Short introduction to music recording video

[wooster]

Hi all

Is there anywhere a short introduction to recording me playing a banjo or acoustic guitar and singing? I'm not looking to make a major production but I'd like a nice sound quality good looking video.

I have a mic I use for recording with logic and a focus rite Scarlett 2i2 interface and a CM25 mkIII mic. I was going to use my Fuji X camera to record the video but the inbuilt mic isn't going to do the trick. I don't have any idea how to set up the sound and whether I need to buy a new one or if I can get my existing CM25 mic working with the video.

Thanks for your help and sorry to ask such a general question.

W

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wooster

Hi all

Is there anywhere a short introduction to recording me playing a banjo or acoustic guitar and singing? I'm not looking to make a major production but I'd like a nice sound quality good looking video.

I have a mic I use for recording with logic and a focus rite Scarlett 2i2 interface and a CM25 mkIII mic. I was going to use my Fuji X camera to record the video but the inbuilt mic isn't going to do the trick. I don't have any idea how to set up the sound and whether I need to buy a new one or if I can get my existing CM25 mic working with the video.

Thanks for your help and sorry to ask such a general question.

W

The way "most" people who get good quality do it is to record the video with a camera, and record the audio separately. I usually use a Zoom H6 recorder. Then you sync the video to the audio, either manually, by lining up the 2, or some software can do it automatically. I wrote an article on doing all this for Acoustic Guitar, but it was a long time back, and I can't find it now. Here's a video by Adam Rafferty that I think covers the basics:



He's not doing voice, but that doesn't change the basics. I think Fran Guidry also has some stuff on his HomebrewedMusic site.

I would note that these days, you can get pretty decent quality with a smart phone and a USB mic. The key is to be able to put the video camera/phone where it looks right, without regard to sound, and to place the mic where it sounds right.

[wooster]

Thank you for your help. I will watch the video and give it a go. I'm probably going to find it a bit of a learning curve if I need to sync video and audio recorded separately so I will maybe try buying a cheap external mic for my fuji x and see how that sounds. If I need to go further then I will get down to some serious boning up on this stuff.

Thanks again

W

[TBman]

Years ago I did a couple of videos where I recorded with my smartphone and my usual mic set up. I then transferred the video to my pc and in Windows Movie maker I replaced the audio with the recording I did while videoing (after gain adjustments and other tweaks in my DAW).

Leave yourself room at the beginning to slide the audio around to match up with the video.

Windows Movie Maker only accepts 192 mp3 files BTW.

[wooster]

Thanks TBman.

I will swallow my pride and ask some really stupid questions of both of you if you don't mind.

I use a Mac so I'm wondering if I did the thing Adam in the video was doing but didn't bother with mixing separate DI and Mic recordings, could I just record straight into garageband using my Scarlett 2i2 interface and mic and at the same time use ( either my phone or ) my camera for the video. I would then just sync it in iMovie as he showed.

I don't understand what I'm gaining by buying the zoom recorder? Does it do something Garageband or Logic on my Mac doesn't ?

Also not sure if and why I need audacity if I don't record it as two tracks ( DI and Mic )

Am I missing something really obvious?

Thank you for your help

W

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wooster

Thanks TBman.

I will swallow my pride and ask some really stupid questions of both of you if you don't mind.

I use a Mac so I'm wondering if I did the thing Adam in the video was doing but didn't bother with mixing separate DI and Mic recordings, could I just record straight into garageband using my Scarlett 2i2 interface and mic and at the same time use ( either my phone or ) my camera for the video. I would then just sync it in iMovie as he showed.

I don't understand what I'm gaining by buying the zoom recorder? Does it do something Garageband or Logic on my Mac doesn't ?

Also not sure if and why I need audacity if I don't record it as two tracks ( DI and Mic )

Am I missing something really obvious?

Thank you for your help

W

You can certainly do this in all kinds of ways. If you want to record audio to your computer, that works. If you can record high quality audio and video at the same time to your computer, that works too. A USB mic into an iphone actually works quite well. You could probably connect your Scarlett to a smart phone. There are plenty of programs that will take in audio and video and record that, too. I haven't used iMovie, but if it can do that, that seems like an option.

I can't answer for Adam, but I use a Zoom because I don't shoot video in front of a computer. I might be in another room, or even outside, as I was in a recent video I posted. I also find there's enough to worry about with video that I appreciate how fool-proof the Zoom is. I record to 2 tracks because I want stereo - good studio-quality audio. I also usually use multiple cameras, so I'm going to have to sync anyway. I also usually load the audio into Logic and do some EQ, add reverb, etc. For me, the workflow just works well, the Zoom is reliable, and even if I was at a computer, I don't want to be at a keyboard, using a mouse, etc, while trying to shoot a video.

But that's just what has worked for me. The key is to not use the camera's audio, you need a way to get the mic closer to you than the camera. Any of the dozen or more ways to do that will work.