102 - Must Have Recording Gear For Content Creators (Desktop and Phone)

Many people overthink equipment when starting out with video or podcasting. Christopher Johnson emphasized using what you already have, like your phone, and focusing on good audio before investing in expensive gear.

I was delighted to have Christopher Johnson, event producer and radio personality, join me to share some tips on purchasing recording equipment. He encouraged listeners to buy what fits their current needs and learn as they grow. Fun and experimentation should guide the process.

Topics included
🔹Don’t overspend on gear you don’t understand—start simple
🔹Phones are powerful tools for both video and audio content
🔹Audio quality matters more than video quality for keeping attention
🔹Get the most memory you can afford on devices, especially for video
🔹USB mics are beginner-friendly; XLR setups require more gear and skill

Visit Christopher's site for resources, click here

🔷If you're listening to this podcast, video feels way harder than it should.  If you're ready to make video a priority, and not spend hours making a 60-sec video visit BlackDogMarketingStrategies.com

 Join me in The Lab on Substack, my space to test, tweak, and share smart ideas worth chasing, especially around video, content strategy, and showing up online without burning out (or wasting your weekends) Click Here

📌 When you’re ready to make creating engaging social media videos a priority, I offer 1:1 coaching and done-with-you video services. 😉 Click Here

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➡️ Need more? Check out the 300+ videos on my YouTube channel Click here for my YouTube channel 

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For additional insights, connect with Annette Richmond and Black Dog Marketing Strategies on social media.
Substack: https://substack.com/@annetterichmond
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annetterichmond/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com...

Transcript

[00:00:37.11] 

Well, let me just adjust the camera there.

[00:00:39.25] 

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are.

[00:00:43.08] 

I'm Annette Richmond. This is Content Marketing School.

[00:00:46.05] 

And I'm so excited to have my bud, Christopher Johnson, here with me today.

[00:00:51.19] 

We've known each other for a few years.

[00:00:54.14] 

We met through our mutual friend, I think, Brenda Meller.

[00:00:58.05] 

It was like, I've met so many fun, interesting people through her.

[00:01:02.13] 

And you were actually on my previous podcast that was about career in business.

[00:01:08.10] 

So for anyone who does not know you, please tell us a little bit about

[00:01:12.04] 

who you are and what you do.

[00:01:15.08] 

Well, sure. Happily.

[00:01:16.19] 

I'm Christopher Johnson. I'm based in Metro Detroit.

[00:01:19.18] 

What I do, I specialize in producing virtual events for nonprofits and member

[00:01:24.04] 

organizations like Feeding America and California WIC.

[00:01:27.18] 

My approach is purpose-first. Course.

[00:01:30.20] 

So I designed the event to achieve clear outcomes, not just fill time.

[00:01:35.11] 

Because a virtual event isn't just a Zoom call, it's an experience that should

[00:01:39.29] 

reflect the organization's mission, build community, drive engagement.

[00:01:44.04] 

So whether it's a an hour or an annual meeting or a conference,

[00:01:47.14] 

I ensure the events run smoothly and the organization shines.

[00:01:53.20] 

Well, since you have that beautiful smooth

[00:01:56.29] 

voice, you have to mention that you're also Is it a DJ or radio personality?

[00:02:03.24] 

You also do that. I am.

[00:02:06.20] 

I am the weekend morning host for my local public radio station, Michigan Public.

[00:02:13.20] 

Well, with a voice like that, oh, my gosh, it's just chilling when you hear it.

[00:02:20.00] 

So we talked a little bit about some of the things that I wanted

[00:02:24.23] 

to ask you before we started the show.

[00:02:27.23] 

And one of the things like video today, I think it's no

[00:02:33.28] 

longer like a should, should.

[00:02:37.05] 

It's like you got to do it.

[00:02:39.19] 

And it's so important for people to do video.

[00:02:42.13] 

Now, I record most of my videos on my phone.

[00:02:46.11] 

But as we were talking about, there are some platforms where you can

[00:02:50.24] 

either record in the

[00:02:53.28] 

preferred vertical format or in Restream,

[00:02:58.20] 

which I use, or even on Zoom, you can record in the landscape format

[00:03:05.06] 

and yet create clips of a long recording in a platform like OpusClips, Minvo.

