How to sound GREAT!

Alternate title: "So You Want To Make A Podcast"
No matter what you create on the internet, if I can hear you, you need to sound good.
In this video I'm going to give away all my secrets to making great-sounding videos or podcasts, on a tight budget!
❤️ If you would like to support what I do, I have set up a patreon here: / noboilerplate - Thank you!
📄 All my videos are built in markdown, transcript sourcecode available here github.com/0atman/noboilerplate this is also where you'll find links to everything mentioned.
🖊️ Corrections are in the pinned ERRATA comment.
🦀 Start your Rust journey here: doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/
🙏🏻 CREDITS & PROMO
Thumbnail is the incredible Andrew Huang, watch his video on cheap microphones here • My new microphone... (...
Thanks so much to Laund for helping me fix a critical error in this script!
My name is Tris Oaten and I produce fast, technical videos.
Follow me here / 0atman
Website for the show: noboilerplate.org
Come chat to me on my discord server: / discord
If you like sci-fi, I also produce a hopepunk podcast narrated by a little AI, videos written in Rust! www.lostterminal.com
If urban fantasy is more your thing, I also produce a podcast of wonderful modern folktales www.modemprometheus.com
👏🏻 Special thanks to my patreon sponsor:
- JC Andrever-Wright
And to all my patrons!

[@NoBoilerplate]

ERRATA - Not sponsored, but this is the mic to buy (get it on ebay, though) www.shure.com/en-GB/products/microphones/sm58 - 13:08 WASM version of audacity is wavacity not webacity - "Still Alive" is the credits song for Portal 1. Portal 2's credits song is "Want You Gone". My confusion is because I covered both!

[@mariocamspam72]

clever

[@paradiseexpress3639]

Could you include a link to buy the microphone?

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@vildis. AHA! You'd think I would remember that from my wasm video - thank you!

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@paradiseexpress3639 My recommended SM58? Sure can, I'll add it to the ERRATA, but here's the official page (buy it second hand remember!) www.shure.com/en-GB/products/microphones/sm58

[@aaron_the_penguin]

Also, "Still Alive" is the credits song for Portal 1. Portal 2's credits song is "Want You Gone". I know because I recently finished Portal 2 😁great games!

[@RyanKopfAnime]

I know so many audio engineers who will be upset "You can use it to hammer in nails". Love it.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Classic SM58!

[@pablosanfilippo4781]

Best advice I've heard about this. Just a note, sometimes being too close to the microphone exacerbates proximity effect way too much, but that's my opinion, some people like it that way.

[@NoBoilerplate]

True - I use it to cheapen up my production setup. I'm an ideal world you'd have a booth with a mic further away, but for a budget, the proximity effect can't be beat!

[@LukaSauperl]

The six shapes of stories sound more like two shapes and then four that are just combination of the first two. Rags to riches = / Tragedy = \ Man in a hole = \/ Icarus = /\ Cinderella = /\/ Oedipus = \/\ Which means that you could easily have a shape that's /\/\/, which I'll name 'Third time's a charm'. I think what all of these indicate is that there has to be a constant change, you mustn't stagnate, your story must progress. I would highly suggest taking a look at The Hero's journey or Circle of story, they're the same thing, just different name. The eight point one is Dan Harmon's (the creator of Community and co-creator of Rick and Morty) distilled version of The Hero's Journey that Joseph Campbell created/discovered. The purpose of Dan's distilled version is to be in a form that's more usable as a tool.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Nice! Love that slash notation, gonna steal that for the next time I talk about story structure!

[@Mr_Yeah]

And then there are some dystopias: _____

[@avgvstvs96]

Oh no wonder why I was loving LT so much. Glad I found your videos, this one is especially applicable as I try to improve our sound recording at work! I'm up to season 4 on LT and am obsessed, what a great story, and I love the existential questions in the story and credits!

[@NoBoilerplate]

Thank you so much! I adore LT so much. I'm on a train right now writing 11.5. you're in for a treat, I really found my stride in S4!

