Published on May 4th, 2021 | by Bibhuranjan

Improve your Audio: How to Reduce Echo in Your Video

Making video content is quite a complicated task, often a meticulous one. After all, there are so many things that you have to take care of. One of the biggest kinds of hurdles you’ll face in the process is echoes. They can completely ruin the quality of your video if you don’t deal with it effectively. Moreover, there’s no way to remove it once it has got into your video. As a result, you have to make it all over again. Want to get rid of this once and for all? Keep reading for some helpful tips on that.

Ways to Reduce the Echo from Videos

To tell the truth, echo is naturally always created and can’t be fully removed. However, they can be reduced to the bare minimum indeed. So much so that they’re not even noticeable. So that’s what we mean by removing echoes. Here are some of the ways to achieve that when you’re making the video in a room

1. Cover the room with sound-absorbing surfaces

As you surely know, this technique is used by studios to reduce echoes. Now you might wonder if it’s possible to do the same at home. In that case, you can do it indeed. You may not have the material used in the studios, but you can make use of some that are commonly found in households. For example, cushions, sleeping bags, carpets, etc. These things will work just fine for sound absorption. So cover all the walls and the floor. If you want, there’s always the option of using the wall covering that professional studios do. Otherwise, even wall hangings and blankets will do the job. Also, don’t forget to cover the doors and windows as well.

2. Simply add objects to the room

Empty rooms will cause the most echoes. Nothing can be more effective than adding some objects to it. Try to add some furniture and bookshelves among other things. This always works effectively. You can even add potted plants to absorb sound apart from giving a good look to the room.

3. Choose your microphone wisely

Having taken care of the surroundings, it’s time to pay attention to the equipment. There are many choices you have when it comes to microphones. Not all of them work with the same effectiveness in reducing echoes. That’s why you must make sure that the one you’re using is suited for the purpose. From what it seems, shotgun microphones are the best for this purpose. So you might want to give them a try.

4. Make sure the mic is positioned in a proper way

In case you didn’t know, the way you have positioned the mic is also a factor in the amount of echo. So you have to give some attention to this aspect as well. Usually, it is best to position as close to the mouth of the speaker as possible. That way the echo would be negligible.

If you follow these steps properly, that should solve the problem of echo in your videos. You can then get a higher quality with lesser effort.

How do you choose the Best Shotgun Microphone?

There are dozens of great options that you’ll find in the market when it comes to microphones. So you might not know where to look and which one to choose. For that, you need to consider some features before choosing the best shotgun microphone.

Self- noise

Most of the microphones that you’ll find come have self-noise. This is caused by the electronics inside them. It brings down the quality of the audio. When you input it into a preamp, it tends to get worse. So you need to make sure that the mic you use has minimal self-noise.

Sound pickup pattern

Microphones come with varying patterns of picking up sounds. In this case, you must look for one that records sounds from as narrow an area as possible. This will keep out any other sounds from the background. As a result, you have to point the mic directly at the speaker’s mouth.

Sensitivity

Especially when it comes to making videos, you have to consider the sensitivity of the mic to sound. That’s because you might want to position at some distance for yourself to keep out of the view. In that case, if it isn’t sensitive enough, the audio signal wouldn’t be sufficiently high. As a result, it won’t be loud enough. So you might want to go for sensitivity as high as possible.

The frequency response

This is yet another important thing you must consider before using a mic. Do you want it to capture even the smallest frequencies from the surroundings? Then you must make sure that it is the appropriate level of response to that. This is a consideration you must never leave out while choosing a mic for the best results.

Needless to say, you would also want to consider the size, durability, price, etc. Some of the best shotgun microphone that you’ll find are:-

Rode VideoMic Pro
Shure VP89M
Sennheiser MKE600
Audio Technica AT987
Rode NTG5

Conclusion

Even though echoes are a huge problem in recording videos, there are solutions for it. The ones listed here are sure to work in your case and are worth giving a try. As we have seen, you should also try to get the best shotgun mic that you can. It would be a worthwhile investment for the quality of your videos. Hopefully, the information given here has helped you find the one that best suits your requirements.

Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash

Tags: best shotgun microphone, echo reduction, microphone, Reduce Echo in videos, sound filtering

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.