I do operate a personal YouTube channel where I periodically post videos of me playing guitar or synthesizer.

Each music style attracts distinctly different audiences. The guitar folk are expecting a certain type of music while the synth folk are expecting something totally different.

Here are some example personal videos of mine (I need to show by example so I can explain the sound afterwards).

Guitar:

Synth:

(For those wondering, yes I am listed as one of the demonstration artists for the Alesis Fusion 6HD, seen above – hit the "Audio" section on that link.)

On the tech side, synth folk are very aware of how to record direct whereas many guitar players are not.

Synth players usually don’t record any other way but direct. In fact, a standard item in most home studio setups for a synth player is a dedicated laptop just for that task. Guitar players on the other hand prefer to use external amplifiers and speakers in a cabinet.

I personally record everything direct both for guitar and the synth.

Recording direct means direct-to-board. If you’re recording personal videos for the internet where you’re playing a musical instrument, you will achieve a much better sound overall if you "go direct" – assuming the instrument allows it (which electric guitars and synthesizers obviously do).

Two examples:

Example 1 – Guitar is plugged into an amplifier that powers a speaker. The speaker has a microphone placed in front of it to record the sound. This microphone is connected to a mixing board. This is not direct because the sound is not being directly fed to the mixing board from its primary source (that’s why you have a microphone to get the sound to begin with).

Example 2 – Guitar is plugged into a signal effects processor, then to the mixing board, then to the computer. This is direct. The sound is directly coming from its source (the effects processor) without the need for an external microphone.

Said even simpler, if it has to be "miked", that’s not direct.

You can set up a small home studio easily to do everything direct; all you need are the right components to do so.

If you are a synthesizer/keyboard player, the only thing you need is a small mixing board.

If you are a guitar player, you need a small mixing board also. Then you can direct-out (usually labeled as "line out") from the back of your amplifier to the board. Alternatively you can use a signal effects processor, which is what I use.

IMPORTANT NOTE for guitar players: DO NOT use the same output for the speaker to feed into your mixing board. That would be bad. Use the "non-powered" Line Out from your amplifier head. If it doesn’t exist on the head, then don’t do it.

For you premium members out there, yes I will be writing a more detailed version of this, including recommendations for what type of mixer boards work best, tips on purchasing a signal effects processor (for guitar or voice) and more – so stay tuned for that.

The free advice I can give on audio is this:

• The microphone on your webcam is terrible – but you already knew that.
• The microphone on your camcorder will never be as good as one bought specifically to do a better job (such as a Blue Snowball).
• The reason you go direct to begin with is for control. Direct-input allows far superior control over your sound compared "miking" an external sound source.
• Going direct also permits you more ability to play where loud noise is otherwise forbidden (something many of us have to deal with).
• It is better if you go with a USB-connected mixer instead of one plugged into the "line in" of your sound card. It will sound better and dramatically decrease what’s called "white noise" (i.e. hissing sound).
• No matter what you do or how you record, the end result when posting audio or video to the internet is a digital file. The internet is obviously digital. So if you were expecting perfect sounding superior vinyl record quality, that simply cannot exist on the internet, period. You’re just going to have to deal with that.

And by the way, just as an aside, for those that doubt the superior quality of vinyl, watch this (he explains it far better than I could):

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.