*** Youtube/Video thread ***
- Thread starter Zefan
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(NEW VERSION A FEW POSTS BELOW)
Genuine question here, on this video is my voice muffled to anyone and are my levels compared to the music ok? Depending on device I listen to it either sounds fine or really muffled. Trying to work out if I should drop it and reupload after some tweaking.
Genuine question here, on this video is my voice muffled to anyone and are my levels compared to the music ok? Depending on device I listen to it either sounds fine or really muffled. Trying to work out if I should drop it and reupload after some tweaking.
Last edited:
Voice is okay, but I'd probably drop the background music down by about 25 percent. Some parts of the music hit the most easily heard frequencies, and I find it a little intrusive when trying to listen to the voiceover. The music is to break up having just a talking voice, but I don't like it when the voice is fighting with the music for the main audio/attention.
Thanks for the feedback, I think I'll adjust tonight and reupload.
I really do not have a voice for Let's Plays or reviews, but I am trying none the less.
On the subject of irrelevant music being constantly played over videos I probably represent an extreme case, although I think it's not an extremely rare position and I think that all positions on the spectrum can easily be accomodated.
I know that it is now very fashionable to have irrelevant music being constantly played over videos. I don't understand why anyone wants that, but I know that it's currently very fashionable. I won't watch videos like that, since it's no better than having nuisance neighbours playing their music so loud that it blares over whatever you want to watch. It's why, for example, I don't have a subscription to Curiousity Stream even though it's very cheap and I would like to watch the videos on it. I'd like to watch the videos on it. I don't want to have a nuisance neighbour simulator and that's what the people behind Curiousity Stream have forced on all their customers. It's also why I stopped watching your video as soon as the very brief intro section of the nuisance neighbour simulator music ended and it got going fully.
Option 1: Not having irrelevant music constantly playing over the video.
Anyone who wants irrelevant music constantly playing over the video can have it. They can play whatever music they want at whatever volume they want over the video by using another tab, app or device.
Anyone who doesn't want irrelevant music constantly playing over the video can have it.
So everyone gets a choice and everyone can have what they want.
Option 2: Having irrelevant music constantly playing over the video, forced there by the editor, merged with the real audio stream.
Nobody gets a choice. Everyone is forced to have whatever music the editor chose playing over the video at whatever relative volume the editor chose. The only people who get what they want are people who get enjoyment from things being spoiled for other people.
I genuinely don't understand why option 2 is currently so fashionable. It seems pointlessly rude to me.
Background music has a place in video. But not over narration. Not constant music. Not irrelevant music. Not intrusive enough to be foreground music. It isn't mandatory. It's just fashionable.
It's also not universal. For example, Mark Felton Productions does very high quality short documentaries and has earned an extremely strong reputation for them. It has intro music, which serves as a form of brand identification. The ~15 seconds of intro music establishes a channel branding - that music signifies that channel. There is no music at all over narration. The non-narrative storytelling aspect is in the video because his videos are videos. Why ignore the video part of video? He uses music where appropriate, relevant music played during short non-narrative sequences where appropriate. He's (thankfully) not the only example, just the one that first came to my mind. Plainly Difficult is another.
By the way, your voice is fine on my setup (PC, Pale Moon browser, DT770 Pro headphones). It's clear until you blur it out with relatively loud irrelevant music played over it.
Soldato
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First of all, I genuinely appreciate the time it took you to write that out and you have made some really valid points.
Within my lets plays I do not have any music other than the game music and apart from a silent intro (that I have now stopped doing) I do not have any intro music or anything like that.
The reason I put, as you say "Irrelevant Music" over that video is because in my mind it makes it a feel a little more premium. I am a VERY new YouTuber (even if I can call myself that with 17 subs at this moment) and so I am just experimenting with some things. Harris Heller at StreamBeats (AKA Alpha Gaming) has created a library of music for YouTubers and Streamers that safe to use and will not get flagged - which is the music I chose to use here. I like the subtleness (new version is just processing now that has less boom to the music and levels have been lowered slightly) of the music and just fills in some thinking time in-between my points. Watching my video without any background music actually sounds tacky and cheap. Maybe I need to do more with the visuals (actually I definitely do but that will come with time) but for now I am focusing on the overall presentation of the full package rather than individual areas.
Lastly, although these are videos I personally am put off by poor audio more than visuals to a large degree hence why I am trying to get everything right. Also some of my audience has expressed that they actually listen to my videos, even my lets plays, minimised and so the audio is the content they consume.
I am definitely taking your points in and will think about my approach.
Again, I am new to this and willing to make mistakes and I appreciate your feedback.EDIT:
New version:
Game music during gameplay is a different thing as it's (at least usually) connected to and relevant to the gameplay. A lot of skill and effort usually goes into composing or choosing music to fit the gameplay as it is at that moment. It's usually an example of music used to enhance rather than just overlay.
Intros are very difficult to get right and few people do. Especially so for a platform like Youtube. Get it wrong in any way and it will be perceived as an annoying interruption and delay. They're also very difficult to make anyway, as they're something people will (hopefully, from the channel creator's point of view) view very often. You've got to squish a high quality "this is my channel" identifier into a tiny fraction of the length of your videos. Probably less than 15 seconds, often less than that. It's useful when done well, but can very easily be counter-productive. Avoiding it is often a wise choice.