[@nhojlagap6222]

The most important factor would be... Having a voice as smooth as yours.

[@NoBoilerplate]

You're too kind! I practice a LOT! I've had 3 years of weekly podcast recording, really helped me improve my technique! The podcast is about AI and scifi, I wonder what you think of it? kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmTFdXhvoNitg8U

[@drteeth362]

Here’s a helpful tip if you are going to be recording voiceovers for any lengthy amount of time. Drink. Water. Often. Having a bottle of water on hand to sip from will drastically reduce the amount of mouth noise during speech. I noticed it a bit in this video and once people hear it, they won’t unhear it Hope this helps!

[@NoBoilerplate]

Super good tip, I'm only just realising this myself!

[@24wherath36]

Didn't know Reaper was made by the same guy as WinAmp. Cool!

[@NoBoilerplate]

It's incredible!

[@adibhanna]

Thank you

[@NoBoilerplate]

I'm delighted! I will watch your channel now ☺️

[@NoBoilerplate]

Just watched your latest video, really good! Great clear video with good edits to keep it fast. Your videos are similar to friend of the channel "code to the moon" - take a look at his style and steal it! Ken won't mind 😁

[@adibhanna]

@@NoBoilerplate 😍 listening to yours as we write our comments

[@adibhanna]

@@NoBoilerplate I follow "code to the moon" as well! I LOVE his videos! learned so much from both of you!

[@ramaron]

8:24 hearing this really helped me. I struggle a lot with never being satisfied with my work and need reminders that it is probably never gonna be perfect.m Thank you!

[@NoBoilerplate]

My pleasure! Yes, just get stuff DONE, your NEXT piece of work will be even better! (just look at my old videos for proof! :D

[@-sui-]

One thing though I have noticed about the audio on your channel is that you should really use a de-esser. Your s sounds are really sharp (probably because you are so close to the microphone), and there is a very noticable high-pitched whistling accompaning those sound ever so often. This is really noticable on the laptop speakers I use to watch KZbin on.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Good tip, thank you! I should test my videos on lots of different speakers, that'd be smart. Every day is a school day! 谢谢！

[@phenanrithe]

Hm, strange, I've never heard any such issue with his videos here. Sorry to ask but have you tried with other speakers or a good headset? Laptop are notorious for that, they have a poor response at low and high frequencies, and tend to saturate very quickly too, which can cause the sounds you describe. Here I'm using a headset with a good frequency response (DT 770 Pro) and that's how I'd expect him to sound if he was speaking in front of me. Best avoid well-known but very average brands like Bose or Logitech though some of their products are OK.

[@luk17032000]

@@phenanrithe I also dont hear any high-frequency issues but to by ears the voice is a touch over-compressed. Still, probably better than 95% of other youtubers voice over production.

[@TehEMan]

Second on the de-esser or something like it. I have sharp s sounds from your (good) videos cut through when using phone speakers.

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@TehEMan Thank you for the report!

[@ewhac]

My audio gear has been collected in pieces. I started 10+ years ago when I was making a Very Silly Video while working at $(GPU_MANUFACTURER), and needed a mic to record narration. I tried the usual suspects from Blue, didn't like them, and ended up getting a Zoom H4n. Not only are the built-in mics pretty darned good, it also serves as a pre-amp and USB ADC for conventional dynamic and condenser mics. For no particular reason, I prefer condenser mics. The mic I use most often is a Monoprice 600800, which is basically a re-badged MXL-990, plugged in to the Zoom. For video editing, I use Kdenlive, which has worked really well for me. However, I will definitely give Reaper a look (having a Linux native version is definitely a plus).

