Audio test

In a past life I ran a recording studio outside Edinburgh, Scotland.. We used foam on most of the walls to damp the highs and Helmholtz resonators (big boxes with holes in the front) to trap the bass - the result was an almost completely dead acoustic environment - like you said, makes everything sounds weird.. Then the talent would arrive and position shiny reflective screens around the place to "brighten up the sound" and undo the damping.. It was actually a nice setup..

Gordo

Sound is very complex. Controlling reflections and standing waves is a science.

Big Clive

https://youtu.be/r_ummD0WfME

YouKnowHowYouAre

I wanted to express sound tremenet is very complicated. It's a science. https://youtu.be/2mB01Jx0I1U

YouKnowHowYouAre

An omni lav placed on the boundary is essentially the same, since it is so small.

Mike Page

We've overcome room boominess/noise by using super-cardioid mics, they act a bit like a telescope only picking up a very narrow cone in front of them; the better ones even actively reject noise from other directions. Some also have a built in ~100hz high-pass filter that would further help with boominess. It could go direct in front of you or up high at an angle pointing down. You can get ones that plug straight in to your phone. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07L8YNH6N

Seems much better on my soundbar. I use a UHF wireless lavalier (K&F Concept M-8) which I've found to be very good even at fairly long range (5m), just make sure to mute the receiver before a trip to the bathroom, just in case! Avoid VHF and Bluetooth wireless lavaliers. To get the kind of control others have suggested you'd need to switch to something like OBS.

Mark Gray

I'm not sure if you can do that to audio being used by the YouTube app at the same time.

Big Clive

I'm surprised there is no graphic equaliser or band-pass filter App available for realtime processing of the microphone, unless this is an Android limitation or I'm not searching for the right keyboards. Otherwise it would be possible to reduce the low frequencies like with an audio output graphic equaliser.

Seán Byrne

I wonder if it varies with download speeds?

Lee Goodair

Hi Clive, I have never had an issue with the sound on either the live stream or regular videos. I use an iPad, iPhone or Apple TV to view your channel and it’s always been perfectly acceptable sound quality 👍

Lee Goodair

It sounds ok to me. I can understand what you're saying. I suspect I have the sound equivalent of colorblindness. Audioblind?

Nani Isobel

I don’t have any issues with any of the setups. Before foam, after foam and side mic are all good for me. I am using sound core Liberty 2 air earphones (usually around £60 on amazon). Over Bluetooth, they handle pretty much anything thrown at them.

Simon York

The sodastream videos both had post processing applied to the audio. The streaming stuff is totally live with no processing.

Big Clive

I'm not sure how that would go plugging directly into the phone's mic input. I use a very YouTube friendly streaming setup.

Big Clive

I'm definitely thinking a simple graphic equalizer could be useful. Especially one with a bit of extra control over amplitude to get the mic input into the YouTube app's gain control sweet spot.

Big Clive

Seems more like a good reason for the manufacturers to get their shit together & make their audio work properly... :P

Scott Miller

It's to make it more compatible with mobile viewing devices. They usually have small speakers that make my voice sound quiet or muffled.

Big Clive

I'm still trying to figure out why you'd want to tone down your "boomy" voice. Your voice suites you as is.

Scott Miller

Sorry, mate. Still down in the ditch. Muddy and just bassey (if that's a word). I'm on a PC, with regular amplified speakers, and I had to increase the volume to be able to hear you. Perhaps removing the forward foam and trying it??? Sorry you glued it. You may have to settle with compromise between PC and phone , headphones and speakers. This could take a while.

Chuck Kirchner

How I normally watch / listen (which is with headphones using my phone) I prefer the pre-foam (and glue) sound, simply from the ease of being able to understand you at lower volumes. I just played this video and the Bailey's Sodastream one simultaneously (so the audio tracks were mixed together) and it was much easier to hear what you were saying on the Bailey's one. It's true. some channels do have absolutely lovely audio, but do you want to be one of those channels, or just good enough? Certainly, your audio is more than good enough in general, I'd say.

Sound is muddy, muffled.

Bill Kerr

I should add a short shotgun is a type of microphone.

Mike Page

It's not a lot different, TBH. You can feed an external signal into a phone using a TRRS cable (4 pole minijack: tip-ring-ring-sleeve). So you could go crazy with a nice short shotgun plus whatever-else. If that's your bag. You may still need to dip the desk bounce, but it won't be as mad.

Mike Page

I'm not a fan of big studio microphones in front of my face, or a wired lavalier. The microphone in the above video is a lavalier just off shot.

Big Clive

First, before the acoustic foam, not only was your voice BOOMy, but echoy-y-y as well. The foam got rid of the echo, so then the bass was the most noticeable. You've cleared the bass up, but it still sounds like you're talking from across the room. Really, the only way I think you'll fix it is either with a studio microphone, or a lavaliere.

Mike Bird

the sound is spot on for my standard pc speakers. :)

Jesse_Fish_45

In hindsight I have overdone the foam. And applied it to the walls with spray adhesive!

