Easy video recording with Android phone

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by wood&wire

Aha! Very cool that you build your own instruments. Due to the distance, the emblem on the headstock looked a little like a Yairi.



Yeah, I get what you're saying about the interface and I already have two. The main thing I was getting at was that I would like to record audio and video simultaneously without having to sync them up by recording audio with an interface and video with a separate phone or camera.

That said, I do have a podcasting shotgun condenser mic by Rode that has a USB-C connection made for filming with audio. I might try that since I already have it before shelling out cash for the Saramonic Smartrig with USB-C connection.

BTW, for the others, here is the amazon link for the equivalent device with USB-C. And I was mistaken about it being $89. It's actually $119 for a single channel, $149 for 2 channel.

Yes, that's the entire reason for using the Saramonic preamp. You get a clean preamp that interfaces directly with an Android phone and phantom power for your condenser mic, all at $25. The advantage in this is it's all in a portable rig that you can cart around easily and the audio and video are captured together so there's no "syncing in post" later. (Your RODE shotgun may get you almost the same advantages, depending on how close you can get with a properly framed shot.)

I sometimes shoot video and use a Tascam DR-05 to record the audio, but that does require syncing later in an editing program or DAW. I've done band videos by recording multiple mics with a multi-track recorder and syncing later in my Reaper DAW. Syncing in post isn't difficult, it's just an added step that some might wish to avoid by recording the audio and video with the smart phone.

The disadvantage to feeding better audio into the phone is that the phone may use automatic gain control and/or compression which can adversely affect your audio. It's still way better than the tiny cell phone mic, though.

I personally would probably opt for a "proper" iRig or better system if there was a need to spend a lot more than the $25 that the Saramonic set me back. As I said before, I'm cheap!

[wood&wire]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Yes, that's the entire reason for using the Saramonic preamp. You get a clean preamp that interfaces directly with an Android phone and phantom power for your condenser mic, all at $25. The advantage in this is it's all in a portable rig that you can cart around easily and the audio and video are captured together so there's no "syncing in post" later. (Your RODE shotgun may get you almost the same advantages, depending on how close you can get with a properly framed shot.)

I sometimes shoot video and use a Tascam DR-05 to record the audio, but that does require syncing later in an editing program or DAW. I've done band videos by recording multiple mics with a multi-track recorder and syncing later in my Reaper DAW. Syncing in post isn't difficult, it's just an added step that some might wish to avoid by recording the audio and video with the smart phone.

The disadvantage to feeding better audio into the phone is that the phone may use automatic gain control and/or compression which can adversely affect your audio. It's still way better than the tiny cell phone mic, though.

I personally would probably opt for a "proper" iRig or better system if there was a need to spend a lot more than the $25 that the Saramonic set me back. As I said before, I'm cheap!

Thank you for your detailed reply!

Re: syncing- I already seem to have most of the equipment to do this. I even have I believe a Zoom H2 recorder, one of the older models. That said, if I'm at home, I might as well use one of my firewire audio interfaces and shoot video with my cell phone camera. I use Lightworks video editing software and I'm sure there is a youtube tutorial somewhere that will show me how to sync video with audio.

Re: cell phone affecting audio- Very true, I hadn't thought about the gain or compression. My RODE mic came with software that IIRC allows the user to control gain and possibly even compression. I will have to look into it again. I've only used the mic once for a video conference running through my laptop and its onboard camera. However, my cell phone camera is much higher quality so I will definitely research this further.

I'm not necessarily cheap, but my past GAS has caused me to purchase more equipment than I really use so I now find it hard to justify investing in more gear when I seem to already own all the tools I need.

Still, this conversation has given me much food for thought and is helping me organize my ideas for sharing my music. Thanks for being generous with your wisdom and experience!

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by wood&wire

Thank you for your detailed reply!

Re: syncing- I already seem to have most of the equipment to do this. I even have I believe a Zoom H2 recorder, one of the older models. That said, if I'm at home, I might as well use one of my firewire audio interfaces and shoot video with my cell phone camera. I use Lightworks video editing software and I'm sure there is a youtube tutorial somewhere that will show me how to sync video with audio.

Re: cell phone affecting audio- Very true, I hadn't thought about the gain or compression. My RODE mic came with software that IIRC allows the user to control gain and possibly even compression. I will have to look into it again. I've only used the mic once for a video conference running through my laptop and its onboard camera. However, my cell phone camera is much higher quality so I will definitely research this further.

I'm not necessarily cheap, but my past GAS has caused me to purchase more equipment than I really use so I now find it hard to justify investing in more gear when I seem to already own all the tools I need.

Still, this conversation has given me much food for thought and is helping me organize my ideas for sharing my music. Thanks for being generous with your wisdom and experience!

It sounds like you don't need to purchase anything else to do simple videos. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with..." so I would suggest you simply dive in. That's really the only way to learn to use what you already have.

Your H2 will provide excellent quality audio if you set the input gain appropriately and position it where it needs to be. An additional benefit is you end up with a stereo audio file to use. That will translate to a better finished product.

A couple of tips you might find useful...

After you start recording audio and video on separate devices then it will be much easier to align your audio wav file and video if you provide a simple audible and visual reference to work with. The quickest and easiest thing I've found to use is simply a hand clap. In reality you don't even need that as you can see the audio peaks from both devices in your editor. The visual reference does make it a bit easier to align the video and audio.

Second, don't stop everything if you make a mistake. Just keep recording, using a hand clap before each attempt. It's not like the old days of using magnetic tape, so you simply play until you get something you're satisfied with. It's easy to trim your long complete files and discard all the mistakey parts.

[wood&wire]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

It sounds like you don't need to purchase anything else to do simple videos. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with..." so I would suggest you simply dive in. That's really the only way to learn to use what you already have.

Your H2 will provide excellent quality audio if you set the input gain appropriately and position it where it needs to be. An additional benefit is you end up with a stereo audio file to use. That will translate to a better finished product.

A couple of tips you might find useful...

After you start recording audio and video on separate devices then it will be much easier to align your audio wav file and video if you provide a simple audible and visual reference to work with. The quickest and easiest thing I've found to use is simply a hand clap. In reality you don't even need that as you can see the audio peaks from both devices in your editor. The visual reference does make it a bit easier to align the video and audio.

Second, don't stop everything if you make a mistake. Just keep recording, using a hand clap before each attempt. It's not like the old days of using magnetic tape, so you simply play until you get something you're satisfied with. It's easy to trim your long complete files and discard all the mistakey parts.

Very good advice. Thanks again!

[broy]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Second, don't stop everything if you make a mistake. Just keep recording, using a hand clap before each attempt. It's not like the old days of using magnetic tape, so you simply play until you get something you're satisfied with. It's easy to trim your long complete files and discard all the mistakey parts.

Great tip, seems so obvious... and now that I know to do it, I bet it will speed the process of getting to something acceptable.