In need of hardware & software recommendations for making good interview style videos

J

Juicy-J

New member
In need of hardware & software recommendations for making good interview style videos

Hey guys, I am looking for some help with figuring out a hardware and software solution for making some professional looking and (more importantly) sounding interview style videos that I can use to promote my business. My main goal is for it to have excellent audio quality. I am not so concerned with the video quality, as long as it is decent. I just want to make sure that the audio sounds excellent and professional. I will be purchasing the hardware over the course of about 5 to 6 weeks as I don't have the funds to do it all at once. I also don't mind buying used! What I need help with is finding a mic, audio recorder, and software to tie it all together. I have no experience with recording audio and video separately, so I will have to rely on you guys for helping me figure out how to make all of this work together! I will be using a Sony camera that is roughly a year old, my sister got it on sell at BB for like $250 (originally it was like $280). It has a mic input, so will this camera work ok for these purposes? Again, my concern is audio quality and not video quality.

For the mic, I have no problem with using a visible mic, and it doesn't have to necessarily be small or hidden. I want to go with what ever mic will fit in my budget and have the best sound quality. My budget for the mic will be roughly $100 or less, and I don't mind buying used.

Next thing to pick out will be the recorder, budget is $150 and below and I am ok with buying used. I am thinking of the Tascom DR-40. Would it be optimal for my purposes?

Last but not least is the thing that I will need the most help with, the editing software. Can anyone recommend me a decent, easy-ish to learn software program, or what ever method I will need to bring the audio and video into one digital file, as well as editing? I have no idea how to do the editing and syncing of the video and audio?

It would be nice if someone could help explain how to make all of this work? Any help, suggestions and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Since you didn't actually reveal the make/model of your camcorder, we must deduce that it has 3.5mm mic connector (at that price).

We don't know what kind of shooting situations you are talking about. Are you sitting in a dedicated, quiet, acoustically treated room doing "talking-head" or even off-camera "voice-over" recordings? Or are you walking through rows of used cars, extolling their virtues? Or are you on horseback demonstrating cattle-branding?

These all affect the selection of microphone, and we don't have enough information to offer any useful advice.

Also not in evidence here is what kind of work-flow and schedule you are talking about? Is this quick-turn "breaking-news" where you need results in minutes/hours? Or are you doing this at your leisure with plenty of time for post production?

It is also not completely obvious that you NEED a separate recorder. Many details not in evidence influence that decision, also.
 
I think your best bet is to hire someone to do this for you, and here's why.

Your budget and your expectations don't seem to line up and you are asking us to teach you how to transfer all this into your editing station and then how to edit and what to edit on.

If you want to do this all yourself, you probably should start off just making a few test videos just to figure all this out. The amount of information you are asking for could take up books, and in fact does, which is why I recommend hiring someone who knows how to do all this and has the equipment required to do it. Your first video is going to have screw ups. That's just how it is, and it's how it went for all of us, and that's what's so awesome about this type of work. We learn from our mistakes and make better product because of it.
 
You don't say where you are but in most decent sized cities there is a media center or a junior college. So while folks here can give you a hand it's a long loop time if you are as inexperienced as you say. I would HIGHLY recommend you take a class at one of the above to get a jump start. An added plus if it's a junior college is that a lot of software you can get at a student discount. Another option would be to find someone in your area to give you a short tutorial or a little help.

IF you are OK with the on camera person holding a mic then you can probably pick up a decent dynamic mic for $100 or less but it really depends on what you want to end up with. Since you haven't done any of these it would probably help if you can post some links to things that you think are like what you want to end up with.

THe DR40 is a decent recorder.

Software is tricky. For what you are talking about something like iMovie might be OK. I would probably aim at a picture editing application. You don't really want to learn two different apps. iMovie has not a lot of sound flexibility and it's Mac only and it might be a real pain to do dual sound so... maybe not the best choice. Vegas is (I think) PC only? but it supposedly has pretty good sound tools and would be a very flexible editor.

Once you get into more dedicated tools like Premiere Pro and Pro Tools the learning curve starts to get really steep. And they can be $$$$$.
 
