Inexpensive method for getting great acoustic sound on your YouTube videos

[g6120]

Many people ask me how I get such great audio on my videos.

A tip for recording. Go buy a Sony ECM-MS907 digital stereo recording microphone (about $80 online) and it will plug right in to you DV camcorder. That way you can place the mic up closer to you and the camera back.

 

I capture to MPEG-2 format with LPCM audio using NeroVision 4 software. After the capture I then export to a file using the same MPEG-2 format and LPCM audio stream (since you captured the raw video in LPCM there is no conversion loss using Nero). The trick is to choose the absolute lowest video resolution (for YouTube it's plenty good) and configure for a target size of about 96 MB. This will result in a high quality LPCM audio stream in a MPG file that is under the 100 MB limit (My videos average between 75 MB to 96 MB depending on song length). Upload that MPG file.

 

YouTube will further compress it but at least you have given them a full CD Quality (1536kbps) LPCM audio stream to start with! Check out some of my videos to hear the sound I am getting using this method.

 

Cheers, Gil

 

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[Terry Allan Hall]

This post is chock full of useful info!

Thanks, Gil!

[Dan Hall]

Thanks Gil. Can Nero then convert things to .wav or mp3? Or is there another step between?

[d03nut]

Than-kee-uuuu Gil. Good to know these things. Thanks for sharing....

[g6120]

Here is what I do when I want a high resolution 24 bit/96Khz WAV file.
I plug my DV camcorder analog audio outputs into my soundblaster Xtreme Music souncard line input and then record that to a 24/96 WAV file using the souncard's recording software. My camcorder is set to record audio at 16 bits/ 48 Khz.

After I record my master at 24/96 I then use the souncard audo conversion software to downconvert but I always keep the master WAV intact.

[FingerBone Bill]

Many people ask me how I get such great audio on my videos. A tip for recording. Go buy a Sony ECM-MS907 digital stereo recording microphone (about $80 online) and it will plug right in to you DV camcorder. That way you can place the mic up closer to you and the camera back. I capture to MPEG-2 format with LPCM audio using NeroVision 4 software. After the capture I then export to a file using the same MPEG-2 format and LPCM audio stream (since you captured the raw video in LPCM there is no conversion loss using Nero). The trick is to choose the absolute lowest video resolution (for YouTube it's plenty good) and configure for a target size of about 96 MB. This will result in a high quality LPCM audio stream in a MPG file that is under the 100 MB limit (My videos average between 75 MB to 96 MB depending on song length). Upload that MPG file. YouTube will further compress it but at least you have given them a full CD Quality (1536kbps) LPCM audio stream to start with! Check out some of my videos to hear the sound I am getting using this method. Cheers, Gil .

Perhaps your next tip could be on editing the video.

Seems like every acoustic guitar hero on YouTube starts the clip with a shot of himself leaning over to turn on the camera and ends with him leaning over to turn it off.

I always have a chuckle over that

[g6120]

LOL, yeah I get a chuckle out of that too. They are real awkward moments. It is because they tether themselves to a computer webcam which in my opinion does a very poor job of video and audio. A high quality DV camcorder frees you up from having to sit in front of the computer!