Recording Set Up

jagcorps

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I attempted doing a search on here and can't really find what I'm looking for.

I'm essentially looking to see people's recording set up, specifically the set up for multi-track recording.

I can certainly already multi-track record just audio with Audacity. However, I was hoping to see a software set up that would allow a person to record a live video and then come back through, recording over that video with another track or even layers of tracks.

I like the idea of being able to watch my current video and listen to it on headphones while recording my new track along with it.

So, what does everyone do or use to get these good mult-track and/or picture in picture videos?
 
Everything I know about using multitracking with video I learned from Linda Louden - credit where credit is due - she's the best and is great about sharing her knowledge. I use a really old macbook and I have a samson go mic (cheap usb mic) which is the same one Linda uses. Here is exactly how she showed me how this all works. (If you are using a PC, I am of no help)

Per Linda:

Multitrack


#1. record your song in iMovie. Doing this first helps music tracks line up correctly to your movie and mouth movement after using GB and importing back to iMovie. If you are going to add a title or transitions, now is the time to do that too because that adds seconds to the length. It is possible to do it later once your familiar with how best to line up music but its a good habit to get into cuz it saves steps.


#2. Share the movie to desktop.


#3. Open GB and Name the new project. Drag the movie into GB.


#4. After Movie has fully loaded into GB you have vocal settings to work with. On my version in the lower right you have the three buttons for media, info and loops. click on the "i" info button. I almost always use vocals- Live Performance and then click on the edit tab. Use the Compressor to can change the "gain" higher or lower if you need to. Fix these things while the music is playing to see what suits you. I always change to a lower the reverb. Usually somewhere in the 20's depending on what suits the song.


#5. Adding new tracks. Highlight the track to record your new instrument. You have to use earbuds or a head phones so it only picks up the instrument used. If you try without them it will pick up the music track too and you don't want that. Do this step for every instrument used. Sometimes I use a Bari, cajon, tambourine or a shaker and they all have a separate track of their own. You can cut and splice the track by moving the bar to a the specific spot and use "command t" to split , move the bar to a new spot, command t, highlight what you don't want and click delete. If you make an accidental delete immediately go up to edit and chose undo.


#6. Use #4 for each track.


#7. When everything is as you like, its time to close out. Click the red button to close. A message will come up to save. Chose Yes and chose Yes to save in ilife.


Now Back in iMovie!


On the left you will find Content Library. Chose GarageBand and it will load up your GB library. Find your project. Click on the plus sign and it will import under your movie and should be lined up exactly! Lower the sound on the movie track and adjust the imported track volume. Thats it! Now your ready to import back to the desktop and into youtube


Now if you want to show yourself playing a different instrument in parts of the movie here is what I do.


Click on import and turn on your camera.
Go into GB and with your earbuds on play along with the first original movie track to capture you in action. For Zipadeedoodah I filmed the slide whistle from the beginning to end of the song. In iMovie I drug just the part I wanted onto of the other movie. Made adjustments to lined it up and then imported that to GB and followed the GB directions tweaking out any bad notes, or rerecord it all together. Then in iMovie delete the old imported track if there is one and click the plus sign for the new track with the whistle.


If your not very familiar with iMovie then this might not be real clear. Let me know and I will break it down better for you. There are different settings for dropping in new film like "side by side, blue screen, pic in pic etc". Make yourself familiar with those if your not already and this all becomes easy stuff, but can become very time consuming.
 
Thanks. I keep seeing Macs being used for this. They obviously own that niche. I haven't ever run a mac, so it' s not something I presently have but I may have to resign myself to purchasing one.
 
Muti--tracks

Thanks. I keep seeing Macs being used for this. They obviously own that niche. I haven't ever run a mac, so it' s not something I presently have but I may have to resign myself to purchasing one.

I have a pc and use Cyberlink PowerDirector. It allows multiple video and audio tracks. You can download a 30 day free trial and experiment with it to determine if it's what you want. I've tried several others in the past, but have stuck with this in recent years (probably due to familiarity).
 
I have a pc and use Cyberlink PowerDirector. It allows multiple video and audio tracks. You can download a 30 day free trial and experiment with it to determine if it's what you want. I've tried several others in the past, but have stuck with this in recent years (probably due to familiarity).

Another vote for CyberDirector. I like it a lot.

For original stuff, I record on my still camera, which takes HD movies, and use either Audacity (free) or ProTools (got a copy for free with a cheap USB mike I purchased a while back). Works well. The only issue I have with Audacity is that the filters are a little hard for me to use properly - my version of ProTools has more range in that area and is easier for me to use.

- greenie44
 
It's not necessary to use a Mac. There are very good tools available both for audio and video editing for all OS's, Windows, Mac and Linux. Don't spend money unnecessarily on a new computer unless you actually need one and if you are used to Windows it's OK to stick to that.

