[HN Gopher] High-fidelity remote communication
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       High-fidelity remote communication
        
       Author : bewuethr
       Score  : 128 points
       Date   : 2021-11-02 19:43 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (olivierlacan.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (olivierlacan.com)
        
       | Arelius wrote:
       | Ok, one reality I find this does not address is that not all of
       | us have a nice silent space to work in, and most Mic's don't
       | perform well in that space.
       | 
       | In my case, I live in a one room Studio Loft with my wife, who is
       | in meetings all day and is quite a loud speaker. Pretty much any
       | boom/desktop Mic I've tried is also really good at picking her
       | up.
       | 
       | My current workaround is to use a unidirectional headset
       | microphone[1], But would love other ideas, as cable management is
       | a bit cumbersome.
       | 
       | [1]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D49N8C4
        
         | intpx wrote:
         | Have you tried a supercardioid dynamic mic with a pre-amp (like
         | the sm7 in the post)? These mics have a fairly tight pickup
         | pattern, especially with higher frequencies and with a pre-amp
         | you can adjust the gain so that it really only picks up when
         | you are very nearly touching it. Also, deadening your
         | environment goes a looooonnnng way to cutting down on
         | background pickup noise. rugs, acoustic panels, divider
         | curtains etc.
        
           | Arelius wrote:
           | I haven't, but good tips, bit expensive to just try out, but
           | might give it a try..
           | 
           | The SM7B seems to be listed as Cardoid not Supercardoid?
        
             | meheleventyone wrote:
             | Grab the SM-58 mentioned above for the same impact. A
             | dynamic cardioid mic is great for isolating just your
             | voice.
        
         | olivierlacan wrote:
         | Howdy, author of the post here. I do address this issue in an
         | earlier post: https://olivierlacan.com/posts/loud-and-clear/
         | 
         | And generally every single mic recommendation I give in the
         | linked post has a cardioid pickup pattern which is precisely
         | what can help isolate stray noise in places with louder
         | environments. Software like Zoom will do the rest of the work
         | for you depending on how aggressive the noise control settings
         | are. Zoom is surprisingly good at eliminating echo, feedback,
         | and other non-speaker-voice noises from the mic signal.
         | 
         | Stray far and wide from omnidirectional pickup patterns in
         | microphones because they will unfortunately be far too
         | sensitive to environmental noise. This is also true with many
         | noise-canceled mic/earbuds combos which cancel noise for the
         | person wearing it but _not_ for the people receiving the mic
         | audio recorded in the noisy space.
        
           | Arelius wrote:
           | Thanks, I've tried a few USB Cardoid mics already, and it
           | still picks my wife up loud and clear. I haven't yet tried a
           | supercardoid, or to get a mic amp that allows gain
           | adjustment. So might give that a try.
        
         | dundercoder wrote:
         | For ease, you might want a Shure MV7. It's a good directional
         | cardiod with a built in USB interface.[1]
         | 
         | Get the mic close, disable auto mic level in zoom, and set the
         | gain on the mic to be loud enough only while youre speaking.
         | 
         | [https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MV7K--shure-
         | mv7-usb-...]
        
       | zokier wrote:
       | The audio comparison is disingenuous because the levels are not
       | normalized in any way. Once you normalize the levels the
       | difference between Macbook and Shure, while noticeable, is not
       | really something I'd call "radical".
        
         | navane wrote:
         | I disagree. The Shure sounded like he was speaking, or
         | whispering in my ear, depending on the output volume. This
         | makes sense, as this was recorded from a distance of 10cm from
         | his face.
         | 
         | This made me wonder, apearantly I (I would say we, but you did
         | not) can hear the distance something is recorded at, separately
         | from the volume. How cool are our ears.
        
           | sokoloff wrote:
           | Agreed (with @navane). The Shure recording, as presented, is
           | definitely louder than the other two. However, when I reduce
           | it and play it back-to-back with the laptop mic, the Shure is
           | pretty radically better. (I'm using a mid-range set of
           | headphones.)
           | 
           | What's surprising to me is how good the laptop mic is,
           | despite the hurdles working against it.
        
