What are you recording demo vids with? Recommendations?

[vindibona1]

I think I'd like to do more demonstration videos but the gear I had was at best "inconvenient". It's time to think of getting a different video recording device. I have my phone for every day stuff and professional photo gear for heavy duty stuff. But no video gear. It would be great to have a monitor that can flip around an view from in front of the camera. Cheap video camera perhaps? Which one ? FWIW, I'm not into the cheap action cameras and won't spend the $$ for Heros. But an inexpensive REGULAR video camera?

What do you do your videos with? [Calling SillyMoustache, GRoberts and others]

[SteveA]

Never done a video before the last 6 months but I am loving them now. I put a link to one on Facebook of a tune I wrote called "Tell Me Why" which got a couple thousand views....I went old school and bought an actual Video Camcorder from Best Buy...Looks like it is on Sale right now...I use FINAL CUT PRO X

SONY HANDYCAM AX53: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-ha...?skuId=4849001

TELL ME WHY VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/steve.alton...0208725058341/

[vindibona1]

I appreciate what you're doing, but I'm looking for something not as sophisticated... or expensive. I'm sure the video camera you bought it great. The video thing sounds like fun. I used to do video decades ago, editing on VHS tape. Different world today.

[MaurysMusic]

I use a Nikon DSLR, a Rose NT5 mic and a Tascam digital recorder... but this gear is several years old and every few months I'm almost emotionally ready for upgrade city.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by MaurysMusic

I use a Nikon DSLR, a Rose NT5 mic and a Tascam digital recorder... but this gear is several years old and every few months I'm almost emotionally ready for upgrade city.

I'm trying to make my life a bit easier with this recording stuff. I have a Canon 5DmkIII that has video capability, but since I have to do separate audio recording for fidelity the 5D is overkill. I don't have a Tascam or anything like it, but I do have a couple AKG mics and and M-Audio interface. I just installed a new computer last week and just downloaded Audacity and Reaper for any audio stuff. A front facing camera monitor would really be helpful. Perhaps all I need is a stand for my 5 year old iPad or my old iPhone 5s where I can flip around the camera? I was hoping for a little better video quality than that.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

I'm trying to make my life a bit easier with this recording stuff. I have a Canon 5DmkIII that has video capability, but since I have to do separate audio recording for fidelity the 5D is overkill. I don't have a Tascam or anything like it, but I do have a couple AKG mics and and M-Audio interface. I just installed a new computer last week and just downloaded Audacity and Reaper for any audio stuff. A front facing camera monitor would really be helpful. Perhaps all I need is a stand for my 5 year old iPad or my old iPhone 5s where I can flip around the camera? I was hoping for a little better video quality than that.

Cameras with really decent audio are either way expensive or in the case of "music cameras" like the Zoom Q series deliver compromised video. So if you require some level of audio quality you're signing up for separate audio and sync in post.

If you have a lot of patience and are willing to invest in a lot of cables and adapters you can probably get audio from your mics through your M-Audio and into the Canon, but it can be tricky to get the level correct. It's either clipping or swamped in the self-noise of the camera audio subsystem or sometimes both (grin). I've done some videos like that with my Lumix GH cameras but I find it easier to record separately and sync in post.

REAPER can cut video, you need to install a couple of things to expand the decoding and encoding. The capabilities have been upgraded in REAPER 5 so it's more capable than this demonstration makes evident: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2011/...o-in-reaper-4/ There's a video section on the REAPER forum: https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54 Unfortunately no video capture, so you still have to record to your DAW and sync in post.

There are other free video NLE programs. I've done demos of ShotCut http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2017/...a-lampg-video/ and HitFilm http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2017/...-express-2017/ and both have been upgraded substantially since my work with them.

Traditional camcorders have gotten pretty darned cheap, especially if you're willing to buy used. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2016/...canon-hf-r500/ Won't look that great if you're used to Canon 5D quality.

One more geeky idea, if you're geeky enough and have a monitor left over from your computer upgrade. You might be able to HDMI out of the Canon into that spare monitor for your front facing monitor.

Fran

[MaurysMusic]

I forgot to add that my Nikon D3300 has an audio input jack that allows me to capture the audio at the same time without needing to sync later. There are times I'll work on other projects with separate audio, but not as often.

For this project at the Martin museum, I recorded the video with an iPhoneX, the FilmicPro app, and the audio was captured on an iPad connected to a Behringer XAir mixer. That 4-channel audio was mixed in Auria for iPad, and synced to the video later in Lumafusion for iPad.

[JC.]

I've been through a similar thinking process recently. I want decent sound but really don't want to faff with syncing in post or mess around with interfaces. So, I've just bought a USB mic (a Rode NT USB - but there are plenty others on the market). My plan is to use it with the camera on my laptop to record directly onto my laptop - added benefit is that the videos will be saved to my laptop hard drive without having to been moved from an external SD card. Video quality will be a compromise but really...it's all about the sound.

[keith.rogers]

I use a couple of Panasonic camcorders (HC-V750/770) I have picked up used in the past year. They just seem to have much better low light capability and zoom range than anything close for the price in DSLR or mirrorless (what I tried using before - you get low light or zoom, but not both, at least not affordably), and they'll record for hours with adequate power and memory. LCD screen does flip around, though it's not iPad size, of course, which could be done.

