1 00:00:00,001 --> 00:00:12,160 Welcome to Podcast Answers, the show where I help you start and grow your podcast, 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,920 answering any podcasting questions along the way. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:22,120 Wow. Today we have an exciting episode. We are going to be talking today a little bit about 4 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:29,860 mic technique that's essential when it comes to your show. And when it's essential when it comes 5 00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:35,700 to what you're doing, so people actually want to listen to your show. You've heard shows, 6 00:00:35,700 --> 00:00:41,980 you've heard people that don't have great mic technique, and I'm here to help you have that 7 00:00:41,980 --> 00:00:46,900 great mic technique. We're going to be talking about that, and we're also going to be talking 8 00:00:46,900 --> 00:00:54,600 a little bit about Stream Deck's new beta virtual software. So let's actually kick it off with that 9 00:00:54,600 --> 00:01:02,120 one. So Stream Deck announced, or Elgato, announced the other day that they are coming out with a 10 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:09,400 beta version of the software. So beta just means people testing it out. May not be 100% great, 11 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:15,240 but we're going to try it out. So they came out with this software that allows you to 12 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:21,120 allows you to have a virtual Stream Deck. And now we've had one of those before. We've had 13 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:28,880 virtual Stream Decks on the iPhone and the iPad, things like that. We've had virtual Stream Decks 14 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:36,220 before, meaning you can have your iPad, your iPhone standing up, and it has the virtual keys on it. 15 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:42,860 And it works. I've done a chat on that on this channel before, and it works great. It's nice. 16 00:01:42,860 --> 00:01:46,660 It's a little bit different than the physical Stream Deck. If you've never used a Stream Deck, 17 00:01:46,660 --> 00:01:55,100 it's a keypad thing, and it allows you to push buttons and do things. That's how I'm switching 18 00:01:55,100 --> 00:02:00,360 scenes in this. I have these buttons on the side. I don't know if I can hold it up to my camera. 19 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:07,080 There. It's this thing here. The Stream Deck has physical buttons, and it allows you to 20 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:11,440 do things on your computer, do things on your stream, do things as you're recording. 21 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:23,280 And they came out with this new virtual Stream Deck. And so what I've been doing is I've been playing 22 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:29,840 around with it a little bit. And so Randy says here, the virtual Stream Deck looks interesting, 23 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:35,840 but what is the real purpose? I have the MK2 and the Excel and can do whatever I need with 24 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,300 multiple pages. I don't see the need for a virtual one. I'm going to talk a little bit about that. 25 00:02:40,300 --> 00:02:45,040 That was one of the things that I had at first and one of the things that I was kind of thinking, 26 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:53,400 okay, do I need one too? Do I need one? And I found some good things for it that I would need. 27 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:59,640 So essentially here, here is the the rundown here. It is. Let me go ahead and switch over to my screen 28 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:05,080 share. So if you're watching live with us, you can see on the screen share. So essentially what it 29 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:15,280 does is it allows you to come up with a come up with a create a virtual Stream Deck, right? So I went 30 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:21,120 ahead and you go into your drop down where you see all of your stream decks. Yes, don't judge. I have 31 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:29,840 quite a bit of them. And you say add a virtual device. And once you do that, you can configure it, 32 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:39,760 you can say, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to take it and I'm going to, I want it to be four rows or eight 33 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:48,320 rows or whatever, eight columns, whatever. And you can hide empty keys and things like that. And so let me just 34 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:56,800 show you here, I've set up a couple buttons. So what I've done is, is this is it. So I'm hiding the buttons. 35 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:03,200 I'm only seeing what I'm showing. So again, as you can see here, I've got these kind of configured in a row of two, 36 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:09,520 a blank one and a number of two is it kind of creates this little Z thing. I'm not necessarily sold on hiding 37 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:17,280 those. It's okay. But if you don't do it, then you see all of the whole Stream Deck. And so what's nice 38 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:23,840 about it is again, to answer your question, Randy, it, I can find some things like this where I don't 39 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:28,880 necessarily want to have end meeting and recording and things like that on my physical Stream Deck that 40 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:34,560 I actually accidentally push. And then, and then, but I can go to it by just hitting a button and then it 41 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:41,600 shows up on my screen. So, so one of the settings in here is dynamic, which I like for display. So fix, 42 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:46,640 essentially just says, okay, wherever you drag it, it's going to show up there. And if you hide it, 43 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:52,800 it's going to show back up there dynamic. What it does is it shows up wherever you whenever, 44 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,000 wherever your mouse is at. So if my mouse is over here and I click it, it shows up here. 45 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,640 If it's over