Upgrading setup for Skype lessons/youtube

[dean111music]

Ok Guys,

I have a new iMac which i think the camera is half decent but i'm teaching into the built in mic. (Not great) Any decent upgrades that would be worth it?

I may want to use a setup for youtube videos to record audio/video.

Any good options out there that will be a big jump up from what i have? I'll be mostly recording acoustic guitar and voice.

Connectivity (internet) My connection is good but i may upgrade to either a mesh wi fi system as my computer is quite far away from the router or get extender to stop it cutting out. (only happened a couple of times.

Mesh v Extender for skype lessons?

Thanks

[dean111music]

https://www.shure.com/en-GB/products...hones/mv88plus

i did see this which looks great

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by dean111music

Ok Guys,

I have a new iMac which i think the camera is half decent but i'm teaching into the built in mic. (Not great) Any decent upgrades that would be worth it?

I may want to use a setup for youtube videos to record audio/video.

Any good options out there that will be a big jump up from what i have? I'll be mostly recording acoustic guitar and voice.

Connectivity (internet) My connection is good but i may upgrade to either a mesh wi fi system as my computer is quite far away from the router or get extender to stop it cutting out. (only happened a couple of times.

Mesh v Extender for skype lessons?

Thanks

Hi dean
For audio (live teaching or YouTube videos) you could use any mic you choose with a simple interface (either single or dual channel).

For teaching, LogiTech builds great USB powered cameras with a built in mic which are 1080p and work fine. I use mine for holding meetings online, and the mic is superior to the one built into the computer (I use an iMac or my Powerbook). The camera runs circles around the built-in camera.

I'm leary of some of the new-breed of cheaper ones which when you read reviews sometimes are manual-focus (not what you want for quick, easy video work).

There are a ton of ways to get from where you are to 'better-online-video' quality with both sound and video. Knowing your needs and budget, and how complex you are willing to be can help you determine the gear you need.

Hope you find the way to teach online which meets your and students' needs.

[gfsark]

My first try was using a Blue Ice usb mic, which was pretty lousy, though better than the onboard mic on my dell laptop. Then I pulled out my condenser mic, Rode M3, plugged it into a Focusrite 2i2 preamp, with usb output to PC. Sound was clear and clean and surprisingly didn’t pick up room noise like the other mics. Still learing about live streaming, like lots and lots of people now.

Agree with ljguitar is that any good mic, fed through any preamp into your computer will do the trick for sound. I used the laptop onboard-camera which seemed quite adequate.

There are a million ways to improve on my basic setup...so will be having fun with it. Next is perhaps a lapel mic so that I don’t need to keep my head so still. Then a small mixer so the guitar and voice can be individually balanced. Then possibly look at cameras. And then there is a piece of software call OBS, Open Broadcaster Software which is used for more sophisticated podcasting and streaming with multiple camera, etc... Have fun

[dean111music]

thanks everyone who has commented so far.

I'm now looking into USB microphones for the ease when working with Skype/recording etc.

I have it down to 2 choices.

A shure MV51 or Blue Yeti

https://www.shure.com/en-GB/products/microphones/mv51

https://www.bluedesigns.com/products/yeti/


Any thoughts?


Also my iMac camera says its an HD FaceTime camera... not sure what the next upgrade would be?

[Ukulele_Eddie]

I haven't tried the two you are looking at, but am quite happy with the Apogee MiC USB mic that I use (you'll need a USB to type-c adapter with most any mic and your PowerBook).