I want to congratulate Clayton and Natali Morris of Redacted for upgrading to the Shure A7WS windscreens for their dynamic Shure SM7B microphones and for recently surpassing one million subscribers on YouTube. After Rabbi Tovia Singer, Redacted is now the second (so far) to have upgraded to the superior A7WS from the RK345 with their Shure SM7B microphones, as covered in my recent article Plosive prevention: A7WS, A81WS or WS2, not RK345. Both the Shure SM7B manual and I both recommend the A7WS (not the RK345) for close speaking with the SM7B. I continue to extend that A7WS recommendation for other mics, like the Shure MV7, Shure MV7x and the recently reviewed FDUCE SL40. Even before this recent upgrade, Redacted already had a very attractive and high-end set, lighting and graphics, as well as great content and production values. Shortly after our brief conversation a few weeks ago, I am delighted to see (and hear) the major improvement in Redacted‘s sound after upgrading to the A7WS windscreens to alleviate excessive plosives/pops and excessive breathing sounds. Ahead is more information about Redacted, 5 images of the set, graphics and some production questions that I sent to them.

Per Redacted:

Clayton and his wife Natali take an in-depth look at the legal, social, financial, and personal issues that matter to viewers. Redacted has the goal of setting the record straight and bringing viewers the stories no other news outlet is telling. Along with the facts and the full picture, Redacted offers real-world analysis without an agency driven by corporate overloads. With Clayton’s extensive journalism experience, he isn’t afraid to demand the truth from authorities. Redacted is an independent platform, unencumbered by external factors or restrictive policies on which Clayton and Natali Morris bring you quality information, balanced reporting, constructive debate, and thoughtful narratives.

Although broadcast live on YouTube Monday-Thursday for about two hours, the live broadcast is preceded by an amazingly crafted 30-minute pre-recorded pre-opening sequence with a superimposed countdown in minutes and seconds.

This prerecorded pre-opening sequence compensates for YouTube’s delay in getting started, as well as getting viewers to the live broadcast to know exactly how many minutes and seconds are left before watching and hearing the new content. The last few seconds of this pre-recorded pre-opening sequence also includes a series of beeps which call attention to the viewers that the live show is actually about to start. It is quite clear that many hours are invested in pre-production the morning before each live broadcast by Clayton and Natali Morriss, which includes their rundown, graphics and pre-edited spots which are played during the live show, as is common with live television news production.

Some of the questions I sent Redacted which are pending as of publication time of this article:

1. What was Redacted‘s launch date (first episode)?
2. What cameras does Redacted use (at least in the main studio where Clayton and Natali are)?
3. Does Redacted use a “natural” set or a chroma key set?
4. What physical or software video switcher does Redacted use to switch between the cameras?
5. What graphics system do you use for your excellent live graphics and lower thirds?
6. What in-ear devices do you use for IFB?
7. Is your IFB wireless or wired? If wireless, what wireless system is it?
8. What system do you use to connect and switch with your other remote guests (i.e. Ecamm Live Pro, Riverside.fm or other)?
9. Who edited your wonderful 30- minute pre-opening sequence?

As covered in my recent Plosive prevention: A7WS, A81WS or WS2, not RK345. article, after Rabbi Tovia Singer (see image above), Redacted is the second to upgrade to the A7WS (to my knowledge).

Click here for Redacted‘s YouTube channel or Redacted.inc for its own website.

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