Gearing Up for Videos
• Chris Liscio
• Chris Liscio
These past few weeks were hectic, and revolved around rebooting my video production schedule for the Capo Podcast. I quite enjoy the process of shooting and editing these videos, and it's been far too long since I filmed the first batch of episodes.
In the past, I made the mistake of releasing a few videos in a short time frame—shooting and editing each one at a time. It was difficult to set up and tear down the shoots, and the time I spent editing was filled with frustration—I used to use iMovie '09 for that!
Now I'm using a different approach. I'll create a set that I can work with, and aim to shoot multiple videos at once. If I can nail down a process that works, then the footage doesn't have to be edited right away to make sure that the video will turn out. On Wednesday, I shot two videos. The second shoot Episode 5 - Chord Markers shipped out today, and the first shoot will be held for editing and release in the near future.
In the past, I relied on a simple setup that was complicated to work with. I used my MOTU Traveler as a mixer that I fed directly into the camcorder. It took quite some time to set my levels, and I often had to take some test footage to the computer before the shoot, so that I could verify that everything was OK to edit later.
My new setup is quite a large step forward. I now record directly to Logic Pro via a Mackie Onyx 1640i recording mixer. This new setup is very forgiving, because I can set the per-channel levels on the board, and all 16 channels can be streamed over firewire pre-fader, so they can be mixed down later.
I briefly flirted with the idea of sending the mix directly into the camera, but realized it wasn't such a good idea. Besides, the extra headaches of dual-system audio are worth enduring for the added flexibility later.
The video is now captured by my Nikon D7000, which results in outstanding quality, and great control over the final image. Because I have existing glass from my older Nikon D70s, it was a no-brainer to go this route. I gained a much wider field of view with the lenses I had, and thus I can now shoot in much tighter spaces indoors.
I started using Final Cut Express last year instead of iMovie, and it works quite well for me now that I've grown familiar with its quirks. That said, I am extremely excited about Final Cut Pro X, and I can't wait to ditch this antiquated software that uses so few of my Mac Pro's resources…
I start out by exporting my Logic Pro project as a Final Cut Pro/XML file, and importing that into Final Cut Express as a new sequence. Then, I grab transcoded ProRes shots from my D7000, and transcoded ProRes shots from Screenflow, and line them up with the multitrack audio.
I then ditch the on-camera audio, slice the audio to match the video clips, and link the video and audio clips together. That trimmed down sequence is duplicated, and then I begin my finer edits.
This process sounds complicated, but it really isn't once you get used to Final Cut's keystrokes and quirks.
Obviously, this video setup is being used for the Capo Podcast, but I hope to start building some helpful videos for TapeDeck and FuzzMeasure in the near future as well.
The next video that I hope to release for the Capo Podcast is about using the spectrogram to figure out a solo on the electric guitar. I struggled for a long time trying to get an electric guitar setup that didn't bleed so badly into my lavalier mic, and still sounded good. Nowadays I'm able to use an Eleven Rack to get half-decent guitar sounds straight into the board with no hassles.
I'm excited to dive back into this world again, and grow my collection of video resources that helps my users. If you have any suggestions or recommendations for future videos, I'd love to hear them!