here, click it and hit here. So it's easy, quick way. I like that because it's easy to 46 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:08,000 quick to get to no matter where you're at on your screen. And then you can also, the cool thing about 47 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,680 it is let me switch over to my Stream Deck here, you can set an action, they have a new action in here, 48 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:21,040 and it is called the VSD toggle. And so essentially what it does is it's the virtual Stream Deck and 49 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:26,000 you can tell it which device if you have multiple virtual Stream Decks. But what I like about it too, 50 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,160 is you can also then do different profiles. So you can open up different profiles on it, 51 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:35,200 depending which Stream Deck button you push. So I only have one and I have the default key. And so 52 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:40,560 it's going to pop that up right now. But so when I press this key on my Stream Deck, 53 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:46,560 that virtual one pops up and it works just the same as a physical one. I can click on the buttons and it 54 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,000 will do things. I don't want to click on those buttons right now because I'm actually streaming 55 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:57,840 and I'm actually live. But but that's that's where it comes in. And what I like about it is I like the fact 56 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:05,600 that you can have this virtual one and put some non use keys on it. Randy, I agree with you that I have 57 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,760 a couple of Stream Decks and so I find that I have a lot of buttons and I like the physical buttons 58 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:16,080 because I don't have to look down on them. I can push it. But what I find is that the virtual one is 59 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:22,720 nice for those. It's nice for those things where you don't want things always showing you don't want to 60 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,800 accidentally hit them, but you just need a few more keys. I can think of something that would be good 61 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:32,160 for this to like if you had, let's say an app or something playing sound effects, it would be really 62 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:38,160 easy to get your sound effects wherever you had them and push them from there. So it's not the same 63 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:43,520 as as having it's not this. It is not the same as having a physical stream deck. I do like the 64 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:49,040 stream deck because I like the fact that you can have your hand on that physical tactile buttons. 65 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:54,400 You can physically push those buttons and you can it's easy to know where you're at without actually 66 00:06:54,400 --> 00:07:00,720 looking down at the buttons. But the virtual stream deck is nice because it allows you to have some 67 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:07,600 extra buttons that you don't necessarily want to have on your stream every day. So that's that's the 68 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:14,800 virtual stream deck. I like it. It's it's something that I'm playing around with now again. I've had the 69 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:20,800 the virtual one for the iPhone and the iPad and it's nice for some things. It's nice that if I'm taking, 70 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,560 you know, I went to a conference one time and I was doing some video, but I didn't want to take my 71 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:30,080 physical stream deck. So I took the the virtual one and it works. I can push the buttons I need to have 72 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,240 and it's it's nice, but it's not it is not the same as having a physical stream. Hear me that. 73 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:39,280 Now, the other thing that you have to take into consideration is the virtual stream deck is locked. 74 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:44,320 The new virtual stream deck for your computer is locked based on the fact that if you have a physical 75 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:49,200 stream deck, so you have to have a physical stream deck in order to unlock those keys. Otherwise, 76 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,760 you won't have that extra physical stream deck or this. Sorry, the extra virtual stream deck 77 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:59,520 with you because you have to physically have one of the physical ones plugged in in order for 78 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:05,360 for Elgato to unlock that and allow you to use those virtual ones. So again, it's in my back pocket. 79 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:11,760 It's a tool that I have. Am I going to use it a lot? I don't know, but I'm not having to pay for it 80 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:16,480 extra because I already have one of the physical stream decks. So it's unlocked that. So that's the nice 81 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:25,600 thing about it because it allows me to be able to to to go on the run and still use it, have some extra 82 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:31,280 keys. And I've got the six key one I can bring with me if I just need to unlock it. And that's another 83 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:37,600 thing that comes into handy. It let's say I have a 15 key or a or a six key one, one of the smaller 84 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:44,880 stream decks. You can now have a physical or a virtual one of up to 32 keys. And so you have actually, 85 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:50,720 you can do more than that because you can do eight by eight. And so you can use it. You can use it 86 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:56,160 since it's if you want to have it with you have something on the run where one of the smaller ones 87 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:02,080 fit in your backpack, but you need some extra