         | rectang wrote:
         | I agree that level matching is important when the goal is to
         | make accurate subjective quality judgments. This is very well
         | understood in the audio industry.
         | 
         | Rather than microphone quality, the differences between the
         | samples are primarily attributable to microphone position and
         | technique: specifically, being 10 cm from the mic produces
         | something people like better than being 60 cm away. The main
         | issue with the MacBook mic is that it's inconvenient to get
         | close to it.
         | 
         | The advice to get a boom to make it easier to bring an outboard
         | mic into optimal position without strain is excellent and
         | highly practical, IMO.
         | 
         | The one big quality outlier is the Airpod Max sample, which
         | exhibits compression artifacts and rolled off high end (and low
         | end, but that matters less). It is substantially worse than all
         | the other options. (It probably has worse latency, too.)
         | 
         | The iPad Pro sample isn't great either, probably because the
         | mic is off-axis when speaking into it from a natural position.
         | Again, the degradation is primarily a result of suboptimal
         | microphone position and technique rather than component
         | quality.
        
       | nicolaslem wrote:
       | Thread on a similar topic with tons of good recommendations:
       | "Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter"
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26818774
        
         | kozak wrote:
         | That thread was a life-changer for my remote working
         | experience.
        
         | micromacrofoot wrote:
         | I wonder if there's some economic connotation as well, bad
         | audio makes you seem less wealthy, which is another factor
         | people (unfairly) associate with intelligence.
        
       | kroltan wrote:
       | All that effort, then comes the actual video call software and
       | blows the quality to smithereens, and you're back to yelling at a
       | speaker connected to the mic socket and recording using the
       | GameBoy camera add-on dipped in molasses.
       | 
       | It's really frustrating, I also cared to set up a decent input,
       | but all of Google Meet, Slack, and Zoom have terrible terrible
       | compression.
        
         | sparsely wrote:
         | I gave up carting my webcam and stuff around with me - in 90%
         | of zoom meetings it makes essentially no difference. I'm sure
         | there's some specific scenario where Zoom will send actual HD
         | video but they're pretty rare.
        
         | tjansen wrote:
         | We're also using Tandem (http://tandem.chat), which looks
         | fantastic in comparison. Not sure exactly why. Resolution is
         | still 480k, but the frame rate is noticeably higher, and
         | possibly the compression rate as well.
        
         | ohadron wrote:
         | I think https://www.around.co/ also have decent compression
         | compared to the ones you mentioned.
        
       | deeblering4 wrote:
       | The Shure SM7B is a very popular microphone, but for a remote
       | meetings use case I'd suggest starting with a quality XLR capable
       | audio interface (this is a requirement for the 7B anyway) and a
       | Shure SM57 mic.
       | 
       | The reason I suggest not starting with an SM7B is because this
       | microphone is expensive at nearly $400, and requires high quality
       | mic preamps to get a proper signal out of the mic (often people
       | add a $150 cloudlifter) which adds to the expense.
       | 
       | The SM57 on the other hand is an excellent XLR dynamic
       | microphone, used on countless recordings and live sound
       | applications. It is super durable, and can be purchased used at
       | around $50.
       | 
       | Plus Shure makes an optional $20 foam windscreen for the SM57
       | called the "A2WS" which helps filter out pops and plosives, and
       | makes the mic look similar to a 7b.
       | 
       | There are many comparisons available on youtube to see if you can
       | hear a $350 difference yourself, for example
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFba93OLLig
        
         | meremortals wrote:
         | any recommendations for a budget - midrange XLR interface?
        
           | deeblering4 wrote:
           | I'd recommend checking out the SSL2, Universal Audio Volt and
           | Focusrite Scarlett. IMO always worth shopping used too.
           | 
           | I'd avoid the super cheap Behringers, M-Audios, and the like.
           | These will typically be noisy and have essentially no resale
           | value in the future, while quality brands hold most of their
           | value and can be re-sold later if/when upgrading.
        
             | meremortals wrote:
             | Thanks!
        
