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Hardware and software for quality youtube podcasting (for boardgaming)?

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mouser:
I am curious about the idea of recording some videos of board game playing/reviewing..

What I have noticed when watching some youtuber's channels is the vast difference in "quality" of the recordings, and how much of a huge difference it can make in my enjoyment watching them.

The ones I really love have crystal clear audio, great lighting, etc.

An example of one of my favorite board game channel's is "Game Night":


Now I know they have multiple cameras (including an overhead one) and lapel mics, and they must have some good lighting as well.
What a joy it is to watch their videos.

Another example of fantastic production quality is "Watch it Played":


Listen to that clean audio and look at that good lighting.


Not to single anyone out, but to give a few examples of some lighting/sound quality that I'd like to avoid:



So I'm looking for any thoughts/recommendations of hardware and software and tips and tricks to getting good production quality in videos, especially with regard to sound.

Any thoughts?

Shades:
Quality microphones do make a lot of difference. Having a dedicated room that you can adjust/alter for audio-recording (fully carpetted floor already prevents quite some echoes from voices in this room. But you can do more to the side walls and roof to eliminate the rest. As a bonus, this prevents noises from the outside coming into this room.

For each of those microphones, you will need a solid stand to hang them from. Preferably these stands allow the microphone(s) to "travel", so you can adjust accordingly when setting up a game with elaborate pieces. That, or a person keeping a microphone close to you, outside the view of the camera. By all means, if you plan to use more than one microphone, keep the recordings each on a separate audio track.

Get one or more decent cameras. It would be helpful if you can hang and stabilize these from those microphone stands, if you want have different angles while setting up/playing games.

The youtube show 'TableTop', part of the 'Geek and Sundry' channel, does a marvelous job with audio and video, angles and lighting. This show is done by a professional crew and it shows.

Personally, I think it is best to adjust the lights in such a manner that the camera(s) just need to record and not apply any compensation/adjustment options that are baked into their software. Diffuse light is your friend. Any editing you need to do is done best in software such as LightWorks.

Not sure if your use-case allows you to use LightWorks for free. It isn't the easiest software to work with, but it is used in a lot of Hollywood productions, so it delivers after you get the hang of it. By keeping all audio and video feeds on separate tracks, you can mix-n-match the feeds to make the best quality video-presentation you can...with regards to production value.

wraith808:

So I'm looking for any thoughts/recommendations of hardware and software and tips and tricks to getting good production quality in videos, especially with regard to sound.

Any thoughts?
-mouser (January 14, 2017, 09:36 AM)
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Well, are you recording cross talk from your fellow players, or will it be mostly just you speaking?  That will make a difference in your best choice.  I've used a Blue Yeti with a Filter before, and was able to get good results.  But that was *just* me.

There's also the pro version, but I'm not really sure of the difference.

Not much info, but hopefully it's helpful.

mouser:
Anyone have any experience with recording from multiple cameras and keeping them all synchronized while switching easily between them for the final production video.. Im interested in a workflow that doesn't involve a huge amount of "work".

Renegade:
Anyone have any experience with recording from multiple cameras and keeping them all synchronized while switching easily between them for the final production video.. Im interested in a workflow that doesn't involve a huge amount of "work".
-mouser (January 14, 2017, 12:42 PM)
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Not video, but I've done it in audio before with multiple sources. We had everyone say at the same time "1, 2, 3" and then clap hard. That would provide a way to very quickly line up and sync all the audio tracks. Think of that board thing that they use for movies with the scene numbers and a "clack". You could do anything like that and line up the "clack" to sync things quickly. Or, if you have all the clocks on all the cameras sync'd, you could use the SMPTE time.

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