[00:03:12.02] 

There's a whole bunch of different ones.

[00:03:14.05] 

So What would you suggest if somebody is listening to this now or watching this

[00:03:20.08] 

and they're thinking, Okay, I'd like to do video.

[00:03:23.11] 

Maybe I even want to do lives or something like that or interview shows

[00:03:27.12] 

or a podcast that's video.

[00:03:31.22] 

What mistakes do people make when they start wanting to get equipment?

[00:03:40.04] 

What mistakes do they make and what should they be doing instead?

[00:03:45.17] 

One of the biggest mistakes I see is people getting high-end equipment

[00:03:49.27] 

that they do not understand.

[00:03:54.04] 

So David Polk, he's a tech writer, and he mentioned something

[00:04:00.25] 

He said, What's the best camera?

[00:04:02.26] 

People always ask him that.

[00:04:04.25] 

He says, The one you have with you.

[00:04:09.17] 

Right now, our phones are so much better

[00:04:15.05] 

than anything that 10, 20 years ago.

[00:04:20.00] 

The best camera, the one you have with you, the one that you know how to work.

[00:04:26.13] 

Getting something high-end is fine.

[00:04:29.20] 

If you You understand the bells and whistles and how it's going to help

[00:04:33.00] 

you and how you're going to be able to use it.

[00:04:36.00] 

But don't overspend on tech.

[00:04:38.17] 

The big thing is just getting started.

[00:04:41.26] 

Yes, I think that's so true.

[00:04:45.24] 

One of my husband's clients, the marketing department, his

[00:04:49.22] 

clients are mid-sized firms.

[00:04:51.10] 

He does SEO, and the marketing is pushing the owner to do some video.

[00:04:56.18] 

So he went out and bought all this fancy equipment, and he's yet to even sit down.

[00:05:00.04] 

In front of the video and do anything.

[00:05:03.20] 

And I think it's also we were talking about microphones now.

[00:05:09.13] 

And as an aside, recently, a couple of years ago,

[00:05:12.18] 

I was at a conference, and we had a photographer

[00:05:14.09] 

there taking head shots for us.

[00:05:15.28] 

And I was working with him because I was helping run the conference.

[00:05:20.07] 

And he told me that the phone camera was better than the camera

[00:05:23.22] 

he was using, actually.

[00:05:25.19] 

So there is that.

[00:05:27.22] 

So when it comes to I understand, and I mentioned this to you,

[00:05:32.18] 

I think my experience and what I hear is people will forgive video that's not

[00:05:38.01] 

that great, because we're talking a little bit about different platforms

[00:05:41.12] 

to record video, but not audio.

[00:05:44.01] 

The audio has got to be good.

[00:05:47.11] 

That's true.

[00:05:48.28] 

For example, video and film, those are shot,

[00:05:53.06] 

those are a series of still images that our brain is tricked into thinking

[00:05:58.22] 

like, Oh, that is a No, it's one image at a time,

[00:06:03.07] 

24 frames a second or 30 frames a second, but that's still a still image.

[00:06:09.05] 

Our mind sees those and fills in the gaps.

[00:06:14.00] 

If there are gaps in audio that our mind needs to fill in, our mind says,

[00:06:17.24] 

Wait, we're already overworked.

[00:06:19.28] 

This is too much. I'm out.

[00:06:24.00] 

Wow.

[00:06:26.00] 

Okay, so I'm hearing a little echo here.

[00:06:28.16] 

Are you hearing a little echo?

[00:06:30.00] 

I am not.

[00:06:31.08] 

Okay, that's fine. It's just on my end.

[00:06:33.06] 

That's perfectly cool.

[00:06:34.14] 

So one of the things, and we talked about phones.

[00:06:37.26] 

One of the things that I tell people is if you're going to invest in one thing,

[00:06:45.04] 

to get a wireless lavalier, and you can get them.

[00:06:49.05] 

My original set that I had, it was two, and they worked perfectly fine.

