Adding chord diagrams to YouTube video

I'm putting together uke tutorial videos for our school ukulele club, and I'm trying to figure out how to add chord diagrams to the videos so the students can see the chord fingering.

Does anybody have a recommendation on how to do his or where to find out how to do this?

PTOEguy said:

I'm putting together uke tutorial videos for our school ukulele club, and I'm trying to figure out how to add chord diagrams to the videos so the students can see the chord fingering.

Does anybody have a recommendation on how to do his or where to find out how to do this?

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First things, first.
What software are you using? Do you have a Mac or PC?

Yes, as Johnson asked, that kind of thing is done with video editing software. I have a Mac and use Final Cut Pro X, but it may be possible with iMovie. You would have to have the diagrams made, then import them to the video editing application, then insert them at the correct points on a second video track as an overlay.

As has been said, create your chord diagram in a drawing package and then insert it as an overlay in your video editing software. You will need to check the manual for your particular software as they are all slightly different. A lot of people here use Macs so you'll get plenty of help if you have a Mac.

My own one is Open Shot in Linux.

Tootler said:

As has been said, create your chord diagram in a drawing package and then insert it as an overlay in your video editing software. You will need to check the manual for your particular software as they are all slightly different. A lot of people here use Macs so you'll get plenty of help if you have a Mac.

My own one is Open Shot in Linux.

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I don't want to hi-jack the thread but which Linux OS are you using? I run a dual-boot win10-Ubuntu16.
How do you like using Open Shot? Say compared to iMovie or Win Movie Maker. (If you have used either)
Thanks,
Johnson

I have both Mac and Windows. Will use whatever works

johnson430 said:

I don't want to hi-jack the thread but which Linux OS are you using? I run a dual-boot win10-Ubuntu16.
How do you like using Open Shot? Say compared to iMovie or Win Movie Maker. (If you have used either)
Thanks,
Johnson

Click to expand...

I run Linux Mint. I started with Ubuntu 8 but I changed to Linux Mint after Ubuntu introduced their Unity desktop which I really didn't like. That's one thing about Linux; with there being a range distros you can find one that suits you and are not tied to what MS or Apple think you want.

I find Open Shot very easy to use. Superficially it's similar to Win Movie Maker but there's a lot more under the hood if you want to explore it. I think that having an easy to use basic interface with access to wider range of options should you want it is good. My main gripe is that the the tracks don't display either frames or a wave pattern for the audio which can make it difficult to synchronise tracks. I have worked out a method of aligning tracks by aligning the audio tracks in Audacity.

PTOEguy said:

I have both Mac and Windows. Will use whatever works

Click to expand...

You can dload glyphs (jpg, png, gif, or bmp) format images of ukulele chords from the internet (I'd prefer to search for images in either SVG or EPS format which are VECTORS and not BITMAPS and can be re-sized without losing detail) if you dont want to make your own,

If you want to make your own, you will need to understand how to use programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Visio, ConcepDraw, AutoCad, InkScape or Dia to CREATE the images from scratch, then you can EXPORT them to a format that can be used by your video software. FYI - you do NOT need to learn ALL of these, just PICK ONE and then master it, and keep using it. All of them can EXPORT your creations to commonly used formats.

Once you have images of the chord diagrams that you want to use, then you can re-size them, and then you have to OVERLAY them on top of the video (like on the side or in the corner), or do an insert-cut where the still image runs for 15 seconds or so while your voice-over continues in the background.

This is VERY easy to do with Movie Maker on Windows, iMovie on Mac, OpenShot or Kdenlive on Linux, but you have to understand the basic procedure.

If you want to spend money for Adobe Premiere or Apple's Final Cut that's your option, but be prepared to spend some money and considerable time to learn the basics for either one.

There are TONS of tutorial videos for ALL of the above software on YouTube.

Just search for it (on YOUTUBE and NOT on BING, Google or DuckDuckGo), i.e.,
or something to that effect, and be prepared to invest the time to watch like half a dozen videos until something clicks in your mind and you have that 'a-ha moment'.

To step thru the instructions in text, not knowing your general computer skill level, nor your familiarity with video editing software concepts as well, could possibly take a few 1,000-word posts to the forum, and is not something to be taken lightly.

If you really want to learn how to do it, go to YouTube and invest the time.

This is what I do for anything that does not have a quick-fix. Video editing and/or video production is NEVER a 'quick fix' so you might need to adjust your expectations.

For example, In broadcast-tv video production, for every SECOND of video that is on the air, there is at least 2-4 HOURs of production work, involving planning, storyboarding, camera work, travel, media organizing, editing, post-processing, and then distribution.

