We’re not short on automotive YouTubers. It’s not a bad thing, and some channels have reached pretty brilliant success while others cater to a narrower audience. While some channels reach impressive success and expansion, others encounter implosions that don’t end well, but it’s not the people, it’s not the content, and it’s not even how often a channel posts new content.
Given the technology out today, 1080p is basically industry standard with 4k on the rise, video quality is nothing to worry about. A channel may be plagued by jumpy cuts or bad transitions, but while it may be a little difficult to watch, the content isn’t necessary wrecked by that. Two of the hardest things when filming cars would be the noise at idle, and then the noise when driving aggressively. Through post production, we can overlay voiceover or even try to match the noises, however then it fails to convey what the difference really is to the user. And then it happens in the editing process. It’s too loud. Way too loud, and I will stop watching a video the moment I start to hate how it sounds.
When entering the film industry in many colleges across the US, a great number of curriculums include a sound design course. Anyone who goes into film, tv or even anyone looking to become a YouTuber of any kind, absolutely needs to take one of these courses. The professor that I personally had works actively in the TV industry and is throughly immersed in the standards and best practices that apply. One of the most important lessons had to do with the acceptable average of loudness for a television program. It partially explains why commercials can be so much louder than a television show, or how a television show can get away with being relatively quiet, until a climactic point where the volume increases significantly. A situation that YouTubers often fail miserably at controlling.
There are YouTube channels where the content may be able to convince users to get over that fact, or a large number of viewers that simply don’t notice beyond having to change the volume constantly just to watch. This isn’t a call to arms to stop watching this content, but it’s an important lesson to pass along to YouTubers and other content producers that volume matters.
There are important tools for making sure that content can be produced with attention to even the finest detail. I can’t say I have ever seen any YouTuber fail to remind people to subscribe, but I’m hard pressed to name more than a handful of channels that I subscribe to that definitely pay close attention to the audio levels of their content. Among the most important tools that are available is a loudness meter. There are a large number of loudness meters available for just about every video editing software you can imagine. My personal loudness meter of choice is the Waves Loudness Meter, which is popular among professional video and audio editors in the film and TV industry.
While you edit your video, one of the preferred methods is to finish editing the video, and then export the audio mix to an audio editing program. With Adobe and Avid software, this is a built in feature. This is where audio levels would be fine tuned and a finished mix with audio fades, effects and adjusted levels could be checked for maximum and average levels. Best practice for an average level is to be around -24dB. In order to achieve this, it’s a combination of lowering high levels and reducing the overall length of time levels are very high.
With automotive YouTubers who really want to show off a cars exhaust, this can become a difficult balance of keeping the quality sound and making sure viewers will be able to experience it. Luckily many content producers have taken advantage of the improvements made by manufacturers like GoPro, Canon, Nikon and accessory manufacturers have been able to continuously increase the quality of their equipment. Since a large number of YouTubers and other content producers have no background in video production, so it’s important for them to be made aware of simple things that can allow their content to reach the next level. Avoiding big booming bass and making sure dialog is clear and understandable. The makes of quality content are not simple but really important.
My personal video setup. Follow focus, wireless mic and a boom mic fed into my Canon 7D.
No, buying proper equipment and software and is not a cheap endeavor. The original Top Gear’s director of photography was able to make major advancements, but it took trial and error. You will do something wrong, and that’s okay. The tools are available to improve the content. The Waves Loudness Meter can be near $400 alone unless it’s found on sale. A computer than can export high resolution and the editing software itself is also expensive, but it’s the cost of doing business. My personal setup took months of research to put together, not to mention the price of buying all the different parts. A loudness meter can be had for the cost of a GoPro camera, or in some cases less than. Quality content makes for more subscribers and better reviews and responses. Classes can be found at many local or online colleges as well as online tutorials that help to get started with these concepts.
One of the YouTube channels that I will absolutely highlight for their extremely high production quality, and advancements towards 4k filming is Carfection. The channel is a combination of very high production value and extremely well spoken journalists that showcase professionalism in every aspect of their content, and should be regarded as a leader in automotive content production for all others to follow. Follow Carfection here.