[00:06:53.26] 

They were just bulky and everything.

[00:06:56.05] 

It was less than 30 bucks.

[00:06:58.18] 

Of course, you can as you go on, but what

[00:07:03.07] 

do you recommend as far as that goes?

[00:07:06.17] 

Something similar.

[00:07:08.01] 

The one I currently have, I forget how much it cost.

[00:07:11.07] 

It was not much, but it connects to my phone.

[00:07:14.28] 

It also connects to a digital camera should I want to.

[00:07:20.06] 

What's the best one to have?

[00:07:22.19] 

The one you have with you.

[00:07:24.06] 

I can connect this to my phone and it will clip to my lapel.

[00:07:27.23] 

I can have my phone across the room.

[00:07:30.05] 

It works fine.

[00:07:32.29] 

Occasionally, I will use a high-end digital camera,

[00:07:37.10] 

and it will connect to that as well.

[00:07:40.20] 

Yeah, I think that as well.

[00:07:47.11] 

This is so odd, but I find that as well.

[00:07:52.07] 

And again, I invest in my equipment.

[00:07:56.17] 

I buy one thing a year.

[00:07:59.02] 

Prime Day is I'm already planning what I'm going to get.

[00:08:03.04] 

I started with a blue snowball microphone that I had on my desktop when I first

[00:08:08.20] 

started podcasting, which is like 50 bucks.

[00:08:11.08] 

And then I upgraded after a couple of years, and I got the Blue Yeti,

[00:08:15.14] 

which I think a lot of people use.

[00:08:17.11] 

Because I think it's also when people are excited about maybe doing a podcast or

[00:08:24.02] 

starting to do interviews like this, they think, Oh, wow.

[00:08:28.11] 

When they start buying all this stuff, And I know with podcasts, a lot

[00:08:33.13] 

of podcasts don't last beyond 10 episodes.

[00:08:37.05] 

True.

[00:08:38.29] 

So go ahead.

[00:08:40.13] 

No, and that's why you don't overspend upfront.

[00:08:43.05] 

You just get something to get started.

[00:08:46.04] 

You will figure out when you've outgrown it.

[00:08:51.04] 

So some tips on that.

[00:08:53.08] 

How do you know when you've outgrown what you have and it's time to

[00:08:59.16] 

move up a little bit?

[00:09:02.00] 

When the quality is suffering, when you want better and you

[00:09:08.00] 

recognize what it is that you want.

[00:09:11.11] 

So it's like, all right, most of us, sticking I'll get the phone

[00:09:15.13] 

for just a moment.

[00:09:17.01] 

Our phones can do so much more than we do with them.

[00:09:23.23] 

Do we need to upgrade?

[00:09:27.14] 

Well, what's the problem that upgrading will solve?

[00:09:31.20] 

Like, Oh, well, you know what?

[00:09:33.10] 

A better camera would solve this particular problem.

[00:09:37.00] 

All right, I'm having some issues with it not picking up certain

[00:09:41.12] 

kinds of sounds, so a different microphone or interface would solve that problem.

[00:09:48.12] 

Ask yourself, what problem are you trying to solve?

[00:09:51.07] 

And is it something that exists on the phone that you can just tweak

[00:09:57.02] 

or whatever the piece of tech is?

[00:09:59.04] 

Or do you something else?

[00:10:01.11] 

Because these days, it seems we collect used tech.

[00:10:09.05] 

Yes, yes, yes.

[00:10:12.18] 

It's funny you mention that because I got a new phone a few months ago,

[00:10:17.17] 

and I had an iPhone 12, and I just held on to that phone,

[00:10:22.01] 

held on to that phone, and it wasn't charging right.

[00:10:24.25] 

So I took it to Apple, and they said, You know what?

[00:10:27.01] 

You really need a new battery.

[00:10:28.19] 

And so I with the price of the battery and installation and everything

[00:10:33.28] 

that I would invest in a new phone.

[00:10:35.18] 

And since I do video all the time, I did invest in the 16 Pro

[00:10:41.19] 

with a really nice camera.

[00:10:43.23] 

But I felt like because...

