So I’ve started making youtube videos. I think quality is not too bad for now, but want to improve for the future 😀 Overall,  I want both my colors and audio to be crispier. E.g. for this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7jC7WsZko

1. Visual. My colors just look washed out. I’m using a combo of natural light and artificial lights as my kitchen is farer away from windows. Do you have suggestions to make the colors pop more and just an overall more professional look?

2. Audio. My voice sounds a bit damp. I have a microphone attached to my clothes and my camera records the sound. I’m editing with Adobe Rush and have a hard time finding the correct volume. How can I find a good volume for my videos?

Thank you!!! Ludmila ❤️

Hi Ludmila!
Nisha here, I’m the resident FBP YouTube expert. It’s always a bit hard to troubleshoot audio/video issues without being in the room but I’ll try my best!

GENERAL ADVICE
My first, general piece of advice is to take a day to troubleshoot these issues while you’re not shooting a YouTube video. Go back and forth between filming and your computer. This way, you can try out changes and immediately see whether they’re working by loading the footage into your editing software. If they are, write them down and creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) so you know which settings you should have while you’re filming.

It might feel like a bit of a wasted day since you won’t get any new content but it will pay big dividends down the road.

VISUALS
Regarding the visuals, I don’t think your footage looks too bad. It looks a little blown out, so I would suggest turning down the ISO. That in itself should make the colors pop more.

You can play with your camera’s white balance settings to see whether that affects the color. In my camera, for example, I’ll cycle through a few different settings depending on how the light is that day. Just google your camera name and “white balance” and you should find videos and web pages that walk you through how to adjust this.
It is possible to edit footage in post production to adjust for color but I would generally not recommend it as it can be a bit complicated.

As a side note, for the speaking portions of your video, I’d recommend bringing the camera down so it’s closer to eye level. It seems a little unnatural being so high.

AUDIO
Regarding audio, you’re totally right, this does sound very off.

On my camera, I can adjust how much sound the microphone picks up in the settings based on the volume output number (on a scale of 1 to 20, 20 will be loudest but pick up a ton of external noise). Do you know if that’s possible on your end? It might be worth reading through the settings to check. Record yourself saying the same thing three different times with three different audio levels and then import to your computer – does one sound better than the other? It’s a little bit of trial and error but once you figure it out, you won’t have to spend much time thinking about it again in the future.

You might consider moving the placement of your microphone so it’s aimed towards your mouth a little bit more. At least in the video you sent, it’s pretty far off to the side and you’re speaking somewhat away from it.

If that doesn’t work, you might need to replace your microphone. For anything filming related purchases, I buy via bhphoto.com. I highly recommend using the chat button in the bottom right corner to speak to their team – their specialists know soooo much about filming hardware (whether camera, microphones, or anything else). They even do video chats. I’ve relied on their knowledge to help me slowly upgrade my camera gear over the years.

Thank you, Nisha! That’s very helpful!