Recording Videos Without Breaking the Bank

I don't have video equipment. I have drums (obviously), a phone, a laptop, and a want to make videos to post. I don't have a lot of money to spare. How can I make videos for y'all to see that aren't noisy crap?

I want to do this so I don't come across as a voice with no backup. I play, really I do.
 
  1. Get a used Canon 70D with a 24mm pancake lens. keh.com is reliable.
  2. Get a used tripod.
  3. Get a Tascam DR-70 recorder. Also Get the cable that sends its mixed, stereo output to the stereo input of the Camera. This will give you a great sound, synch’d to the video.
  4. Get four mics. Two overhead condensers, a Shure SM57 for the snare and a good bass drum mic. Don’t buy garbage.
  5. Get cable & mic stands
  6. Shred on your kit.
  7. Post it here for us to enjoy.
Example:

 
What kind of phone? I have the Shure Motiv mic for my iPhone, but I also have the Focusrite iTrack single mic preamp for the phone too. So I can do a general ambient recording with the Shure that sounds great, or take a line from a mixing board to go into the phone. The phone has iMovie so I can edit the video and post directly to YouTube from there.
 
  1. Get a used Canon 70D with a 24mm pancake lens. keh.com is reliable.
  2. Get a used tripod.
  3. Get a Tascam DR-70 recorder. Also Get the cable that sends its mixed, stereo output to the stereo input of the Camera. This will give you a great sound, synch’d to the video.
  4. Get four mics. Two overhead condensers, a Shure SM57 for the snare and a good bass drum mic. Don’t buy garbage.
  5. Get cable & mic stands
  6. Shred on your kit.
  7. Post it here for us to enjoy.
Example:


This might be something I look into for the future. I'd have to get everything a bit at a time, but sounds like a good permanent solution.

What kind of phone? I have the Shure Motiv mic for my iPhone, but I also have the Focusrite iTrack single mic preamp for the phone too. So I can do a general ambient recording with the Shure that sounds great, or take a line from a mixing board to go into the phone. The phone has iMovie so I can edit the video and post directly to YouTube from there.

It's a ZTE Android phone. My laptop has MovieMaker. I might be able to use it with the phone?

I'm a nuts and bolts guy. Technology is confusing for me sometimes.
 
$140 bucks for a Zoom Q2N is a relatively cheap alternative and you don't really need software to alter it but you can. They aren't great but not bad. It is limiting having just one mic but I think it has ports for additional. I'd love to hear all the regular posters post short videos of playing. I have always been surprised how few ever post drumming. I have no shame.
 
  1. Get a used Canon 70D with a 24mm pancake lens. keh.com is reliable.
  2. Get a used tripod.
  3. Get a Tascam DR-70 recorder. Also Get the cable that sends its mixed, stereo output to the stereo input of the Camera. This will give you a great sound, synch’d to the video.
  4. Get four mics. Two overhead condensers, a Shure SM57 for the snare and a good bass drum mic. Don’t buy garbage.
  5. Get cable & mic stands
  6. Shred on your kit.
  7. Post it here for us to enjoy.
Example:

CB, that video sounds great. I'd love to be able to do that, but like my Arkie brother, I'm a dullard when it comes to tech. I have a new MotoZ cell phone (thank you, son!), a good six-channel mixer, a decent selection of microphones, and this old, outdated desktop. I think I may be able to get my son to show me how to do this.

GeeDeeEmm
 
CB, that video sounds great. I'd love to be able to do that, but like my Arkie brother, I'm a dullard when it comes to tech. I have a new MotoZ cell phone (thank you, son!), a good six-channel mixer, a decent selection of microphones, and this old, outdated desktop. I think I may be able to get my son to show me how to do this.

GeeDeeEmm
Thanks! I was happily impressed by the sound quality of the Tascam DR-70.

This next video ⬇️ was shot on an old iPhone but used 7 mics (snare, bass, toms, overheads) and mixed in a DAW. Much like what you’re thinking of doing.

 
$140 bucks for a Zoom Q2N is a relatively cheap alternative and you don't really need software to alter it but you can. They aren't great but not bad. It is limiting having just one mic but I think it has ports for additional. I'd love to hear all the regular posters post short videos of playing. I have always been surprised how few ever post drumming. I have no shame.

I've never really been into photography/video. So I've never really had anything to do such stuff. I searched and searched for videos of when I used to gig and found 1. And you can't see me or my drums at all.

Is the Zoom Q2N what you use for your videos?
 
I've never really been into photography/video. So I've never really had anything to do such stuff. I searched and searched for videos of when I used to gig and found 1. And you can't see me or my drums at all.

Is the Zoom Q2N what you use for your videos?
No I have the older Zoom Q2HD it doesn't have a port for another mic, but I believe all the newer ones do-maybe video overhead and a bass mic would sound pretty good? I've always wanted to get into "recording" but that is an art into itself, and I have a hard enough time just trying to play the drums. So I like the idiot proof Zoom-it comes with software to enhance it but I don't do that. I've had it a long time and dropped it a few times till I took a cymbal stand to permanently mount it. I've been happy with it because it's so hassle free-and if it sounds bad-well I can blame the video recorder LOL.
 
Thanks! I was happily impressed by the sound quality of the Tascam DR-70.

This next video ⬇ was shot on an old iPhone but used 7 mics (snare, bass, toms, overheads) and mixed in a DAW. Much like what you’re thinking of doing.

Dang, CB - that sounds really nice. If I could get that quality on my phone, I'd be very happy.

So what do I need to convert my analog mixer to plug in my camera? I assume an interface of some kind?

GeeDeeEmm
 
Dang, CB - that sounds really nice. If I could get that quality on my phone, I'd be very happy.

So what do I need to convert my analog mixer to plug in my camera? I assume an interface of some kind?