[00:10:45.18] 

It was my husband pushing me because you do it all the time.

[00:10:48.22] 

But I think there's a lot of things where we buy stuff that we don't need,

[00:10:53.13] 

like getting the new camera or something because it's out there.

[00:10:58.02] 

True.

[00:10:58.29] 

But one of the things I What I think where people should spend is...

[00:11:04.02] 

My background is IT.

[00:11:06.06] 

So spend on memory.

[00:11:10.14] 

If you're going to get a high-end whatever it is, so whether you're going

[00:11:15.25] 

to make digital recordings, whether they be audio or video,

[00:11:20.14] 

spend on memory so that you can capture all of that.

[00:11:24.16] 

You don't want the camera or the recording device or anything to be full

[00:11:29.22] 

after only a couple of images or after only a few minutes of an interview.

[00:11:34.25] 

That is such smart advice.

[00:11:37.14] 

When I got this phone, too, I got a lot more memory.

[00:11:41.05] 

What do you suggest as far as, let's say someone, because we're talking

[00:11:45.05] 

about equipment and we're talking about video, and the podcast is content

[00:11:48.28] 

marketing, so we talk a lot about video here.

[00:11:51.07] 

Okay.

[00:11:51.22] 

What do you suggest for memory for a phone, if you have to get a new

[00:11:57.19] 

phone, if you're in the market for a new phone?

[00:12:00.00] 

Always get the most memory that you can afford.

[00:12:02.17] 

Okay.

[00:12:05.06] 

That doesn't mean the most memory available, the most memory

[00:12:09.00] 

that you can afford.

[00:12:10.20] 

You can skimp on other things on the phone.

[00:12:13.01] 

Hey, do you need...

[00:12:14.16] 

No, get the most memory.

[00:12:17.14] 

That's where you should spend any extra money that you have on the phone because

[00:12:21.16] 

using all of the functions and features will use up some of that memory.

[00:12:26.22] 

You want things to run quickly and smoothly without either

[00:12:32.04] 

the beach ball is spinning.

[00:12:35.11] 

It's thinking about something that's almost there.

[00:12:38.18] 

It's good now.

[00:12:40.28] 

Get the most memory that you can.

[00:12:43.24] 

Yes, I I'll carry you on that.

[00:12:45.24] 

Again, that was something my husband's like, Okay, go on, get that bigger

[00:12:48.25] 

memory because you have so much on there.

[00:12:50.20] 

I have, I don't know, thousands of videos and stuff on my phone, which is crazy.

[00:12:54.24] 

Here's the other thing with that.

[00:12:56.17] 

Back up, back up.

[00:12:58.00] 

And once more of an emphasis, back up.

[00:13:02.14] 

Yes, I do that, too.

[00:13:04.24] 

My husband is the nerdy techy guy here in this marriage, as you may have guessed.

[00:13:11.14] 

He's the one that does all the stuff for me.

[00:13:16.22] 

So let's move on to the desktop.

[00:13:20.17] 

I have a personal question for you, but I think the audience

[00:13:26.05] 

would be interested as well.

[00:13:27.20] 

As I mentioned, I started with the Blue Snowball when I

[00:13:31.20] 

first started podcasting because it was better than the microphone.

[00:13:37.13] 

I didn't really have a mic, and it was audio only, and I wanted something decent.

[00:13:41.26] 

And it's a good thing.

[00:13:43.20] 

And then I got the Blue Yeti, and now I'm considering

[00:13:49.05] 

the Sure, the hybrid.

[00:13:51.26] 

My question to you is actually twofold.

[00:13:55.29] 

And one thing that you can explain for people who aren't familiar

[00:14:00.07] 

something like the Blue Yeti, the Blue Snowball, whatever.

[00:14:03.10] 

Those are what's called USB cameras, I believe, that are just plug and play.

[00:14:08.17] 

If you talk a little bit about what people would need for that.

[00:14:12.19] 

But then also the other type, what's the other type of the microphone?

[00:14:20.18] 

The DLR or something like that? Xlr.

[00:14:24.18] 

Xlr, yes.