"Vegas is (I think) PC only? but it supposedly has pretty good sound tools and would be a very flexible editor."
- Yes, Sony Creative Software's (SCS) Vegas is currently PC only. There were rumors of a Vegas Mac version, but SCS has a lot on it's plate at this point IMO. I have heard of folks running on it a MAC with BootCamp though
Vegas Pro's audio architecture and tools are impressive.. even as an audio only DAW (which it was, prior to video being added back in Vegas 3).
Combined with Sound Forge and Spectral Layers, a full-blown DAW. Supports DX and/or VST effects plug-in chains as well.
 
Richard Crowley said:
Since you didn't actually reveal the make/model of your camcorder, we must deduce that it has 3.5mm mic connector (at that price).

We don't know what kind of shooting situations you are talking about. Are you sitting in a dedicated, quiet, acoustically treated room doing "talking-head" or even off-camera "voice-over" recordings? Or are you walking through rows of used cars, extolling their virtues? Or are you on horseback demonstrating cattle-branding?

These all affect the selection of microphone, and we don't have enough information to offer any useful advice.

Also not in evidence here is what kind of work-flow and schedule you are talking about? Is this quick-turn "breaking-news" where you need results in minutes/hours? Or are you doing this at your leisure with plenty of time for post production?

It is also not completely obvious that you NEED a separate recorder. Many details not in evidence influence that decision, also.
Click to expand...

Ok, let me see if I can answer some of these questions so that, hopefully, you guys can steer me in the right direction!

First off, yes, the mic jack is a 3.5mm. I will be sitting in a dead room that I currently use as a dedicated home theater space. It has been heavily treated with both sound absorbing, bass trapping material and the construction of the room itself was done to prevent outside sound from coming in as well. The shooting situation will always be constant, and will be the talking head type style only. No off camera voice overs, no walking around, just neck & head shooting. I am not, nor will I be in a hurry. Yes, this is something that I can take my time on. I would have no need for any post shooting rush. These will be done at my leisure. For the mic, I don't mind it being visible, and it may be either mounted on a stand right in front of me. (almost radio station style) or I might just hold it in my hands.

Does this help you in offering advice?
 
I guess the main thing that I need help with, would be how to take the audio from the recorder and mate it to the video that I record with the Sony? I will also need to do some minor editing but it won't be much in that regard as these will be simple shoots. Is there any software programs that you guys could recommend for my needs? I would ideally like to find a software with a somewhat understandable (to the new ppl) learning curve. I can most likely figure out the type/brand and model for the mic, and I am pretty set on the Tascam DR-40 recorder, plus I already have the camera. So now I just need to find a software that I can use to put the audio on the video and do the minor edits with. What is a decent software program for my purposes? I have a multiple PC's as well as an iPhone-6 plus and an iPad. Not sure if I can actually do anything for these purposes on an iPad though.
 
Hiring a professional is the way to go IF you are wanting a polished, professional result and IF there is income based on the video project. The democratization of film/video production is a point we're well past, so we're talking here about newbies wanting to learn from an admitted beginner level and budget. Heck, how many of us started out with a cheap tape recorder and a crappy mic?

Juicy-J, it sounds to me that (on the beginner/hobby level) you are looking at creating blog/YouTube channel types of videos. Is this accurate? SO...

First things first: read THIS STICKY to get an idea of the intricacies of sound for video. The first lesson, which you seem already to get, is to get the mic off the camera and as close to the subject as possible. Since you're already looking for a mic to do that, we can check that one off the list. Further, that's alrea step well beyond most YT/video blog folks these days.

Let's also set some realistic expectations. This will be a learning process. Polished, professional results depend much more on the skills of the user than on the equipment used. On your budget, and with little-to-no experience, you're going to hit some stumbling blocks along the way... but that's how we learn and get better. Each time you make a video and find something you wish could be better, you figure out how to make it better for the next video. As long as you don't expect advice here that will make your first video the greatest thing since Citizen Cane, you'll be fine. What we can do is get you to a starting point that will give you a good place to learn and refine your skills.

