John Darko
BTS. Not the South Korean boy band but ‘Behind The Scenes’. Let’s break down the Darko.Audio video production process hour by hour…
The review starts with a product’s arrival. Unboxing usually takes an hour. This includes a visual inspection and a ‘proof of life’ test to make sure everything is working as it should be. Transit damage rarely occurs but I like to catch it early when it does. Once I’ve confirmed everything is fully functional, I set the product off to one side to sit in the review queue. Yes, there’s always a queue. One out, one in.
I’ve dealt directly with manufacturers since 2016. Why? Because they are, in the main, more generous with product loan time than local distributors. Side-by-side comparisons are only possible if I get to keep some gear around after the review is done. Sometimes I buy that gear, other times the loan period is extended by the manufacturer.
Once it’s time to review a product, I set it up in a system. That usually means ripping everything out – including cables – and then dusting surfaces, wiping floors and wiring in a fresh system. Things have to be neat if they’re going on camera. This teardown and setup takes approximately 3 hours.
Now we get to listening.
However, I’m not going to count listening hours in this breakdown as the number can vary between products. A product with numerous points of connectivity will take a lot longer than, say, a pair of loudspeakers. Then again, loudspeakers are where I sometimes go long on side-by-side comparisons.
So: our sub-total sits at 4 hours as we get into video production.
I must write a video plan before Olaf can come over with his Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K Pro. Think of it as a written review built around the listening notes taken during the preceding weeks but in bullet point form. The video plan also features an extensive b-roll shot list and, in total, takes around 6 hours to put together.
Sub-total: 10 hours.
In case you didn’t know: a-roll is me talking directly to the camera and b-roll is when we cut away to show a close-up of the product – or the product in the context of the system or the room – or the product next to another product for side-by-side comparisons – or music choices.
Why do we go to such lengths? Video is the ultimate show-and-tell platform. Or rather, tell and show. The way I see it, there is little point in talking about a product if you’re not going to show what it is you’re talking about. Moreover, I only want to make videos whose quality reflects the luxury nature of hi-fi gear. All hi-fi gear, no matter how affordable, is a luxury.
So when Olaf visits for a b-roll shoot, I spend at least an hour setting up gear and dusting surfaces before he arrives. I then spend at least an hour tidying up after he’s gone because, more often than not, there’s gear scattered everywhere. In between, we spend at least 4 hours shooting nothing but b-roll. A few days later, I’ll spend another hour shooting around 10 clips of b-roll with a motorised slider.
Sub-total: 17 hours.
The result of all that b-roll work is a folder containing 100 – 150 video clips — but I can’t start the editing process until the a-roll is in the can.
With the ISO and aperture locked on the Sony A7 SIII, I can only shoot when the lighting in the room is consistent. That means a) no clouds in the sky or b) a fully overcast sky. Sunny/cloudy days are a no-go. Once the weather is favourable, I ready the camera and microphone, pick an album to talk about and make a coffee to hold as I speak. The coffee helps me relax because – even after five years of doing this – talking in an empty room still feels unnatural, which I can see in my still too-long brain-to-mouth time. Helping me form proper sentences are the video plan’s bullet points which I keep within arm’s reach.
The a-roll shooting process usually takes around 2 hours to bring the sub-total to 19 hours.
Olaf colours the a-roll footage remotely, after which I strip out all the flubbed lines and pauses. This typically takes 2 hours.
Sub-total: 21 hours.
Before I add the b-roll, I sort the 100 – 150 clips into folders/bins. This takes an hour but it’s time well spent: I no longer have to hunt and peck to find the clip I need. I then spend another hour sourcing music – fully licensed via Epidemic Sound – to use in the interludes.
That brings our sub-total to 23 hours.
By far the largest amount of time – a whopping 12 hours – is spent laying the b-roll on top of the a-roll, cutting the interludes and adding the animations. Each b-roll clip must be placed on top of the a-roll precisely: I’ve learnt never to cut away (or come back) in the middle of a word. It’s too jarring for the viewer.
Now our sub-total sits at 35 hours.
You might ask: if video editing takes so long, why don’t I pay someone to do it?
Three reasons:
1) I’d need an editor that understands hi-fi. That means someone who knows a banana plug from a coaxial socket, a bass port from a midrange driver and Google Cast from Tidal Connect. Such people are rare.
2) When I started making videos for YouTube, Jana Dagdagan edited them. A stint at Stereophile meant that she knew hi-fi. Unfortunately, Jana and I would spend more time on the phone discussing possible edits than it would take me to make those edits myself…which is eventually what I chose to do.
3) The biggest reason I edit my videos is that it gives me a tremendous amount of job satisfaction. I enjoy the creative process.
Before the finalised edit can be exported and made ready for YouTube upload, I’ll spend 2 hours tidying up the trickier jump cuts and tweaking the sound levels. This includes a full run-through before the export and another once the video file has been rendered.
Sub-total: 37 hours.
A video’s success on YouTube is largely determined by its packaging: the title and the thumbnail. And that thumbnail doesn’t come out of thin air – it needs to be designed. Combine that with writing the contents of the description box and we are looking at another 2 hours.
Hello, 39 hours. For a single video.
And that’s before we factor in listening time and any side-by-side comparisons. These I normally do on evenings and weekends. Around this, I must run a website, a podcast and a Patreon. For context, an equivalent written review published with manufacturer-supplied photos would take around 10 hours to write; or 6 hours if I didn’t have to report on any side-by-side comparisons.
I’m not explaining any of this to complain. Quite the opposite: I am very grateful to have this job. I am also thankful to every viewer who enjoys our videos.
I am laying this out because a Patron recently tried to guess the number of hours it took to make a video. He said “12 hours” – so only 27 hours short. 😉 A sharp reminder for me that it’s probably not obvious to most viewers just how much work goes on behind the scenes. It’s also not obvious to the many manufacturers who appear bemused that I would politely decline an invitation to review their shiny new product.
Interest isn’t in short supply, time is.