               | Acen wrote:
               | As a cheaper alternative, Presonus have some solid
               | interfaces.
        
               | popinman322 wrote:
               | Can confirm, my Presonus Audiobox works well enough and
               | passes through just fine to the windows VM I use for AV
               | stuff. Still needed another amp though.
        
         | meheleventyone wrote:
         | I use a Shure PGA-48 with a windscreen with good results as
         | well.
        
       | deaddabe wrote:
       | The author points out that remote working is solving the
       | "expensive places to live" problem, yet moved to a studio in
       | Paris which are awfully expensive. I am quite of puzzled by this.
       | 
       | Of course, if the author gets the North American salary instead
       | of the European one, while living in Paris, then things might
       | work out financially.
       | 
       | I moved in the deep suburbs of Paris because rent and apartment
       | prices are a no go for a single income person, even in tech.
        
         | olivierlacan wrote:
         | If you note, I said I moved _back_ to a studio apartment in
         | Paris. Not a cheap area even if I didn't live in the center of
         | town but definitely didn't move there by choice either.
         | 
         | I think you're mixing two points I'm making. None of the point
         | about offices in city centers and expensive neighborhoods
         | relates to my personal experience. It was a general point about
         | the futility of office-obsession on the part of companies,
         | which was particularly bad even for startups in the Paris area
         | back in 2015/2017. Hopefully it's better now. But I remember
         | people looking at me like I was mad for saying remote was non-
         | negotiable.
        
           | deaddabe wrote:
           | > If you note, I said I moved _back_ to a studio apartment in
           | Paris. Not a cheap area even if I didn't live in the center
           | of town but definitely didn't move there by choice either.
           | 
           | May I ask the reason of work was not the one? I know I would
           | not want to go back in the country side for now, given the
           | limited public transportation and medical infrastructure out
           | there.
           | 
           | > I think you're mixing two points I'm making. None of the
           | point about offices in city centers and expensive
           | neighborhoods relates to my personal experience. It was a
           | general point about the futility of office-obsession on the
           | part of companies, which was particularly bad even for
           | startups in the Paris area back in 2015/2017. Hopefully it's
           | better now. But I remember people looking at me like I was
           | mad for saying remote was non-negotiable.
           | 
           | Sorry if I misread or interpreted things too quickly. From
           | what I am witnessing in the area, you currently can :
           | 
           | 1 - Go full remote in the country side and have your pay
           | reduced. Job security takes a hit too, because the job market
           | is not "hot" like in the US. 2 - Agree to come to the office
           | 2/3 times a week and go live in the suburbs (or stay in town
           | if you can afford it and enjoy it)
           | 
           | I currently using option 2. Maybe I am missing g other
           | options.
        
         | closeparen wrote:
         | I've long felt that the decentralization of the San Francisco
         | tech scene is great news for New York... for the price I'd much
         | rather be in Manhattan than somewhere that fancies itself a
         | quaint small town.
        
           | frockington1 wrote:
           | I live in flyover country, most new work seems to be from
           | Manhattan based firms. Unfortunately the tax situation in the
           | boroughs is driving employers away
        
         | wink wrote:
         | In general you're right of course, but it still solves the
         | problem that you may not HAVE to move to the expensive place
         | anymore. Of course you still CAN, like the author chose to.
         | 
         | And as someone who never moved away from where he was born and
         | also never lived in the really expensive part of the city, it
         | might solve the problem of many more people just moving here to
         | work, whereas they would prefer living more remotely. I would
         | love to stay here, for example, not just because of work
         | because I've lived here all my life and like it.
         | 
         | Also your (and the author's) mention of a studio confused me
         | for quite a bit, we'd never call anything 30m2 a studio where I
         | live :P
        