I have a Panasonic Video Camera for the videos and I use a Tascam multitrack recorder for the audio. For multitrack recordings, I mix the audio in the Tascam recorder then export as a Wav file to my PC which runs Linux. I use Audacity to "finalise" the Audio then import both the video and audio to the video editor. If your video editor displays the audio as a wave pattern, you can use that to line up the separate audio and the video so the video and audio are in sync then you can mute the audio in your video file. I create titles separately and add them to the time line in the video editor first.
 
I have to do something along these lines anytime I want to record with my webcam. I have a rather decent cam, but it has a built in microphone, and the recording software for it won't let me change audio input.

Essentially, I have to simultaneously record on video, and through Audacity with my studio mic. then I have to match the audio from the mic with the video from the camera, then mute the camera. I do this with Movie Maker...

Basically you could do the same, but with whatever programs you have via Mac, and just have the Audacity audio be a seperate take with the video playing in your ear, and just layer them over top of each other.

That's my ghetto way of doing it, anyway
 
I think my process is a little unusual, but it works really well for me:
• First I record my performance on my iPhone, using a usb mike.
• Since the iPhone uses variable-frame rates, I run the file through Handbrake to set the frame rate at 29.97
• If I'm multi-tracking, I then load the video into GarageBand, and add any instruments or vocals to the recording.
• Then, I put the audio and video into Adobe Premiere Pro for editing and processing.
• From within Premiere Pro, I jump to Adobe Audition to remove extraneous noise, insert fade-outs, and add reverb.
• For titles I use Premiere Pro or, if I want a little more, I use Photoshop
 
As a side note, my method assumes you blew all your money on the equipment, and basically use free, basic level software for editing. Also, picture in picture is impossible... at least with Movie Maker.
 
I use VLC Media Player, After Effects, Premier Pro, and Auditions. I record the first track with a camera, playback with a headphone/earpiece using either the camera's built in recorder or VLC Media Player (cross-platform) to play it back and record the next tracks. To edit audio, I open the videos in Auditions, which strips the audio from the video and allows you to edit it. After all the audio is edited (but not usually trimmed, it makes syncing more complex), I open the source videos in Premier Pro and re-sync the audio. I do any trimming in Premier Pro. After the audio is re-synced I open the final video files in Are and make the final multi-tracked video.

Caveats: It's rather complex, CS6 Master Suite Collection was over US$1000 when I got it (I'm to broke now to upgrade to CC).
 
As a side note, my method assumes you blew all your money on the equipment, and basically use free, basic level software for editing. Also, picture in picture is impossible... at least with Movie Maker.
If you have Linux, you could attempt to learn Cinelerra. It's rather complex though...
 
Thanks. I keep seeing Macs being used for this. They obviously own that niche. I haven't ever run a mac, so it' s not something I presently have but I may have to resign myself to purchasing one.

My method can be done on PC, but it seems Adobe developed Creative Suites to work better on Mac.
 
Another vote for CyberDirector. I like it a lot.

For original stuff, I record on my still camera, which takes HD movies, and use either Audacity (free) or ProTools (got a copy for free with a cheap USB mike I purchased a while back). Works well. The only issue I have with Audacity is that the filters are a little hard for me to use properly - my version of ProTools has more range in that area and is easier for me to use.

- greenie44

Thanks. I tried CyberDirector and it looked like it would work great, but it wouldn't capture with my HD camera. I worked with tech and they couldn't figure it out, so I'm going to have to return it.
 
Thanks. I tried CyberDirector and it looked like it would work great, but it wouldn't capture with my HD camera. I worked with tech and they couldn't figure it out, so I'm going to have to return it.

Can you connect your camera to your PC via USB or does it take a memory card which you can remove and use a card reader to transfer the video to the computer? That way you can get your video into a video editor.
 
Thanks. I tried CyberDirector and it looked like it would work great, but it wouldn't capture with my HD camera. I worked with tech and they couldn't figure it out, so I'm going to have to return it.

I only tried to do capture with CyberDirector once, and it seemed to not keep synch with what I recorded in Audacity simultaneously. But really, try just recording the audio and video separately and combining in PowerDirector. If you remember to do a synch mark, like a clap, it's a breeze, and even if you forget, it takes maybe a couple of minutes to line stuff up.
 
I've been using a Windows program called VideoMeld. It's made by the same company who makes Goldwave audio editing software (which I did pay for a long time ago because I use it so much). The free version of VideoMeld puts a watermark on your video and has a limit of no more than 5 minute length for your videos. I use it because I don't have a good justification for buying something else; it works fine for my short ukulele videos and I don't care about the watermark because I'm not a professional.
 