[@NoBoilerplate]

I'm actually in the market for something like the H4n, for exactly the reasons you state - they're VERY versatile. Good for remote recording, which currently my setup lacks. Reaper is INCREDIBLE, you must power through it's win98-ass interface. I discounted it early on for not looking slick. One feature that will change your life is Dynamic Split, a feature I've not found on other editors. It saves me literally hours every edit, see here kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKTFZnmwjs53pNE

[@JohnnysaidWhat]

Actually incredible how good the phone sounded

[@NoBoilerplate]

I told you so! :-)

[@phenanrithe]

I must say it's a pleasure to listen to (and watch) your videos, they're obviously very well prepared! Winamp, I thought nobody knew that name anymore. I was sad to see it in limbo after Frankel's departure from Nullsoft. Apparently the website has finally been resurrected, with a version supporting NFT playback... needless to say I won't even download it. Version 5.666 FTW! 😎

[@NoBoilerplate]

NFC or NFT? I made that mistake (very embarrassingly) in a previous video! But YES! love winamp, simpler times! (All my music is available to download DRM free if you like it, btw, hit up NAMTAO.com!)

[@phenanrithe]

@@NoBoilerplate Well spotted, it's a typo - shall we say bright minds think alike? ;-) It was NFT unfortunately. Thanks for the link!

[@GoofyChristoffer]

With this video, you are now one of my heroes. Cheers!

[@NoBoilerplate]

Thank you so much! I hope there's some handy tips here :-)

[@GoofyChristoffer]

@@NoBoilerplateThank *you*. Your content is extremely inspiring for me. You make me want to write both Rust programs, speeches and stories. (Pesky clock just only has 24 hours).

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@GoofyChristoffer you should! Wake up a few minutes early and write ;-)

[@GoofyChristoffer]

@@NoBoilerplate Once it is myself and not my second child that dictates when i wake up (currently 4-5 AM), I'll try 😅

[@kata1000]

Hi there! I love your Rust Tutorial. What impresses me even more is the way you explain things and the fluency with which you speak. It makes me want to learn more. As an introverted programmer who spends all day looking at a computer, I rarely speak to others and have trouble explaining things. I wish I could communicate as clearly as you do. Unfortunately, my voice cracks or fades whenever I get nervous. Do you have any advice or tips on how I can improve my speaking skills? Thank you so much for the great video!

[@NoBoilerplate]

I have a lot of tips! say hi on Masto and ask me this question again, let's chat! mastodon.social/@0atman

[@XDtaylormagic]

Great Video!

[@NoBoilerplate]

Thank you so much, I'm trying out different topics to see what folks like!

[@davidlikesdrums]

i have listened to you while falling asleep twice and its so good (:

[@NoBoilerplate]

hehe, you're not the only person to say so! Listen to my show Lost Terminal, that's more suited to relaxed listening: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmTFdXhvoNitg8U

[@davidlikesdrums]

@@NoBoilerplate ty :)

[@michaelschnell5633]

Great Advice (in fact I personally already came to exactly the same conclusions regarding equipment) Funny it took me two weeks to detect it among all the other great stuff by No Boilerplate :) )

[@NoBoilerplate]

Thank you! :-)

[@precumming]

I also want to point out something so obvious that you didn't explicitly mention but I notice it a lot, if you make a mistake or something didn't sound as good as you thought just say it again and cut out the bad take. This isn't so much of a problem for narrative because of the expectation of higher production. However the video is in such a way it's good advice for anyone speaking and there are a lot of people who try and do everything in one take, and even if you're capable you may still want to say the same line multiple lines to get a different feel - it's easier to do multiple takes while you do it rather than decide you wanted a slightly different tone and now have to try and match the sound perfectly.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Absolutely right! Just repeat stuff until you get it right

[@chinoto1]

I've never recorded anything worth worrying about, but if you want to do one take, maybe splice together your best takes like you're saying, but then listen to it as you try to make your perfect single take. The only reason I think this might work is because you can memorize the perfect, but spliced, recording and then listening to it while recording your completely perfect take can help you remember what tone and emphasis you were intending on without extensive notes. Maybe there are tips from music production, then again, that might all be post processed from splices.