I'm not sure that dual-system sound is the right way for you to go just yet. You have a camera with a mic input. No, it's not going to be the greatest thing in the world, but as long as you have a headphone jack on the camera and can monitor your sound (hard to do while being in front of the camera, but at least for sound check before and playback after... the best time to fix a problem is in production, rather than in the edit), you can get started right away without having to deal with separate files. So, perhaps you put your mic and recorder budget into a basic mic for your camera, like the RØDE VideoMic Pro, a stand with boom arm (put the mic overhead, just out of frame), and an extension to run the cable to your camera. Oh, and get a decent pair of headhones.

Questions about your camera: can you tell us which Sony model it is? Do you have manual control over the sound recording level? It may be buried in a menu somewhere. Does it offer any kind of on-screen sound metering?

Focus first on framing your shot and on getting the mic just out of frame overhead. The mic should be within 20" of your mouth, and closer is better. Recording audio in-camera may not yield a professional end-result, but it can be usable now for your purposes. Once (and if) you get to a point where you think the quality needs to improve, then we can talk about recorders and mixers, but take baby steps before we get there.

For editing, there are a few options. Sony Vegas has decent sound editing tools, but personally I do not like the desktop layout. There are a few flavors of Pinnacle Studio that can get you started, and which one you purchase depends on how many layers of video and how many audio tracks you think you need. For what you're doing, you probably don't need much. You might go for the middle rung instead of the top one (the cheapest version is so limited that there's no room for growth as you learn).

For editing on iPhone and iPad, Pinnacle Studio has versions there that wipe the floor with iMovie for iPhone/iPad. I use Pinnacle Studio for iPad and it is a wonderful tool, with quite a few limitations (some because of iOS and some because they haven't added those features... yet), and it keeps getting better with every major update. The biggest challenge with iOS editing, though, is dual-system sound. There are SD card readers for iPad that can pull footage and stills from camera cards, and a USB adapter that allows connection straight to the camera to transfer footage, but the iPad can only ready card structure from cameras. It cannot read cards from audio recorders, so to get separate sound files into the iPad requires email or DropBox transfer from another computer. This is another reason to skip the recorder for now, if you want to take the iPad rout.

The best thing you can do from there is to make a video, then bring it back here for critique. We'll look first at technique, and work our ways toward other gear. No sense, though, in dropping way too much money now on extra gear that you don't necessarily need for a project that you don't yet know will have longevity. Invest in professional production only when you can justify the expense (either because you believe it will be a career-builder or because the project is generating the income to validate the expense).

Side note: since you're shooting with a consumer camcorder and in a home theater, have you thought about light? These little cameras don't handle low light very well, and home theaters are not known for their bright lighting. You may want to look at adding a light or two to your kit (that's a question for the lighting section of the forums), and there are cost-effective ways to do that as a beginner.

Best of luck!
 
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Alex, one post in seven mentioned he might be better off hiring someone. I suggested he find someone he can talk to or take a class that would A0 get him some hands on and B) allow him to save some money on software.

Otherwise I m mostly in agreement with your post. One thing that may be a problem though is that if I read him correctly he will be shooting himself. If that is the case then I do recommend he get some help. It's not impossible but it tends to come out looking and sounding like so many other YouTube videos shot with the computer camera.

Assuming he is shooting someone else, I'm kind of with you on doing a test direct to camera. It might sound good enough for what he wants to do.
Second option would be to into the DR40 and out to the camera and use PluralEyes to sync them up. Actually, OP if you haven't bought the recorder yet you might look at B&H because some of the recorders (DR70?) come bundled with PluralEyes.

Can't help much with PC software. I know there are editing apps for iWhatever but the problem with i Devices is getting stuff on and off of them. You would probably have to do some iTunes sync weirdness or go through a cloud service, neither of which is particularly well suited for moving around large media files.
PluralEyes is cross platform, Reaper for sound is pretty nice and cross platform. But I would pay more attention to folks like Alex who actually know what works well on the PC.
 
The "hire a pro" piece invariably comes up when a newbie asks for guidance, which is why I addressed it.

Noiz2 said:
I suggested he find someone he can talk to or take a class...
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Yes, and I actually meant to quote you on that in my prior post. This is one of the best pieces of advice for anyone just starting out.