I've been using a Windows program called VideoMeld. It's made by the same company who makes Goldwave audio editing software (which I did pay for a long time ago because I use it so much). The free version of VideoMeld puts a watermark on your video and has a limit of no more than 5 minute length for your videos. I use it because I don't have a good justification for buying something else; it works fine for my short ukulele videos and I don't care about the watermark because I'm not a professional.

I had this program but I wasn't sure how to use it to record. It just combined videos, from what could tell.
 
Can you connect your camera to your PC via USB or does it take a memory card which you can remove and use a card reader to transfer the video to the computer? That way you can get your video into a video editor.

The webcam connects to the computer through USB. Cyberdirector just wouldn't recognize it and kept wanting to use my onboard camera, which is very grainy and old.
 
Allen, As others have said there is no need to change to mac. If you are already using PC go and take a look at what these people are telling you for PC. Take a look at Popsters and Greenies videos. They get great stuff from their PCs and programs. Then go take a look at some of my lelouden and Wee_ginga_yin vids used with mac and decide if you see a difference or things that seem better than the other.

I have used mac for years and love it. All of the programs for video making come with a macbook. No need to buy anything extra unless you want a mic. I have a $30 mic that is smaller than a flip phone and has a long chord and a clip on the mic. The clip is great because you can clip it to your pant leg or a tree if you are making an outdoors vid....or your music stand etc.

When I started making vids I finally opened these programs on my mac and learned them. I had all this great stuff right on my mac and didn't know how useful they all are. BUT like others have said if you want to use a extra camera and buy or test new programs or add an eye cam to your system there is nothing wrong with that. I just like having my whole set up in one convenient laptop that I can take anywhere and grab one thing. The $$$ isn't for everyone! and turns a lot of people off.
 
Everything I know about using multitracking with video I learned from Linda Louden - credit where credit is due - she's the best and is great about sharing her knowledge. I use a really old macbook and I have a samson go mic (cheap usb mic) which is the same one Linda uses. Here is exactly how she showed me how this all works. (If you are using a PC, I am of no help)

Per Linda:

Multitrack


#1. record your song in iMovie. Doing this first helps music tracks line up correctly to your movie and mouth movement after using GB and importing back to iMovie. If you are going to add a title or transitions, now is the time to do that too because that adds seconds to the length. It is possible to do it later once your familiar with how best to line up music but its a good habit to get into cuz it saves steps.


#2. Share the movie to desktop.


#3. Open GB and Name the new project. Drag the movie into GB.


#4. After Movie has fully loaded into GB you have vocal settings to work with. On my version in the lower right you have the three buttons for media, info and loops. click on the "i" info button. I almost always use vocals- Live Performance and then click on the edit tab. Use the Compressor to can change the "gain" higher or lower if you need to. Fix these things while the music is playing to see what suits you. I always change to a lower the reverb. Usually somewhere in the 20's depending on what suits the song.


#5. Adding new tracks. Highlight the track to record your new instrument. You have to use earbuds or a head phones so it only picks up the instrument used. If you try without them it will pick up the music track too and you don't want that. Do this step for every instrument used. Sometimes I use a Bari, cajon, tambourine or a shaker and they all have a separate track of their own. You can cut and splice the track by moving the bar to a the specific spot and use "command t" to split , move the bar to a new spot, command t, highlight what you don't want and click delete. If you make an accidental delete immediately go up to edit and chose undo.


#6. Use #4 for each track.


#7. When everything is as you like, its time to close out. Click the red button to close. A message will come up to save. Chose Yes and chose Yes to save in ilife.


Now Back in iMovie!


On the left you will find Content Library. Chose GarageBand and it will load up your GB library. Find your project. Click on the plus sign and it will import under your movie and should be lined up exactly! Lower the sound on the movie track and adjust the imported track volume. Thats it! Now your ready to import back to the desktop and into youtube


Now if you want to show yourself playing a different instrument in parts of the movie here is what I do.


Click on import and turn on your camera.
Go into GB and with your earbuds on play along with the first original movie track to capture you in action. For Zipadeedoodah I filmed the slide whistle from the beginning to end of the song. In iMovie I drug just the part I wanted onto of the other movie. Made adjustments to lined it up and then imported that to GB and followed the GB directions tweaking out any bad notes, or rerecord it all together. Then in iMovie delete the old imported track if there is one and click the plus sign for the new track with the whistle.


If your not very familiar with iMovie then this might not be real clear. Let me know and I will break it down better for you. There are different settings for dropping in new film like "side by side, blue screen, pic in pic etc". Make yourself familiar with those if your not already and this all becomes easy stuff, but can become very time consuming.

Thanks!!!!
 
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