deskthority

What do you like and dislike about typing videos (if you even like them at all)? For me, the mic should not be too close to the action, otherwise the sound overwhelms everything. It’s like trying to take in a painting from an inch away. There’s zero enjoyment to the viewer/listener. It also rarely resembles the actual familiar sound of that particular keyboard to the human ear. It’s almost like a scientific slide sample. Sure it’s useful if you want to put it under the microscope and see waveform precisely, but that sucks the fun out of the whole thing.

All of the few typing videos that I’ve recorded have been made exactly like that. I’m only realizing now how much I dislike hearing them.

That’s one factor. Additionally, the video should also have a sound setting that isn’t totally void of character. Most videos feel like they have been recorded in the vacuum of space. I’m not suggesting something ridiculous like “echoey hall” sound effect but similar to my last gripe, there should be at least a little interesting.

Does anyone make this style of more ambient typing videos?

Back to the original question: What do you like/dislike? What to do/avoid?

It’s pretty late here, so maybe I’ll go into more depth on this tomorrow, but I think that with every video storytelling plays a huge role in getting the thing you’re presenting across accurately.

The vintage keyboard YouTube space, which is comparatively small, has done a great job at this. There are so few that I’m just always glad when someone publishes sth, just to keep the hobby alive. So I don’t care too much about the sound. I do wanna point out a few good vintage channels:


https://youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22 (the goat of course)

https://youtube.com/c/mcmaxmcmc (pretty damn impressive collection)

https://youtube.com/c/ClickandThock (really nice!)

https://youtube.com/c/TypeRetro (Doesn’t upload anymore, but pretty nice videos)


https://youtube.com/user/tax274 (just really like this guy lol)

(Still waiting for yours @inozenz )

Would be awesome to have someone that focuses on tutorials apart from reviews as well as general keyboard information/history as researched by people on here.
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For the modern remakes here are a few I like to some degree at least:

https://youtube.com/c/%EB%93%9C%EB%B3%B4%ED%82%A4DBOKEY (Sometimes uses more than just one mic setting to showcase sound)

https://youtube.com/c/AvinashKunjamboo (great overall aesthetics)

https://youtube.com/c/Glarses (If you want sth to share with people who have no clue what the whole hobby is about, but still want to be a part of it)

https://youtu.be/2ZEp2TD5jtA (Has very calming life streams and my god please listen to the sound of this thing lol)

https://youtube.com/c/3ildcat (Kinda enjoy his editing style)

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When it comes to the technical side of things I really agree with you on mic distance. But also just give me a ton of comparisons to stuff we all know the sound of so one can get a good idea of how it would sound in different configurations (deskmat, no deskmat, plastic vs. wooden table, etc.).

This is all very subjective of course, but I like this style of typing videos. Straight to the point, with no distracting music or long intros.

A think that I really hate is people who edit the sound and people who's mic is on the desk they're typing on and so you hear way too much of the desk in the recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRCgs_aUDpg
This is an example of a baD typing test. KPT does not sound like this in real life, this typing test isn't in any way representative of that having this particular KPT board would be like and I'm not sure if the sound is edited to make it sound nicer or if the recording setup is inadvertently accentuating what would otherwise not be especially noticeable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olar7zUUY14
Another example of a bad typing test, it sounds like the mic was inside the keyboard when they recorded and isn't even close to what this board sounds like IRL which is weird considering their pingmaster demo doesn't seem off. I don't think their setup is off (unless it changed between videos) or it would be doing the same thing to both boards.

I'm only able to comment on these 2 typing tests though because I have a lot of KPT and SKCC in general but I also have these boards specifically and so I know both what they would sound like in general but also what similar boards using the same switches should sound like and I can extrapolate a bit from several SKCC typing tests what's going on with their setup to make them sound that way and I can kinda adjust my ears so to speak for everyhting else now that I know their tests aren't accurate. For someone who doesn't have as much practical experience, especially with less common boards, it would be a lot harder to pick out a sound test as being bad and I could imagine that could lead to some disappointment.

https://freesound.org/people/zrrion_the_insect/ For my recordings I have a microphone on an arm isolated from desk vibration and the only editing I do to recordings is to reduce background noise (mostly sound from my computer fans) and to increase the volume. All but my 2 oldest typing demos are recorded this way. I think those 2 were recorded on whatever phone I had at the time and while they're nice I don't think I did any noise removal or made any attempt to isolate the mic from desk vibration so they aren't representative of what the boards sound like. Same with any typing tests I've posted to youtube. I intend do get a better/different setup for recording video set up eventually and then I can start having video to go along w/ the sound but we'll see how long that takes.

Microphones are hard.

I’d suggest trying to record from roughly where your ears are when typing on the keyboard. No direct mounting to the desk (far too much thumping) and no dickering about with post processing like EQ or noise filtering, either. If your PC whines, move it out the way.

Even so, there’s a thousand ways to record anything and it really is an art just as complex as photography. I consider it even harder, because ears are so naïve.

In my typing videos I try to make it sound as accurate as I can, but there's some parts of a keyboard that's hard to capture but is easy to hear in-person. One of those things is spring ping, for incredibly pingy boards such as a Model F it's no problem, but I had some difficulty capturing the ping on my Model M and SKCC board.

Model F: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOOofca ... YU&index=4
SKCC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bxgtz9 ... U&index=17

(Also just noticed this thread is a month old)

I have never understood why people recording typing videos always feel the need to leave in their audio syncing cue. I'm not interested in seeing someone click their mouse, snap their finger, play with their zippo lighter or cock their gun for 10 seconds before the typing starts.

Evidently, they really just want to show you their…