Tips to record high-quality audio & video without a professional setup
In this short article we will provide you with some actionable tips on how to record the best quality audio & video through your computer, even if you don’t have a professional setup.
This is very useful if you are being interviewed as a guest on someone else’s podcast and you don’t have a professional setup in place.
How to record high-quality audio
To record high-quality audio, it comes down to a few simple pointers.
Use a microphone, or at least a headset
If you don’t have a professional podcast microphone, then you will at least want to use a pair of earbuds, Airpods, or any sort of headphones that have a microphone built in. In most cases, this will give you better quality audio than recording without a microphone.
If you don’t own a pair of headphones, this simple $10 pair from Amazon will work great.
Reduce background noise & potential distractions
The worst thing that can happen during an interview is background noise. There is no easy way for the audio team to fix this if it happens.
Turn off your cell phone and computer notifications.
Close doors or windows.
Notify others not to interrupt you.
How to record high-quality video
Recording high-quality video with any webcam comes down to two things… lighting & camera positioning.
How to set up your lighting for high-quality video
When you are setting up your camera or computer for the interview, you want light hitting the front of you and you want to avoid lights or windows behind you.
When a window or bright light is behind you, your camera will often adjust to showcase the window which make you look very dark (see photo on the left below).
Where there is now window behind you, but instead you are facing the window, then the light hits your face and the camera will look very clean.
Avoid a cluttered background
The next tip is to avoid a cluttered background. If possible, try to set your background with a wall or professional looking office backdrop. You want to avoid having a kitchen, or living room setup behind you.
Position camera at eye-level
Finally, you want to position your camera at eye-level. For many people who use laptops, they are often looking down at their computer. This often creates a non-ideal angle where the viewer is looking up at you. This is typically not the most flattering view, and is not as professional.
A simple solution is to stack your laptop on top of some books or a box to get your camera to eye level.
The image on the left is an example of a standard “laptop on the table” view. On the right is a view with the camera raised to eye level.
That’s it! Those few simple tips will give you the 80/20 that you need to know to improve your audio & video quality for your upcoming interview!