[00:14:26.14] 

With an XLR microphone, you need a audio interface.

[00:14:32.06] 

That's another piece of hardware to connect that XLR mic to the computer.

[00:14:38.04] 

Can you talk our listeners quickly through the whole thing?

[00:14:42.18] 

If I decide that I want to get a microphone, what's my best step?

[00:14:48.20] 

Or the difference is if you have the USB, it's plug and play.

[00:14:53.05] 

If you have the XLR, you need this other thing.

[00:14:56.26] 

I will just tell you as an aside that I thought, Oh,

[00:14:59.23] 

I'm I'm going to get a roadcaster and I'm going to blah, blah, blah.

[00:15:02.26] 

I got that thing and found out that, Oh, it didn't work with my microphone.

[00:15:06.29] 

So of course, I had to send it back.

[00:15:09.22] 

I want to ask you about something else, specifically after you've done

[00:15:15.14] 

giving us a little quick lesson here.

[00:15:17.01] 

I would appreciate that, and I'm sure others would as well,

[00:15:19.16] 

because people don't know. Sure.

[00:15:22.23] 

A USB mic, it will most likely plug into your current laptop,

[00:15:28.07] 

whether that's an Apple or a PC.

[00:15:31.18] 

You may have to use a USB hub because a lot of computers these days only come

[00:15:38.04] 

with USB-C as opposed to USB-A or B.

[00:15:42.00] 

You need something to connect

[00:15:44.19] 

a newer laptop to a, not older,

[00:15:50.19] 

a different format USB microphone.

[00:15:55.17] 

But it should work just fine.

[00:15:57.19] 

So once they're connected, play with it, see how it works.

[00:16:01.26] 

The audio quality, again, as we've discussed,

[00:16:07.10] 

audio quality is at a premium, but that doesn't mean you have to spend

[00:16:11.18] 

the premium to have high-quality audio.

[00:16:14.28] 

So yeah, the Blue Yeti, hey, I still have one, is one of the mics

[00:16:19.18] 

I use on a more regular basis.

[00:16:22.20] 

I've even recorded audiobooks on it, so it's serviceable.

[00:16:30.12] 

A mic that uses an XLR interface, all right, that is something it takes...

[00:16:36.14] 

You need a separate piece of hardware to connect this XLR mic.

[00:16:41.12] 

And an XLR jack, I don't have one handy, but it's a three-prong jack that

[00:16:49.01] 

your computer generally does not have.

[00:16:51.12] 

So you get this third piece of hardware.

[00:16:55.00] 

Then you also need another piece of software for everything to play nicely

[00:17:01.00] 

together because now you're going to be where you can do more high-end processing.

[00:17:06.18] 

What does the high-end processing mean?

[00:17:08.16] 

Well, you can clean up the audio better than you can with

[00:17:15.12] 

some of the standard tools.

[00:17:17.17] 

If you're going to invest in a high-quality microphone, wonderful.

[00:17:21.16] 

Invest in the tools, something like Adobe Audition.

[00:17:25.02] 

That's one I use on a regular basis.

[00:17:30.14] 

I use that both for myself and then also at the radio station.

[00:17:37.28] 

You can do a lot of things with it.

[00:17:40.06] 

Like recently, I took a plane ride with my youngest.

[00:17:44.25] 

She's a pilot.

[00:17:46.17] 

She took me up in a very, very tiny plane.

[00:17:49.17] 

By the way, it was tiny.

[00:17:52.22] 

I brought my audio equipment with me to record some of this,

[00:17:56.06] 

and it was peaking, meaning that there was a lot of loudness

[00:18:02.02] 

coming into the microphone.

[00:18:03.16] 

So when I looked at the waveform, it was at the extremes.

[00:18:07.25] 

I was able to clean that up

[00:18:10.26] 

in Adobe Audition by saying, All right, here are some settings I know I can play

[00:18:15.17] 

with, and now I'm preparing that to be a feature on the radio station.

[00:18:21.01] 

Wow.

[00:18:21.25] 

So I will tell you that I was in one of those teeny tiny planes many years ago

[00:18:26.17] 

when I was in college, and I was a minor in media studies.