keys. It's not the same. It's not the physical one, 88 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,720 but it works. So that's that. If you want to check it out, go to Elgato. Just Google 89 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:12,080 Elgato Stream Deck Virtual and you'll come up with the beta. It's a free beta. You just have to load the 90 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:18,960 stream deck software and it works great. Now we're talking a little bit about today about mic 91 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:26,080 technique, microphone technique, and you want to have a good sounding podcast. And so 92 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:31,840 here are a few things that you need to consider when you are having your doing mic technique and recording 93 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:39,280 your podcast. Be consistent, aim for a consistent distance of six to 12 inches from your mouth to 94 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:47,600 the microphone. So for me, mine's about five or six inches from my mouth. And I do also position that 95 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:53,360 like at a 45 degree angle, slightly off center. I'm not just talking right into it because then when I do that, 96 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,880 I talk and you're going to have what's called plosives, you're going to pick up those unwanted 97 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:06,400 peas and and things like that. So if you if you angle it slightly backwards, slightly to a 45 degree 98 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:12,320 angle, you're going to the wind is going to go straight and it's going to it's going to go past 99 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,360 the microphone instead of into the microphone, causing those unwanted sounds that you don't want 100 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:23,840 because you don't want those popping peas, those plosives, loud sounds. So keep it consistent. 101 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:35,120 Part of keeping it consistent is being able to not hold your microphone. I have I did this for one of 102 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:42,240 my episodes. I had my my pod mic USB that I was holding in my hand and I was so afraid that I was 103 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,280 going to pick up handling noise. Now, it did it did a pretty good job on it. I did not have 104 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:55,600 any issues on that episode and I really I really it came out sounding OK. But if you can have a 105 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:05,040 mic stand, then it's going to be great. I'm using a spring armed thing here and those and that allows 106 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:12,320 you to keep it consistent. So I'm sitting in a chair. I have it on a arm and I'm basically just 107 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:20,640 talking straight here and it doesn't I stay within my distance of that that six to 12 inches. 108 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:25,680 Now, Randy actually did bring up a good point here. He said he goes with a three to four finger rule 109 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:31,920 at the mic lined up at about 10 o'clock. That is a great that's a great suggestion. Three to four fingers. 110 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,360 I've got actually minus minus four right now. So there we go. 111 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:41,040 Four four fingers away from my mouth. And that's a good a good distance away from my mouth. 112 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:47,760 I don't like I said, I don't I would go away, stay away from from holding on to your mic because 113 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:53,120 you're going to hear the handling sounds of your mic. Same thing as far as their table. 114 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:59,600 You don't want to tap on your table. You don't want to put things down loud. I do have a 115 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:04,480 a noise gate on my roadcaster set up right now. So I think if I'm quiet. 116 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:13,360 You don't hear my room noise, the noise gate shuts that off. However, if I start tapping on my table, 117 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,400 it's going to be loud enough. It's going to even with my mic boom arm, I'm going to be able to hear 118 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:24,160 that because I'm you're going to it's going to be picking up that noise. So avoid tapping either the mic 119 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:29,440 or the table or putting things down loud. Like if you have a water bottle that you're drinking out of. 120 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,720 Put it down. Don't don't slam it down. Put it somewhere else. 121 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:42,160 So you don't you don't cause those unwanted sounds that that are going to be in in your podcast. 122 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,360 You don't want that. It's really annoying, especially because podcasts. 123 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,480 Most of the time people are listening with their earbuds in and they don't want to hear 124 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:57,760 things slamming down. Or the other thing is your that you need to can do it. Control is your breathing. 125 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:06,640 Take deep control breaths before, during, after recording or speaking, because this allows you to 126 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:12,560 not take shallow breaths. You want to breathe through your mouth, not your nose, because sometimes your nose 127 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:18,400 creates the whistling sound and things that you just you don't want in your podcast because 128 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:25,200 you don't want to hear that people don't want to hear that in their earbuds or in the in their ears, 129 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:31,760 in their car. They don't want to hear the sides of your mouth making a dry sound. So drink lots of water. 