           | deaddabe wrote:
           | > In general you're right of course, but it still solves the
           | problem that you may not HAVE to move to the expensive place
           | anymore. Of course you still CAN, like the author chose to.
           | 
           | > And as someone who never moved away from where he was born
           | and also never lived in the really expensive part of the
           | city, it might solve the problem of many more people just
           | moving here to work, whereas they would prefer living more
           | remotely. I would love to stay here, for example, not just
           | because of work because I've lived here all my life and like
           | it.
           | 
           | I lived in rural land before moving in the Paris suburbs in
           | order to land a job. In some ways I am glad I had to. It
           | opened me to so many new stuff. I would not imagine enjoying
           | my twenties in rural land personally. The trade of housing
           | space for commodities, almost car free living and
           | infrastructure is currently worth it for me. Maybe I will go
           | back rural in my 30's now that full remote is gaining
           | traction. Or maybe not. I get your point though.
           | 
           | > Also your (and the author's) mention of a studio confused
           | me for quite a bit, we'd never call anything 30m2 a studio
           | where I live :P
           | 
           | The nomenclature we use in France (IIRC) is studio for a
           | single room, and then 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, etc.. no matter
           | the floor size. How would you call it? And where do you live
           | so we have context in naming things? :)
        
       | fossuser wrote:
       | I'm pretty interested in this: https://opalcamera.com/
       | 
       | There's been a vacuum in high quality web cameras for a while,
       | most of the market has just been junk.
       | 
       | A good microphone is totally worth it too. I'm not sure why after
       | over a year of pandemic and remote work many are still using
       | their 720p webcam in a dark (sometimes backlit) room with the
       | crappy built-in mic. If you're making good money invest in a
       | decent set up - with mostly remote comms, it matters more than
       | you think.
        
         | forgotmyoldacc wrote:
         | The image quality will be comparable to a smartphone, judging
         | by the image sensor.
        
       | joelbondurant wrote:
       | Voters must make high fidelity communications among biohazardous
       | human capital objects mandatory or nobody will comply.
        
       | farisjarrah wrote:
       | I got an Avaya Huddle Cam, like the kind in many large enterprise
       | conference rooms for $200 off amazon, its plug and play and has
       | all sorts of zoom and pan features, HDMI output, stereo
       | microphones and is 4K and because its Avaya, and regular folks
       | dont seem to know about them, they're not really more overpriced
       | then normal because of the pandemic or shipping. Also got a $35
       | Monoprice branded usb microphone does quite admirably. My co-
       | workers have complimented me that it sounds very clear. The best
       | part is that they are all plug and play and work on
       | Linux/Windows/Mac with no additional downloads or drivers.
        
