How to record a music video?

Question

I am a guitarist and i want to record myself playing a couple of songs. My equipment is limited as I want to record the video on a Nokia N73 phone! The video quality is adequate to what I want, but the sound is horrific. I also have a multitrack recording device. So what I want to do is plug a guitar and mic into the recorder and record the sound while the phone records the video. After I have mixed the sound, how would I go about combining the two to get a final product? Software obviously? What software and is it hard?

Answer 1

since you have a mic already, try to find a friend or someone you know that has a minidv camcorder (if it has a mic port then even better) first, before trying to record on your phone. that way, if it does have a mic port, you wont have to go back and synch the audio and video together, and the sound quality will be just as good.

if your sound recorder can output as well, then have it output to the camera (if you can get one, and it has a mic port). this way your guitar and singing will be premixed when it gets to the camera. if it cant output or it doesnt have a mic port then read below.

set up your mic, recorder, and camera. find two rulers (your hands will work if you cant find anything like that). roll camera and start up the recorder for a couple seconds, then clap your rulers or your hands together, so that the camera "sees" it and the recorder "hears" it. youve probably seen something like this on tv where theyre making a movie and the director yells action, and the guy on the side claps the black and white striped clapper. anyways, after you clap, you can start doing your video.

after the recording is done, get your sound and video files to a computer. im not going to go into detail here, because it differs on what you used to record, so if you know, great, and if you dont, you have the internet to help you.

open windows movie maker. if you dont have it, find a friend who does, or if you have a program similar to it, make sure it has a timeline, and the ability to see audio waveforms.

after opening windows movie maker or a similar program, import the files. this should be pretty self explanatory. after you get the files in there, put them into the timeline. in the audio track, find the place where you clapped, it should be near the beginning and it should look something like

-------/\-----M where the ----- is when your first turned on the recorder and there wasnt much sound, /\ when you clapped and it was a loud and sharp sound, and when you started playing M, which was a few seconds after you clapped. after you find the spot, make a note of it so you can come back and find it again.

in the video, find the place where the rulers meet, or where your hands meet together. drag the slider slowly, and it might help if you zoom in, on the timline, as you get more precision that way. also, if there is a function for advancing one frame at a time, use that. when you have it, go back to the audio and drag the point where you clapped to the same place in the video. now play it, and it should be more or less synched. fine tune it by repeating the process, and then mute the sound from the video. your done!

just remember that this was just the technical process of recording and synching. remember that most music videos dont have just a person standing there singing, because that would be pretty boring. instead they have some kind of storyline or at the very least cut to different angles once in a while. although i included the above instructions, you dont have to do just that. probably one of the easiest ways you can make a music video is to record yourself playing and then make a short movie, and use it as the soundtrack, and synch up cuts with the music. you could also mix some shots of you singing in, etc. as you can see theres so much stuff you can do, so dont just limit yourself to one thing. with this said, also pay attention to video quality as well as audio (again, get a minidv camera if you can), good lighting, setting, etc. you probably know all of this, so if you do, i hope i dont bore you to death. well thats all, so i hope this helped, and make an awesome music video!

Answer 2

You can add a sound track using most video editing software such as Pinnacle Studio, Ulead Videostudio, etc.

You will probably get much better results recording the video with a camcorder (with external mic attachment), and convert to a video format that's compatible with your phone.

Answer 3

Its no longer unlawful to checklist it besides the indisputable fact that it is unlawful to sell or re distribute without the proprietors permission - it is termed breaking copywrite regulation and you're sued or do detention center time.

Answer 4

There are some Open Source widgets that will make Anolog/Digital easy peezy, also do editing and digi/digi simple. VHS to .avi or .mp3,mpg,mpeg whatever.