Spent 6 hours editing a video only to realize my mic was muted the whole time

I recorded a 45 minute tutorial for my woodworking channel last week, spent a whole evening cutting and adding B-roll, then went to export and heard nothing but dead air. The audio levels showed zero because I accidentally hit the mute button on my Blue Yeti before I started talking. Has anyone else wasted a full day on something that could have been fixed in 2 seconds?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda_dixon491d ago

Ngl that's brutal but I gotta ask - did you have any visual cues on screen that could have tipped you off during the recording? Like does your screen recording software show a little red dot or a waveform moving while you're talking? I've done similar stuff before and now I always glance at my audio meters at the start of a new take, even if I'm 100% sure everything's set right. It's those little habits that save us from six hour disasters.

miller.rowan1d ago

Are you sure about the red dot being a surefire indicator though? Ive had situations where the little red light was blinking away but the software was recording the wrong input source entirely. It was picking up the webcam mic instead of my condenser, but the dot still flashed like everything was fine. The audio meters are definitely the way to go, but you have to watch which channel theyre showing. I had a six hour podcast interview once where I was watching the meters bounce and feeling proud, but I was looking at the wrong track the whole time. That day taught me to physically touch the mic and say a test word before I ever hit record.