Noiz2 said:
I know there are editing apps for iWhatever but the problem with i Devices is getting stuff on and off of them. You would probably have to do some iTunes sync weirdness or go through a cloud service, neither of which is particularly well suited for moving around large media files.
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Getting video and still images in is the easy part. Getting separate audio files in, as I mentioned, requires another computer (which kind of defeats the purpose of iPad editing). Getting the edited product out is only mildly complicated as editing apps like Pinnacle have several easy options for export, from straight back to the iPad camera roll to upload direct to Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo.
 
I wil most likely do the editing on my Windows 8 PC as my iPad is an older 3rd Generation unit. I can not hire a professional for this as I live in a rural state with no major cities wishing a 100 miles or more. It would not be financially feasible for me anyway, plus I get a lot of serious satisfaction out of doing things myself. I built my entire, dedicated home theater by myself, including the speakers and subwoofers. So this is something that I would really like to learn myself.
 
With regards to headphones for sound checks, I wonder if it would be possible to use some small non-intrusive ear buds that I could leave in while recording? I use to work at a news/opinion based talk radio station as the news anchor, which I wore headphone for as I would read the news, so I am quite comfortable with doing sound checks through headphone and either taking them off once I start recording of using a small ear bud style device left in ear. My prior experience in radio also has makes me comfortable with setting up the mic and checking the levels prior to recording to make sure everything is of the proper gain ect..and I am used to talking in a tone and approaite db level for the mic based on its position. Which I would definitely have under 20", especially if I do not mount the mic directly on the camera. It will most likely be on either a mic stand in front of me or just slightly above me, both of which I would ensure them to be out of frame. I will try it several ways to figure out what works best.

This should be a low edit, low number of takes, and fairly easy to shoot video. I feel comfortable with the camera and mic setup, it is the software aspect that I need to learn the most. I would like to find a software program that is fairly straightforward, but also affordable. If I could find one like that, I could go ahead and download it and start playing with the various tools over the next couple of weeks.
 
Juicy-J said:
...

This should be a low edit, low number of takes, and fairly easy to shoot video. I feel comfortable with the camera and mic setup, it is the software aspect that I need to learn the most. I would like to find a software program that is fairly straightforward, but also affordable. If I could find one like that, I could go ahead and download it and start playing with the various tools over the next couple of weeks.
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It's could be a pretty steep learning curve for you but it should be mentioned that Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription includes the Premiere Pro video editing and Audition audio editing packages, as well as other video-production related tools, for about $50 a month. I don't how you feel about subscription-based software but this would give you access to a fully professional-grade software kit, compatible with your Windows PC, without requiring a huge up-front cash layout.
 
For sound Reaper is pretty nice and very affordable, but while you can edit with a video file I don't believe it has any video editing capability.
ProTools is a sound app but on the Mac HD system you can do straight cuts on the video track also. I'm not sure if that is also true with cheaper versions, it didn't used to be but they have been adding a lot of the HD functions to the other versions so? It's still not a real video editor though.

The challenge you are going to come up against is that most "easy" programs get that way by limiting your options and you want to do dual system which is not what most people using "easy" software will do so that part may be hard to almost imposible. So iMovie is easy but it is next to impossible to sync up dual system with it. Every once in awhile something comes along that is simple and has all the features you need so Keep asking around. I would probably ask in the video editing section though. While pretty much all video editing apps (NLE's) have some sound editing capability almost no sound editing apps (DAW's) have any video editing capabilities.
 
Sony Vegas is (allegedly) very intuitive. I say 'allegedly' because I've been using it for long time. It's also about the only DAW/NLE (or NLE/DAW) with significant video and audio capabilities. 'Vegas Movie Studio' is a lower cost option. (see the Vegas family comparison page for which version may fit your workflow and budget. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/compare#family )
Fully functional 30-day trial versions are available on the SCS website.
 
I could definitely afford the $50 a month Adobe Creative Cloud subscription! Which of the tools in that software subscription could I use to edit, and sync both the audio and video? Or, which do you guys feel would be the best option for my goals and needs in the Adobe Creative Cloud software? Premier Pro or Audition, or are there any other options within the Adobe software? I will check it out soon!
 