[00:18:30.17] 

And we arranged to go up with the local traffic guy, a traffic plane.

[00:18:36.12] 

So it was just the two people in the front.

[00:18:38.18] 

And then there was like the old Volkswagen Beatle, just a little thing

[00:18:41.29] 

where somebody could sit in the back.

[00:18:43.23] 

And I'll tell you what, I was never so happy to get out of that plane.

[00:18:46.26] 

I think me and my partner just both hit the ground when we got out of that plane

[00:18:51.01] 

because it was just not as fun as we expected.

[00:18:55.23] 

But one of the things, and this is interesting to me because we

[00:18:59.10] 

were talking before we started, because sometimes

[00:19:03.18] 

the platform I'm using will go back and jump to the webcam microphone,

[00:19:08.14] 

which is, of course, horrible, and I have to make sure.

[00:19:11.24] 

But if it does something like that, is that something you could clean up

[00:19:15.03] 

if you have the XLR, the whole system?

[00:19:19.00] 

You can clean up the audio somewhat.

[00:19:21.20] 

When you look at the recording, you'll see

[00:19:27.13] 

there's a waveform pattern,

[00:19:29.05] 

and additionally, there's a spectral analysis pattern, and

[00:19:33.01] 

you can see what certain sounds look like.

[00:19:35.12] 

When you can identify that sound, it's like, Oh,

[00:19:38.08] 

well, perhaps if I can just erase this throughout the recording,

[00:19:41.26] 

it'll give it a better sound. Yeah.

[00:19:43.29] 

Okay.

[00:19:45.07] 

My question to you,

[00:19:47.29] 

and this is personal for me, I'm so excited, is that I know that

[00:19:52.29] 

Sure has a hybrid microphone, which you can use.

[00:19:58.17] 

I am seriously concerned considering getting that for me

[00:20:03.10] 

so that I can plug and play it into my current, my computer,

[00:20:08.04] 

but maybe down the road, expand and get something like a roadcaster

[00:20:14.05] 

or something, whatever, to have that interface.

[00:20:18.11] 

What are your thoughts on that?

[00:20:20.25] 

That sounds good. Now, is there a way for you to try it?

[00:20:26.18] 

Is there a store where you could go in, try it out, record it, see what

[00:20:34.00] 

it looks like and sounds like, and how that will measure up to your needs.

[00:20:39.04] 

Around here, there's a guitar center, and I can go in there

[00:20:44.05] 

and take a look at it.

[00:20:45.10] 

I can talk to the people about what the dynamic range is

[00:20:50.04] 

on this particular microphone.

[00:20:52.22] 

My voice tends to be lower, so I want something that picks up

[00:20:57.08] 

the lowness as opposed to something focused on the high-end.

[00:21:03.16] 

For me, it's always wanting to produce better.

[00:21:10.24] 

Okay. That's my goal, to produce better.

[00:21:15.22] 

I listen to some friends I have, people that are guests on my show,

[00:21:20.08] 

and then when I listen to the sound, not that the Blue Yeti doesn't sound good.

[00:21:25.25] 

It sounds good, but you have that

[00:21:30.00] 

deeper, more modulated tone-Warming.

[00:21:37.06] 

Yeah, that you don't get with this.

[00:21:39.19] 

And so that's my thinking behind it.

[00:21:44.12] 

I've been planning it with Prime Day coming and all that because I'm thinking

[00:21:49.17] 

that that's an easy way to also follow

[00:21:52.10] 

my philosophy of buy the inexpensive

[00:21:56.29] 

and then expand and go go higher. I've done that with...

[00:22:00.28] 

I bought a teleprompter last year on Prime Day for the first time,

[00:22:05.02] 

and although I had for years been, Oh, no, no, no.

[00:22:08.24] 

I got this thing, and I'm telling you, it saved me so much time.

[00:22:12.02] 

Good. What are your thoughts on that?

[00:22:14.26] 

I like that.

[00:22:16.08] 

Something else that you can do along with that, experiment with the area

[00:22:22.02] 

where the microphone is going to be.

