Recommend Me a Recording Device

[LooseCannon]

Hey guys, I hope this is the right forum for this topic.

I'm in need of something to capture video and audio to upload guitar session vids to youtube.

Good audio quality is priority for me, so here are my options:

1. Buy a video\audio recorder like the zoom Q2 HD, which has a quality condenser mic (relatively to most video recorders) but not so great video quality.

2. Use my smartphone to record video and an external audio recorder to capture audio. Again, not so great video quality, but i'd be able to purchase a better audio recorder for the money.

3. Use my smart phone to record video and buy a condenser mic for audio: even better audio quality for the price, but I don't have phantom power so i'd have to buy a phantom power supply, and my sound card is a line 6 UX1 so i'd have to rely on it as a mic pre.


I'm not looking for amazing studio quality results but I would like to get something good for my money, simplicity is also important for me so I was thinking of going with the Zoom Q2 HD although its video quality is about the same as a smart phone so it's like paying extra for something i already have. (Is there a similar, but better device than the Zoom for around the same price?)

Any advice\suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

What computer do you have? There ought to be suitable software to do what you need.

 

[LooseCannon]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

What do you mean? A software to do what?

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

You're not going to find something that is going to do justice to your tone AND give you a good picture in one package (in fact, I don't know that there's a single camera out there that will achieve what you want without a quality external mic and lots of post processing).

You'd be better off being a cheap 720/1080p digital video camera (cheap) and a cheap audio interface + decent mic, depending on your guitar source. If you're playing through an amp/cab/combo setup, a simple SM57 will do. You could probably set this all up for $225 or less. If you can go direct out in some way (POD, other amplification options) you can skip the mic altogether and save money. You can save a lot of money if you're savvy with your post processing/EQing and use a crappier mic, but a $200-$250 investment to have good quality for what you want is relatively cheap.

You can save money if your laptop or computer has a nice built in camera (most macs, higher end laptops).

-edit-

Read your first post more clearly, but you still didn't specify what your source is (amp, pod farm, etc). Based on that it'll be easier to recommend what you do, but most assuredly, you're not going to want to use the direct sound of any consumer quality camera, ever.

 

[LooseCannon]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

Thanks Shadow.

I'm going to be recording amp and acoustic guitar, I have an SM57 and have't got very good recordings out of it, I prefer a condenser used as a room mic as I like that open room sound.

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

I'm surprised you're having trouble with the SM57, it's a standard for a reason. For your amp, don't place it directly on the speaker tweeter (IMO), and experiment with adding some of the 'room' back with reverb plugins. If your room isn't acoustically treated, chances are you may also be picking up all kinds of reflections. There are tons of tips out there depending on your room setup, but generally putting your SM57 right on the grill (left or right of the tweeter + off axis) will get rid of anything an untreated room will bring. If you've already tried that, another tip will be to use the SM57 on the cab, and use another condensor about 3 feet away as a 'room mic'. Blend the tracks (but compress the room mic for sure), and you'll get a more natural sound than simply adding reverb in post processing (works great if you don't have a fancy daw+plugins to work with).

Once you have your audio, it's very easy to get an audio file and video file sync'd up. If you're doing covers, it's just as easy to have the original audio, your audio mixed and on top, and the muted video put together for a youtube clip.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

I would get a decent camara and something like a ZOOM recorder.

a consumer program such as iMovie would let you cut out the audio track from the video file and use the WAV from the recorder as your audio track.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

It's a pain to merge them later but I highly recommend using a separate recorder. I use a H4n with a DSLR camera. You only have to go through the pain of setting up software to sync once.

The audio recorders just have too many extra tricks, just starting from phantom power. And unless you can watch the gain all the time you probably want 24 bit recording.

The h4n and similar devices also allow more than 2 tracks, e.g. you can record the internal microphones and connect one or two external mics at the same time.

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

If you own a mac of any recent make, it is dead easy to take your guitar, mix it into what you were playing over in Garage Band, and then match it to the video clip in iMovie and get it exported in a timely manner directly to Youtube. I can't tell you how easy this is (and the iSight camera on anything decently new is well more than good enough for recording video, if you can play in front of it). If everyone could afford an iMac though, the world would be a different place.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

If you own a mac of any recent make, it is dead easy to take your guitar, mix it into what you were playing over in Garage Band, and then match it to the video clip in iMovie and get it exported in a timely manner directly to Youtube. I can't tell you how easy this is (and the iSight camera on anything decently new is well more than good enough for recording video, if you can play in front of it). If everyone could afford an iMac though, the world would be a different place.

While this is true (I am a Macbook Pro user) I don't think it's the kind of definition the OP wants.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

I don't know if you have a budget for equipment, but you might consider looking for an older HD digital video camera - the kind that record onto Mini-DV videocassettes. The built-in mics in some of these cameras are pretty good, but you can also attach an external mic for better sound. The audio quality is insanely good on those older (pre-hard drive) units - I even know people who used them as DAT recorders just for the audio quality alone.

As others mentioned, it is very easy to synchronize an audio track to a video that you recorded separately. So you could also shoot video from your computer or cell phone and sync it up with a high-quality room recording through decent mic(s). Mic placement is critical to getting a good recording.

 

[LooseCannon]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

Thanks guys.

My budget is around $200. Will buying a separate video cam and an audio recorder in that price give me better results than something like the Zoom Q2HD?

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

Absolutely. Depending on what you're going for, you could get great results out of your simple pod farm + camera, but you can EASILY find an HD handheld camcorder and a separate cheap USB interface to record your mic with.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

Absolutely. Depending on what you're going for, you could get great results out of your simple pod farm + camera, but you can EASILY find an HD handheld camcorder and a separate cheap USB interface to record your mic with.

Unfortunately for low volumes the mic preamp really matters. A regular USB interface will be kinda terrible. And miss phantom power.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

I highly recommend you the Zoom Q3HD, that's what I use to record my videos. Just be sure to put the mic in Low position, to avoid clipping. That's all.

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

Unfortunately for low volumes the mic preamp really matters. A regular USB interface will be kinda terrible. And miss phantom power.

If he's insisting on using a mic and amp over his UX1, I'm going to assume this isn't low volume, that he wants a hot, loud tube sound. If you're working with $200 total, I mean, you don't have many options anyway, but you can certainly find phantom power at a low price. Yeah, Behringer isn't top of the line, but for $50, he has plenty left over for a quality video camera.

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-302...cal-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1366296016&sr=1-1

 

[LooseCannon]

Re: Recommend Me a Recording Device

I'm actually not looking for a loud tube sound, i'm playing clean at moderate volumes, but going direct with the UX1 isn't an option, only micing.

I could buy the phantom power but I don't have a condenser so I don't see how I could come up with decent quality cam and mic with the left over cash.