Juicy-J said:
I could definitely afford the $50 a month Adobe Creative Cloud subscription! Which of the tools in that software subscription could I use to edit, and sync both the audio and video? Or, which do you guys feel would be the best option for my goals and needs in the Adobe Creative Cloud software? Premier Pro or Audition, or are there any other options within the Adobe software? I will check it out soon!
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I'm still not sure that using a separate recorder is the best solution for you right now based on your budget. Again, instead of spending less on a mic and a recorder, perhaps spend more on a mic that will connect directly to your camera. This also skips the sync issue in post.

Though, you still haven't specified which model of camcorder you're using. That would br helpful in this conversation.

Any NLE is gong to have a learning curve, but most (even the less expensive ones like Pinnacle) offer video tutorials to get you started quickly.
 
a lavalier (giant squid) , a zoom h1 , sony vegas and pluraleyes. you need the sound from the camera to sync the audio from the zoom h1. Good luck


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the giant squid is (hands down) one of the best lavalier that I had the pleasure to work with. It's a mono, comes in 2 versions 3.5mm (for zoom H1) and 3.5mm w/lock for Sennheiser. You plug to the zoom H1 Line/Mic input, set the zoom to manual (absolutely NO AGC, ever!). With the Giant squid you can set the zoom to level 40 (input) to start. Do some tests at normal voice volume but usually I'd stay between 40 and 60 .

The sound out of this setup is guaranteed. The only problem is that you can't go live (broadcast) with this setup.

Get familiar with Sony Vegas (the software), it's easy. Pluraleyes is a separate software for syncing. It has a plug-in for Vegas, so it will be a couple of clicks to run an entire sync: will do everything automatically.
Then you get the sound track of the camera and add one more track for the Zoom. Start Pluraleyes and then delete or mute the track of the camera. Voila: one of the best sound that you can get for interviews.

The money:

Zoom H1 $95 or so
Giant Squid $ 40 plus S&H
so we are in the $150 per channel which is really cheap (considering the quality).
Sony Vegas and pluraleyes have different setups and prices (I had my copy of pluraleyes with the zoom H1, but the offer is unfortunatelly no longer valid) . But the software is a must regardless of the sound.

The syncing part is a pain (I know) but that's the price to pay for a solid (or outstanding) sound for interviews. Only a shotgun on a boom will come close to the sound that you get from that setup, but the boom thing is for movies with a crew and (of course) a guy holding it.
 
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Fwiw I used to have a visceral hate for Adobe, and when they went subscription, I was nearly postal. For most of the last ten years, I found Adobe software for the Mac to be buggy. It's hard to get away from them if you do much in the way of computer graphics, thus the anti-love.

After a while, I could see my CS6 beginning to twilight and then I realized you get five web hostings with CC. The first year was $32/mo and you get most everything Adobe makes and some goodies to boot. Hard to beat this, so I gave in and subscribed.

In my experience thus far, their software has worked well, no crashes, and an Improved interface. And for the first time for me, Adobe has been doing well on bug fixes. Getting Primere, Audition, Photoshop, Aftereffects, and Muse for $50/mo is a no brainier and better yet if you need the web hosting.

Grant
 
If the Sony camcorder referenced earlier has an option to manually set volume level (suspect it may as it has a 3.5mm mic input socket, check the camcorders manual), maybe all that is needed is a lav mic? The video on the first review on this page compares lav versus onboard mic using a Canon camcorder.
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...8&qid=1433713003&sr=8-1&keywords=technica+lav

A while ago I recorded this using a lav, just out of frame clipped to tie, into Sound Devices Mixpre, from there into a) camera when speaker is onscreen and b) Tascam DR60d during voice over parts, I think the audio is comparable in both sections. Similar to what the original poster is proposing this was totally one person, I was the crew as well as the talking head. I didn't monitor audio, I just played back each take immediately afterwards to check it was good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHlq_sHad4o

If you can't record to camera and use a Zoom or Tascam recorder clap your hand onscreen at the start of each take to facilitate syncing video and audio, you may well be able to save the cost of Pluraleyes. I used Sony Vegas, I agree with a previous poster and I would also suggest Sony Vegas Movie Sudio HD, perhaps the previous version from eBay, not that much change from one version to the next
 
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