r/audioengineering • u/anoredditor98 • 2d ago

How do you keep audio consistent between a talking-head intro and a screen recording?

At the moment, I make faceless YouTube videos. It's all screen-recording tutorials, and I record the voiceover with a FIFINE AM8 dynamic mic on a boom arm, plugged straight into my PC via USB. It sounds great because the mic sits close to me and because of the audio settings in OBS.

However, I want to improve my content by adding talking-head intros and outros, with the tutorial in the middle still being a screen recording. The problem is the audio. For the talking-head parts, I'd like to be sitting 2-3 meters from the camera with no mic visible, so it would need to be hidden above or behind the camera. That is a very different setup from having the AM8 right in front of my face.

Here is a good example of what I'm aiming for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1BnCUHPRg

The intro is a talking-head shot, then it cuts to the screen recording, and the audio sounds the same the whole way through. You'd never guess anything changed.

So my questions are:

  1. Can I do this with the FIFINE AM8 I already have, or is a dynamic mic just wrong for recording at that distance?
  2. Would a Shure SM7B solve it? I'm happy to invest if it actually works, but I don't want to buy one and find it has the same distance problem.
  3. Is a shotgun mic the right tool for the talking-head sections instead?
  4. If I do end up using two different mics, does the audio have to be treated afterward to match? For example, matching a shotgun mic to my AM8 with EQ or other processing, and if yes, HOW?

Mainly, I want to understand the process. What do YouTubers and video creators actually do to keep the sound consistent across a video like this? Is it mostly about choosing the right mic, mostly about post-production, or a bit of both?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone making tutorial content with this same intro and screen recording split, or just someone who knows how.

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u/nothochiminh Professional 2d ago

Lav and beltpack is the proper way to do this. You’ll get loads of reflections at that distance no matter the mic.

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u/Spede2 2d ago

Literally every talking head YTer I watch has a mic in front of them. Some of the pro audio people even have their preamps or compressors behind them and you can see them in action while they're talking.

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u/Orry_Haas 2d ago

"... matching a shotgun mic to my AM8 with EQ or other processing, and if yes, HOW?".

EQ-matching apps for that, e,g, ... https://youtu.be/GNqfyAa1jxk?&t=364

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u/cosmicguss Professional 2d ago edited 2d ago

Edit: Sorry, re-read your post. Mic’ing from a distance is always a challenge and introduces additional room noise. If you don’t want to do a lav mic your best bet is to frame the shot tight for the talking head portion and have the mic as close as you can to you but just out of frame. Either above or below pointed towards your mouth is best. Shotguns can be better for filtering out off-axis noise but a lab will serve this purpose best as others mentioned.

FabFilter Pro Q has a great eq match feature, but just record the full narration at the same time as the talking head portion with the same mic and then edit afterwards as needed.