretty decent recording.
i think sound tests are generally only useless if there's no benchmark or a baseline to compare it to. every youtuber has a different audio setup so we can't really compare different videos of the same keyboard. the most logical use of a sound test is a before and after for modding.
olaughs test was so memorable that i recognized it right away at the end of the video
hamaji nut moment
I've been trying to tell people this for ages, sound tests are a myth created by youtubers
yEs bUt dOeS yOuR sPaCeBaR sOuNd ThIs tHoCc?
Just shut the fuck up. Please shut the fuck up.
Big keyboard is ANGRY at small youtuber’s SCATHING comment
Yea, should not watch it for sound specifically, but can help with hearing hollowness.
True, irl sounds is really different when on recording at some point
Now teach people that they wont magically be faster on a mkb.
I love how much perfectionism and passion you put in your videos.
Absolutely love how you filmed this in a 21:9 ratio. But then if only you had uploaded this video without the black parts so people with 21:9 ratios can view the video in fullscreen. Otherwise really great to see a RUclipsr out here talking about this instead of glorifying sound tests and not talk about the problem with it. Keep up the good work, I see huge potential in your channel
I've seen some ppl who tune their audio to sound close enough irl. gotta appreciate those guys
You really deserve alot more sub, remember us when you blow up man
these videos are super high quality I love em
Instant fan and now a subscriber for life. 100% truth has been told. Officially subscribed. I look forward into seeing your videos.
Ever since this video I just can’t hear sound tears the same way. Thank you for this!
This is really true of course. I've also noticed the effect that background noise makes on the board. For me it can cut out some of the lower frequencies and I mainly hear the mid-high ones. Just an observation 😄
I like your editing style! It’s really smooth and clean and tbh very nice and enjoyable. Keep up the good work!
thought this had like a million views or something very professional editing and all that keep it up bro i subbed
'inaccurate' is more suitable word than the word 'lies'
Your production quality is through the roofs!
FINALLY! Someone who talks about It!
Love your work man, keep It up!
What a production quality!!! 👀
So true, the tests should be repeatable to take it seriously, but as you say, giving some comparisons could give an idea of how can sound a board, switch or keycap set.
When I started on this hobby I didn't find the difference of lubed switches watching videos but when I tried for myself I see the difference on it. It is so hard for a mic to recreate the same sound that a person can ear.
You nailed it! And now I can use your video as a disclaimer in my typing videos. XD
Great video! I guess my question is, out of all of the variations we just heard, which sounds as close to what you hear irl?
Why haven't I heard of you yet? Your video quality is awesome!
This hobby just got a whole lot more complicated! Haha just kdding. Great informative video! Hopefully you make a video on how air temp can change the sound. It would be very interesting to see the differences of sound just due to temperature.
Excellent production quality holy cow
This is why if you really want a useful keyboard sound comparison video, then you have to look for videos that are comparing switch A against switch B or keyboard C against keyboard D, in the same video, in the same environment. The keyboard videos that just feature one keyboard is pretty much useful to see how the keyboard looks and get a general idea of what it sounds like, because you can still hear things like springs, pinging, clacking, scratchy switches etc.
Or you're just stupid if you think one sound test is enough to conclude the sound 🤣
I'll be honest, this video tells me more about how great your keyboard sounds, than about sound condition things.
very good video, haven't seen anyone else talking about how keyboards would sound in different rooms/mic configuration etc.
might be cool to see more custom keyboard youtubers feature more specific details about their setup - like maybe the mic they use (+ two tests with different distances from the keyboard*), the mat thickness - if any, possibly the desk thickness as well. maybe even doing more tests as well, like testing with and without the desk mat, on a different desk, in a different room (without acoustic treatment) etc.
room acoustics can change the sound a lot. in the test, the further the mic is from the keyboard, the more of the room you can hear (the room reverb... the keyboard sounds hitting the walls and bouncing back into the mic) and if a keyboard youtuber has a very well treated room (foam on the walls, bass traps etc.) there won't be nearly as much reverb in the mic - even when the mic is further away, therefore sounding better overall and possibly giving the listener an inaccurate sound test.
Your sound tests are so clear man tutorial on soundtest setup would be awesome if you havent already done one!