Looking for advice on youtube audio recording

allen · September 2022

I’ve got a small youtube channel demoing guitar gear etc and I can’t seem to arrive at my ideal recording method.

Basically, I think I need to be able to record my guitar and speech entirely separately, but can’t see an easy way to do it.

The general workflow is that I play a bit and talk a bit at random.

If I record the guitar direct to daw (say, via two notes cabm or a modeller) then I need to monitor the signal to hear myself playing, but this then bleeds into the vocal microphone.

I suppose I could solve this by wearing headphones, but I’m not keen on that. It’s also tricky if I’m demoing an amp or speaker.

I have tried putting a recorder on my amp (little zoom thing) but then the guitar strings and vocals bleed into that.

I have plenty of equipment to try although I’m a bit lacking in the microphone department. I also would prefer it to be fairly portable as I record away from my computer desk.

Am I looking for a lavalier mic as a solution as that might not pick up the monitored sound or guitar strings or …?

Grateful for ideas and suggestions

PetGerbil · September 2022

Mute/silence the Mic audio when playing. Mute guitar when talking, In your Daw. ?

mudslide73 · September 2022

PetGerbil said:

Mute/silence the Mic audio when playing. Mute guitar when talking, In your Daw. ?

This. Just mute them in post. TPS is done this way - just remember not to speak until any reverb has died away.

Danny1969 · September 2022

Generally you can just do it in post.

Make 2 tracks, one guitar and one vocal. Record the video.
Then automate the mutes on the channels, muting the vocal mic while the guitars playing.

allen · September 2022

Thanks. I normally sync the various sound tracks with the video in my video software (final cut pro) but it doesn’t do auto ducking to automate what you’re saying.

So are you saying that I need to put the audio tracks into logic, then automate the ducking, then sync to video in Final Cut?

looks like it does it
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/logicpro/lgce63fdf471/mac

allen · September 2022

And another thought, How do I ensure no bleedover between tracks when recording?

digitalkettle · September 2022

I don't think the chaps above are talking about 'ducking'.

It's simply a matter of muting the tracks for the unwanted sections...and this is best done via automation in your software.

I don't do a lot of video but this sounds slightly lumpy to me...I'd be tempted to chop the tracks in your DAW, crossfade the transitions, and export a master audio file.

allen · September 2022

I thought that the word for automatically reducing the level of one track when there is signal on the other track was 'ducking'. What kind of automation should I be thinking of?

Muting and unmuting the 2 tracks isn't really all that workable as there are loads of transitions between playing and talking. The video is talk/noodle/talk/noodle/etc. (some of the time). In addition, the actual process of adjusting levels manually means setting an in and out point and then adjusting in a dialogue box or dragging a level slider (as far as I know).

Ah hang on, are you talking about automation like the recording of levels when mixing a track down? I've never done that before.

digitalkettle · September 2022

allen said:

...
Ah hang on, are you talking about automation like the recording of levels when mixing a track down? I've never done that before.

That's right...just about anything can be automated in a DAW.

I think of 'ducking' as that thing where the music drops as the DJ is talking over an awesome outro solo...then he stops talking and the music level jumps up again, etc. I presume this is a sidechained compressor at work.

Some delay units do ducking: the wet level drops when you're playing above an adjustable threshold.

PetGerbil · September 2022

Instead of trying to automate it, Just load up the two files in your DAW of each sound (Voice and guitar)

Look at the waveform, when track 1 is big and 2 is little, split and delete the little section. This will be the "spill" of what you don't want, so just delete it. When track 2's waveform is big, split and delete track 1's "spill".

You don't need to control the "Bleedover" between recordings as you're just deleting what you don't want to hear.

allen · September 2022

PetGerbil said:

Instead of trying to automate it, Just load up the two files in your DAW of each sound (Voice and guitar)
Look at the waveform, when track 1 is big and 2 is little, split and delete the little section. This will be the "spill" of what you don't want, so just delete it. When track 2's waveform is big, split and delete track 1's "spill".

You don't need to control the "Bleedover" between recordings as you're just deleting what you don't want to hear.

Good idea. That definitely sounds like it would work. I think I’m trying to avoid all the editing though.

PetGerbil · September 2022

It sounds like a lot of work, but in reality, if you find the hotkey in your DAW to split the audio it's just a case of bam,bam,bam. job done.

digitalkettle · September 2022

PetGerbil said:

It sounds like a lot of work, but in reality, if you find the hotkey in your DAW to split the audio it's just a case of bam,bam,bam. job done.

Yep, in my experience DAWs usually fade-off the edges of events when you slice up audio so it should be fairly graceful.

allen · September 2022

PetGerbil said:

It sounds like a lot of work, but in reality, if you find the hotkey in your DAW to split the audio it's just a case of bam,bam,bam. job done.

Thanks, will look for the hotkey.

To be fair, that's how multi-cam editing works in final cut. 2 tracks of video and hotkey between them live. It's pretty easy.

allen · October 2022

Thanks for the ideas people, I've been finding that if I record directly into my Quad Cortex then the sound is much more controllable when editing - i.e. there is no voice sound in the guitar mix so much easier to separate.

Here's my latest effort and I'm pretty happy with the sound recording quality.

spark240 · October 2022

Ok its cool..just a few ideas from my experience.

I wouldn't bother too much with fancy screen FX and transition FX, they can look a bit cheesy TBH ;-)

Avoid having messages across the middle of the screen.

Micro edit your voiceovers...delete every ahh and Mmm..it sounds much more professional and keeps the vid time that bit shorter and on the basis that most vids get a few mins watch time average its better I think.

Otherwise there's some good content though sadly Id bet the analytics say about 2-3 mins of a 28 min vid will get watched,

Do you have IG ?....you can post IG stories with links to your vids... there is a lot of interest in guitar things on IG...

Check mine out...I subbed you anyhow !

allen · October 2022

Thank you very much.

A lot of good points there.

My next step is to micro edit the ums and ahs. I actually did a few in that last few video, but I seem to do it a lot. On one recent video I wrote a script and then said it in blocks (didn't memorise it) and I think it worked quite well.

I've just tried that ig story idea. Seemed to work although I don't really go on it and don't have many followers.

Yes, of course, only about 2 or 3 mins get watched of most of my videos! I've been going back and forth with playing first or talking first to try to get them to hang on. That latest video was inspired by John Cordy as he always has some playing at the beginning, but a lot of others don't - and they seem to have big channels.

I think the key for most of the big channels are that they are great players and I'm not so I don't think I'll be challenging tps any time soon.

By the way, my most liked video ever (433 likes) was only talking - no playing at all!

spark240 · October 2022

Yeah its tricky what can fly...retaining viewers is almost impossible unless its a really short vid, IG is definitely worth the effort , its quick and easy, just choose the right image and text as stories are only up for a few seconds, Ive managed to get over 100 followers pretty quick, same with TikTok. Ive also been working on Twitter which has been surprisingly good, over 150 followers in a very short time...maybe try a regular opening theme , maybe a guitar riff or something so there is some consistency, I mean Im not there yet myself but Im becoming aware of what works ;-)

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