I’ve been wishing to make videos in the studio for a while, but can never seem to get a good angle or source to record things. I’m pretty clueless about the best ways to go about this. What do you guys use? I’ve got lots of little tips and tricks I’d like to document to help the community at large. I’ve currently got an iPhone, iPad (often in use for making music), and a MBP. Ideally I’d need something hands free, and am willing to spend a little money, but not too much (don’t want to cut too deeply into the gear budget).
I love this cable http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology-GuitarConnect-Cable-iPhone/dp/B003VWZJEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415177598&sr=8-1&keywords=griffin+guitar
…for getting a line-level signal into the camera app (you can’t monitor it in realtime off the phone, but you can the device making the sound)
Phone tripods are cheap http://www.amazon.com/Octopus-Portable-adjustable-Cellphone-Bag-Blue/dp/B007NFJN0I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415177623&sr=8-1&keywords=iphone+tripod
…depending on what yer filiming.
Even a cheap fisheye http://www.amazon.com/KingMas-Universal-Fisheye-Camera-Samsung/dp/B00FTSG35E/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1415177719&sr=8-4&keywords=iphone+fisheye
That’s ~$20 right there. I don’t know much about editing on idevice but imovie is free and usable.
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I use a tripod and shoot almost straight down from the opposite side (the side with the MIDI jacks). Then I flip the footage around 180 degrees in video editing software. This way you are a lot less likely to bump into something. The viewpoint is very similar to the viewpoint you have when you are looking down on the machine. The parallax is a little different but that’s a minor detail.
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great topic for a thread! hope this will be an elaborate and long one! …
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I put my S3mini between the c f and d 3 knobs of the OT, then place the ot on something higher, maybe the MM with the protective lid on it (this is not a joke)
then I record with the built in software on my smart phone, AND at the same time try to hit the record button in Ableton without any delay / off sync(ness) …which is a bitch!
then I throw the audio from ableton into a free mp3 maker softare (flicflac) and copy the video from the phone to my drive and convert it with free avs video editor (syncing these 2 is a bitch)
wish there was something easier!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__aSmE3Too this is what comes out… hey why not … all free and non professional setup, i am quite happy
I’d recommend using your iPhone as the video camera.
Syncing up audio after recording is a huge hassle, so I’d recommend you record the audio from your mixer directly into your iPhone using a class-compliant USB audio interface and Apple’s Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (1). I’ve used Behringer’s super-cheap U-CONTROL UCA202 (2) for this with great results.
Get a Glif (3) to mount your iPhone onto a tripod. You can just get a cheap tripod somewhere locally since the iPhone weights almost nothing and you’re not planning to take your tripod along with you on any trips. Instead of a tripod, you might want to consider a Gorillapod (4) if you want shelves or a bookcase above or close to your gear you can mount the camera on.
You can upload directly to YouTube or Vimeo form your iPhone and you can even get iMovie for editing on it or use your desktop/laptop.
1: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD821ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter?find=usb+lightning+
2: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA202.aspx
3: http://www.studioneat.com/products/glif
4: http://joby.com/gorillapod/original
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I have the Zoom Q3HD, its about the only cam I could find that has a line in and a fair price. Just mount it to a mic stand with a boom.
I got it mainly to do youtube clips. I’m so sick of people doing gear demo’s on youtube using a crappy mic for audio. Whats the point ?
Also, its great for stereo field recordings.
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I don’t worry too much about video…as long as it is decent…audio on the other hand, I record into Zoom H5.
I just sync it up in a NLE afterwards. I did quite a bit of pro video editing back in the day though…that may not be the easiest method…it doesn’t have to be terribly hard either…record audio on your video device and you should be able to sync to your high quality audio and then just rip out the audio track on the video.
Most current phones have decent quality video so a proper audio connection into phone or tablet would probably be faster.
[quote=“” t""]
I’d recommend using your iPhone as the video camera.
Syncing up audio after recording is a huge hassle, so I’d recommend you record the audio from your mixer directly into your iPhone using a class-compliant USB audio interface and Apple’s Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (1). I’ve used Behringer’s super-cheap U-CONTROL UCA202 (2) for this with great results.
Get a Glif (3) to mount your iPhone onto a tripod. You can just get a cheap tripod somewhere locally since the iPhone weights almost nothing and you’re not planning to take your tripod along with you on any trips. Instead of a tripod, you might want to consider a Gorillapod (4) if you want shelves or a bookcase above or close to your gear you can mount the camera on.
You can upload directly to YouTube or Vimeo form your iPhone and you can even get iMovie for editing on it or use your desktop/laptop
1: Charging Essentials - iPad Accessories - Apple
2: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA202.aspx
3: Glif – Studio Neat
4: http://joby.com/gorillapod/original
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I think something like this might be my best and least expensive option. I’ve got an Alesis MultiMix8 mixer collecting dust that I’ve used before with my iPad, so I know it can work as a class-compliant iOS interface, and I could use the unused outputs from my Saffire Pro 40 out to the mixer and thus into the iPhone. I’m currently using an iPhone 4s, so I would need to purchase an additional 30 pin CCK…maybe a bit pointless to do now as I’ll likely be trading it in for an iPhone 6 next month tho. The Glif would work nicely since it is adjustable so I can fit it around a case (and I need to fill out my next Amazon order anyway for free shipping, so it’s a bit of a no brainer). I’d likely be setting up on a desk next to my gear so a standard tripod might be fine, but the Gorillapod might be worth picking up so I have more flexibility with angles.