Big Clive

There is, but only after the footage has been made. I'm not sure it's possible to route a phone's internal audio through signal processing other than what's locked up in Android.

Big Clive

It is always nice to hear your voice! But this time it sounds even more friendly!

Mike Weijmans

Is there really no way to do this in software. Someone must have written a decent tool by now. No?

MrTridac

Still too quiet for this laptop :(

I think you've overdone the foam (been there, done that, sounded weird, had to take out more than half the foam). Negligible room atmosphere now makes it sound flat, negligible high frequencies now results in lack of intelligibility, low frequencies seem exaggerated now which also reduces intelligibility. Comparison with numerous other podcasters indicates you have far less highs, far, far more bass. Maybe occasional small strips /pads of foam will give nice atmospheric feel? *** I think you might be fixing something that wasn't really broken? (i.e. It had a slightly 'unpolished' sound but I definitely liked it better as it was) Thanks for all the work you're putting into these podcasts, I certainly am much happier with my lifestyle and better informed about the eccentricities of the world as a result. Well Done.

L. Brait

Your voice is certainly got a flatness to it - I still feel this has a boom to it but, almost a muffled boom.

I now have to crank the volume up to hear what you are saying.

Mark Trombley

I listen on studio reference speakers , nice flat response , sounds fine here , not as boomy as the last live stream

It's lost much of the treble elements from the sound, or boosted the base, but I agree with Ben; your voice is perfectly discernible. It would be interesting to set up a sound jig with a signal generator and a speaker and microphone, watch all the waveforms on an oscilloscope and play with the foam to see what differences it made.

Sounds good to me on my mac and through my Beyer DT150's. I think without spending a fortune on mics that's about as good as you'll get. The fact that we can comfortably hear you is the main thing and there's no issues there.

Binky

I have some Audio technica PZM Boundary mics laying about somewhere - If I find them I'll post them over to you.

Whippet Gas

I think the main problem is that sound foam makes the microphone much more sensitive to direction. If you turn your face slightly off the axis of the mic, you get muffled as there is much less reflected sound. The room tone is also much lower level which pleases sound engineers but makes the audio lack a sense of place and becomes bland.

Dave Davies

Sounds fine to me.

Mike Hughes

Sounded good on my tablet. I didn't notice any hollow boom. much tighter I like it

Michael Thompson

Still not good. You still sound as if you were talking out of a barrel. As James Mereness says, I believe it's the lack of the mid/upper frequency range and would need some equalisation. Try dropping the lows and highs, and accentuate the mid-range, with a slight bias towards the higher end. I believe what you did by installing the foam is placed yourself inside a subwoofer. Foam dampens higher frequencies, lower ones not so much. Boom. You could try placing some speakers at the place you're talking from and listening to some music from about where your microphone is. Then adjust the equaliser until it sounds clear and not muffled. Then use the inverse of the curve you created for your microphone equalisation.

horrovac

This version also sounds fine to me, and preferable to the “before” of the earlier video. I don’t think I have a strong preference between this one and the “after” of the previous video — they’re clearly different, but either seems to work out okay. (This one seems a bit less directional, which might be an advantage for live — the previous “after” seemed very sensitive to moving around the room, and this one didn’t seem to be quite as sensitive, presumably as it’s less directional audio at that microphone location.) Ewen

Ewen McNeill

Doesn't sound great on PC speakers unfortunately. Kinda hard work to listen to!

Tripodski

Sounds quiet and muffled on the pc speakers.

Alice Chapman

Sounds ok on my phone.

The Griffiths Family

I think it sounds a bit muddy. Maybe consider trying a boundary (PZM) mic?

Derek Smith

I watch videos on the same setup I use for audio production, and while there is noticeable room resonance around 100 Hz, I think what makes it sound boomy is the reduction of the upper midrange. Some equalization would definitely help. Boosting the 3 kHz region and cutting the bass improved intelligibility.

The last one was fine .

Charles Bruckner

sounds good, a little bassy but not unpleasant

Richard Boyce

This video definitely sounds better to my ears compared to the second half of the last one.

Philip Stephens

In all honesty you sound good to me after the acoustic foam. Either it's because I'm use to the deadening effect working around foam all the time or what have you but sounds great now

Robert L

I do unfortunately have a very boomy voice. Not ideal for an era where many viewing devices have small speakers.

Big Clive

It's just getting into winter here. I feel the sudden transition.

Big Clive

On my phone it's fine; on the TV it's quite boomy unless I switch audio modes to bypass the subwoofer. I've always needed to switch to the non subwoofer mode for you. It's just how it is... You're a boomy guy.

It looks like your all bundled up? It’s not like you to be cold..

Lostngone

Sounds good to me..

Lostngone

Sounds good to me.

David Turmelle

It sounds quite bassy, but not unpleasantly so.

David Glover-Aoki

Sounds pretty good to me