Has anybody used Tim Schmoyer, or another YouTube consultant?

[PictureFIT]

Thanks! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts regarding better audio and video quality. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks again.

Looks like you're already using a lavalier mic but still have a lot of ambient noise and reflection. Might have to do more with your environment. Are you facing towards a solid wall? Might want to throw up some blankets and/or acoustic foam/bass traps to dampen the sound reflections. Could also be the placement or quality of the lav mic. I'm actually surprised that it's picking up THAT much reflection. Are you sure the audio is from the lav mic and not the camera's built-in mic?

YouTube says 720p but there is a great deal of degradation in video quality. Are you rendering in low bitrate? Overall, probably will need a better camera. Lots of smartphone camera these days are pretty good to start with. Any of the new iPhones (7/8/X) or Android (Galaxy S8/S8+/Pixels) can be great. Down the line, you can start looking into purchasing a professional or high-end consumer camera.

 

[Comedy Kitchen]

Looks like you're already using a lavalier mic but still have a lot of ambient noise and reflection. Might have to do more with your environment. Are you facing towards a solid wall? Might want to throw up some blankets and/or acoustic foam/bass traps to dampen the sound reflections. Could also be the placement or quality of the lav mic. I'm actually surprised that it's picking up THAT much reflection. Are you sure the audio is from the lav mic and not the camera's built-in mic?

YouTube says 720p but there is a great deal of degradation in video quality. Are you rendering in low bitrate? Overall, probably will need a better camera. Lots of smartphone camera these days are pretty good to start with. Any of the new iPhones (7/8/X) or Android (Galaxy S8/S8+/Pixels) can be great. Down the line, you can start looking into purchasing a professional or high-end consumer camera.

Hmmm interesting questions...Yes, I am using a lav mic, though it only cost about $20, so I'm sure it's not great. It's plugged into an auxiliary extension cord, which is the plugged directly into the camera. Maybe the addition of the extension cord is causing a reduction in quality? Maybe it's just the mic? I did have 3 videos where my mic wasn't working at all and i didn't realize it, so I was recording into the camera's built in microphone, which is obviously poor sound quality. Maybe you're referring to one of those videos?

I am not facing a solid wall. The camera is about 6 feet in front of me and it's in front of 2 large windows. I am using a Canon 60D, and then for the shots of only my hands, I am using a much cheaper Canon T5i. They're not the best video cameras out there, but i assume they're probably much better than a cell phone, right?

As far as video quality, I'm just taking the .MOV files directly from the camera and pulling them into iMovie. I have never heard the term "bit rate" before, but that's a very interesting thought.

If anything jumps out to you (or anybody else) as a process that could be improved, definitely let me know. Thanks!

 

[UnboxingSve]

No need to pay nothing, just watch their videos on youtube and take the pieces of advice that you think will work best for your niche. Nick Nimmin is also giving some good advice. Also, I would recommend that you watch successful YouTubers from your niche, so you can learn from them what people like to watch.

 

[PictureFIT]

Hmmm interesting questions...Yes, I am using a lav mic, though it only cost about $20, so I'm sure it's not great. It's plugged into an auxiliary extension cord, which is the plugged directly into the camera. Maybe the addition of the extension cord is causing a reduction in quality? Maybe it's just the mic? I did have 3 videos where my mic wasn't working at all and i didn't realize it, so I was recording into the camera's built in microphone, which is obviously poor sound quality. Maybe you're referring to one of those videos?

I am not facing a solid wall. The camera is about 6 feet in front of me and it's in front of 2 large windows. I am using a Canon 60D, and then for the shots of only my hands, I am using a much cheaper Canon T5i. They're not the best video cameras out there, but i assume they're probably much better than a cell phone, right?

As far as video quality, I'm just taking the .MOV files directly from the camera and pulling them into iMovie. I have never heard the term "bit rate" before, but that's a very interesting thought.

If anything jumps out to you (or anybody else) as a process that could be improved, definitely let me know. Thanks!

Windows can be worse by the noise coming in and reflect sound just as harsh as a wall. I'm assuming you're using the windows as lighting? Might still want to dampen reflections around the windows. It can help a lot. I myself throw moving blankets on my windows and a bunch of acoustic foam around the room.

The cameras are solid. I'm thinking it's a rendering issue. iMovie might be reducing its quality for the sake of faster rendering and compression. I'm not familiar with iMovie, but if there are any options to select resolution and/or compression, I'd go with less compression and highest resolution, or at least 1920x1080.

 

[Hirudov]

After the recent YPP changes I would take any YouTube "expert" advice with a grant of salt, as they don't know what are YouTube future changes. For years YouTube "experts" were suggesting to keep separate niches on separate channels and as a consequence now I have to transfer over 400 videos from my gaming channel, since it will be kicked out of the partner program soon.

The real benefits of YPP don't start at 1000 subscribers anyway. They start at 10,000 subscribers.

 

[OrbitGuy]

I haven't used their consulting services, but I am a patreon of Brian G Johnson so I do pay him/support him $20 a month and get access to his premium content. I was looking at Sean Cannell's services the other day and boy are they kinda expensive... For the most part there are no "magical secrets" that they are going to tell you but I like having someone reinforce points to me so I remember them. Brian's also just a friendly guy, and I also pay for access to his morningfame tool which is my favorite YouTube tool currently.(and really underrated!) I personally enjoy the "coaching" experience they provide even if I don't really feel like I need it to be successful.

 

[Loki Doki]

while i agree you can find lots of information for free on the internet, none of it is personal to you or your channel, if you find a good consultant they can give you a channel review and offer tips and suggestions that are much more personal to your content. i am not saying go and rush out and pay for it, but its definitely incorrect to say you can find all the information on the net for free, yes basic stuff, seo guides, thumbnail guides etc, but to have someone to go over your videos with a fine tooth comb, suggesting changes to your SEO on your videos, improvements in thumbnails, suggestions for different videos and niche's you may not have thought of can be very valuable