• Keeping a constant distance to the mic
• Breath in a way that doesn’t swamp the microphone with noise
• Use a pop filter to avoid heavy breaths
• Avoid lip smack sounds
• Drink water carefully

Next we look at the best way to position the mic. In this video I’m holding my sE2200A microphone to show you how the quality of the recording changes if you mistakenly use the mic back to front or at the wrong angle:

“In French, we can find comparative screencasting tools, tutorials devoted to a particular tool (see for example my current folder on screencasting) or this file explaining how to make a good video tutorial. But nothing comparable to The Screencasting Handbook, the most comprehensive guide to my knowledge”

Gabriel Hasbun-Comandari, a long time member of the Google Group (and strong member of ShowMeDo) was kind enough to pen a long Review of “The Screencasting Handbook” by Ian Ozsvald he concludes:

“As biased as this review may seem (after all, I am listed in the acknowledgements section), this is probably the best book there is about screencasting”

Thanks to both Stéphane and Gabriel for penning the reviews!

“The Screencasting Handbook weighs in at just under 130 pages and takes those completely new to screencasting as well as those that have some knowledge of the area through the processes and concepts involved in professional screencast production. The book deals primarily with techniques and approaches so users of no one application will feel isolated or left out. That said there are specific sections that relate content back to some of the leading screencasting applications Telestream’s ScreenFlow 2 & Camtasia Studio.”

…

“Throughout the book is clear, concise and very well presented, Diagrams are used to good effect and instruction is clear at all times. Even those with an already good working knowledge of the process will pick up new tricks and tips worthy of the price of investment”

The Screencasting Handbook is still priced at $36 (until this weekend), you can buy your copy here.

As a novice screencaster, I found every section of The Screencasting Handbook enlightening. Particularly helpful is Ian Ozsvald’s coverage of microphone selection for improving audio recording quality. In my case, simply moving from an analog to digital input dramatically improved audio quality and reduced post-editing time to nearly nothing. I recommend The Screencasting Handbook to anyone wishing to learn about this technology or wishing to improve their screencasting skills. I believe every novice and most experts will find something beneficial in The Screencasting Handbook that will easily cover the cost of the book. – Darryl Pendergrass

The Screencasting Handbook is aimed at educators, support staff and business owners who want to learn how to improve their screencasting ability. The Handbook will teach you to:

• Understand the needs of your viewer
• Plan the screencast that will teach and convince them
• Efficiently plan, record and produce your screencast
• Host your screencast and distribute it to the right people

The Google Group has over 128 screencasters, you can ask any questions there and I’ll take feedback to put towards future editions of the Handbook.

Having written the Handbook what I could really do with now is some help from you spreading the word to the right people – if you can send a Tweet or make a blog post then I’d be eternally grateful!

If you’re not sure whether you should buy your copy yet then drop to the bottom of the homepage – you’ll find a mailing list that you can join. You’ll receive a few tips and a reminder every time the Handbook is updated (there won’t be many emails, it is low volume).

The following video makes this clear. If you haven’t already seen The Screencasting Handbook then take a look at the table of contents and perhaps buy your copy.

This video was created using Camtasia Studio 7 on Windows XP.

As a novice screencaster, I found every section of The Screencasting Handbook enlightening. Particularly helpful is Ian Ozsvald’s coverage of microphone selection for improving audio recording quality. In my case, simply moving from an analog to digital input dramatically improved audio quality and reduced post-editing time to nearly nothing. I recommend The Screencasting Handbook to anyone wishing to learn about this technology or wishing to improving screencasting skills. I believe every novice and most experts will find something beneficial in The Screencasting Handbook that will easily cover the cost of the book.

If you’d like to get your copy you can buy it here, the price rises at the end of the week once the Handbook is completely finished.

The current price is $36USD, the price will rise to $39USD in a couple of weeks when the final release comes out. Buy your copy now if you want to save a few dollars – you’ll get the First Edition by email in just a couple of weeks. These are the updates since the release a few weeks back:

• “How screencasting works” gives a light overview of the technology behind screencasting
• “Microphone technique” provides solutions to common problems with mic technique including how to deal with background noise, plosives, sibilants, lip smack and breathes
• “Editing Software” is complete, it includes notes for guidance on all the major editing packages

The Handbook has a new graphical skin and at the request of a couple of users I’ve started to add footnotes that show URLs – this helps if you’re using an eBook reader.

If you want to see how well others think of the Handbook take a look at the supportive reviews by Paul Pival and Paul McGovern.

“Ian starts with examples of using simple tools such as Jing and Screentoaster to create quick and easy screencasts, and then progresses through different tools and techniques working towards the type of screencast that might take as long as a week to fully create, edit and distribute.  He’s got extensive experience with Camtasia Studio and BB Flashback on the Windows side, and ScreenFlow on the OSX side, so those are the tools he uses as examples”

The Screencasting Handbook now stands at just over 120 pages (I’ll release this new version over the weekend) and the text is pretty much complete – you can buy it here.

Once the new release is out the price will inch up by another few dollars, to secure the current $33USD price get your copy quickly. The finished version will retail at $39USD, this will include a set of screencasts (which I’ll be recording before the end of the month).

• “Distributing your screencast” is now finished, it covers common sites like YouTube and Vimeo, how to self-host with techniques like FTP and Amazon’s S3+CloudFront and how to use off the shelf video players like FlowPlayer and the JW Player
• “Common workflows” discussing ShowMeDo and my ProCasts workflows will give you ideas for efficiently producing your screencast
• “Screencast software” lists all the major screencast recording and playback tools

I intend to finish writing the book at the end of this month, during the final week of April I will be recording a set of introductory screencasts for Camtasia, BBFlashBack, Camtasia Mac, and ScreenFlow along with some technique videos.

The price remains $27USD until this Monday when it will go up to $33USD – if you want to buy at the lower price you have a few days to buy the Handbook. As always I offer a “get your money back if you’re not happy” guarantee.

We’re both aiming the talks at freelancers (so they can communicate better with clients) and small companies (for training, marketing and demos).  We’re also the authors of The Screencasting Handbook and Podcasting Unleashed.

I’ll cover at least these topics:

• Free and commercial tools on a Mac (and Windows/Linux if requested)
• Recording your first screencast with Jing and hosting it on the Web
• Planning your screencast so it meets the needs of your audience
• The differences between a sales/marketing screencast and a tutorial
• Using ScreenFlow to record, edit and produce a screencast and then upload it to YouTube
• Hosting your own screencast and other distribution options

If you bring a laptop then I can get you started with the free Jing so you can walk away with a recording and hosting solution for Mac and Windows.

If you’re in Brighton then the event is free, see details in Upcoming and sign-up on EventBrite. SkillSwap has been running for years – cheers to Nat and James for finding a spot for us.

Madgex will be sponsoring beer and nibbles, the atmosphere will be relaxed and friendly.  Nat is recording the audio for a podcast and I intend to record a video of the evening for distribution via Vimeo (but of course that won’t be the same as being there and being able to ask questions!).