I record audio separately and sync in Final Cut Pro X.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

REAPER can cut video, you need to install a couple of things to expand the decoding and encoding. The capabilities have been upgraded in REAPER 5 so it's more capable than this demonstration makes evident: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2011/...o-in-reaper-4/ There's a video section on the REAPER forum: https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54 Unfortunately no video capture, so you still have to record to your DAW and sync in post.

There are other free video NLE programs. I've done demos of ShotCut http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2017/...a-lampg-video/ and HitFilm http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2017/...-express-2017/ and both have been upgraded substantially since my work with them.

Traditional camcorders have gotten pretty darned cheap, especially if you're willing to buy used. http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2016/...canon-hf-r500/ Won't look that great if you're used to Canon 5D quality.

One more geeky idea, if you're geeky enough and have a monitor left over from your computer upgrade. You might be able to HDMI out of the Canon into that spare monitor for your front facing monitor.

Fran

You (and several others) have given me a few good ideas. I never thought of using a spare monitor and didn't realize the 5DmkIII had HDMI out. As a matter of fact I have a couple spare monitors, both with HDMI. I didn't know Reaper had video capabilities at all and just downloaded the basic installation last night into my new computer. I'll have to check that out. Most of the stuff will be in my studio/office so nothing that I have to shlep to another location.

I'm going to have to do a bit of research on software, particularly Reaper.

Thanks

[zhunter]

Canon Vixia HF R800. Low cost. Easy interface. Easy to get videos into PC. Good light equals decent video quality. Low light? Grainy. Sound quality is only average at best.

This is the camera I picked up as a video sketch pad. Gear demos and the like with controlled lighting? It will do OK. In a club or low light venue the video will suffer some. If you really want good sound you need an outside recording device and software to sync video to sound. That is what you get in the cheap seats. Better than a phone to my ear and eye and OK for youtube demo stuff.

Spend a grand and you will have a full featured camera with decent sound capabilities. I think everyone is becoming accustomed to phone quality video that it may be overkill to go higher end.

If you want full pro video content? Hire a videographer. One of my buds hired a videographer to shoot his band demo and the difference was night and day. Not just pure video quality but movement, angles, pans, zooms. A big difference.

hunter

[Irish Pennant]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

I think I'd like to do more demonstration videos but the gear I had was at best "inconvenient". It's time to think of getting a different video recording device. I have my phone for every day stuff and professional photo gear for heavy duty stuff. But no video gear. It would be great to have a monitor that can flip around an view from in front of the camera. Cheap video camera perhaps? Which one ? FWIW, I'm not into the cheap action cameras and won't spend the $$ for Heros. But an inexpensive REGULAR video camera?

What do you do your videos with? [Calling SillyMoustache, GRoberts and others]

I recently bought a small lightweight sub $100.00 US video camera to record some hikes I plan to do this summer.
It has a mic input. I connected my mixer to it and tried recording myself playing the guitar. I had to connect it to the mixer (Zed 60-14 fx) via the headphone jack. I tried the RCA out but the signal was too hot for the camera. The headphone output has it's own volume control. Some cameras have a volume input meter and control to prevent clipping, mine does not. It is a feature worth looking into before buying a video camera.

I haven't had time to try and create a decent music video yet, I will be getting back to it soon.

[Marshall]

These are recorded on an iphone XR with a Shure MS88 mic







I use Cyberlink Power Director for video editing.

[Glennwillow]

I don't think there is any video camera that can capture sound anywhere near as good as the simplest compact digital recorder with a $100 Shure mic. Syncing audio to video is not a big deal and can be addressed with a hand clap when starting out the recordings and which is edited out later. Simple editing can be done with Windows Movie Maker and for about $80 Adobe Premier Elements is way more useful.

You can buy a serviceable video camera for $250. I have a couple Canon Vixia models. However, for pro-level video on a budget about $750 buys you something like this. This G20 camera is a huge improvement over my $250 cameras.

I know you don't want to spend the money. But like most things, if you start out too cheap you just end up spending more later.

This is a video I did a while ago on request from several AGF folks on how I make videos with decent sound quality. I started out not wanting to mess around with synchronization issues and recording audio separately, but I found that what I got was not suitable for my standards.

You can do a lot with a video camera or a good SLR with video capabilities, a couple of good microphones combined with a compact digital recorder with external mic capability, and some editing capabilities with your computer. You don't have to spend a huge amount of money, but you probably will have to spend some money.

I hope this information is helpful; best of luck.

- Glenn

[Doug Young]

To me, the easiest thing, or at least the way to get the best results, is to record audio and video separately and sync in post. It seems to scare people, but it's not hard at all. You can do it manually - just clap at the beginning, or if you have the right software, it can be done automatically. I use Final Cut Pro, and all I do is drag in the audio and video files, and the software syncs them perfectly. Premiere has this too, I believe. With other editors, you can use Pluraleyes. Open the files and it syncs them. By using a camera that's good for video and a recorder that's good for audio, you avoid all the issues that come with camera audio, and the syncing is a non-event.

I recently was involved in a shoot using high end cameras that have dual XLR inputs, so we used them. 2 cameras, 4 mics. (Note, we still had to sync the 2 cameras). 2 of the mic channels failed for unknown reasons and it wasn't clear during the shoot. I wished I'd just taken my Zoom and recorded the audio, since I'm sure that won't fail.