[00:22:24.07] 

What I mean by that, if you're in a room that has a lot

[00:22:27.25] 

of reflective surfaces, well, okay, you might hear more of that on a high-end mic.

[00:22:33.26] 

If you're in, for instance, a glass office space, hey,

[00:22:38.26] 

a lot of offices these days are floor-to-ceiling glass,

[00:22:43.07] 

and you're going to hear it's like, Oh, yeah, all right.

[00:22:47.14] 

That's going to have a different

[00:22:49.11] 

sound than if you're in a room with...

[00:22:55.07] 

If you're in a blanket fort.

[00:22:58.18] 

A lot of people in radio So when they have to produce something

[00:23:01.29] 

on the fly or at home, they basically build a blanket for it or go

[00:23:06.13] 

into their closet because the clothing acts as dampening.

[00:23:10.04] 

So you have less reflective surfaces.

[00:23:13.23] 

You can record something It'll give a good quality sound that you

[00:23:17.20] 

can use for broadcast.

[00:23:19.28] 

Yeah, I love that.

[00:23:21.07] 

And it's funny because I had been thinking about just putting some insulation on some

[00:23:26.00] 

of the walls in my office, which is It's a fairly large room,

[00:23:31.28] 

and I have a lot of other things in it, but there's walls.

[00:23:36.01] 

It is probably much more of that reflective space than I would realize.

[00:23:42.18] 

Yeah.

[00:23:44.25] 

Play around with it and have fun.

[00:23:50.23] 

So don't stress about it. Just have fun.

[00:23:53.06] 

Okay. Well, I am like that.

[00:23:56.02] 

I like to play and experiment and try stuff.

[00:23:58.17] 

I have one more question for before because the time has fly by so fast,

[00:24:03.01] 

before I ask you for your final thoughts of what's something you

[00:24:06.18] 

would like to share.

[00:24:07.20] 

And we talked about this a little bit beforehand about the idea of Zoom.

[00:24:12.02] 

Now, I have heard for video recording, I'm not a big user of Zoom,

[00:24:18.07] 

but I know a lot of people do.

[00:24:19.26] 

They record their videos on Zoom.

[00:24:23.00] 

And as we had mentioned earlier, the idea that if you were in the landscape

[00:24:29.06] 

format, It's a typical YouTube format.

[00:24:32.16] 

You can create clips and create vertical, and it can work just fine.

[00:24:36.25] 

But what do you first think of the idea of using Zoom at all?

[00:24:41.07] 

Because I think Zoom is one of those things, almost like a smartphone.

[00:24:45.00] 

Everybody in business is using Zoom. Pretty much.

[00:24:48.25] 

Or something like that.

[00:24:50.20] 

So what do you think of the idea of recording there?

[00:24:53.18] 

And also an idea I mentioned to you about the idea of even if you're not recording

[00:24:58.08] 

your videos, that maybe If you're used to using Zoom,

[00:25:01.05] 

a lot of people are freaking out by looking at the camera

[00:25:04.11] 

and talking to themselves.

[00:25:05.22] 

And this way, to practice just recording to get more

[00:25:12.13] 

comfortable in front of the camera.

[00:25:13.16] 

So what are your thoughts about those two things.

[00:25:16.05] 

I absolutely encourage it.

[00:25:18.00] 

Here's the thing.

[00:25:19.03] 

Zoom, like you said, is pretty much ubiquitous.

[00:25:21.23] 

It is all over the place.

[00:25:23.29] 

Whether you have a free account or a paid account, you can record yourself on it.

[00:25:28.12] 

You can practice looking at the camera.

[00:25:31.12] 

So go ahead and practice.

[00:25:33.04] 

See how you look if you talk with your hands a lot or you're fairly static.

[00:25:39.11] 

Pay attention to how you show up on camera.

[00:25:41.26] 

Some tips about recording on Zoom.

[00:25:44.18] 

If you're going to be recording more than one person, separate each person

[00:25:49.05] 

into their own individual track.

[00:25:51.26] 

Oh, okay. It takes up a little bit more space, but

[00:25:57.00] 

it avoids the cross talk somewhat.

