Why Audio Quality Matters More Than Video

Creating video content is demanding at the best of times, so it’s really important to be able to look back and justify all the hard time and effort spent on making it. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a well-executed idea with a strong message ruined by poor, crackling audio quality that turns off the viewer.

As much as great visual can capture your attention, bad audio can lose your attention instantly. There’s the old saying by George Lucas, “sound is half the picture”. He’s right.

If you’re not sure about why audio quality is so important, let’s break it down.

Audio is more important

I want you to imagine that you’re stepping into the movie theatre to watch your favourite film. The anticipation and excitement is palpable, the lights go dark, and the projector lights up the screen. All of a sudden, there’s horrible crackle coming from the speakers for the entire duration of the film. Makes the film pretty much unwatchable, right?

Now imagine the same film, except the it was shot on a terrible camera, but the sound was absolutely incredible. I bet you’d still watch it. That’s why lots of old films still stand the test of time; despite it being black or white, historical footage, or shot on a 1990’s Nokia. People are naturally far more forgiving of terrible video quality if they have good sound quality to back it up.

That’s the power of high-quality audio.

Bad audio is a dealbreaker

The most cinematic visual can’t save distorted, echoey, or out-of-sync audio. Nobody enjoys struggling to decipher muffled dialogue or battling background noise to hear what’s being said – that’s why people often complain about the controversial decisions of Christopher Nolan.

It might not sound too bad at the face of it, but here’s what happens when audio quality suffers:

  • Viewers lose focus: Instead of listening and engaging with your content, they’re distracted with trying to interpret unclear sound.
  • They’ll mute it: If the audio quality is bad, they’ll turn off the sound altogether and won’t hear anything!
  • Or worse, they’ll leave: Nothing is worse than completely losing your audience, so sometimes they’ll cut their loses and turn it off.

You don’t want all that hard work making a video, only to be let down at the last hurdle. It’s really important to make sure that you’re making content that people are actually watching and listening!

Invest in good audio

Okay, so you’ve heard all the bad stuff.

Now what’s the easiest way to improve your video production? Prioritise sound quality. Even the simplest solutions like using a good microphone, recording in a quiet place, and monitoring sound levels to make sure there’s no clipping, can make a huge different.

If you’re not sure about what or how to achieve something like this, then thankfully there are a bunch of industry experience in video production who’s job is literally that – to make sure the sound is as good as it can be. Those people? Sound recordists.

Good video production isn’t just about what people see; it’s about how well they hear the message. Don’t let poor audio sabotage great content.

If you need some advice on sound, drop us a line.