Audio

This section will go over all the audio components. You’ll learn what they do, how to connect them and how to troubleshoot them.

Don't be afraid!

Audio components may look confusing or complicated but they’re easy to understand. Keep an open mind and it will make sense at the end.

Microphone

The microphone you’ll be using is the Shure MX 393/O. This captures audio around it and it’s great for a meeting room. This should be placed on high flat surface like a desk.

Shure MX 393/O

As you can see this microphone has two parts, the microphone itself and an XLR adapter that we will talk about latter on.

Caution

The cable is permanently attach to the microphone and it’s fragile. Handle with care and don’t put unnecessary stress at the ends.

Functionality

This microphone has an omnidirectional polar pattern, meaning it can capture audio around them, the audio decreases in quality the further you are from them.

Here’s an illustration on different polar pattern used for microphones

As you can see the Omni-directional pattern covers an area around the microphone.

Note

Remember that the microphones is crucial for a good capture of the room’s audio. You only have 12 ft of cable.

Position

A great position for this microphone is a table. Position the microphones were the most conversational interaction happens making sure the two microphones are at least 6ft apart for optimal audio capture.

Danger

Make sure to position the microphones were the least physical interaction is going to happen. These are sensitive microphones and noises like closing a paper tray or unboxings will be loud if it happens near them.

Audio Interface

The interface you will be using is the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (4th gen). This component will transform the analog signature of the microphones into a digital input for the computer.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Gen 4 Audio Interface

This component looks complex but after knowing what all the parts mean, it will be self-explanatory.

Functionality

We will split the functionality into two parts

• Front of the Interface
• Back of the Interface

Front of the Interface

The front of this audio interface has the most population of buttons and knobs, but we’ll walk through what they mean and how they work.

Let’s focus in the left side first.

Knobs

You’ll see two knobs on the left with an RGB (Red Green Blue) light ring around them. These control the gain of the microphones.

Turning the knobs

Clockwise

This will increase the gain of the microphones. The microphones will become more sensitive to sound.

Note

If you want to record subjects that are far away from the microphones, you should increase the gain.

Keep in mind

The more sensitive the microphones are, the more background noise it will pick up. Noise that happens near the microphones will be louder.

Counterclockwise

This will decrease the gain of the microphone. The microphones will become less sensitive to sound.

Note

If you have a lot of background noise, try reducing the gain on the microphone.

Keep in Mind

The lower the gain, the less backgorund noise, but the closer you subjects need to be to the microphones.

The RGB ring will change colors from green white to red. These colors have meaning and need to be managed constantly if your

RGB Ring Color

White or Off

Little to no audio is being picked up. Increase the microphone gain to fix this.

Get Help

Make sure you have someone that can help you test the microphones by speaking where subjects are going to stand or interact.

Keep in Mind

You might be hearing some audio, but this will have a low volume in playback. Make sure you are recording withing the green light.

Green

The is the color you want to be recording, this will ensure your recording is at the best quality and volume.

Note

It’s normal for the light to blink and not always solid, this is because its showing the highest pitch in the color, not when it’s recording.

Yellow

The audio is getting to close to be distorted. Lower the gain just a bit to get back to the green light.

Note

Random Yellow’s can happen, but they are normal. This happens when people laugh, cough or speak with excitement.

Red

Danger

The Audio is clipping. These means that audio is distorted and too loud. You should dial back the gain until you see green.

Buttons

Their are 6 buttons on the left side, the important ones is 48V and Safe. These should be on at all times.

Note

You don’t need to toggle Safe or Auto, these don’t work as well as you might think

Here’s a table of what all the buttons do.

Button	Description
Select	Move the selection to the next preamp. The other buttons change to control the input you select. The currently selected channel’s number lights green.
48V	48V phantom power at the XLR mic input to power condenser microphones. When 48V is on, the Scarlett 2i2 applies 48V phantom power to both inputs.
Inst	Toggle the selected 6.35mm (1/4”) input between Line or Instrument level.
Auto	Start the Auto Gain feature
Safe	Turn on the Clip Safe feature for your input
Air	Turn on AIR mode

Right Side of the Interface

You are not goin to use this part. This is for monitoring the audio, but you will be using OBS monitoring since you’re going to clean the audio a bit before it goes to recording or Zoom.

Back side of the Interface

There’s only three things you need to get familiar with:

• Input 1
• Input 2
• USB

Input	Function
Input 1	XLR input 1
Input 2	XLR Input 2
USB	USB type C port that will transfer audio to the computer and deliver power to the audio interface

Now let’s talk about Video.