Getting a "Starter" Video Demo Together

[Howie22]

So, my new band is doing okay and booking a few gigs. However, we have nothing available for a promo as far as a real demo. We need to get something together, but really aren't in a position now to be dropping a bunch of cash into a video.

 

I guess our easiest/cheapest option is just to record some video footage with a couple of cameras at our next gig and pray that the sound quality comes out okay over the camera. Once that's done, I can splice pieces together and overlay some crowd photos, etc into one video. That's what I did for my solo promo a few years ago - it's worked okay (though I need to update that, too).

 

I'm thinking it may be better to find a place to "stage" a video shoot at a rehearsal studio or something, run everything through the board, and run the board feed into the camera somehow? Or do a separate recording and splice that with the video later. Board recording would obviously sound better than a raw feed from the camera with crowd noise, etc.

 

What have some of you guys done for a "lower budget" demo option?

[STM86]

The standard response here, if FOH is reliable, is to get something like a Zoom recorder, which will do a remarkable job on in-room audio. A couple stick clicks to sync your audio and video in post and you're good to go. Just be sure your sample rates match up. Video usually defaults to 48kHz and audio only usually defaults to 44.1kHz.

[Vito Corleone]

So, my new band is doing okay and booking a few gigs. However, we have nothing available for a promo as far as a real demo. We need to get something together, but really aren't in a position now to be dropping a bunch of cash into a video.

 

I guess our easiest/cheapest option is just to record some video footage with a couple of cameras at our next gig and pray that the sound quality comes out okay over the camera. Once that's done, I can splice pieces together and overlay some crowd photos, etc into one video. That's what I did for my solo promo a few years ago - it's worked okay (though I need to update that, too).

 

I'm thinking it may be better to find a place to "stage" a video shoot at a rehearsal studio or something, run everything through the board, and run the board feed into the camera somehow? Or do a separate recording and splice that with the video later. Board recording would obviously sound better than a raw feed from the camera with crowd noise, etc.

 

What have some of you guys done for a "lower budget" demo option?

 

As far as audio goes, I've gotten pretty decent results with taking a recording out of the FOH mixer and blending it with the audio from the webcam. It cleans up the crappy webcam audio while still sounding live and with a mix that is pretty close to what you had out front. With even a cheap video editing program (I think even Windows Movie Maker will do it) you can overlay a 2nd audio track.

 

 

 

 

 

[Howie22]

The standard response here, if FOH is reliable, is to get something like a Zoom recorder, which will do a remarkable job on in-room audio. A couple stick clicks to sync your audio and video in post and you're good to go. Just be sure your sample rates match up. Video usually defaults to 48kHz and audio only usually defaults to 44.1kHz.

 

So, how good/expensive of a Zoom recorder do I need to buy in order to get a good recording in a live setting?

 

I guess it would be good to have one that accepts XLR in the event I also want to get a recording from the board? Are there units that could do both at the same time?

 

[Vito Corleone]

What sort of board are you using? If you're using a digital board, another option is to record your gig multi-track and mix the bits you want to use for the video later.

[Howie22]

A&H Mix Wiz