Voice of Simeon

The Desk Came in!

You will remember from my last blog post I talked about getting a new desk, and I bought a model that was the same version as a friend of mine's. It came in Saturday, and I built it the day it came in. It took about an hour to build on my own (it definitely would've been faster with someone else to help, but I was still able to manage). Instead of putting it in the corner, I decided to put it against the wall in the middle of the room, so it would separate the sides of the room: one side is my "studio/office" side with my setup, and the other side has a ton of clothes (the room is a big walk in closet). It took a while to get everything off the first table, then clean off the table then take it down. Next I had to make space in the room, but my computer, monitors, keyboard, and everything that was a part of my setup was all over the ground. Then I built the desk and re-setup my stuff on the desk. I decided to also get new speakers, since the ones I was using were old and really big. I'll be making a blog post on that too soon!

Getting a New Desk

I'M FINALLY GETTING A NEW DESK! If you read my last blog post, I talked about having a tight and messy setup, and that an actual desk instead of a fold up table would be really nice. The desk I got is L shaped, which would work fine for me since I can put my 2 monitors in the corner. It's not as wide as the table I'm using right now, but that doesn't matter. 

I got it for $120 off of Amazon, MUCH cheaper than I expected them to cost, AND I got 1 day free shipping. After taxes it was $128.69. I'm excited to use it when it comes tomorrow, and I'm crossing my fingers that it won't come in broken or that it won't be cheap quality. My friend recommended it to me since he has the same one, so since I've seen it in person I'm trusting it. 

I Need a New Setup...

My current computer setup is very messy. Cords are every where but at the same time everything feels pretty tight. I have everything on a heavy duty fold up table, but its pretty old and some parts of the paint/plastic is warped, so I cant put my keyboard on it without the weird bump in the way. I recently got a shelf thing that's meant for making another "shelf" where you would put a monitor on, and usually it's used for when you want to stand and use your computer. I use it since I don't to keep looking down at my monitors as it hurts my neck. Unfortunately the stand can mostly fit only 1 monitor or laptop, but I have 2 lap tops on it and then speakers beside it to help hold up the lap tops. I'm hoping to find a new desk, but those could cost a lot.

Using Keyframes in Audition

Keyframes are very useful in the Multitrack for editing a podcast with a ton of clips consisting of music, intros, outros, ads, etc.
With keyframes, you can manage the volume of a selected track. I personally use it a lot for music, as sometimes I want it to be loud when someone isn't talking or quiet when someone is talking, and to fade up or down between clips.

Here's an example of how I'm using it for a podcast episode:

This is the end of the episode, and at the end the host gives an outro, and I play music in the background as she wraps up the episode. You'll see a little yellowish-whitish line follow the music track (the purple track) as the host talks. When she's done speaking, you'll see the arrow pointing to 2 little dots, moving the line up. This means the volume will increase at that point, then I let it stay louder until the music ends.

You can add keyframes by left clicking the line on the file in the track. 

My Setup For Videos

Here's my setup for when I record videos or livestream with my camera:


I have 2 neewer lights, which I use to brighten up my face. Usually I only use one at a time, so I can choose between which side of my face I want brightened up. I also have colored filters I can cover the lights with, so then my face can brighten with any color I want. Sometimes I will use both lights if I use 2 different colors for a cool effect.

I have the 2 monitors, the left one for my main display, and the right one I use to see chat, my stream stats, and streamlabs obs.

I have an audio technica at2020 microphone on a stand that I can stretch or swing in front of me.

you can see my canon T2i camera on the right, which is on a stand I'm borrowing from my brother. I need to keep it upsidedown so it doesn't detect my face and put a weird white box overlay.

Of course I have my keyboard and mouse on the bottom. The mouse is a red dragon gaming mouse, and the keyboard is made by Phantom but with custom keycaps and brown switches.