2-4 HOURs per SECOND being the MINIMUM, and is often MUCH MORE.

Remember your favorite 1 minute Superbowl ad?

That was likely a minimum of 120 hours work, for a WHOLE CREW of people...

On the OTHER hand...

Ok, so how does Aldrine produce those ukulele tutorial videos for UU+????

I'd guess a minimum crew of 3-4 people (including Aldrine), and one 5-min video likely takes at least 1 week or 40-man-hours, from 'idea' to 'upload to UU+'....maybe less now if they already have all the chord diagrams, and screen masking templates done, and the video editing person has a really fast computer to render it all together quickly instead of in half a day.

YMMV but due diligence is your best asset.

Editing video is always hard work. No way around that. But maybe take a lo-fi approach to it. Can your video software support creating a split-screen? If so, draw the chord diagrams large on a sheet of printer paper. Film a close-up of someone holding up each chart. One one side, you can show the song being played. On the other, you cut to the appropriate diagram. It would be a lot of editing, but at least you wouldn't have to tackle an entirely new software program. Also, it'd add a certain charm to the video.

Here's a tutorial on how to do split-screen. http://www.reelseo.com/split-screen/

jddennis said:

Editing video is always hard work. No way around that. But maybe take a lo-fi approach to it. Can your video software support creating a split-screen? If so, draw the chord diagrams large on a sheet of printer paper. Film a close-up of someone holding up each chart. One one side, you can show the song being played. On the other, you cut to the appropriate diagram. It would be a lot of editing, but at least you wouldn't have to tackle an entirely new software program. Also, it'd add a certain charm to the video.

Here's a tutorial on how to do split-screen. http://www.reelseo.com/split-screen/

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I actually REALLY like the idea of hand drawn chord diagrams that you take a photo of - MUCH easier than anything in my previous post...

...mind if I borrow that idea for a future video one day?

Booli said:

I actually REALLY like the idea of hand drawn chord diagrams that you take a photo of - MUCH easier than anything in my previous post...

...mind if I borrow that idea for a future video one day?

Click to expand...

Absolutely! I thought it was a bit obvious, but I've learned that the most obvious thing to you may not even occur to someone else. I look forward to seeing how it works for you!

If you have Pages on your Mac, you can use that to draw diagrams, but there is definitely a learning curve. I do all my graphics and desktop publishing in Canvas Draw 2 that puts Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDraw, InDesign, drafting, web design into one app. It used to be $600, it's now $99, but again, there's a learning curve. One nice thing about it is a library function, I have all my vector cord diagrams saved there and use them all the time.

I have used this...http://www.ukefarm.com/chordette/ many a time. It's a font that you add to your existing fonts and then you just edit as you would any words you put in your video. Easy peasy Here's one of mine as an example. Some of the codes for the chord diagrams of unusual chords don't work so then I just add in the finger placement numbers.

I like the taking a photo idea but I would probably scan the images in then "trim" them using photo editing software.

To create chord diagrams, I have a fretboard template to which I add the blobs needed to make the chord I want. All the chord diagrams I have created, I have saved so I can use them over and again. If I was going to overlay them in a video, I would probably create a new template with a transparent background.

I use the Gimp in Linux for making my chord diagrams. It's an open source package and is free and available for Windows and Mac as well. If you want a vector package, there's Inkscape which is also Open Source and is also free and available for Linux, Windows and Mac. I have Inkscape installed on my computer but have not really tried it properly.

As others have mentioned, making a video is time consuming and if you want professional results, very time consuming. For videos for the seasons of the ukulele and other forums I have pretty much standardised my procedure and have templates for making titles etc and can complete a song from recording to uploading to You Tube in about 2 - 3 hours as long as it's simple (no multi tracking) and I don't need too many takes. If I were to do a tutorial I would reckon to multiply that by a very large factor as there's a lot of extra work involved.

Off topic but...

Can you use a web cam to make a mid-quality video? I'd like to capture some of my ukes and playing but am too baroque to buy a camera. I thought a web cam with mic might work out. I can afford one of them. I downloaded some video and audio software and it looks pretty easy to use, though it will take some fooling about to learn how to use it easily.

I see that several people recommend OpenShot.

I tried the windows version not long ago. Very intuitive interface, but it was incredibly unstable on windows. If you don't use Linux, probably better leave it.

JackLuis said:

Off topic but...

Can you use a web cam to make a mid-quality video? I'd like to capture some of my ukes and playing but am too baroque to buy a camera. I thought a web cam with mic might work out. I can afford one of them. I downloaded some video and audio software and it looks pretty easy to use, though it will take some fooling about to learn how to use it easily.

