MBA1389 Recording Content While Traveling

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Hey oh. Welcome to the $1 RMBA show, the business podcast that delivers actionable business advice every day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the $100 MBA, a complete business training and community online. And in today's episode you will learn how to record your content while traveling. Whether you're recording a podcast for your own show or you're being interviewed on a show, or you're recording videos for a course or even a sales video, it could have its challenges if you're on the road. For example, I'm actually traveling for a week on business and in that week I am interviewing somebody for this podcast and I'm going to be on a podcast and I need to shoot a couple of videos. I'm not in my comfort zone. I'm not in my home office. I don't have my setup where everything comes out perfectly with minimal, you know, effort. So how can I pull this off while maintaining the quality of my production? This is what we're going to be talking about today. I'm going to give you my strategies, my tips, the equipment I use, how you can pull this off even while traveling light, the things to consider, the things to plan for so that you can pull this off with minimal headaches, with minimal disruption, and your content doesn't skip a beat. Can't wait to get into this one. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Many people think that when it comes to recording audio or videos, it's all about the gear and the equipment. And if you have like a home studio, you're rocking and rolling and you're creating this amazing content, the truth is that you can create great content with great production quality, with minimal gear, with inexpensive gear. And gear is not the most important factor. I know this because my partner in life and partner in business, Nicole, is a New York Film Academy graduate. And this is what she learned at her time there. The number one factor is actually your space, where you're going to record this. So whenever I travel on business or whatever, I'm always mindful of this. If I have to record, if I have to do something. So when I'm looking for a space to stay, whether it's a hotel or an Airbnb, I'm looking for a place to record as well. Is the room carpeted? When I read the reviews, do people say the, you know, the walls are paper thin and you can hear doors slamming or you can hear your neighbors? I actually like to look for Airbnbs when I travel, mainly because of this reason. I can find an entire home and hopefully there's a closet there. A walk in closet is perfect for recording, even for video recordings because we'll talk about lighting in a moment, but you can have the actual closet open and you could be facing out, but the sound will be much more controlled and dampened to allow you to have great audio. So your space is really something important. So when you're looking for a place to stay, look for a place where you can record that has some sort of soundproofing. A closet. A walk in closet is perfect. Even like a coat closet where you can set up a chair and you can be looking inside that closet or put yourself in the closet so you have some sort of, you know, soundproofing. This is very helpful. I one time had to record on the road and I didn't have this option in the accommodation. I didn't plan ahead. And the only way I can have a good sounding, you know, audio or podcast was for me to literally have my laptop and my mic under the covers on the bed. So I was literally like in my own little tent with the covers draped over me and on my laptop and I had pillows surrounding myself. So I can muffle the sound. I can dampen the noise, so it could sound studio quality. So don't get caught up and get stuck with being under the covers, like I had to. So space is number one. Number two, my gear. I have very simple gear. When I record, especially on the road. It's the most efficient, the easiest gear I can use. Number one, microphone. I use a ATR2100. This Audio Technica ATR2100. It's a USB mic. I can plug right into my computer and record directly on my computer. Super simple. I do buy one of those foam pads. I just bought them off Amazon. I could buy like a bag of 10 of those foam covers for the microphone. It's like a way. This is a way to deal with plosives, is like when you use the letter P, it's kind of like a pop filter, right? And it just goes right over the microphone. And I bought a bag on Amazon for like five bucks or something. That's my microphone. The microphone comes with a little stand, but to be quite honest, the best way to get the best audio in these conditions is to have the mic as close as possible to your mouth. I would say about three inches from your mouth. That allows the sound to go straight into the mic. So I usually just use my hand. If not, I'm in a closet with a shelf. I'll put the stand up, and I'm standing up and the mic is lined up with my mouth. Let's talk about camera. Now, the webcam I highly Recommend is a USB. Webcam is a Logitech C920. This is like the best bang for your buck. Okay, Great value camera. About 80 bucks. Now, I actually got a new webcam. I use it for my webinars when I'm, you know, back at home. I don't travel with it because it's a bit expensive, it's a bit bulkier. It's called the Logitech Brio and It goes to 4K. It's an amazing camera. It's about $150, about double the price of the Logitech C920. But I don't travel with it. I Travel with the C920 because it's more compact and it's good enough. It will shoot 1080p. And it's got a wide camera lens, a Carl Zeiss lens, which is really cool. So I use this when I have to shoot my videos, whether it's a sales video or a course video or I'm doing a video interview. Now a camera alone is not enough. Lighting is just as important. The easiest setup for lighting is to face an open window with sunshine and the sun is shining on your face. The problem with that is that you know the noise. You're not in a muffled area, not in a closed out area like a closet. The sound is not going to be as good as if you were. So what do you do? Well, I highly recommend getting a ring light. There's a USB ring light that you can get on Amazon. It's a 9 inch ring light. It's less than 50 bucks. It's great because it fits right in your backpack and it comes with a tripod and everything. And you can plug right in to any PowerPoint with a USB and it will light your face right in front of the camera perfectly. And you don't have to worry about any conditions. It will light your face even if you're in a closet. It's that good and bright. So basically with my laptop, I have my USB mic, the Audio Technica 2100, my Logitech C920 camera, and the ring light. That's USB based. Nine inches, not too big, put in my laptop bag. Those three things are like my trifecta. Plus the space really help me have high production quality even when I'm traveling. Couple tips. If you're going to be recording video, make sure the camera is at eye level. So prop up with some books or a desk or lower your chair. Be mindful of your background if you're shooting video. Whether it's a plain background, no one wants to see you with a bed in the background. You know, it's obvious you're in a hotel. Be mindful of your background when you're shooting video. Now, when I travel and I have to record, I like to do everything I can do before I travel. So for example, if I have to script things, if I have to schedule things, if I have to submit questions, if I have to do anything in terms of pre production, I do before I travel. So when I am traveling I'm not overwhelmed. I can just focus on just the shoot or the recording and that's that. You know, you don't have much time when you're traveling. Time is tight and it can get really tiring and overwhelming. So reduce the stress and reduce the tests on your plate by getting all that stuff done before you travel. Another pro tip, if you're doing a course, video courses and for some reason you can't get a space where you can record with a good background or something, like that. Then do a screen recording, right? Do a screen recording and talk over the screen. You can do this with PowerPoint slides or keynote slides and talk over the slides. This is a great alternative and it gets the job done. It gets the content created.