       | dividedbyzero wrote:
       | My setup went through a lot of iterations over the lockdowns
       | trying to build a high-quality setup in a small inner-city
       | apartment; I'm almost happy now, but it's been quite a journey
       | that I expected to be much easier and a lot less of a rabbit
       | hole, but oh well at least I learned a ton. Also, why are webcams
       | that bad? Given what low-tier phones can do with their back
       | cameras, it's really weird just how freakishly bad webcam image
       | quality still is on a lot of models.
       | 
       | As for some of my learnings:
       | 
       | Cameras: Using an external camera is important, looking downward
       | into a laptop camera isn't very flattering to begin with, and it
       | makes me uncomfortable. As with an ill-fitting suit, it makes me
       | less confident. So I tried using my Fujifilm X-T4 with a HDMI
       | capture device, since I already had that; a Logitech StreamCam, a
       | Logitech C920 (or C922, not sure), a Razer Kiyo Pro and several
       | cheap 720p webcams. The X-T4 wins in the image quality department
       | (unsurprisingly) hands-down, but you have to run the audio
       | through it as well or use a super low-latency capture device or
       | else the image may lag just a small-but-perceivable bit and make
       | the result feel pretty uncanny-valley-ish. It's a big hassle to
       | set up before every meeting and leaving it on a free-standing
       | tripod is an expensive accident waiting to happen. Would not
       | recommend unless you must have the very best quality you can get
       | (and have compatible microphones and good lights).
       | 
       | I've found the Logitech Streamcam to be pretty solid in terms of
       | image quality. Don't count on Logitech's software if you're on a
       | Mac, because part of the functionality is outright missing or
       | broken, another part is availably only through a virtual webcam
       | the software creates that won't work with most apps, and the
       | whole thing will eat CPU like crazy, I've uninstalled it pretty
       | quickly. Instead I use Webcam Settings [1], which can set the
       | most basic parameters (exposure, focus, pan/tilt/digital zoom,
       | backlight comp, anti-flicker, white balance) directly on the
       | camera, which works a lot better. I digitally zoom it on my head
       | a bit as it's quite wide, and that doesn't seem to hurt the image
       | quality meaningfully as far as Slack/Zoom/Teams calls are
       | concerned (might be different if you stream to Youtube at full
       | res, but I never do). All StreamCams I received mid-2020 had
       | focus issues, but these can be fixed relatively easily by
       | cracking them open and changing the pre-set focus manually
       | (voiding the warranty of course), and they seem to have fixed
       | their QC since anyway, so getting one of these should be a pretty
       | safe bet.
       | 
       | The Razer Kiyo Pro is great as well, with a very nice image, but
       | it's even wider, and last I checked there was no macOS software
       | at all. It still works well on macOS, though, you just can't use
       | anything that requires Razer software, but it's compatible with
       | Webcam Settings, so I'm fine. Using it on the living room TV
       | nowadays for calls with friends and family and it works really
       | well in that function as it's really wide-angle, so I could
       | imagine it would work well for small meeting rooms. It's pretty
       | big (too big for my desk setup, actually) and the microphone
       | isn't great (you definitely need an external one no matter what),
       | but its image quality is really great, considering it's a webcam.
       | Very good low-light performance as well, great colors, looks more
       | like an actual digital camera than a generic webcam.
       | 
       | I didn't like the Logitech C92x I tried at all. Grainy, bad low
       | light performance (not that important as I have lighting, but
       | still), slow to react to lighting changes, ugly, washed-out
       | colors even when lit properly, I sent that one back right away.
       | It was from Amazon so it might have been a fake, and there seem
       | to be several models that are near-identical but differ greatly
       | in image quality, so your mileage may vary.
       | 
       | Next, lights. People are having quite a lot of success with ring
       | lights, but I have my desk against a wall with shelves, so
       | placing a ring lights at the proper distance doesn't work well,
       | and I find they're eyesores. I currently use approx. six meters
       | of Hue-compatible LED strips with warm/light diodes in addition
       | to RGB hidden behind the monitor and shelves, at a press of a Hue
       | switch all come alight and give me a lot of pretty clean, bright
       | indirect light bounced of the wall, and it's essentially
       | invisible unless turned on. Still working on synchronizing the
       | light color and intensity with the outside light coming in
       | through the window, but being Hue-compatible makes that pretty
       | straightforward in theory.
       | 
       | People keep preaching that lights and microphone are the most
       | important things to get right, and I guess it's true. Turning on
       | those LED strips is like a 600% image quality boost even in a
       | relatively well-lit room using a decent camera. If I were to re-
       | do this with a free-standing desk, I'd probably look into using
       | softboxes.
       | 
       | Finally, microphones. Especially when part of a grid of
       | participants in a call, the part of you that gets to make the
       | biggest impact is your voice. It's also a pretty visceral kind of
       | impact; I think there was a piece on that on HN a few months,
       | back, essentially describing how being hard to understand makes
       | people viscerally like you less, so as with lights, nailing this
       | goes a long way. I use an Elgato Wave 3 on a short horizontal arm
       | at around face-height that I can rotate off to the side; since it
       | has a built-in pop filter, it's a pretty compact package and it's
       | fine to have it dangle around at head-height, and since it has a
       | kidney characteristic, I can angle the part with the least
       | sensitivity towards the keyboard to really reduces typing noise
       | by a lot. Before the Wave 3, I used the much less expensive
       | Behringer C1U as well, and while you might want a pop filter with
       | it, it's just fine as well, no gripes with it. Almost any half-
       | decent microphone is going to be a big improvement over webcam
       | microphones, let alone bluetooth headsets, just make sure you
       | decouple it from your desk (there are lots of inexpensive stands
       | and arms that will do this).
       | 
       | If you need to get up and draw things on a whiteboard or the
       | like, I find the Rode Wireless Go and the corresponding lavalier
       | microphone work like a charm, but it picks up mechanical
       | keyboards very well. For my Macbook, I had to add a USB sound
       | interface (a cheap one worked fine) and one of these USB isolator
       | thingies to get rid of a persistent whine when keeping the
       | receiver plugged into USB-C for power. I tried cheaper chinese
       | transmitters that had their max gain so low it was borderline
       | unusable, but I find the Rode Wireless Go (I) to be very solid.
       | Good range and battery life, too.
       | 
       | I'm still working on getting the background right. I can't rely
       | on background removal functionality as I sometimes have to use
       | software that doesn't have this, and there seem to be no
       | standalone solutions that don't hog half the CPU. I've played
       | around with OBS a bit, but it introduces a perceivable delay that
       | I feel makes it a bit harder to take part in fast-paced
       | discussions, so nowadays I try to avoid it. I can't place my desk
       | so my actual background is nice, so I currently use a simple
       | molton fabric backdrop on a rod of bamboo that can be attached
       | magnetically to two little magnets dangling from the ceiling and
       | can be set up and taken down really quickly, rolled up and
       | stashed away out of sight. It works quite well, but it's an
       | opaque white - some structure in there might be nice. As I said,
       | still a work in progress.
       | 
       | Apart from this, I'm quite happy with my current setup, and I've
       | received unsoliticed positive feedback as well, so I seem to have
       | done a thing or two well enough. Not sure if the result is
       | actually worth all the effort I've spent (probably not), but it's
       | been a (more or less) fun rabbit hole/lockdown project.
       | 
       | 1: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/webcam-
       | settings/id533696630?mt...
        
