Audio Basics: How to Record Sound on Your Video Camera

In these lessons from David Bode's course, On-Camera Sound: Audio Essentials for Solo Video Producers, you'll learn the core skills you need to record high-quality audio on your video camera.

Woman sound recordist in video studio — Woman sound recordist, monekybusiness/Envato Elements

What You Need to Record Great Sound for Video

First up, learn what you need to get started: a camera with an external mic input, microphones, mic cables, external mic pre-amps, and headphones.

Audio Recording for Video

Before launching into audio gear, we'll get a little deeper into how audio is recorded. This lesson gives a simplified overview of microphones (dynamic and condenser styles), and a gentle introduction to all the supporting gear, like cables, pre-amps, analog-to-digital converters, bit depth and sample rate, and recording codecs.

The Sweet Art of Microphone Placement

Where you put you microphone has a big impact on how the audio signal sounds. Learn how to place your mics in this lesson:

How to Connect Everything Together

By this point we've covered a lot of kit; in order to use all these devices you have got to know how to connect them properly. Let's find out how:

Watch the Full Course

In this comprehensive course, available in full with a subscription to Envato Elements, audio expert Dave Bode teaches from the fundamentals of placing mics and getting audio into the camera right through to the details of making a live recording, including level setting, gain control and limiting, and monitoring your audio in the field.

Two women recording a video in a white-walled studio — Woman videographer recording woman blogger, monkeybusiness/Envato Elements

He also gives an essential guide to the gear you'll need, the microphones and accessories available, and how each works. By the end of this course, you'll know how to record great audio for your video, without losing focus on what's happening around you and the picture in front of you.