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To wrap up today's lesson, if you're going to record audio video when you travel, prepare so that you are ready for success so you can make sure that you get the most out of those recordings and that the production quality is just as good. All the equipment I just mentioned you can use back in your office. We're talking about maybe a total around $200. A great investment in the content for your business. I also want to say don't overdo it. When you travel time is limited, you don't have the routine and the stability of being back home. You're out of your routine and things take longer than they normally do. So don't book too much work and too much recording or the same amount of recording that you would normally do back home. I would say about 50% is the limit. I also like to book the things I have to record, especially calls or interviews that are time zone friendly with the places I'm going to. So say for example, you're going to Europe for business and you've been invited to be on a podcast schedule. That podcast interview if it's based in Europe, when you go to Europe, right? So that you're in the right time zone and you make it easy for them and for yourself. Guys, that wraps up today's lesson. Thank you so much for listening. Tomorrow's Q and A Wednesday where we answer a question from one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over at omar@100mba.net. Tomorrow we have a question from Lee and Lee asks, hey, my employee is asking for a huge raise. What do I do? I answer it in tomorrow's episode, so make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss it. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Traveling can be tiring, but it could be fun too. Personally, I like to get my work done, the recording and all that kind of stuff early, early in the day. So by lunchtime I'm kind of free to do whatever I'm there for, whether it's the business, the conference, meeting, clients. I like to get things done early in the morning. So ideally by 10 evening I'm done with all those tasks I have to do for my business, the recording and all that stuff. Hope that helps and hope to see you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care. Of.

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