IMPROVE YOUR AUDIO - Tips For Better Microphone Placement - Live Streaming Pros

IMPROVE YOUR AUDIO – Tips For Better Microphone Placement

How to get the best audio quality out of your USB mic.

I’ve got five mounting and positioning tips to help you do just that.

Let’s do it.

These tips will work for any USB mic that you have. However, for the purposes of this video, I am using the Elgato Wave 3 mic, which is my favorite USB mic.

And by the way, we have a whole series of videos on getting the most out of your Wave mics.

You can check that link in the description.

Thanks, Elgato, for supporting this show.

Tip number one, mic placement the desk.

The Wave 3, and all USB mics come with a base so that you can just set the mic on your desk and be done with it.

The issue with just putting your mic on the desk is…[tap on desk]…That.

We all do it.

We type or we’re doing product reviews, so we have things on the desk, or you’re looking for notes, and you put your notes down, or you’re typing while you’re streaming.

For any number of reasons, you can cause the mic to pick up the motion on that desk.

If you want to keep your mic on the desk, then you’re gonna want to find a way to absorb some of that sound from the desk so that it doesn’t bleed into the mic.

You can do that a couple of different ways, maybe with a couple of mouse pads or some foam that you place underneath the mic, and your issue will be greatly improved.

Or you can get the mic off your desk by mounting it, which leads us into tip number two.

Tip number two, mounting your mic off the desk.

There are three options for getting your mic off the desk, so you don’t have to worry about those issues.

You can use something like Elgato’s Master Mount with a solid arm, which is going to keep your mic in the same position always.

Or you can use a mic arm, which brings the mic up and down, and you can move that in any number of positions.

Then there’s the LP, the low profile arm.

This is my favorite, not because it’s my initials, but because of the freedom that it gives you, it mounts the mic up instead of over, and you can move it in and out of shot.

You can move it out of the way when you want to do other things on your des. Just gives you a lot of freedom.

Tip number three, proper positioning.

The thing you need to be aware of when it comes to microphones is that the positioning matters.

The closer the mic is to your mouth, the better the audio quality.

If I have the mic down at the desk, out of shot, then it’s not going to sound as good as if it’s right up at my mouth.

If you want to learn about the different types of mics to understand what kind of mic is best for you, we have a video all about that link in the description.

Tip number four, mic in the shot or not, so if you don’t want your mic in the shot, then it’s a bit of a sacrifice of audio quality, because the further away your mic is, you’re going to start to introduce room noise or other ambient noises like here.

Whether to have your mic in the shot or not is a personal preference.

You need to decide this, but keep in mind what we just learned, the closer your mic is to your mouth, the better audio quality you will get.

Podcasters and radio style hosts typically love the mic in the shot because of that better audio.

For me, in my normal setup, you typically see my mic out of the shot just because that is my personal preference.

Again, you must decide what look and feel you you like and the sacrifice you’re willing to make.

And also, some people just love the look of their mic so they put it in the shot for that extra flare.

Tip number five, software.

A lot of USB mics have controls on the mic itself to adjust volume, gain and other things.

In addition to that, you can use software to give you even more control and higher quality audio.

For example, with the Wave 3, Elgato has the Wave Link software that allows you to virtually mix multiple mics other audio sources so that you can really control your audio.

If you want to learn how to use the Wave Link software to get the highest possible quality from your Wave microphones, I have a video tutorial all about that.

I will walk you through step by step.

So click that, and I’ll see you there.

 

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