Lecture Recording Setup (Basic)

When I record my lectures for my online courses I am using a DIY studio where I am trying to mimic a high end studio the best I can and I have described the technologies that I have used in a blog post I reference below But my studio building hobby is more than most folks need for good lecture recordings so I decided to write down my advice for a less complex way to produce good quality lectures.

Good Quality Lectures

When I am not trying to be all fancy – I find that Camtasia is a great tool that can get the work done.

https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html

A good camera like the Logitech StreamCam is nice.

https://amzn.to/3wyhxne

Microphones are important.  The built-in Macintosh microphone is as good as any setup I have used. If you are Mac person – then use the Mac microphone – I don’t know for Windows – audio is very important so do some testing including recording a few words and then be silent for 10 seconds and a few words and some silence. Cheap microphones don’t do well with silence and have problems when transitioning from silence to sound.

Then use two ring lights offset is good for lighting – like these:

https://amzn.to/3zvz4Os

Ring lights are always shown to be set up with the camera in the center – but if you have classes then you have two ring reflections that look really bad. Just get two lights and put them at 45 degree angles and you have nice lighting and no circles in your glasses.

The Fancy Version of Lecture Recording

How I Record My MOOC Lectures (Updated)