Here at Video Experts, we film a lot of presentations and interviews. While many of our articles touch upon how to make the video image as clean and appealing as possible, the visuals never stand alone. Behind every good video is great audio. Achieving clean and crisp audio to enhance a presentation is essential in allowing the presentation's message to come across as efficiently as possible.
One easy way to avoid bad audio is to know your surroundings. Sometimes a presentation will be given in a room with ambient interference, such as noisy air ducts or humming electronics. A professional videographer will try and get a feel for the possible ambient sounds in an environment before filming a presentation. Even if the source of the ambient interference isn't in their control, they can try and set up their equipment and your shot to minimize unwanted noise.
Sometimes good audio collection is as simple as knowing what microphone to use. While it is useful that many cameras come with built in microphones, these internal mics are not always reliable. They easily pick up ambient interference, and are not especially useful if the camera is positioned far away from your subject. When it comes to collecting audio during a presentation, the mic most commonly utilized is the lavalier, or lapel, mic: a small microphone that most commonly clips onto the subject's clothing. Check out our guide for more information on proper clothing, and for other useful tips. If a lavalier mic cannot be used, a handheld microphone may also be useful in a presentation-type situation. Your professional videographer will know what microphone is best to use for your presentation.
Below is an example from a presentation that we shot. Here, we show the difference between using an in-camera microphone, versus using an external microphone:
As shown in this video, Paul Assaiante's inspirational speech is made stronger through the use of proper lighting and audio recording. Below is the full presentation:
No matter what tools are used, or what the environment is like, it is important to be able to adapt, and to be prepared. Before any shoot, your professional videographer will make sure that equipment is working properly, and that they have ways to fix potential problems. These solutions could be anything from spare batteries to an extra microphone. Some video production companies, including the Video Experts, place two microphones on a subject as a precaution, as a back up in case something goes wrong with one audio source.
Was this article helpful to you? Please provide us with some feedback on your thoughts in the comments section below so we can address it in a future blog post.
No matter the size and type of your production, Video Experts can help. Contact us to get started today!
Add your comment (for display after moderator approval)
Strengthen a Presentation Video with Great Audio