What Hardware Made Content creation easier for me in 2023?
Last time around, I talked about plugins; this time, I want to talk about the hardware that has made my life better as an editor and a content creator. I’ve taken on a lot more video work this year between clients and my content creation, so I started looking for ways to improve my workflow on the video side.
Editing in Final Cut Pro requires many more key commands than Hindenburg does. I can’t get by with my MX Master. I looked into options and landed on the first item on this list.
#1: Stream Deck Plus
I opted for the Stream Deck Plus since it has dials as well as buttons. This allows me to map all my commonly used key commands to the buttons and use the knobs for things like zoom and playback speed. I’ve found that it’s helped considerably with productivity. So much so that I got a Stream Deck mark 2.
#2: Dell Ultrasharp 49” Ultrawide monitor model U4924DW
My old Apple Thunderbolt Display was starting to show its age. It was around 15 years old, and Tara wanted her Apple Studio Display back, so I looked into my options. I had seen a post where someone showed their ultra wide monitor for editing so I started doing some research. The idea of having two 27” displays in one screen was appealing, but I wasn’t sure how well it would work. I ended up trying out the Dell Ultrasharp 49″ Ultrawide. Having spent the last month with it, I find it nice, especially when it comes to editing. Or I can have the timeline take up 5/6 of the screen and have edit notes on the last sixth.
#3: Canon R8 with a 28mm lens
I got tired of setting up my iPhone whenever I had a meeting or needed to record, so I started looking into my mirrorless options. Since we’re a Canon house, that’s where I started. I chose the Canon R8 and the Canon RF28mm lens. The R8 is a full frame mirrorless body with a 2 hour recording limit when recording internally and can also be used as a webcam with a USB cable. It gives me a setup where I turn it on, and I’m ready to go. This camera serves double duty for us, though. Due to their size and weight, we hate taking Tara’s R5 and 24-105 lens on hikes. The size and weight of the R8 paired with the 28mm lens makes it a great hiking camera.
#4 Cranborne Camden Preamp
Since I’ve spent so much time creating and editing that content, I had grown tired of the noise I was dealing with on my recordings. Over the course of a month, I spent a lot of time going through my setup, trying to find out where the noise was coming from. I troubleshot my entire system, A-B testing everything. Turns out it was a combination of factors:
- Using a gain hungry mic, the Electro-Voice RE20
- With an interface that is noisy at higher gain levels
- A quiet speaking voice
My first step was to find a solution for the preamp. I couldn’t make up my mind. At this point, I can’t remember which two I was debating between, but I ran across the Cranborne Audio Camden EC-1 Preamp. I think it was a Booth Junkie video that I stumbled across across. What stood out to me were the clean gain plus the Mojo circuit. It sounded good in the videos I found, so I took a chance. I’ve been happy with it, and it came in cheaper than the others I considered.
#5 Earthworks Ethos
Even after getting the Camden, I was still getting noise. The RE20 was still too noisy on my voice. I was looking for something that wouldn’t require noise reduction. Initially, I had been eyeing the Lewitt PureTube because, why not? A low noise, flat frequency response tube mic sounded perfect. I went down the Podcastage rabbit hole because that’s what you do if you’re looking for a new mic for dialog and that’s where I discovered the Earthworks Ethos. I liked everything about the Ethos, watched more demos, and decided to take the chance. It solved my noise problems, and it sounds good.
I still had some resonance and sibilance to deal with, so I turned to Universal Audio’s plugins to finish off the chain. A little compression and de-essing from the VoxBox and some EQ from the Massive Passive, and I’m mostly happy with my setup. The bonus is that it sounds good on live streams, too. If I had one complaint, it’s that I’m getting resonance from my computer monitor, but it’s good enough.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