[@jeberle1]

Are you happy w/ the levels you get with the SM58 + Focusrite Scarlett? Are you at the preamp max or do you have some headroom to play with? When I tried recording vocals w/ a similar setup, I could not get acceptable levels from the mic.

[@NoBoilerplate]

The only way to get the levels up to my satisfaction are to place the mic 2cm from the corner of your mouth - it's a specific voice-over technique. It's not perfect, but it is CHEAP!

[@pacifi5t]

Great video, thanks! Audio setup is a rabbit hole, especially in hardware when you're running Linux. I have a question, have you tried Ardour? I'm just curious, I don't know much about DAWs, and I'm trying to stick with FOSS (if it's possible).

[@NoBoilerplate]

I have tried them all, including Ardour. It's really great, as is everything included with Ubuntu Studio, but Reaper is a real labour of love, honed by a very experienced person with great vision over a decade, it's the Stardew Valley of audio/video editors!

[@pacifi5t]

@@NoBoilerplate Thank you!

[@dinophage]

What do you think about the Peace equalizer? It's also free and lightweight. Curious if you've ever tried it

[@NoBoilerplate]

Wow, comprehensive! But it looks to be windows only? I'm sure it's terrific, but I can only get excited for plugins that work everywhere I do (the real test is Raspberry pi!)

[@zzzyyyxxx]

I also use this (free) AI denoiser and voice enhancer by Adobe called Adobe Podcast Voice Enhance, it works very well even with a bad mic. It's actually very impressive how well it works, the AI is good these days. It's all online, not on the desktop so you just upload your mp3, it processes it, and you download the new file.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Nice! I can't use it (I guess) because I use Linux for my whole production pipeline. Good to know, though!

[@zzzyyyxxx]

@@NoBoilerplate It's all online, not desktop based. You just upload your mp3.

[@31redorange08]

@@zzzyyyxxx There probably aren't any web browsers on Linux.

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@zzzyyyxxx oh cool! I'll try it out. I save all my final audio in FLAC, btw, really great format.

[@zekiz774]

6:30 I actually think that thats not always true. In many cases its the case that the way a story is told is more important than the actual themes of the story itself. That certainly depends on what you expect from a story. Reality TV really wouldnt really be as popular as it is when the deeper themes are the only thing that really matters

[@svelterust]

Is the SM58 good for recording tutorials?

[@NoBoilerplate]

It's perfect for 99% of jobs, really a wonderful all-round vocal mic, it should always be the first mic you buy. Its price does not reflect its quality! I have recorded a few of these videos with an SM57 (same as the 58) and it sounds the same as my much more expensive microphones! The trick is to practice good mic technique (as I mentioned in the video) and find the best sound for you. If it doesn't sound right, something ELSE is the problem, not the industry-standard mic!

[@DiscipleW]

How do you compliment Bitwig with Reaper and vice versa. It looks like they both can do almost everything by them selves (with some free VSTs like Vital maybe)?

[@NoBoilerplate]

Bitwig is like Ableton live, a loop-based music making powerhouse. Reaper is a linear multitrack audio editor, and under the windows 98 UI, has 10x more features than any other audio editor. I write music in Reaper, edit podcasts (and VIDEOS!) in Reaper.

[@panicatthedisconnect]

I am not sure if ill get a response but might as well ask. how do i practice. to be precise. i have tried poems i have tried roleplaying but i an never sure if its good enough and also i have no idea about writing and i have no idea what i should talk about.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Public speaking? It's tough. When I was at uni, 15 years ago, I was BAD at public speaking, and realised that this was going to hold me back, and something needed to be done. So I vowed to change it: Any time there was an opportunity to do a little talk or presentation, at home, or at work, I took it, acknowledging that I would be bad at the start. Record yourself, on video or audio, in front of an audience watch videos of other amateurs, critique them both in a scientific way. I used to say "um" all the time in my speech. This is a normal thing for people to do, but you have to train it out when you want to talk to an audience. What gets measured, gets managed. Come talk to me on my discord if you'd like more advice :-) BTW You're hearing me at my most perfect, most practised, and edited to perfection. Don't compare other people's highlight reels to what you leave on the cutting-room floor.

