Advice needed to make guitar video’s!

Mark Pritchard

Mark Pritchard

Experienced
So I have an AX8 and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 interface. My laptop died the other day and am thinking of getting an iMac. I need advice in what DAW to get to make guitar videos and how to use my iPhone to film then to sync the audio. I don’t think I need anything too complicated to do this but I’m a newbie to the recording side.
I don’t really want to spend too much more money until I get into it more.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
 
I like to use Reaper for guitar videos (and all other videos). The cool thing about reaper is that you can do all your sound editing and video editing in the same program. Reaper does not have all the bells and whistles of a true video program such as Adobe Premiere, but it can easily do what is needed to make a convincing guitar video.

When syncing audio and video, you just need to get it roughly right, and then zoom into the waveforms to align them perfectly. It takes about 10 seconds to get it perfect on a sample level.

If you want to record the video with your iPhone, I would recommend getting a powerful LED white light source. iPhone recordings shot in the dark looks horrible, but with proper lighting, it can look quite good. I usually use one of these, but less can be alright.
 
Everything @Smittefar suggested will sort you out.

Alternatively iMovie for video editing and Garageband to track audio on a Mac will get the job done (I only recently upgraded to Final Cut after making a few hundred videos using iMovie). You're better off investing in good lighting ahead of editing software or any DAW plugins because the AX8 already sounds so good recorded DI.
 
Thank you both @Smittefar and @2112 (Leon) for your responses.
I'm not 100% set on getting an iMac yet, I'm debating whether to get an iMac or just a PC, the reason I am thinking on getting an iMac is a lot of people seem to be using one and as I have an iPhone I thought it might be easier. Any thoughts on getting either an iMac or PC?
I will get a decent camera in the near future but just for now I will use my iPhone.
I probably would give iMovie and Garageband a go if I got an iMac.
I will definitely look into getting some decent lighting, thanks for your advice guys.
 
It seems like I forgot the link to the light source. It is a "Godox SL-60W 5600K 60W High Power LED" https://www.ebay.com/itm/Godox-SL-6...Continuous-Light-Remote-Control-/292690360494 - Most of the time, I just use it with a simple shoot through umbrella such as this https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-43-110cm-Studio-Flash-Translucent-White-soft-Umbrella-/221105162329

EDIT: About the iMac vs PC, that is a can of worms, I really don't want to open. Get the one your heart wants. Hopefully, you will be using it for several years.
 
@Smittefar @2112
I made this video to test out my iPhone audio quality using the mic from it and as you can hear it doesn't sound great, that's when I decided I needed to go direct so I bought an interface.
I just need to choose some software and decide whether to get a iMac or PC.
 
Direct will sound much better.

Both mac and PC can do what you need. You are probably right that an iMac integrates extremely smootly with an iPhone, but a PC will get the job done too.

I will watch the video later.
 
Smittefar said:
Direct will sound much better.

Both mac and PC can do what you need. You are probably right that an iMac integrates extremely smootly with an iPhone, but a PC will get the job done too.

I will watch the video later.
Click to expand...
Thanks @Smittefar for the links to the lighting I will check them out.
I will have a think what to do as far as the computer goes but I appreciate your advice.

Thanks again
 
I was new to this whole thing too - of syncing audio with video. Definitely great help from the guys up above. I have an iMac and use Logic - i start the video on my iPhone, and play direct into Logic - when I'm done, I import the video into Logic, mute the camera audio, and move the waveform of the directly recorded audio to match the video. It's super easy - takes a little time, but for what I do - which seems like it's kind of similar with what you're looking to do - it works great.
 
Brian Coonan said:
I was new to this whole thing too - of syncing audio with video. Definitely great help from the guys up above. I have an iMac and use Logic - i start the video on my iPhone, and play direct into Logic - when I'm done, I import the video into Logic, mute the camera audio, and move the waveform of the directly recorded audio to match the video. It's super easy - takes a little time, but for what I do - which seems like it's kind of similar with what you're looking to do - it works great.
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Great thanks @Brian Coonan
I didn't know you can merge the audio with the video in Logic, I thought you needed video editor software for that.
 
Mark Pritchard said:
Great thanks @Brian Coonan
I didn't know you can merge the audio with the video in Logic, I thought you needed video editor software for that.
Click to expand...

This works well if your video is finished as you can’t edit the video in Logic. I find it easier to import the sound into iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

One thing about the Mac is the initial hardware cost is more but the software is generally cheaper. iMovie comes with the Mac. Logic is $199 USD.
 
MSS said:
This works well if your video is finished as you can’t edit the video in Logic. I find it easier to import the sound into iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

One thing about the Mac is the initial hardware cost is more but the software is generally cheaper. iMovie comes with the Mac. Logic is $199 USD.
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Oh ok that makes sense. I would use a software to import the audio to and then sync and cut from there.

Yes I noticed the iMac's are more expensive but i'd rather pay more if its the right one for me.

Thanks for your input.
 
And don't forget Garageband comes bundled with the iMac as well, so you may not even need to spend the $199 on Logic. If you're new to recording I would start with Garageband until you outgrow it and then move up to Logic.

Full disclosure: I'm a mac user and I love them. They are not without their flaws but they still offer a far better user experience in my opinion.
 
slowjoecrow said:
And don't forget Garageband comes bundled with the iMac as well, so you may not even need to spend the $199 on Logic. If you're new to recording I would start with Garageband until you outgrow it and then move up to Logic.

Full disclosure: I'm a mac user and I love them. They are not without their flaws but they still offer a far better user experience in my opinion.
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Thanks mate, yeah that’s true. I am going to look at them at the weekend and hopefully decide then.

Thanks for your input, I am leaning towards a Mac now.
 
I use LumaFusion on an iPad Pro. It also works directly on the iPhone. It is extremely powerful and mostly quite easy to learn and memorize.

It has handy features that the big boys use like creating and storing your own bumpers as presets and custom transitions and the like. Highly recommended if you already have an iPad.
 
iMovie and GarageBand are good points to start.
I was PC user for about 20 years. But several years ago moved to Mac and never regretted. Most stable platform for the moment.
I use Final Cut and for the DAW I use Presonus Studio One.
Doing a lot of vids with this setup, and never got bugs!
You can check on my YouTube channel : youtube.com/c/Voronguitar
 
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