Click to expand...

I guess web-cams come in different qualities, some are probably decent these days.
I assume that you just want videos for youtube, maximum 720p resolution?
If you dont want to buy a camera, why not try with a smartphone?

Either way I think the audio will be weaker than the video for uke playing. Getting a decent microfone will probably be more important.

You can get a video by using a webcam, need to look for 24fps or better, that should give a decent VGA resolution, which is adequete for watching online via a computer.
Sound quality &/or volume is more the problem with that method, strumming is usually OK, but finger picking is difficult to hear unless you use an amplifier.
I mainly use an ordinary digital camera & transfer the recording to computer for uploading to Youtube.

JackLuis said:

Off topic but...

Can you use a web cam to make a mid-quality video? I'd like to capture some of my ukes and playing but am too baroque to buy a camera. I thought a web cam with mic might work out. I can afford one of them. I downloaded some video and audio software and it looks pretty easy to use, though it will take some fooling about to learn how to use it easily.

Click to expand...

uke1950 said:

You can get a video by using a webcam, need to look for 24fps or better, that should give a decent VGA resolution, which is adequete for watching online via a computer.
Sound quality &/or volume is more the problem with that method, strumming is usually OK, but finger picking is difficult to hear unless you use an amplifier.
I mainly use an ordinary digital camera & transfer the recording to computer for uploading to Youtube.

Click to expand...

Lots of folks that make videos for the Seasons weekly challenges use either the webcam built-in to their laptop, be it a Windows laptop or a Macbook, OR they use their smartphone or tablet, like an iPhone, iPad or Android device. Some folks might use a 'still' camera that does videos, and other folks might use a dedicated video camera and as Keith has said, then transfer the files to the computer for editing and uploading.

For those that want better audio quality there are MANY MANY and MUCH better microphones that can connect both via USB and to your iOS device. I use the Apogee MiC which is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better quality than the tiny electret element that you will find on most external USB webcams such as those made by Logitech. These external mics, also like the Blue Yeti or iRig as well as the Apogee have a diaphragm that is at least 10-20 times the size of the one in your computer's webcam, or your smartphone or tablet, and as such can 'hear' greater dynamic range as well as greater frequency range, WHILE ALSO being able to handle transients better - transients being the instantaneous loud noises like hard strumming or the attach of a drum strike - and doing so without distortion and without the need for effects in post-production such as compression or normalization...

Some folks even go so far as to do multi-track audio and have that synchronized with multiple video clips from different angles, etc. All of this is possible with current free or inexpensive software all of which have been mentioned in mine and in other's posts to this thread several times now.

For examples of awesomeness, you might want to check out the SEASONS OF THE UKULELE, which are Numbered, and the FIRST POST of each thread has a playlist for YouTube where you can see the videos.

see here:
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/forumdisplay.php?47-Seasons-of-the-Ukulele

Keep in mind that The Seasons challenges have been running for MANY man years now, and none of us started out with a whiz-bang setup. All of it is best digested in baby steps, work with what you have already or get something easy to handle and you will learn as you go, instead of getting overwhelmed and thinking this is a deep-dive of 1,000 hours of messing with it before you can make a video.

MANY, if not MOST Seasons videos are done with an iPhone and the built-in Camera app, placed on a table like 2-3 ft away and hit record and go, and then just upload to YouTube. It can be as simple or as complicated as YOU want to make it to be.

The main thing also, is that there are SO MANY CHOICES now in 2016, we truly have an embarrassment of riches here - but please do not let that stop you from taking advantage of the low-hanging fruit that is truly everywhere at the moment...:music:

Booli said:

Lots of folks that make videos for the Seasons weekly challenges use either the webcam built-in to their laptop, be it a Windows laptop or a Macbook, -

The main thing also, is that there are SO MANY CHOICES now in 2016, we truly have an embarrassment of riches here - but please do not let that stop you from taking advantage of the low-hanging fruit that is truly everywhere at the moment...:music:

Click to expand...

I wanted to try recording some of my stuff and comparing some of my Ukes as a new inducement to practice more. So from the above advice I ordered a condenser mic and a web cam that should do 720p.

I ordered one of the $5 clip on pickups and found that it will work plugged into my mic in jack on my computer. The volume is a little low but it works with my free recording software, so I'm half way to Seasoning! Now I just need a song I can play that fits the theme of the week.

I think the free video software I dl'd will work for editing and mixing, even chord forms can be overlayed! Cool.

TO practice I want to try mixing my three C6 tuned ukes in one trio arrangement to hear what they sound like together, and my three G tuned ukes as interspersed counter tones. It should be fun learning the software and showing off.:biglaugh: