Tools For Better Video Calls

Seen | Heard | Felt

Download: Video Call Preparation Check List

SEEN

FRAMING

With your elbows on your traps, frame yourself in the center of the screen with your elbows as the widest part of your frame. Slide your computer or webcam closer to you until the frame touches your elbows.

Matthew Evilsizor showing a technique to properly frame yourself for a video call.

HEADROOM

Your face should be centered in the top 25% of the frame. Leaving enough room for your face to be clearly seen as well as your body movements. After the framing step tilt your computer or webcam to be parallel to you face until you match this photo.

The proper amount of headroom and framing for video calls

 

Lighting Options

  • Selfie Ring Light ($10)

    • Good: Best for mobile phones and works nicely on computer, battery is rechargeable

    • Bad: Not bright enough for all environments, battery only lasts about 2 hours

  • 60 LED Light set with stand ($35)

    • Good: Cheap and Portable

    • Bad: No dimmer, takes up desk space

  • LED set with tall stand and dimmer (50$)

    • Good: Cheap with a decent dimmer and a filter so there’s no harsh light, adjustable height

    • Bad: materials look a little cheap, stand is a little janky

  • LED Soft light (60$)

    • This has a li-ion battery for when you can’t be connected to power. The brightness is adjustable and offers a filtered, mild light even when it’s bright.

    • Moderate battery life.

  • LED adjustable dimmer lights that look cooler (75$)

    • Good: Looks cool, has a dimmer, fully adjustable hight

    • Bad: materials are still rather cheap and a bit flimsy.

 

HEARD

The way different microphones pick up sound

Microphones for your budget

  • DeWise Lapel Microphone ($40) Great budget option for mobile phones

  • Blue Snowball  ($50) Plug-and-play entry-level USB mic. Good for an array of use cases.

  • Blue Yeti ($130) Recommended! A very popular plug-and-play USB mic. Better for voice work than previous options. This is the recommended starting point for a wide range of needs and uses. We use this mic for video meetings, voiceovers, and podcasts. It’s easy to use, is multi-directional so could be used for a range of things. Along with solid sound output quality, at a moderate price.

  • Rode NT1A ($269) Even with the sticker price, this is really quite fairly priced for the quality. Rode consistently does good work.

  • Shure SM7B ($399) Budget prosumer mic. Good noise reduction and sound dampening. Tuning takes some getting used to.. This would be getting into the Pro grade where it helps to have a sense of what you’re doing on a computer or tech side.

  • Neumann TLM 102 ($699) Prosumer condenser mic. This is over the top for the majority of people, but a beautiful mic, well worth it to the discerning audiophile.

  • Neumann TLM103 ($1399) It’s by Seisenheimer. It’s fancy. We want one someday when we grow up.

Additional Audio Resources

TIP If you are Screensharing audio or video, make sure to optimize it for best results (notice the check boxes on the bottom left).

How to properly share your audio without feedback on Zoom

 

FELT

Your background should be considered your aura. It’s a direct reflection of you as it’s the only thing else that can be seen during a conversation.

Zoom Backgrounds

(free download)

Free Download: Video Call Preparation Check List

Did you find value in this content? We would love a review on Google, it’s greatly appreciated.


Want to learn more?

Request a consultation