Paper backdrops can be a simple and clean way to shoot videos. You can set 'em up, leave your camera, lights, and microphones right there in front of them and be ready to record in no time. 

In this video I give you my best tips for using a paper backgrounds in your videos.

If you're making a lot of scripted talking head videos, a teleprompter may be a solid investment to save you time during both production and editing.

I'd used one in the past while shooting a video course for a client, where some of the videos were nearly a half hour long and fully written out, but I just recently bought an iPad teleprompter myself and wanted to show how it works by unboxing it and showing you some of the features.

Webcam videos can look pretty awful, but they don't have to.

In this episode of my new weekly video show, DIY Video Guy TV, I walk through ten ways you can make your webcam videos look better. 

This will also help you look better on Skype and in Google Hangouts.

(If you don't see the video above, you can watch it on YouTube.)

As you build out your video (or audio) editing studio, one important piece is a solid pair of studio monitor speakers.

Up until this week I've just simply edited any video or audio I've produced while wearing over the ear headphones. But there are a few reasons why you wouldn't want to exclusively edit only wearing headphones.

• Not everyone that consumes what you make will be wearing headphones.
• To properly mix the audio you'll want to hear it on different devices/set-ups.
• You'll often have more than one other person at a time watch or listen to what you're working on.

In this post I'll walk through which speakers you should be looking at buying and if you can't afford them, what headphones to go with in the meantime.

The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is a 2 input, 2 output XLR mixer that plugs into via USB to a computer. I upgraded to using it about 4 months ago and I'm glad I did.

If you're using an XLR microphone or instrument to record onto a computer, this is a perfect entry level pro amp to start with. In this post I share my favorite features of it and detail how to set it up for podcasting.

About a month ago I had the pleasure of speaking and leading a 75-minute workshop at New Media Expo in Las Vegas all about DIY video.

In it I had on hand a bunch of the actual gear I use to shoot videos and cover proper lighting, recording great audio, where to frame yourself in camera, how to deliver a written script without a teleprompter, how to get a "blurred background", and more.

Watch the full video here.

(Above is one of the 15 video tutorials & case studies from my upcoming book: DIY Video Guide. If you can't see it, watch it on YouTube.)

Doing interviews over Skype seems like all the rage these days. It can be an incredibly easy to use tool when all you need is audio, but getting good video out of Skype can be a pain in the rear.

In this video I walkthrough how to record high quality Skype calls and interviews.