Camcorder?

[Zydrus]

Not sure what forum to put this on. Please move if necessary. I'm looking for a camcorder to start recording YouTube videos and I'm not sure what route to go. You have ones like the Zoom Q4 with built in mics which I think would be useful if you wanted to record your bands live performances as well. You have the really cheap route of iPhone and like the Focusrite iTrack, and I also have my audio interface. This is the option I don't know much about. I guess I can get a pretty cheap HD camera and record the video on that and then music thru my interface and sync the two together? What options do you guys suggest?

 

[mjbphotos]

It really depends on what you want out of the video, quality- and content-wise. The easy way is just a video camera wiht built-in mics. Quality of these has come a long way, and even a $150 HD pocket camera records good audio these days, assuming the room sounds good and it is not too loud. The one problem all of these non-pro cameras have is automatic compression of the audio - raises the volume up when low and reduces it (to an extent) when loud.
The next-easiest way is to record your video with camera or phone, while lipsynching to your previous recording, then lining everything up in video software.
Best is to video yourself while recording your tracks using standard methods (mics to interfaces to DAW), mix/master your audio, then use the video software to combine it all.

 

[Dave Holmes]

I tried using my DSLR but the mic is awful... I use the iPad now
Only issue is the audio quality as the iPad mic is rubbish too. Better but still rubbish...

My solution is a Behringer UCA222 plugged into iPad via CCK & a 1/4"stereo-jack to phono cable from the headphone out of my main Audio Interface and a channel open for a mic for my voice...
I'll let you know how it works after Christmas (when I receive the UCA222)

 

[Chili]

I moved this to the Music Video section

Your best bet is to record the song first then lip sync to the video. You can shoot footage of the singer and musicians while they're recording to get a truer sense of the song, but you still want to record the song properly and mix it before committing it to a video. The reasons are the ones you already know; audio on cameras suck.

You could get a decent mic to go with your DSLR, but mic placement and the room you're recording in comes into play.

To line up a previously recorded song, use a good video editor. Sony Vegas can be bought really cheap, like $40, and it does a lot. Play the song on a boombox while you're shooting footage. Loud enough so the mics on the cameras pick it up cleanly. Quality doesn't matter because these are scratch audio tracks. Shoot all your video using the boombox as a reference. When you're done shooting, download the video to the computer.

In Vegas, create a new audio track and copy the previously recorded song to it. This should be the quality recording. Use that as the reference track and line up the video clips by aligning the waveforms of the camera audio to the song track. Assemble the rest of your video in that fashion.

 

[Zydrus]

I moved this to the Music Video section

Your best bet is to record the song first then lip sync to the video. You can shoot footage of the singer and musicians while they're recording to get a truer sense of the song, but you still want to record the song properly and mix it before committing it to a video. The reasons are the ones you already know; audio on cameras suck.

You could get a decent mic to go with your DSLR, but mic placement and the room you're recording in comes into play.

To line up a previously recorded song, use a good video editor. Sony Vegas can be bought really cheap, like $40, and it does a lot. Play the song on a boombox while you're shooting footage. Loud enough so the mics on the cameras pick it up cleanly. Quality doesn't matter because these are scratch audio tracks. Shoot all your video using the boombox as a reference. When you're done shooting, download the video to the computer.

In Vegas, create a new audio track and copy the previously recorded song to it. This should be the quality recording. Use that as the reference track and line up the video clips by aligning the waveforms of the camera audio to the song track. Assemble the rest of your video in that fashion.

Thank you sir. If I went this route wouldn't the camera on my iPhone work for the video part? Then I could just sync up the audio using software.

 

[Chili]

You could if it was well lighted. I don't much like the video on the iphone. Also, you can't zoom or change aperture or anything else you can do with a regular camera. But, maybe you don't need to do all that. If you're just doing stationary shots and only want to have video of you playing, then it work just fine. And is a whole lot less expensive if you already own one.

Vegas is still worth buying regardless of what camera yo use.

 

[PTravel]

Easy way to sync audio and video: Do what the pros do and get a slapper slate. In your video editor, line up the spike in the audio track from the "slap" sound with the frame in the video when the slate arm makes contact.

You understand, don't you, that none of the approaches outlined here will produce anything that would remotely approach being mistaken for a professionally-produced video, right?

 

[Zydrus]

You understand, don't you, that none of the approaches outlined here will produce anything that would remotely approach being mistaken for a professionally-produced video, right?

All I'm looking to do is put up some decent quality Youtube videos to promote my music. So do some acoustic covers to get people to my channel and then throw in my original stuff for people to hear. Which in turn would hopefully drive them to check out and purchase the album I'm working on.

 

[PTravel]

All I'm looking to do is put up some decent quality Youtube videos to promote my music. So do some acoustic covers to get people to my channel and then throw in my original stuff for people to hear. Which in turn would hopefully drive them to check out and purchase the album I'm working on.

I don't know what you mean by "decent quality video." Just like you need a minimum level of gear to record an album, and couldn't do it properly on an iPad using the built-in microphone, you need a minimum level of gear to produce a video. Same level of gear, same level of technical skill.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I guess I can get a pretty cheap HD camera and record the video on that and then music thru my interface and sync the two together?

I've been doing this for over a decade, recording audio and video on different devices and putting them together in Sony Vegas. As long as the converter clocks are reasonably accurate it's pretty simple. Use the bad audio from the camera as a reference for lining up your good audio. This is the way to make a live performance video.

If you want to do a studio recording and then a video after the fact use a boom box and lip sync to it. Use the camera audio to sync the video to the finished audio.