On the software side, using the built in camera on the iPhone and something like Audioshare should work fine, right? Or is there a better app to use (like iMovie)? I realize sync will be an issue, so I’m envisioning doing any editing on the computer and just making a clap to help sync audio and video. Editing things together on the iPhone just sounds tedious to me. Open to all suggestions here.
Great suggestions in this thread; keep them coming guys.
TrabanT-I’ve been wondering what you’ve been up to with your Elektrons for a while. Subscribed. 
For recording can just use the video mode on the built in Camera app to record both the video and audio at the same time!
Once you plug a class-compliant USB audio interface into your iPhone (your MultiMix should be fine for this), the audio you record with your video will be taken from the inputs on the USB audio interface instead of the iPhone’s built-in mic.
Doing it like I suggested above means there’s no need at all to sync up the video and the audio later; you’ll just have a video recording with the audio perfectly in sync.
Editing on the computer will indeed be a bit less tedious than doing it on the iPhone, but for simple stuff like trimming start and end it’s fine.
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For recording can just use the video mode on the built in Camera app to record both the video and audio at the same time!
Once you plug a class-compliant USB audio interface into your iPhone (your MultiMix should be fine for this), the audio you record with your video will be taken from the inputs on the USB audio interface instead of the iPhone’s built-in mic.
Doing it like I suggested above means there’s no need at all to sync up the video and the audio later; you’ll just have a video recording with the audio perfectly in sync.
Editing on the computer will indeed be a bit less tedious than doing it on the iPhone, but for simple stuff like trimming start and end it’s fine.
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Awesome! I guess I thought that the Camera app would be unable to record an external stereo mix since you can’t (to my knowledge) designate the audio inputs. That cuts out a lot of headaches.
Any suggestions for OSX video editors then? Ideally I’d like to add some flourishes to what I record, or overlay textual instructions on the video to aid the demos.
You can’t choose anything, but it literally “just works”. When you plug in an USB audio device, the inputs and outputs of the USB audio device simply take over from the microphone and speaker/headphones respectively.
Some apps allow you to choose input and output devices, but the default behavior is exactly what you’d expect.
I use Final Cut Pro X which I recommend. I haven’t touched iMovie for a while, but I think you should be able to do what you want to do with it perfectly fine. iMovie should be free and already on your machine so why not give it a go?
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The cable I suggested in the first post records audio in sync with video for $12 directly into your camera app.
Plug your headphones into the sound maker, then plug the iphone cable into the line out of the instrument (it was designed for guitars so is 1/4").
You don’t need any other connectors / devices.
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I have a couple of long nails in my wall at a steep angle about head high.
My gear is pushed up against that wall.
I put my phone there and record video and room sound.
I also use my laptop cam from some other angle, and just record video.
Sometimes I even add a cheap USB cam to the laptop set up at a different angle.
I record the audio to Ableton Live.
When I’m done I bring the videos into Live and match the audio to the video, and output new audio to match video length.
then I bring audio and videos into After Effects and spice it up and render all of that.
I’ve used After Effects for a long while for work, so I’m just comfortable with that program. It offers a lot.
However sometimes I just do a live feed using VDMX from my laptop.
I think you’ll only get a mono signal with a cable like that since it was designed for use with a guitar and since it uses the microphone pre-amp in the iPhone.
You can get a simple audio interface such as the Behringer UCA202 for less than $30 / €20. This will give you much better audio quality than going through the iPhones microphone pre-amp, will give you a stereo signal instead of a mono signal, and you’ll still be able to plug a pair of headphones into it.
I use a Zoom Q3HD for video.
I choosed a PIXI stand made by manfrotto:
http://www.manfrotto.ch/product_list/1108654.1108656.78449.1108692.0/Pixi_Serie
why? becaus is light, really robust and i can tilt the mount to have a perfect angle
but honestly, it’s a little bit to small, i think i’ll might get me one of those:
http://www.manfrotto.ch/product_list/1108654.1108656.78449.1108691.0/Die_neue_Compact_Serie
i like them because they’re really compact, lightweight and also adjustable, this should give me more, or better angles when filming.
when i record audio separated from video, then i’ll use my RME UCX and put the files back together later within ableton or iMovie
but i found out, that the next thing to buy is better lights, cause my studio is way too dark…for producing that’s a good thing, but for recording videos it’s not really helpful
One thing that can work well is get a 500W or 1000W floodlight of the type they use at building sites and bounce that off your ceiling and/or wall to get some nice global light.
I use FCP as well…a word of warning if you are trying to use iMovie, do not plan on syncing separate audio and video tracks…they removed the ability to make fine adjustments in the latest version.
[quote=““t””]
One thing that can work well is get a 500W or 1000W floodlight of the type they use at building sites and bounce that off your ceiling and/or wall to get some nice global light.[/quote]
yeah! good idea, i think i have one of those floodlight around.
gonna try this out!
[quote=““t””]
One thing that can work well is get a 500W or 1000W floodlight of the type they use at building sites and bounce that off your ceiling and/or wall to get some nice global light.[/quote]
Tried nudging the clip with the left/right arrow keys? That has a 1 frame resolution (if I remember correctly).
Edit: Ha ha, I replied to the wrong post. It should’ve been in response to the iMovie sync post 
I use Sony NEX-6 with Cannon FD 50/1.4 for video recording. This lens is damn fast when wide open, which means there is no need in good light in studio at all. Audio goes directly into DAW. Nex doesn’t have line in unfortunately. To sync audio and video I just use tempo led, which is visible somewhere in the frame, or sound that bleeds through headphones and get recorded by cam itself.