General Music Chat

I'm looking to buy my own video equip. just to make some low budget (if you will) videos of the music I've done and also of the band I'm in...

Has anybody messed with this kinda thing before... and if so.... give me some good recommmedations on some good yet inexpensive equip and software....

I just hate to go out and buy something cold.. and then wish I had got something else. I've read reviews and that kinda thing but nothing really touches on how good a certain product would be for music video purposes...unless that depends on additional software quality ?????

Anyone ??? Anything ???

Unless you want to drop several thousand dollars on a pro Hi-D video camera, there is a plethora of really decent video cams out on the market now that record direct to disc, and can offload easily to your computer for editing. Sony and Panasonic make some of the best. Look for one at your local Circuit City or Best Buy (or online) that records to the mini-DVD disk.

A couple of lights wouldnt hurt either.....maybe one spot and a couple of side fills, along with a diffuser screen (those fit over the light to spread it out for a more soft lighted look). Those are available at an Inkley's Photography store (if you have one) or any place that sells supplies for TV and radio recording. Look around, they are affordable.

Software - get yourself one or more of the following - FinalCut DVD, Encore, Premiere Pro, AfterEffects. I use them all at our studio - I gravitate to Premiere Pro and AfterEffects (made by Adobe). Out of the four, AfterEffects is the one that is specifically made to create titles - that is, graphic eye candy for intros, breaks, segues and credits....as well as for more creatively bent video effects. Make sure your computer can handle all this stuff, as video is really CPU process intensive. Make sure you have oodles of HD space and a good processor (3ghz or higher) as well as as much RAM as you can handle (2 to 4 gigs recommended).

One last word. If you haven't done this before, be warned: there is one HELL of a learning curve. You have to dedicate a good amount of time in educating yourself on the concepts, terminology, and processes of creating and editing video. Good luck.

Hey man....

thanks for the tips. I'm glad you mentioned mini disk because those were some of the ones I was looking at.... and coincidently the Sony and Panasonic... I just figured anything Sony makes has to be of good quality.

I'll probably have to get some more RAM for my computer. I was actually thinking of getting a MAC .. i had heard by many many people that MACs are much better for this kinda thing so the thing I've been kicking around is...hmmm..upgrade or get a Mac....

I didnt think about the lighting either. Thanks again on that one. EVer heard of a program called Vegas? I heard of it but have never encountered anyone who has used it.

Just one more thing..... in the picture that comes along with your postings.... what the heck is that thing your holding...everytime I see it I wonder..is that a digital mixer..a keyboard.... or what...is that even you? LOL.!!! Just wonderin. Thanks again....

Mike

I was actually thinking of getting a MAC .. i had heard by many many people that MACs are much better for this kinda thing so the thing

Yeah, that's a common perception, but it's not accurate. At one time, many years ago, it was true. I was on Macs for about 13 years until about 4 years ago when I switched to PC because I was aggrivated by the lack of software available for Mac. PC has closed the gap with Mac in the media building realm - you can do the same on both platforms now. I prefer PC because, as always, yuo have a better chance of getting the software you want for it.

Just one more thing..... in the picture that comes along with your postings.... what the heck is that thing your holding...everytime I see it I wonder..is that a digital mixer..a keyboard.... or what...is that even you? LOL.!!! Just wonderin. Thanks again....

Mike

Yeah thats me, and the instrument in question is my Roland JX-305. It's basically a GrooveBox with a keyboard attached to it. I love the thing because 1) I'm a Roland fanatic and 2) it's very small, light and easy to travel with. My 88 key piano weighted keyboard is a BEAR to haul around.

rent rent rent.....a decent cam is several thousand dollars and then producing and editing it yourself is a whole different ball game.

Rent your camera and lighting then go to elance.com and put a project up to find you an editor. Don't worry it's cheap just make you sure find an editor tha you are sure shares your vision for the final product.

hey thanks man. I made note of that site. I'll check it out. Appreciate the advice. Irminsul was saying the same about the whole editing and what not.. its sounds like something I'm not ready for.

Michael Evans

I have been checking in on everyones music and...
irminsul... have to feed my curiosity... use sf acid much?
Love the drop out with the congas in bground.

I have been checking in on everyones music and...
irminsul... have to feed my curiosity... use sf acid much?
Love the drop out with the congas in bground.

Thanks for the feedback. No I don't use Acid - that song (Blindside Barium) was done with Fruity Loops 5 and Cubase (plus my own vocal sample - the "scream").

some interesting stuff there. i like fruity too. especially wave traveler. love to take movie quotes and/or presidential speeches and do some record scratching. I am going to guess you are quite familiar with the beat slicing util. (similar to acidizing). nice work.

some interesting stuff there. i like fruity too. especially wave traveler. love to take movie quotes and/or presidential speeches and do some record scratching. I am going to guess you are quite familiar with the beat slicing util. (similar to acidizing). nice work.

Oh yeah, beat slicing can really come in handy. I honestly don't use it that much but when I did it was very valuable.

Thanks again.

I hear ya. It's a real life saver when you have two things you know will sound good together, but they are at two dif tempos. It is also nice if you want instant access to a drum kit made from a loop.
got to love the fruity.
the one prob w it is... if you reformat your system drive and rebuild/reinstall fruity... fruity will look for the first sample file name that matches the one it's looking for. Have you ever experienced this? IE if your file is named c4 fruity finds the first c4 available and uses that. I wrote a prog do rename files like this but it is kind of a pain. Hoping a newer version will have a fix.
anywho, all for now
mv