[@panicatthedisconnect]

@@NoBoilerplate Thanks a lot. I will make sure to join the discord. :)

[@EnDungeoned]

Makes me realise what I'm getting away with, so far as my setup goes!

[@NoBoilerplate]

No excuses now Mort! 😀

[@EnDungeoned]

@@NoBoilerplate True, but the temptation is to make my own video about how I bodge things ;) - seriously though, good advice here :)

[@WizardOfArc]

Yay for recommending Reaper

[@NoBoilerplate]

Right!? Literally couldn't do my work without it

[@theappearedone]

watching 9s after upload, personal record

[@Spiker985Studios]

2 minutes for me

[@Muttisuri]

7 minutes

[@NoBoilerplate]

You all get 20,000 noboilerpoints! (no cash value!)

[@logistic-bot458]

Please consider adding subtitles to your videos!

[@NoBoilerplate]

Aren't the auto generated ones perfect? They have been on my previous videos! I am happy to do anything to help accessibility, just tell me what I should do :-) (also note my scripts are all public)

[@logistic-bot458]

@@NoBoilerplate Oh, I actually didn't notice that you made the script public! While the auto-generated subtitles are often really great, some people can't stand how the words appear one by one. Additionally, having punctuation is always really appreciated. Since you have all the scripts already written, maybe there is some program that would do most of the work for you? I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@logistic-bot458 I'll see what I can do! I didn't realise the live subtitles were annoying 🙂

[@techworld3043]

how you create slides ???

[@NoBoilerplate]

Obsidian.md check out my "lightsaber" video for a demo!

[@adsick_ua]

I use Fifine usb mic, imo it is good enough while being cheap.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Very nice! Make sure to get that mic off the table and next to your face for best quality!

[@Whatthetrash]

Fantastic video, but how will this help me know if ever lost in a forest, Rust will lead me to water and/or the closest park ranger?

[@NoBoilerplate]

I don't understand this but I am delighted with your comment nonetheless!

[@Whatthetrash]

@@NoBoilerplate 'Twas a joke. (apparently one that didn't land >_

[@akitoakito]

Have you tried the Found!() macro? 😀

[@Whatthetrash]

@@akitoakito LOL! :D

[@NoBoilerplate]

@@Whatthetrash hehe! Well thank you so much 🙂

[@Ambixious]

Not sure if anyone has asked this but do you voice The School of Life videos?

[@NoBoilerplate]

What a complement! No, that's not me, but I really love that channel :-)

[@Holobrine]

As a fellow autist, I don’t think we are as bad at emotions categorically as we’re told by neurotypicals. I think while my emotional processing isn’t real time, it’s deep and thorough, which is exactly what you want for analysis at least. I haven’t tried my hand at writing much, but there is no real time constraint there either so who knows?

[@NoBoilerplate]

I've actually found that over time too, in my writing.

[@dirty-kebab]

Do you play Holdfast?

[@NoBoilerplate]

I wasn't aware of it, looks fun!

[@chadmwest]

8:19 Can't be any truer.

[@NoBoilerplate]

Producing Lost Terminal every week for 2.5 years has forced me to not be too precious with my script and trust that I write good enough! BTW I'd love to know what you think of it kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmTFdXhvoNitg8U

[@Zooiest]

Someone should make an audio editor in Rust

[@NoBoilerplate]

That would be exceedingly cool. Maybe using egui for the interface?

