In video production, one of the most frustrating aspects of internet videos is the poor quality of audio. What is even more shocking is to see videos produced by other video production companies in Dallas that are nearly as bad. They sound like home movies.

Bad audio is worse than bad image quality. I hate to see either be sub par but, I would have to pick audio if forced to choose between the two. Luckily, I am not forced to make that choice. At Webvideo 360 we pride ourselves on producing pristine audio and beautiful cinematic image quality for our customer’s video productions in Dallas and beyond.

Here are some things to look for with audio recordings in your video productions. Never EVER use a mic that is located on a video camera to capture audio of a speaking person. It is okay for capturing ambient sounds like at the beach but, a dedicated high quality mic must be used to record the spoken word. For our productions in Dallas we generally do not use lavaliere (lapel) microphones instead we use a much higher quality condenser microphone placed just above the head of the speaker. This is how audio is generally recorded for movies. It provides several benefits to the lavaliere approach. First, it looks better. No mic in the shot is always preferable unless your trying to make your subject look like a news anchor. Secondly, it avoids the inevitable bumping of the mic by actors or speakers. Sometimes, a lavaliere does not get bumped but slides around on a tie or another part of clothing and it creates a low rumbling noise that is added to the audio track. Another reason we like the boom mic technique better is it gives you more choice on the type and quality of microphone. Although there are some very nice lavaliere mics available, they do not compare to the best studio condenser microphones like the Schoeps MK4.

One of the reasons we pride ourself on audio is that we also produce audio file quality audio recordings of classical music and have produced several videos as well. Watch this one.

Feel free to contact us about producing audio for your next production or the entire video. 

In web video production, one of the main frustrations with demonstrating products or explaining services is that after they are produced it is not very easy to make updates to them. One must consider how to edit and maintain the videos over time.  Webvideo 360 produces web videos in Dallas, Texas for many different types of customers. For some it is very important to have the flexibility to make changes every so often just as one would make up dates to a website. We have developed a modular production process that is imp lace from script to screen. It allows a video to be easily changed and updated in the future. Let start by giving a couple of examples. Let’s assume in a particular web video production that an on camera host is begin used. When the script is written it is important that the on camera introduction is short and general. Then move to off camera voice over. The rest of the video should follow the same format anytime a new idea is introduced. This way the voice over can be changed in the future very easily. Notes about what mic was used, the distance to the speaker’s mouth, gain level, and other acoustic factors will insure that the audio matches even if done many months later. The use of audio matching software helps here but, it works best when the difference it corrects is small.

Highly organizing all source footage and graphics compositions such as Photoshop files (keeping them in as many layers as possible) After Effects, Motion, Nuke, and audio production files is paramount. It does take more storage space to archive all variations of source files but, pays off in the end. At Webvideo every project has a source file directory that has sub directories for audio, camera footage, and graphics. The files do not get duplicated even if they are used by multiple software packages.

 The modular production process is a skill and art unto itself. We also see it as a product that is different than what is typically offered by other production companies. Keeping in mind that every time anything is done in the production process, that it will be changed latter is the bottom line.