130 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:41,600 That's another good thing to to be able to have good sound is is is not is not having a dry mouth, but 131 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:50,400 breathing through your mouth. But have lots of water. Be be hydrated. That way you don't you don't make 132 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:56,560 those weird sounds that you don't want to hear and you hate that it bothers when you hear it. Some other tips. 133 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:03,920 Use a pop filter to minimize the plosives to I'm using one that comes with my Shure SM7B. 134 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:11,600 It allows me to it allows me to to keep those plosives away. It's a nice thick foam 135 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:19,200 that you're not going to hear any wind noise. You can also again use a microphone stand for your thing. 136 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:26,480 That way you can keep a consistent height consistency away from you. And then also be be aware of your your 137 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:32,320 sound level. Be aware of the proximity effect and adjust your mic distance for different volume levels. 138 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:37,680 So if I get really close to my microphone, it's going to be a big and boomy. 139 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:42,640 If I'm farther back, it's going to be a little bit less boomy, but it's going to be more consistent. 140 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:52,160 So try to to speak consistently in your your levels. You can also have a noise gate or not a noise gate, 141 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:58,400 but a compression that way it kind of keeps your noise levels consistent. Again, that's not microphone 142 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,720 technique, but it's just something that you may want to take into consideration when you're when you're 143 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:09,440 using your mic. Now, I again, Randy, you're beating me to all of my things. Randy did say treated space 144 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:16,240 is the key. And in my notes, I have room acoustics. Consider the acoustics of the room to minimize 145 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:23,520 unwanted reflections. And that that is definitely key. Your room acoustics are key. Hard walls are going to 146 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:29,840 create a bouncing sound, especially if you're a louder person like I am. If you have a hard walls, 147 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:35,120 they're going to they're going to create all these sound reflections and you don't want that. 148 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:40,720 But if you listen to a podcast, you can sometimes tell what kind of room they're in because you can 149 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:46,720 hear you hear the noise. You can hear the echo. You can hear things come come back. And so that's, 150 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:53,840 again, why proper mic technique is is key, because if you have your your mic gain too loud on your on your 151 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:59,360 your input, your mixer or whatever, if you have the gain set too loud, you're going to pick up a lot more 152 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:04,320 of that room noise and and it's just going to sound a little bit more echoey. So if you can gain 153 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,720 that down a little bit and make it so it's not picking up quite so much, you can get closer to 154 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:16,560 your mic and you hear less of my room noise now because I'm closer to the mic. I don't have to speak 155 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:22,480 as loud now. Yeah. So treat your room. You can buy a pack of small foam. 156 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:30,480 noise canceling, not noise canceling sound treatment panels and stick them to your wall. 157 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:38,000 You can put rugs if you're in a hardwood floor. That's going to bounce more of those reflections 158 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,040 up and around. So just think about the room that you're in. Try to get soft things. Try to get 159 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:48,160 things that are going to be not going to bounce your sound waves around, but it's going to it's 160 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:54,320 going to absorb that. And so it's going to make the room a whole lot more dead. If you go into a room 161 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:59,840 that has room treatment in it, you're going to notice the difference because you're going to be able to 162 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:05,760 feel like you're going to almost feel the difference if you go into a room that's treated versus not. You talk 163 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:15,680 into a treated room and you just dead. There's no sound reflections. You can't hear back. And for 164 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:21,440 recording, that's a great that's a great thing. That's what you want. You don't want those things. 165 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:27,040 So do you have mic techniques? I would love to hear what your technique is for your mics. 166 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:33,440 Or if you've also, you know, how do you get sound good sound treatment in your in your place? Let me 167 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:39,040 know. I would love to hear what you are, what you're thinking, how you're working with your mic. 168 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:46,320 If you're giving this podcast or this right, this virtual stream deck a try. Let me know. Contact me 169 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:54,320 over at podcast answers.com slash contact. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what you 170 00:17:54,880 --> 00:18:02,080 are doing. Also, if you would love to support this podcast, we would love to have your support. 171 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:07,440 If you go to podcast answers.com slash buy me a coffee, you can support us for a small monthly fee, 172 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:13,600 small one off fee. It means a lot to us. Thanks, guys. Have a great week and keep podcasting.