Record Audio and Video

[nweekes]

Hi Folks,

I've played guitar for 30 years. I want to share my talent with my kids and friends online. Below is my goal. Advice is certainly welcome.

-Record video with two Samsung Galaxy Camera's, (16MP).
-Record audio with two mics OR one mic and my Sunrise mag pickup.

I have some experience combining audio and video on my iMac (Final Cut Pro), but little with recording devices.

I hear good things with Shure SM57 and Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.

I plan to record in my music room with vinyl flooring. The walls have premium insulation. I may need rugs.

I consider myself a good guitarist but certainly not a pro. I don't expect this project to be perfect or require lots of cash to begin with. I want to start small.

I appreciate all of your advice. It has steered me in the right direction many times in the past.
Thank you all in advance.

Rgds,
Nathan

[Rudy4]

Hi Nathan,
Read all the stuff that Fran Guidry has posted on his website regarding video / audio recording. That's agood start.

http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/

There are tons of different ways to do this, but most of us opt for recording audio and video separately and combining in post.

I've been doing a series of Youtube videos to archive tunes I've written. You might check a few out to see if it meets what you are trying to accomplish.



As long as you're using an interface I'd use almost any condenser mic before settling on a SM57. The 57 will take all the sparkle out of your audio if you're trying to accurately capture your acoustic guitar's tone.

[nweekes]

Thank you. Can you repost your YouTube link? For some reason it did not open for me.

Thanks,
Nathan

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by nweekes

The walls have premium insulation. I may need rugs.

The insulation inside the walls has little to no bearing on how good the room will be for recording, rugs won't offer much benefit either. Rooms become problematic when frequencies build up and bounce off walls. What's behind the wall does nothing to stop reflections from bouncing off the walls. The small benefit you'll get from insulation inside the wall is that sound will have a harder time bouncing back into the room from the back of the parallel sheet rock on the other side of the insulation.

There are various strategies to minimize reflections. If you're always going to record in the same place in the same position, installing traps on the walls at the first reflection points will help tame things. It's also helpful to have a cloud of traps on the ceiling above where you're recording (not doable for everyone but helpful if you can pull it off). If you're not going to be in the same place and position every time, portable traps/gobos/ (whatever one wants to call them) can be very helpful.

Bass frequencies are a different animal. If recordings sound boomy, it's likely due at least in part to a build up of bass frequencies in the room. Lower frequencies build up in corners. Bass traps in the four corners of the room are used to prevent lower frequency build-up.

For many of us ...perhaps even most of us... room treatment is something we didn't think we needed when we started down this road. It's not sexy like guitars or gear but it makes a huge difference in the quality of recordings.

[Doug Young]

hi Nathan. You might find this useful:

https://acousticguitar.com/home-reco...oustic-guitar/

Kind of sums up the advice I'd have on the audio side. Happy to try to answer any questions.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by nweekes

Hi Folks,

I've played guitar for 30 years. I want to share my talent with my kids and friends online. Below is my goal. Advice is certainly welcome.

-Record video with two Samsung Galaxy Camera's, (16MP).
-Record audio with two mics OR one mic and my Sunrise mag pickup.

I have some experience combining audio and video on my iMac (Final Cut Pro), but little with recording devices.

I hear good things with Shure SM57 and Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.

I plan to record in my music room with vinyl flooring. The walls have premium insulation. I may need rugs.

I consider myself a good guitarist but certainly not a pro. I don't expect this project to be perfect or require lots of cash to begin with. I want to start small.

I appreciate all of your advice. It has steered me in the right direction many times in the past.
Thank you all in advance.

Rgds,
Nathan

Humm ? lots here to address and some vagueness lets try to break it down and clarify

First try to use more detailed descriptions and terminology "lots of cash" in practical terms is too vague,, what budget range dollar amount would you like to start with ? Second by "start small" do you mean start simple ?
Also is this just solo guitar or guitar vocals ?

As Jim suggested if by (wall insulation) you are referring to fiberglass batting behind sheetrock it is functionally meaningless in terms of addressing interior reflections . So yes at some point you will likely want to address reflection BUT perhaps that can come a bit later.

Unless you are already familiar with multi cam shooting and definitely want that,,, a single Samsung Galaxy is a great "simple" start for Video (audio not so much) so yes record audio with mic's and or pickup. BUT that then means looking into a basic two channel interface so the Scarlet is fine .

With Final Cut Pro on your iMac you are good to go video wise . You can start with Garage Band as your DAW which is limited but will serve to get going. But will likely want at some point to upgrade to something like Logic or maybe Reaper for a more full featured DAW


IMO a Shure SM 57 is great mic to record an Electric Guitar speaker cabinet or a snare drum , Acoustic guitar not so much.

[nweekes]

Thank you KevWind.
After re-reading I agree that I was vague.

In time I want to use two cameras and two mics (at least on certain songs).

For now I want to spend around $400-$600 to start.

My questions at this point are:

Do I buy 1 great mic or 2 good mics?
Followed by, which mic(s) (so many choices!)
Is the Focusrite 2i2 the correct interface?

Thanks.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by nweekes

Thank you KevWind.
After re-reading I agree that I was vague.

In time I want to use two cameras and two mics (at least on certain songs).

For now I want to spend around $400-$600 to start.

My questions at this point are:

Do I buy 1 great mic or 2 good mics?
Followed by, which mic(s) (so many choices!)
Is the Focusrite 2i2 the correct interface?

Thanks.

Correct interface ? Not really a matter of correct and conversely incorrect per se.

I have no personal experience with current entry level interfaces , so I have not used the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2,,, but it is quite popular here on AGF i fthat says anything .
If google "best audio inter face $200 and under" you will get several that are likely fairly close in performance and work .

So that would leave you from $200 to $400 for mic's which in todays market will get you some fairly decent and very serviceable mic/s
Me? If I were recording only solo Acoustic guitar instrumentals, I would opt for a pair of mic's.... Either SDC or LDC ?,,,, in your current room situation, I would probably opt for SDC Cardioid pattern

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by nweekes

Thank you KevWind.
After re-reading I agree that I was vague.

In time I want to use two cameras and two mics (at least on certain songs).

For now I want to spend around $400-$600 to start.

My questions at this point are:

Do I buy 1 great mic or 2 good mics?
Followed by, which mic(s) (so many choices!)
Is the Focusrite 2i2 the correct interface?

Thanks.

Correct interface ? Not really a matter of correct and conversely incorrect

I have no personal experience with current entry level so I have not used the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 but it is quite popular here on AGF
There are several others if you google "best audio inter face $200 and under" you will get several that are likely fairly close in performance .

So that would leave you from $200 to $400 for mic's which in todays market will get you some fairly decent and very serviceable mic/s
Me? If I were recording only solo Acoustic guitar instrumentals, I would opt for a pair of condenser mic's.... Either SDC or LDC ?,,,, in your current room situation, I would probably opt for SDC Cardioid pattern

[nweekes]

Thank you KevWind. I greatly appreciate your advice.