       | dochtman wrote:
       | Wondering how the 2021 MacBook Pro camera stacks up to the 2019
       | one. I did my first Zoom call with my 16" M1 Max yesterday and
       | the quality seemed to be quite a lot better (although I
       | coincidentally improved the lighting near my desk a bit, as
       | well).
        
       | the_arun wrote:
       | 1. Don't we need a good internet connection (& VPN software if
       | needed) to pair up with this setup?
       | 
       | 2. Also the bandwidth of our video conferencing service (eg.
       | Zoom)?
        
       | tristor wrote:
       | As someone who has been working remotely for almost a decade at
       | this point, I will say straight out that a built-in camera on a
       | recent laptop is mostly just fine. What you need to concern
       | yourself with is /position/ of the camera and /lighting/.
       | 
       | Do these three simple things to make your video better:
       | 
       | 1. Get a laptop stand that raises your laptop so your eye level
       | is towards the center of the screen. Not only does this improve
       | ergonomics, it improves the positioning of the camera for video.
       | 
       | 2. Get a lamp that you can move the head on and point it at the
       | wall behind the laptop (assuming it's white-ish in color) to
       | provide reflected back light at your face from behind the camera,
       | and then add as much ambient light as possible in the room
       | emanating from the corners (smaller rooms are easier to light).
       | You don't need anything fancy, although yes a ring-light is
       | probably "better" you can get by with cheap floor lamps from
       | Walmart and some "daylight" color temperature bulbs.
       | 
       | 3. Make sure all the lightbulbs in the room are the /same/ color
       | temperature, whatever that happens to be, but preferring
       | "daylight" if you can.
       | 
       | Just these changes will MASSIVELY improve video quality on
       | conferences, and for most people wouldn't even necessarily
       | require buying anything additional except possibly light bulbs
       | (you can makeshift a laptop stand, and move lamps from other
       | rooms if it's an especially important meeting / interview you are
       | preparing for).
       | 
       | For audio, nothing beats a microphone on a boom, but any good
       | quality USB headset with a built-in boom microphone will get
       | pretty close, so don't sweat this so much. The main thing is that
       | you should NEVER be taking a call using the built-in speakers and
       | microphone in your laptop... it sounds horrible and picks up a
       | lot of noise.
       | 
       | The only laptops I would never use the camera on are Dell laptops
       | that inexplicably chose to put the camera near the keyboard so
       | it's staring up the person's nose the entire time.
        
