We're really missing gigging, and many of our 'extended family' of fans have been asking us to record performances and put them on YouTube.

So we're thinking about setting up, putting a stationary camera on a tripod, and recording some live performances.

The camera would be stationary as we have no one to run it, especially in COVID times, and if possible I'd like to take a balanced output of my PA and feed that into the camera directly. If not I suppose an external mic might be a good option unless the camera itself has a good mic.

Since we are unemployed, I don't want to break the bank on this, but want decent quality.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Notes

This is what I just bought. It would seem to meet many of your criteria. My wife is starting to use it for church; I'll ask her later how she likes it.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Q2n4K--zoom-q2n-4k-handy-video-recorder-with-xy-microphone

If you have an iPhone give it a try. The newer ones have great cameras.
(other type phones will likely work, too - I just know iPhones)

Stands are cheap.
https://www.amazon.com/Acuvar-Universal-...la-593855613514



My buddy Jon does videos in his living room - 3 acoustic instruments - with nothing more than a iPhone. (audio is just using the phone mic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UadHWuKlnos



I did a music video (for my PGMusic thinig) using an iPhone 6.
The audio was added/synced in video software...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPrejgnwb4M&t=3613s

Notes,

This is what I use to record my eConcerts and quite a few live gigs as well back in the good old days before covid:

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/hd-pro-webcam-c920

However I do not use the mics on the camera, I use my existing stage mics through a mixer to OBS.

Then just download free https://obsproject.com/download if you have not already. OBS gives you many format choices for your video and will also give you an opportunity to greenscreen. If you would like to see an example I can send you a link.

Also if you would like me to answer any questions DM me and I'll send a phone number.

Have Fun!

I use my Canon Vixia digital camera for video, but that 920 that Danny suggested is VERY popular for it's compactness and it does a very good job on the video. I have 2 of the model below it, the 720 that are my left and right cameras.

Apple makes great stuff. There is a new player in the game, though,
via a collaboration HP laptops and Bang and Olafsun audio apps -- worth
looking into.

With newer Android and Apple phones providing excellent quality for photo/video, you can decide if your current phone is new enough to do what you need. Most phones newer than say 3 years old should be good enough to go. Most all of these newer phones will have accessories available to mount them to a camera stand.

Notes,

I spent most of the day trying to figure out what the best answer is for you. Most of the answers given are decent so I wouldn’t argue with them. The new digital video capabilities of our phones and other devices is amazing. On the other hand, the last generation of video cameras is considered obsolete by professional and advanced amateur videographers so they can be had for a song on eBay. The miniDVs were and still are an amazing camera with a lot of Pro capabilities. When the Canon gl2 came out about 18 years ago, I bought one for our wedding/portrait business and the cost was painful. 5 years ago I went online and bought 4 more for less than half the price I had spent on the one when it was brand new. What do I need with 5 camcorders? How interesting is a video with just one perspective versus 5 perspectives synced together and edited in a good video program like Vegas? The only problem right now in working with the miniDVs is that it is getting harder and harder to find the old firewire cables and connectors needed to tie them together. At any rate, looking for a number of cheap older camcorders that you can set up a different locations, with different points of focus, and different zoom beats the hell out of an expensive camera just sitting there with no variation in the look.

There are two other things that are more important than the camera though. If you look at most of the bad videos on YouTube, they fall short on lighting and on audio. You can spend 20 grand on a video camera but if you don’t understand back lights, hair lights, fill lights etc, you end up with a flat dull looking video. Spend a little less on the camera and buy sufficient light to light yourself and create separation between the subject and the background and you will have a better product. Also, at this point, you probably have invested way more money in recording technology than you are ever going to invest in videography. Learn to sync a live recording with your video and leverage what you are already good at and invested in rather than rely on in camera audio.

I agree with Danny Campo. He has been streaming on Street Jelly for years and he knows what works best for a lot of people who play music online.