GeeDeeEmm
You need video editing software, and audio editing software. Depending on your audio interface, you may already have something you can use.

I used Studio One for my DAW. It recorded 7 tracks in 48kHz/24 bit audio through a PreSonus StudioLive mixer. I mixed it down to a 48kHz/16 bit stereo WAV file.

The iPhone video had to be emailed to me from my phone because Apple iOS won't let me access the data via USB connection.

Once I had the video on my computer, I imported it into video editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro, but I could've used iMovie). In that program, I imported the stereo mix. I used the audio signal wave forms to synch the sound. Once it was synch'd (in about 10 seconds), I muted the iPhone audio and exported the video to the YouTube video format. BTW, the YouTube video format uses 48kHz/16 bit audio, which is nice.

This entire mixing/editing process took about 30 minutes.

I don't use an iPhone any more 'cuz I don't want to deal with extracting the video from my phone. I use a used Canon D70 set to basic 1080p video recording and import the video from an SD memory card. Much faster than dealing with an iPhone.

That video, and many others were recorded in a space I'm no longer in. It was a large room with concrete floor and 24' high ceilings. The reverb was extraordinary. To partially tame it, I hung moving blankets around my kit. One lesson from recording in that space: the room greatly affects the sound of the drums. A smaller, tighter room would not have let those toms sound so open, in my amateur observations.

⬇️ This is a similar setup but with an added 14" tom.

Studio_02.jpg
 
You need video editing software, and audio editing software. Depending on your audio interface, you may already have something you can use.

I used Studio One for my DAW. It recorded 7 tracks in 48kHz/24 bit audio through a PreSonus StudioLive mixer. I mixed it down to a 48kHz/16 bit stereo WAV file.

The iPhone video had to be emailed to me from my phone because Apple iOS won't let me access the data via USB connection.

Once I had the video on my computer, I imported it into video editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro, but I could've used iMovie). In that program, I imported the stereo mix. I used the audio signal wave forms to synch the sound. Once it was synch'd (in about 10 seconds), I muted the iPhone audio and exported the video to the YouTube video format. BTW, the YouTube video format uses 48kHz/16 bit audio, which is nice.

This entire mixing/editing process took about 30 minutes.

I don't use an iPhone any more 'cuz I don't want to deal with extracting the video from my phone. I use a used Canon D70 set to basic 1080p video recording and import the video from an SD memory card. Much faster than dealing with an iPhone.

That video, and many others were recorded in a space I'm no longer in. It was a large room with concrete floor and 24' high ceilings. The reverb was extraordinary. To partially tame it, I hung moving blankets around my kit. One lesson from recording in that space: the room greatly affects the sound of the drums. A smaller, tighter room would not have let those toms sound so open, in my amateur observations.

⬇ This is a similar setup but with an added 14" tom.

View attachment 87463
Whew. I don't think I understood 10% of what you said, although I do understand the concept. There may be hope for me, though. My son programs production machinery, my grandson writes banking programs, and my other grandson is majoring in computer science, aiming to a degree in writing gameware. Surely between those three I can find one of them to set this up for me. Thanks for trying to show me the way.

GeeDeeEmm
 
cheapest possible solution: get four mics- one for the snare, one for the kick, one for the toms, and one for the room. Run them all into a pretty decent system and download some nice audio and video software. If you can’t afford the software, use GarageBand if you must. For music videos, people will generally forgive you for bad video if you have great audio.
 
Dang, CB - that sounds really nice. If I could get that quality on my phone, I'd be very happy.

So what do I need to convert my analog mixer to plug in my camera? I assume an interface of some kind?

GeeDeeEmm
The camera probably has a 3.5 mm (1/8") jack for a mic. I guess you'd use a patch cord from your mixer's Out and an adapter to the smaller jack. This thread says that you will probably have to lower the levels a lot on the mixer or it'll be too 'loud' for the camera, or get some module that will do it for you: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/sound-from-mixer-into-camera.477605/

I've been thinking about doing this lately. If I try it out I'll report back.
 
$140 bucks for a Zoom Q2N is a relatively cheap alternative and you don't really need software to alter it but you can. They aren't great but not bad. It is limiting having just one mic but I think it has ports for additional. I'd love to hear all the regular posters post short videos of playing. I have always been surprised how few ever post drumming. I have no shame.

I picked a used one up on FB marketplace a few weeks ago. Aside from messing about with it recording myself practicing, which is why I got it, my first real good use was last weekend at a jam session. I turned it on, set it in audio only mode and placed it the best spot in the room and let it run for 2 1/2 hrs. After 30 seconds, everyone, including myself forgot it was there. Later on I converted the MOV file to a WAV file and added some EQ, compression, reverb and delay in Ableton. I picked out the choice songs and made separate manageable audio tracks of individual songs.

I did this again yesterday at a gig. So simple. I broke out all the songs and shared the tracks with band memebers on FB messanger. I'm not looking to make professional recordings, I am looking to make things to help me and my bandmates better. One of the bandmate WAG's shot some video on her phone and I was able to sync my mastered audio to her video with a 65 buck program called Video Pad Editor. Turned out pretty good for what it is.

Best thing is the workflow is very fast when you have very few moving parts, so to speak.
 
I use a mixer and an old GoPro I had lying around and both go straight to OBS Studio (a free program) on my PC and it does the job.
I don’t do editing afterward. What I play is what you get!

It does an okay job. The post recording editing would allow me to splice together takes and make myself sound better than I really am, which could be helpful since that’s what most other youtubers are doing but I like the purity of it all so it’s all good.

 
Cellphones take good video. Grab a zoom or something and play around with placement. With a single large diaphragm condenser you can get a pretty good natural sounding kit too.
 
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