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Audio quality can often be overlooked in the managed chaos of web video production. And that’s entirely understandable. Between scripts, talent, location, video quality, lighting, editing and so on, there are already enough concerns that demand your attention. But poor audio quality can drive viewers to abandon your videos as surely as shortcomings in other areas. In this article, we’ll explore why audio matters, and what steps you can take to ensure that your videos sound as good as they look.

Why Audio Matters

Good audio is seamless. It becomes a part of a cohesive whole and allows the content of your video to come to the forefront. Bad audio, such as garbled voices, poor acoustics, intrusive background noise, or audio that’s out of sync with the video, doesn’t blend. It stands out. At best, it’s a minor annoyance; at worst, it degrades the perceived quality of your video and drives viewers away in search of more compelling content.

How can you protect your videos from poor audio? Let’s start with location.

Location

Your shooting location can impact your audio in two ways: acoustics and background noise.

Acoustics have to do with the way sound travels around a space. Locations with lots of hard surfaces tend to exhibit poor acoustics because the sound bounces off the walls and floor. This can result in a hollow sound, almost as though you're shooting underwater.

The best way to avoid acoustical hassles is to shoot in a location with good acoustics. Failing that, you can bring in soft, absorbent materials to help "deaden" the sound. Heavy curtains, blankets, and rugs work well.

Depending on where you shoot, background noise can be far more difficult to overcome. Overflying airliners, barking dogs, sudden gusts of wind, and even the sounds of heating and air conditioning systems can interfere with your shoot. Minimize distracting, intermittent noises by waiting for them to pass and shooting another take. When dealing with persistent noises, such as HVAC systems or nearby construction, consider changing locations, putting up sound insulating materials if you’re shooting indoors, or using microphones designed to focus on a single subject.

Equipment and Capture

Location scouting and setup can give you a canvas for great audio, but you still need to capture it, and for that, you need to consider your equipment.

Video cameras have come a long way in the past few years, but, for the most part, their built-in microphones still range from decent to mediocre. There are exceptions, of course, but if you’re serious about capturing the good audio, it's probably best to consider using an external microphone.

Microphones come in a staggering variety of shapes, sizes, and capabilities. Two of the more common types include lavaliers and shotgun micrphones. Lavalier microphones—or "lavs"—clip to the wearer's collar and specialize in capturing voices. Shotgun mics are long and skinny directional microphones. That is, they focus in one direction, which makes them ideal for picking out clear audio amid distracting environmental noise.

If you plan to use an external microphone (or microphones), you'll need to map out how you will capture the audio in advance. One option is to connect the microphone to your camera's mic input. If your camera lacks a mic input or you're dealing with a more complicated setup, you may want to consider using a mixing board or capturing audio to your computer, then syncing it with your video during the editing process.

Editing

After you've shot your footage and moved on to editing, pay special attention to the audio. Make sure it's properly synced with your video footage, and double check when you start exporting finished videos. Some editing applications tend to exhibit sync issues during the encoding process.

While you're editing, you can also tweak your audio levels to minimize background noise, elevate speaking voices, and, depending on the software you're using, even correct somewhat for bad acoustics.