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Posted by: Guitar1969 Oct 29 2008, 01:12 AM

I am interested in trying out the monthly competitions, and I was wondering if there's any threads here at GMC to give tips on how to shoot video and get good video and sound quality.

I thought there was a subforum for this but I can't seem to locate it, and I've searched a bit.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Posted by: kahall Oct 29 2008, 04:05 AM

David Walliman did a whole lesson on it. I tried to find it but no luck yet.

Posted by: Col Roberts Oct 29 2008, 04:57 AM

Tony Miro's recording sub-forum is http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showforum=74
David Walliman's lesson on video recording is http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/misc-lessons/gmc-video-recording-tutorial/

Posted by: Guitar1969 Oct 29 2008, 05:48 AM

Thanks for the link to David Walliman's lesson - That's the one i saw before and was trying to track down

Tony's sub-forum doesn't really apply, as that forum is about using Reaper for recording audio, and I already use Traction, and a standalone digital audio workstation.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Oct 29 2008, 09:06 AM

There are a couple of things which are important (at least for me to get started with video recordings) - this is of course not a full list:

Audio:
- Record the audio using any type of DAW, while you are recording the video at the same time.

Video:
- Use a suitable camera (I use a fairly ok digital camera whicih is OKish)
- Try to neutralize the background as much as possible
- Put enough lights on yourself

Compiling:
- Combine the video recording (muting the audio channel of the video file) together with the audio file recorded in the DAW, making sure you synchronise both nicely. This can be done using Windows Movie Player e.g. (I use Vegas)

Hopefully it's useful.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Oct 29 2008, 09:51 AM

Velvet Roger pretty much said it nicely there, you need to get a great quality web camera, although I strongly recommend miniDV camera for decent video quality. Also 1-2 500W halogen lights will make the picture nice and clean.

Posted by: Guitar1969 Oct 29 2008, 07:11 PM

Thanks for the tips - That was exactly my next question - I have a Digital Camcorder as well as a Digital Camera that both can record DVD quality video, but neither of them have a mic input jack, and since we are all about the sound, I was wondering if they were captured separately and then synced up in the video editing process. I don't have a webcam and really don't want to buy something else considering I have all this other expensive equipment laying around. Is it reallly pretty easy to get the audio and video synced spot on - I was thinking that maybe there would be a way to provide a audio/video reference(such as a clicktrack to help with the syncing), or am I making it more of an issue than it really is.

Thanks for all of your help thus far.

Posted by: Emir Hot Oct 29 2008, 08:13 PM

Hi

Yes it is very easy to sync audio and video. You don't need an mic input jack, the built-in mic in your camera will do the part of the job you need.

Record your guitar in the recording software and film yourself playing at the same time. Make sure that you hear what you are playing loud enough on your speakers so the camera microphone can pick enough signal. When you import your video track in your video editing software and (recorded) audio track you will see 2 audio signals. One that you recorded as audio separately, and the other one that your camera microphone picked. You can then easily move your audio signal to match the video one. The audio track from your camera is usually linked to the video so when you move it, the video track moves as well. The graphical picture of your both audio tracks should look very similar so you can see when both track match according to the picture. I usualy leave some click (metronome) at the begining or the end. Those clicks are clearly seen on both audio tracks (like big dots) and that's the most precise way to sync by looking at your click signal. Make sure that you zoom enough in your project and see the time on your timeline. If your whole screen is zoomed to 2-3 frames, that's more than enough to sync your audio perfectly. After you are happy with your result, you can mute (or delete) your audio track picked by the camera and leave the properly recorded one. When you render the video you should only hear that (non-muted) track with your video.

Hope this helps.

Posted by: Guitar1969 Oct 29 2008, 08:23 PM

Thanks - I didn't think of using the camcorders audi signal along with the separate audio for syncing purposes - That makes toal sense.

I'll try it out this weekend - I gotta get ready for the next GMC competition, although I feel I may get ousted due to bad technique - when soloing I tend to keep my left thumb over the fretboard instead of behind, and can't seem to break the habit. I was watching Muris' Alternate Picking - Thirds lesson(Been working on that along with the MTP program) and noticed his thumb comes over the fretboard alot too(But also moves behind the fretboard when playing the bass strings) so its constantly moving around. I always thought that the goal was too keep the thumb behind the fretboard when playing notes but obviously Muris knows his stuff so I am wondering what is acceptible.

Posted by: Emir Hot Oct 29 2008, 08:27 PM

That's really individual. Clasiscal players keep their thumb behind the neck. I do most of the time because it stayed like that since I finished classical school. Many players have it over the neck, almost covering the 6th string. Feel free to use whatever feels comfortable for you. The only important thing is that you play it right

Good luck on the competition

Posted by: Daniel Robinson Oct 30 2008, 02:00 AM

There is another option for doing the audio/video which i will try to explain.

This is how i record my lessons, and it takes the editing phase out of the loop.

I use my vid camera as a streaming device, i have a USB interface that plugs into the computer and the camera plugs S-video into the interface device.

I set up my sound options in my vid program. I am using Windows Movie Maker btw, its no frills but it gets the job done. I set my audio for "Stereo mix" and have my guitar plugged into the computer thru my Digitech GNX3, before hand i make my main video backing track in Sonar, and mix it down as an mp3.

Now, i just use Windows Media player to play the mp3 and i record into Windows Movie maker the audio and video at the same time. By doing it this way i don't have to edit anything...well almost nothing, i do have to crop the clip a bit so i remove unwanted silence. The benefit of doing it this way is not having to worry about editing the file, or syncing it.

The downside is because i am using my vid camera as a streaming device into the Movie maker i have to play the lesson from front to back with no mistakes, sometimes it takes a few takes to get it just the way i want it.

Daniel