       | whoisjuan wrote:
       | Can someone suggest a camera that is similar to the Sony A6000
       | mirrorless he demos but not as expensive?
        
         | olivierlacan wrote:
         | I think you're asking something very difficult. The specific
         | point I make in the post is that mirrorless cameras have
         | varying degrees of clean HDMI output support, varying levels of
         | fussiness about being on for extended periods of time, and many
         | other quirks that make them hard to recommend period. Let alone
         | bargain hunting.
         | 
         | The A6000 is among the most reasonably priced and dependable
         | mirrorless cameras that you _can_ use but it'll still set you
         | back around $1000 new and you'll need a lens, and an
         | acquisition card (Elgato Cam Link), etc. This is why my post
         | recommends _against_ mirrorless cameras for a huge majority of
         | even tech-savvy folks.
         | 
         | Specifically because A/V tech savviness and computer tech
         | savviness are far from wide overlaps in expertise.
        
       | justanother wrote:
       | I use an S55H hanging from a pulley, boxing ring-style, just high
       | enough to be out of the video frame unless I'm trying to show it
       | off, into a Cloudlifter and Scarlett Solo. As a veteran of
       | several remote-first company audio wars, I have gotten many
       | compliments on this rig. All this to say, it's hard to go wrong
       | with a condenser mic and a cloudlifter into a decent audio
       | interface. My camera game (iMac Facetime camera) is however
       | fairly wack.
        
       | Cilvic wrote:
       | >narrow pickup microphones with live headphone monitoring
       | 
       | Does someone know why this matters?
       | 
       | None of his samples show him with headphones, so what are they
       | used for?
        
       | PragmaticPulp wrote:
       | Great article. My favorite part is that the author advises
       | against overly complicated setups and has some very realistic
       | recommendations instead:
       | 
       | > The strange video you see at the top of this post was filmed
       | with this setup. One that I actively recommended against to any
       | fellow remoter. Particularly folks who aren't into photography or
       | videography. It's cumbersome, complex, and requires constant
       | fidgeting to keep the camera on, obtain a consistent color
       | temperature, or prevent automatic focus hunting due to shallow
       | depth of field.
       | 
       | This is a common theme among people with overly complicated
       | setups: Looks and sounds great when it works, but they're
       | fighting with their setup in every other meeting: Focus issues,
       | automatic power off problems, photographic cameras overheating
       | because they weren't designed for long streams, audio issues as
       | they work to select the microphone they want instead of something
       | else, and so on.
       | 
       | This page recommends two excellent webcam-style USB cameras that
       | won't deliver the professional-looking blurred background images,
       | but they will just work when you plug them in and they won't be
       | full of surprises. That's more valuable than a blurred background
       | or crisp 4K video through expensive lenses when you're just a
       | small H.265 compressed square on someone's screen.
        
         | NikolaNovak wrote:
         | I've gone through exact process.
         | 
         | Initially, I've set up my DSLR, through purchased copy of
         | SparkoCam. Continuous video ring light, green screen behind me,
         | nice zoom for proper proportions of face and nice replaced
         | background.
         | 
         | Insert months of tripping over cables, tripod, camera, green
         | screen; dropping video because something on complex chain gave
         | up; the laptop fan running like a jet airliner; and just
         | general pain-in-the-kiester of it all. Now I have a logitech
         | Brio in front of me. Nowhere near as nice, but more than good
         | enough... and I haven't thought of it since I installed it :)
         | 
         | (I still have a small ring light, because lighting is important
         | as the article indicates, for clarity of facial emotions and
         | context )
        
         | MonaroVXR wrote:
         | >Photographic cameras overheating because they weren't designed
         | for long streams,
         | 
         | They do, but you can't do video longer than (insert minutes)
         | because otherwise it would be a video camera.
         | 
         | https://www.borrowlenses.com/blog/video-recording-limits-in-...
        
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