[@Zooiest]

@@NoBoilerplate I tried egui for a somewhat simple project (in relation to the UI), and even then it was quite a mess... purrhaps I just need to get more accustomed to Rust and egui, considering that I'm coming from years of high-level OOP and (pure) HTML and that I started learning the language just a couple of weeks ago

[@emeraldbonsai]

@@ZooiestI’ve been pretty happy with egui so far I’ve been wanting to learn a front end for awhile and it’s the first one that made sense to me since I hate html. Egui defently acts alotndifferently them html much more like a game engine

[@careymcmanus]

@@Zooiest I know there's some folks out there giving it a crack, though they are still very early days. Also there is a crate that I have been playing around with called nih-plug which one can use to develop audio plugins that can be compiled into CLAP and VST formats as well as to a standalone application. It currently supports creating gui's using egui, iced and vizia. I've been trying the vizia variant but similar to you I'm new to Rust and Vizia so its not always pretty but I am starting to get my head around it. I haven't touched egui but i don't mind Vizia, its got a declarative approach and allows styling with css which is quite nice.

[@christopherkotchey2593]

I've immediately stopped listening to so many KZbin videos/tutorials because of the poor audio. This should be required viewing for all video creators.

[@NoBoilerplate]

I have much to learn too, but I agree, audio is vital!

[@terezip2213]

audism!

[@terezip2213]

we love a neurodivergent king

[@NoBoilerplate]

Hi hi hi! It's the first time I'm talking about it on the channel, so I am a bit nervous about it. But everyone's so nice! I was lucky enough to get a huge amount of help at a young age, so I'm mostly just left with the superpowers XD

[@NoBoilerplate]

I think you mean autism! Audism is discrimination against deaf people! I just learned this word too!

[@Cookiekeks]

Why do you use public domain licenses? They aren't recognized everywhere

[@NoBoilerplate]

Interesting, what should I use?

[@Cookiekeks]

@@NoBoilerplate Never mind, I thought about public domain licenses for code like Unlincense that aren't recognized in some countries. Creative commons like you use it should be fine. My bad, sorry.

[@_DRMR_]

CC0 is absolutely fine for both code and assets!

[@re.liable]

I'm using a lapel mic I got for $2

[@NoBoilerplate]

Nice! They're very good too, and of course are pretty close to your mouth too. Try holding it off to the side of your mouth, hear how much room noise is cut out due to the much higher volume. Experimentation is always useful!

[@RenderingUser]

6:24 +Re:Zero: fall, rise, fall, rise, fall, rise, fall, rise, fall, rise, fa.....

[@RenderingUser]

Had to account for all possibilities

[@NoBoilerplate]

Hehe solve for x

[@NoBoilerplate]

Right! 6 was the smallest number I could find, some say 8 some say more. I figure Vonnegut knows what he's talking about!

[@RenderingUser]

First, I gotta get myself any non Asian accent for speaking in English

[@NoBoilerplate]

With practice everything is possible! I had to practice to get my clear accent (my job is of course easier I admit). I spoke very quietly and mumbled when I was at university, I made a decision that the world ignores people who mumble, so I did everything I could to practice. Your voice is an instrument, practice makes perfect my friend :-)

[@NoBoilerplate]

To be clear, I'm not saying the world is right to judge us by our accent, but we have to live here, so power through 💪

[@RenderingUser]

@@NoBoilerplate ty

[@31redorange08]

Having an accent is not too bad, as long as you're clear enough. As a counterexample, I stopped watching Chrome's “What's new in DevTools” a while ago because I had to try too hard to understand the Chinese lady.

[@_DRMR_]

To be honest, plenty of English speakers are hard to understand so don't worry! And related to Reaper: there is a large amount of Reaper tutorials in which the speaker (I believe from the US) has such a peculiar accent and intonation that I find very hard (near impossible) to follow and understand.

[@kelvinpina3392]

how to speak better? I mean like improving the voice

[@NoBoilerplate]

Practice. Listen to folks you would like to sound like, and imitate their way of speech. Practice. Record yourself, and note down where you'd like to improve, and then try again. Practice. Send your work to your friends and colleagues to get feedback before going public. But do go public! :-)

[@nickosborn2285]

I've just become your latest fan. You are the inspiration I've been looking for, and I think I might be falling in love. Not literally, but metaphorically. Thank you!

[@NoBoilerplate]

I'm delighted!