Recording audio and video

mindwalker · #1 10-07-2009, 06:22 AM

Hey guys,

Sorry if this has been asked a million times but I didn't find a thread more focused on producing material to go up to youtube...

- This applies to Windows OS -

I have recorded some sounds + video to post on youtube in the past using old school software such as VirtualDub and Audacity and I find the whole process a pain in the behing. I don't find audacity very intuitive to use especially when synching the audio with a backing track, zooming and general user friendliness.

So I was looking for a better way to do this.

I have tried Cubase which seems to be industry standard but I find it extremely complex.. after some 10 uses I still couldn't grasp the basics. and I didn't take the time yet to learn the details however if I can find something that does the same with less effort then the better!

I'm running on a laptop without a mouse.. just the touchpad.

So far I've read about Reason, Reaper, Nuendo, ProTools.. and the list goes on. Which one of these in your opinion is the easiest to use without sacrificing flexibility ? I want to be able to play the guitar with my POD over a backing track and record the result, possibly ajudsting sections or re-recording sections later. If I can use VST plugins or EZ drummer to add my own drum tracks or synths and whatever then even better

Eventually I want to synch the audio to video... again what's a good product to do this ? Heard about Sony Vegas but I'm sure there's more.. any hints ?

Thanks!!

Sickbean · #2 10-07-2009, 06:43 AM

Pro Tools might be the industry standard and immensely complex if you need it to be, but to be quite honest it only took me about one frustrated afternoon to figure out how to use it for the purposes you are describing (I use Guitar Rig 3 as a Plug in rather than a POD, but other than that I just do the same things you do).

Pro Tools 8 comes with Default Sessions set up for guitar, so you don't have to worry about routing tracks through buses etc if you don't want to.

And because it has all that power, the features are there if you need them. The Polyphonic elastic audio plug-in is the best sounding tool for changing song tempos by a mile. You can literally go down from 120 to 70 without any real loss of quality or popping artifacts etc.

As far as Syncing audio and video goes, windows movie maker is pretty adequate for that job.

jb4674 · #3 10-07-2009, 10:54 AM

Are you limited to a certain budget? That will be the first constrain you'll have to face. The learning curve with any type of DAW-like application will be there no matter what.

Jimmy

mindwalker · #4 10-07-2009, 11:30 AM

Well without thinking much into the subject, I'd say 500 dollars would top my budget, however I can go higher depending on what you get with it.. I need to study more on the different software available. I was just reading that Pro Tools needs some special hardware to work with and there's a huge compatibility list for it (firewire interfaces and such.. I have no clue if my laptop has a firewire interface)

Sickbean · #5 10-07-2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindwalker

Well without thinking much into the subject, I'd say 500 dollars would top my budget, however I can go higher depending on what you get with it.. I need to study more on the different software available. I was just reading that Pro Tools needs some special hardware to work with and there's a huge compatibility list for it (firewire interfaces and such.. I have no clue if my laptop has a firewire interface)

You don't need firewire - that's a nearly defunct apple standard, think of it as the Betamax to USBs VHS - better but ultimately doomed.

Check out Pro Tools M-Powered with an M-Box interface. That's pretty much everything you need.

Rotti · #6 10-07-2009, 12:58 PM

Sony's Vegas. Audio and video production. Very easy to use and just works. You can easily output your video in any format and quality level.

Yousef · #7 10-07-2009, 07:17 PM

For $60 you can get Reaper. Go to their website and download the demo. It's a 30 day no limitations demo (yes you can save/import/export). I've used it and I'm still learning it but I'm a total convert from audition to Reaper now. Simplicity, price, and overall low resources on the computer when using it made me change.

For audio and video... hm.. well.. I've only ever done video editing on macs and they're a sinche to work out. All you really need to be able to do to sync audio and video is record both at the same time, run the video track, then insert the audio track and with the best of your ability line them up. What helps a lot with this is play a metronome click track 4 or 8 times after you press record button, this way you can sync the audio and video up pretty easy.

Rotti · #8 10-08-2009, 09:32 AM

With Vegas you can watch the video in real time as you play along with it recording as you go. The video is just another track in the mix.
That would be the easiest way to do it IMO.

jb4674 · #9 10-09-2009, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yousef

For $60 you can get Reaper. Go to their website and download the demo. It's a 30 day no limitations demo (yes you can save/import/export). I've used it and I'm still learning it but I'm a total convert from audition to Reaper now. Simplicity, price, and overall low resources on the computer when using it made me change.

For audio and video... hm.. well.. I've only ever done video editing on macs and they're a sinche to work out. All you really need to be able to do to sync audio and video is record both at the same time, run the video track, then insert the audio track and with the best of your ability line them up. What helps a lot with this is play a metronome click track 4 or 8 times after you press record button, this way you can sync the audio and video up pretty easy.

I don't think Reaper supports video production.

Jimmy