My Virtual Training Setup
Part 1: Audio
I’ve been a professional trainer for over 10 years. I teach computer programming and AI-related topics to employees at some of the world’s largest companies and government agencies.
Between 2014 and 2020, I was living more than half my life on the road. I’d be in Seattle one week and Boston the next, before briefly stopping at home to do laundry before heading off to Texas, Toronto, or Thailand.
When Covid happened, everything just stopped. When companies starting bringing in trainers again, it was via Zoom. I had to learn a whole new skill, and get a lot of new equipment.
This is part 1 of a series of articles about how I set up my home office to do virtual online training, which accounts for 95% of the work I get today. In this part, I focus on getting the audio right.
Disclaimer
Because I’m talking about the equipment I use, there will be product mentions in these newsletters. If you click the links and buy any of these things, I may get some money. If you want me to get money, that’s awesome. If you don’t want me to get money, don’t click the links. No one has asked me or paid me to endorse anything, and I personally bought everything I talk about here.
How I Learned this Stuff
In 2015, I started creating courses for the online training company Pluralsight. At one of their author conferences, I asked one of the most successful video producers there what equipment he uses. He told me and then I did the exact same thing. Eventually, I made an improvement or two from that setup.
Choosing a Microphone
The microphone, obviously, is the most important part of my audio setup. Prior to my current one, I tried several different popular podcasting microphones, microphones built into webcams, my laptop microphone, and the microphone I had at the bottom of a plastic bin. I’d test them by recording myself narrating while I was programming, then watching the video. I hated them all and returned them or sold them on eBay.
Because of the recommendation of the Pluralsight expert, I bought a Shure SM7B. This changed everything! The SM7B is a bit more expensive that any other microphone I’ve ever owned, but it’s worth it. The other microphones made me sound like I was on a cellphone, on the radio, far away, or distorted. With the Shure SM7B, my voice has depth, warmth, and clarity.
Using and Improving the Microphone
The Shure SM7B has a standard microphone connector (an XLR connector, the one with the three prongs). Your computer doesn’t have that. To connect the microphone to your computer, you need an audio interface. The recommendation I got was to use the M-Audio M Track. I couldn’t get enough volume out of that and it was adding noise to my audio. I relegated it to the plastic bin (email me if you want it). To replace it, I got the Universal Audio Volt 476 USB Audio Interface. I love this USB audio interface! Not only can it make me loud enough, it also has a “vintage” mode that uses an analog circuit to give a classic, warmer sound to my voice.
To get the best out of the SM7B, you need one more thing: a preamplifier. Because the SM7B isn’t specifically made for computers, its signal needs to be boosted. The preamplifier I use is the Cloudlifter CL-1. Now I get plenty loud.
How Does it Sound?
You can watch some video of me writing and talking about my book, Coding with AI For Dummies here (I only talk at the very beginning):
After I apply a minimal noise reduction filter to the audio (using OBS Studio), I’m really happy with how I sound, even when I’m not happy with what I say!
I’ve calculated (for insurance purposes) that my whole studio setup cost me around $8000. Here’s how the audio part of it breaks down:
Shure SM7B microphone: $399 (currently $359)
Universal Audio Volt 476 USB Audio Interface: $369 (currently $319)
Cloudlifter CL-1: $150.99 (currently $155.99)
InnoGear Microphone Arm Stand: $42.99 (currently $35.99)
Audioengine A2+ Plus Wireless Speakers: $269 (currently $269)
3 acoustic panels: $244.07 (currently $191.70)
Mic cables: $40
My price (purchased between 2018 and 2022): $1515.05
What you’ll pay today: $1370.69
I’ve been using the Shure SM7B for 5 years and the rest of this audio equipment for between 2 and 4 years, and I wouldn’t change a thing. So, if you’re looking to do any kind of voice recording (podcasting, narration, audio books, online training, etc), this is my recommendation for a good “pro” setup.
Next week, I’ll talk about video stuff.