I’m no expert, but I’ll just throw out there that I’ve found OBS to be a very simple video solution. I’m assuming that it’s not as fancy as the other options, but to just record a vid of me playing something, it’s worked fine. If you want more than that, maybe it won’t be enough, but it might be worth looking into… Just a thought.
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I have used OBS, and it works just fine. I’m not crazy about the video quality, but just for basic video, it’s an acceptable solution.
I mainly use my GoPro Hero 9 on a tripod as the main camera, and my Android on another tripod (with a special mount) as a secondary camera. The Android does a surprisingly stellar job of video capture.
I’m a bit more fussy about video quality than most people, but that’s only because video production is a passion of mine.
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Eric, many thanks, it does help. I downloaded Transcribe! when seeing Josh mention it in his B2B course, but not used it yet. I was confused when I looked online at Transcribe+
So I’ll pay for a license for Transcribe! then, if that’s the one for separating tracks.
Regards,
Mike
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Pam, I hear you! I bought a Sony A7III mirrorless camera for my other passions, landscape photography, and astronomy (the Sony has a very sensitive chip for low light conditions), it wasn’t cheap, so may as well get some use from it! 4k video quality too.
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Thanks, would you say OBS is a good one to learn on? I am a total newbie to audio/visual and editing. I’ll go for Pam’s and other folks’ suggestions on the better video software too. just wondered what the best way up the learning curve is!
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I don’t think there is a best way up the learning curve for what we’re trying do.
Each of these software packages are designed for doing so much more than what we use them for in just making videos for sharing on the forum. They’re all complex, professional software packages.
Don’t try to learn the whole thing. That’s way too much. It’s a matter of choosing one and figuring out how to make it do what you need it to do right now, not figuring out everything it can do.
There is no best way of doing this that I’ve come across. It’s about figuring out what works for you.
(Unless you have a Mac. That has been documented pretty well.)
Also check out this thread for what is probably the simplest set up.
Mobile Recording in General - Gear - BassBuzz Forum
Even though the original intent was for mobile recording @Fahri gets into simplifying the setup and recording.
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I’m too far down the video and audio recording rabbit hole to simplify any of it LOL. However, I agree with @eric.kiser to start out simple and see where it goes from there.
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This…tends to go the same place every time…more gear!
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Yeah, there’s that…
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I guess that depends on what you want to learn. I don’t believe that OBS offers all of the bells and whistles that the other packages do - it’s more meant for something like a livestream. But, it offers the ability to record, so that allows me a simple way to record a cover without having to worry about things like syncing audio/video in post. That’s good enough for me right now - someday I’ll learn to add title cards etc, and may have to switch programs at that point…
Good luck!
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I’m also a gear freak as the next bassist but what I really love to achieve is to avoid post processing. For me the video should be “good enough to share” when I stop recording…
So that I can go back to playing!
When I get a recorded video to my smartphone there are tons of easy to use apps to cut it, filter it and publish it of course…
I only need the PC if audio is somehow out of sync…
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Thanks again to you all for the useful info, all being noted. Also that additional thread that Eric posted a link to. OK, so…more gear!
Meanwhile, I just had a HUGE realization. Not my first as a bass noob. Bear in mind I only started learning bass in August last year and started Josh’s course around October. Anyhow…
One of the songs I’ve been learning the bass line to, needs a pick, and I am still learning pick technique. On the song I’ve been learning, my pick makes a slightly ‘twangy’ sound, plus my fingers moving on the fret board make squeaks etc. Well, I managed to find the isolated bass track on YouTube (not bought the song yet, but will do). The original bassist’s pick also sounds, ‘twangy’ on the notes, and I hear his fingers squeaking as they move AND horror of horrors - a tiny bit of fret buzz!
That’s OK though for this song which has a rough/dirty edge to it anyway.
But it made me realize, as a beginner, I don’t HAVE to get every note sounding perfectly clean, as I thought at the start of this learning experience. A lot of that noise gets lost in the mix once you throw in guitar, drums and vocals. I mean I wasn’t aware of it on hearing the original full song in headphones.
This comes on the back of a previous realization/revelation, that I don’t have to play exactly the same notes as the original. Thanks to hearing Pam mention it - Pam, I know you come up with your own bass lines (I am not there yet), but also, if a note is too tricky for me - small hands/fingers and two previously broken fingers - I can find another way, sequence of notes that get me to the same note maybe in a different place, since there’s more than one version of a note on the board…how cool is the bass? Sometimes in a fast run of notes there’s a tricky note to get to, I just drop it, rather than giving up on the bass line, and may be able to do it later, when I get better.
Sorry if this all sounds so obvious. But I’m starting to realize that whilst I won’t become a virtuoso (and not trying to be one), I might just be able to do this after al!l (years of thinking that only ‘talented/gifted’ people, or those ‘born with music’ could learn to play an instrument, I eventually started bass age 57, and wish I had started at 27, or even at 17)
That was a long one, but thanks again for all this info which I shall use.
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Playing in a mix is a lot more forgiving than playing in isolation.
Also, if you listen very closely, every note has a bit of twang, pick or not. Pick just amplifies it. You can tailor your sound more twangy or less to nil, but it’s there. The first time I heard this I thought there was something wrong with my bass! This is good. It means your ears are getting more sensitive to what you are doing.
You are discovering all the little “secrets”.
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You mentioned something very important @MikePhil, and that is your bass line does not necessarily have to be an exact replica of the original. Provided you’ve found the correct key, tempo, chord changes, and rhythm; you can pretty much get away with a lot of stuff, as long as you stay within those parameters.
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You all talk as if syncing audio and video is some kind of post production nightmare. It takes me all of about 20 seconds to sync the audio track with 2 or 3 video tracks. It just requires a halfway decent video editing app.
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Pam, I actually admire the production on your videos and I don’t think we have ever had a thread really tackling this… Maybe you would start one and share what tricks you have up in your sleeve starting with this “20 seconds audio sync” magic…
I work on the PC all day and personally hate to be in front of one at my “fun time” so I would appreciate any improvement!
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Sorry @Fahri 
video production is part of my fun time when I’m not playing bass. I really enjoy making videos, but I realize not everyone does.
As far as the audio sync magic… Premier Pro (which I used to use) and Davinci Resolve (which I currently use) have features with which you can sync multiple tracks based on waveform, time stamp, or a couple other parameters. Each of the cameras I use record audio also, so when I add those tracks to my video project, the audio is included. All I have to do is select all the audio tracks from the cameras, along with the audio track that I actually want to use, and sync them by wave form. The app takes about 5-10 seconds to chew on it, and then aligns all the audio tracks perfectly (which also aligns the video portion along with it). Once everything is aligned, I remove the audio portion from the camera tracks, and voila, I have all the camera tracks and the audio aligned. Easy peasy with the right software.
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Yeah, now I can see what a PIA it would be to try to sync a video and audio track manually and without the aid of software.
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I have to do it for the sax bits as there is no good way I have found to do this otherwise, you can’t have the backing track playing in the background of course.
Other sax guys either make a backing track with a click track intro that is easier to eyeball or they record the video ala faking it with a backing track on and then record the sax part in the DAW. Cheaters!
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You can also just clap your hands at the start to get a nice transient and edit that out of the video. That’s the old school way.
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