[00:26:00.29] 

If every person has their own audio track, then you can see who's...

[00:26:08.06] 

You can isolate the sound that you want by track.

[00:26:11.28] 

If you want to pull out a clip of a conversation,

[00:26:14.17] 

you can pull out this person.

[00:26:16.18] 

If they start to cross-talk a little bit, perhaps one of the things you can do is

[00:26:21.08] 

just shift it a smidge so that they are not talking on top

[00:26:25.05] 

of each other and you have more of a clear delineation between speaker A speaker be.

[00:26:31.16] 

So to record audio on separate tracks, recording to the cloud or recording

[00:26:37.00] 

to your computer, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

[00:26:42.05] 

So sometimes you're recording your presentation.

[00:26:45.23] 

Well, that's going to look one way when you record to the cloud and a slightly

[00:26:49.24] 

different way when you record to the computer.

[00:26:52.14] 

Take a look at both of them and see which one matches your needs.

[00:26:57.11] 

Which do you recommend?

[00:26:59.14] 

Usually, Usually, recording to the cloud.

[00:27:03.14] 

Oh, okay. That captures the presentation better.

[00:27:07.07] 

So a speaker presentation.

[00:27:09.00] 

When you record to your computer, a lot of times you get gallery

[00:27:12.22] 

or more than just the speaker.

[00:27:16.23] 

For things like webinars, where you can have it bounce from speaker

[00:27:23.07] 

to speaker to speaker, recording the webinar to the cloud,

[00:27:28.16] 

I think, works better.

[00:27:30.02] 

You can have the people, individual spotlight, or have them in

[00:27:35.11] 

the spotlight, and then just transfer it.

[00:27:38.11] 

The camera will follow them pretty good.

[00:27:43.23] 

There may only be light editing required.

[00:27:47.06] 

Okay. Well, that sounds really cool.

[00:27:50.18] 

I always like to ask my guests at the end of our show, our time together,

[00:27:57.11] 

for a final thought, something they think.

[00:27:59.13] 

I We've had a great discussion.

[00:28:00.29] 

I certainly learned, and I know that people listening to this

[00:28:04.02] 

episode will learn a lot as well, because there's so many things that

[00:28:08.19] 

I think the biggest challenge for a lot of us is we don't know what we don't know.

[00:28:13.14] 

When you start, it's like, Oh, okay.

[00:28:15.23] 

I learned a lot today, and I felt like I know a little bit about this stuff.

[00:28:20.11] 

If you can just finish with a final thought.

[00:28:23.02] 

Then also, how can people get in touch with you?

[00:28:27.00] 

Your website, LinkedIn.

[00:28:28.28] 

I know you mentioned I have some resources, I believe, on your website.

[00:28:34.01] 

Sure.

[00:28:35.01] 

All right, here's my key takeaway.

[00:28:37.07] 

First, have fun.

[00:28:39.19] 

Don't stress about it.

[00:28:40.26] 

Tech is a tool.

[00:28:44.05] 

If it is stressful and overwhelming, it's probably the wrong tool for you.

[00:28:49.13] 

Find something that you can have fun with.

[00:28:53.25] 

Resources.

[00:28:55.05] 

I have a checklist for

[00:29:00.14] 

How you can think about connection

[00:29:03.17] 

and technology, and I'll share that link.

[00:29:06.22] 

My company is CalmClear Media.

[00:29:10.20] 

Look for me on LinkedIn as well as my profile, Christopher G.

[00:29:14.14] 

Johnson.

[00:29:15.17] 

Both of those resources will be part of the show notes.

[00:29:20.08] 

Awesome.

[00:29:21.10] 

Well, I thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your knowledge.

[00:29:26.00] 

I was so excited to have you here today.

[00:29:30.00] 

So for everyone else, thanks so much for joining us,

[00:29:33.04] 

and I will be seeing you the next time.

[00:29:53.16] 

Well, I'm going to have to add this at the end.

[00:30:01.00] 

It is. So let me go.

[00:30:01.28] 

Let's go back to us.

[00:30:05.22] 

Okay, I'm going to end the recording now and I will just add.