need help: public speaker making a demo video

[andres1]

Hello,

I'm a public speaker, and I'm making a short demo video to talk a little about what I do. I could use a little help!

I need to do two things:
1) Record about 30 seconds of video of me looking into the camera, introducing myself.
2) Record the voiceover for the rest of the video (7-8 minutes), where I will be showing photos and such.

Here's the equipment I have:
-Apple PowerBookG4
-A Canon Elura 65 digital (MiniDV) camcorder (firewire into the PowerBook)
-I'm using iMovie to create the movie. It's limited but good enough for what I'm doing.
-Blue microphone: Snowball (USB)

I've recorded the voiceover part with the Snowball USB microphone, but I don't like how it sounds. It picks up the laptop fan noise and some echo. I'm thinking that I should do a little soundproofing (I've got an extra mattress - maybe I should put it up against the closest wall?) and get farther away from the laptop. Does this seem right?

I still need to record the intro part where I talk into the camera. Can I use the Snowball for that without it sounding too far away? I don't want the michophone to show on screen. Or should I buy a lapel microphone? I don't want to spend much money. And if I buy another microphone, presumably I should record the voiceover part with the same equipment, so that it sounds the same, right?

Any help will be VERY appreciated!

Thanks,

Andres, adandler@yahoo.com

[boingoman]

Your instincts are pretty much correct. Get longer cables, and isolate the laptop as much as possible. The thing about the mic at a distance in a room is that unless the room is really dead, it will have a good ambient sound at best, and sound thin, echoey, etc. on the bad end of things. Making a dedicated voiceover booth sounds like it's out of the question for now. Hanging stuff like blankets on the walls and putting down rugs will help a little, maybe enough to get you through this one project, but sometimes isn't practical and definitely not on the list of good safety practices.

You could look into renting a lav mic. It would be cheap and give you an idea of how one sounds in your space.

[Tifstorey]

You might also want to look into any colleges/universities in your area.. Being on a Sound Design course i know there's plenty of students willing to record people for projects, no matter how small just for the experience (And of course free of charge). It's worth a shot, and you'd most likely get a good quality recording from it.

[andres1]

Thanks for the tips! I will pursue both paths: renting a lavalier mic and also calling the local university.

Much appreciated!

Andres