The reason I put, as you say "Irrelevant Music" over that video is because in my mind it makes it a feel a little more premium. I am a VERY new YouTuber (even if I can call myself that with 17 subs at this moment) and so I am just experimenting with some things. Harris Heller at StreamBeats (AKA Alpha Gaming) has created a library of music for YouTubers and Streamers that safe to use and will not get flagged - which is the music I chose to use here. I like the subtleness (new version is just processing now that has less boom to the music and levels have been lowered slightly) of the music and just fills in some thinking time in-between my points. Watching my video without any background music actually sounds tacky and cheap. Maybe I need to do more with the visuals (actually I definitely do but that will come with time) but for now I am focusing on the overall presentation of the full package rather than individual areas.
Lastly, although these are videos I personally am put off by poor audio more than visuals to a large degree hence why I am trying to get everything right. Also some of my audience has expressed that they actually listen to my videos, even my lets plays, minimised and so the audio is the content they consume.
I am definitely taking your points in and will think about my approach.
No problem. I appreciate an opportunity to voice my opinion. I don't have a Google account because I'm not going to give Google my phone number and everything I watch on Youtube so they can manipulate me and use me for their power and profit, so I can't comment on Youtube.
Like many things, opinions vary. What you think of as "premium", I think of as "annoying". What you think of as "tacky and cheap", I think of as "premium". The important question to you is probably "what will get me more views?". Given how fashionable having constant irrelevant music over everything is without allowing anyone any choice at all, that will probably get you more views. So it's probably most efficient for you to only be concerned about the extent to which you use it to drown out your voice.
Are there any devices that are only capable of playing one audio stream at a time? I don't think so, but I don't know. One possible approach would be to present the video itself and the irrelevant music overlay as two seperate things so viewers can have a choice, with a link in the desc to the music that you recommend to be played over the top of your video. It won't matter if they're not perfectly synchronised because they're irrelevant to each other and so are never synchronised anyway. Whether the overlaid music starts at the same time as the video or a second or two behind it makes no difference since they're not in any way connected. That's why I describe the music as irrelevant - it has no connection to the video. It's not there to establish a mood in specific places, to place emphasis on specific things in the video or anything else that music can be used for in a video...the music has no connection to the video at all, i.e. it is irrelevant to the video.
But not allowing viewers any choice is what's very fashionable now, so you're probably better off going with that.
I'm off to go shout at a cloud
Soldato
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Game music during gameplay is a different thing as it's (at least usually) connected to and relevant to the gameplay. A lot of skill and effort usually goes into composing or choosing music to fit the gameplay as it is at that moment. It's usually an example of music used to enhance rather than just overlay.
Intros are very difficult to get right and few people do. Especially so for a platform like Youtube. Get it wrong in any way and it will be perceived as an annoying interruption and delay. They're also very difficult to make anyway, as they're something people will (hopefully, from the channel creator's point of view) view very often. You've got to squish a high quality "this is my channel" identifier into a tiny fraction of the length of your videos. Probably less than 15 seconds, often less than that. It's useful when done well, but can very easily be counter-productive. Avoiding it is often a wise choice.
No problem. I appreciate an opportunity to voice my opinion. I don't have a Google account because I'm not going to give Google my phone number and everything I watch on Youtube so they can manipulate me and use me for their power and profit, so I can't comment on Youtube.
Like many things, opinions vary. What you think of as "premium", I think of as "annoying". What you think of as "tacky and cheap", I think of as "premium". The important question to you is probably "what will get me more views?". Given how fashionable having constant irrelevant music over everything is without allowing anyone any choice at all, that will probably get you more views. So it's probably most efficient for you to only be concerned about the extent to which you use it to drown out your voice.
Are there any devices that are only capable of playing one audio stream at a time? I don't think so, but I don't know. One possible approach would be to present the video itself and the irrelevant music overlay as two seperate things so viewers can have a choice, with a link in the desc to the music that you recommend to be played over the top of your video. It won't matter if they're not perfectly synchronised because they're irrelevant to each other and so are never synchronised anyway. Whether the overlaid music starts at the same time as the video or a second or two behind it makes no difference since they're not in any way connected. That's why I describe the music as irrelevant - it has no connection to the video. It's not there to establish a mood in specific places, to place emphasis on specific things in the video or anything else that music can be used for in a video...the music has no connection to the video at all, i.e. it is irrelevant to the video.
But not allowing viewers any choice is what's very fashionable now, so you're probably better off going with that.
I'm off to go shout at a cloud
Thoughts are always welcome. Its the only way for me to improve, listening to everyone even if ideas are, initially at least, opposing.
I used to like Tom Scott's videos, even after he made his first political video (which was horrible and he took it down after a day or two of negative feedback). But I stopped watching after he advocated the use of violence for political reasons. Like those people at the capitol building a few days ago, for example.
He's very good at making informative videos, but his politics are nasty.
Lies - Two Steps from Hell automatically make any narration 10x cooler!
(I agree with you about choice)
Soldato
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I must say it is seriously impressive - the talk with the Mercedes could have been better, though. I guess the guy wasn't prepared
It's cool but like the fancy tractors, it's just more things to break that your average mechanic can't fix either due to it being tech he can't fix because it's too complex or the parts are only allowed to be sold to "licensed" vendors
It's too damn quiet as well
Are you serious?
Your "average mechanic" should never touch such a smart car.At least, as wise person wouldn't give it to some random guy...
It's all chips and software, I don't see what's so complex in it. It is not work for a mechanic...
Soldato
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Are you serious?
Do you even read ?
And it's a car, it still has mechanical parts
Are you serious?
Electric cars will mean a significant decline in the number of car mechanics needed.