Here's the thing about streaming: if you broadcast too high quality video, a lot of people with slow connections will have trouble watching it. So prioritize the music, not the video. Get a cheap webcam that will send a low res video (720p to 1080p) that just about anybody will be able to watch without buffering issues, then use an audio interface (NOT the web cam mic) to capture the output from your mixer. That way the music will be great and the video will be "good enough"

The number one complaint on Streaming sites is video dropout. Most people don't seem to have a problem with the music.

my 2 cents, but there are lots of workable idea here. Pick one you like and run with it. Keep us posted, I'd like to watch your stream!

Yohan Kim obviously records with multiple camera angles, and at least one of them is clearly an iPhone, giving an excellent resolution quality.

Yohan Kim also has a cameraman panning around as he plays. We don't have that luxury. Besides as big as I am they wouldn't make it all the way around me before a song ended.....

I just used 3 cheap HD Cams left/right/center (you can set the left/right to close up) then mix the recorded audio from the mixing deck with the video after, just turn the volume down on the video tracks and leave the recorded mixing deck audio track up. Might be easy to record the mixer audio directly into Reaper then add the video tracks after.
Here's Reaper-Multicam-Mix.mp4

Download Multicam Videos here to practice (Download button under videos)
https://vimeo.com/110045836

MULTICAM RAW FOOTAGE - Jazz song Cam 01
MULTICAM RAW FOOTAGE - Jazz song Cam 02
MULTICAM RAW FOOTAGE - Jazz song Cam 03
MULTICAM RAW FOOTAGE - Jazz song Cam 04

Guide for Reaper

Notes
Most recent cameras should be adequate, but I recommend your idea of separate audio recording.

Myself and 3 friends started a similar project a couple of weeks ago, but, because we meet infrequently, it has taken until now to refine the process.

First attempt; I set up my Fuji X-T3, pressed the button, then we played a few songs. When I looked at the video later I discovered that the camera has a 30 minute maximum record time and that the room reverb, while not apparent at the time, becomes very noticeable when recorded. (to enable distancing we were in a badminton court)

Second attempt; We moved to a smaller room and recorded in sections of less than 30mins. The reverb was less but still intrusive and the built in camera mics had difficulty with some frequencies, emphasizing highs and poor bass.

Since I am an amateur stills photographer I know little about video, so I did some googling and found that if you include a "clapper board" type reference at the start, you can record audio separately, in line it up with the camera audio track, then delete the camera audio.

Third attempt: While filming,Run all audio through a mixing desk and monitors, pan vocals and instruments hard L&R and record via stereo out to a Tascam DP-008. We had no effects added on the mixer as I found that reverb is sent in stereo, so instruments bled into the vocals and vice versa. I added slight reverb in DAW at mixdown.

This is the stage we are at as of yesterday. The audio is 100% better, and this allows a degree of control between vocals and instruments before final mixdown. Now that the technicalities have been sorted, hopefully we ca go for a "take" at our next meeting.

Hope this is useful,

Vintage

Yes, you are exactly correct that there is an additional camera operator, but some of the angles in the video are from the iPhone, and that is the point I was alluding to. If you review my first screen capture, it shows the iPhone mounted on a stand, close to a wall, and the second screen capture is the vision exactly from that iPhone location, not from any separate camera operator. Check it out. Please let me know if my perception of the iPhone location and usage is incorrect.

Maybe one of the Canon rebel cameras? They're cheap enough, and you can then use Sparkocam for webcam. Canon sensor isn't too small so it shouldn't be that bad in dark environments and plus you can use magic lantern to bump up quality once warranty runs out and you're feeling adventurous.

I have limited knowledge on canons so double check this stuff, but I hope this helps.

To be honest I didn't even notice anything in the background. I was watching those lithe fingers work.

Yes, we can all be forgiven for being distracted by the outstanding talent - I'm also just as guilty

Can't help with the camera question (though I would imagine that you want something that is pretty easy to set up, gives reasonable quality video and good audio on the finished video)

I am looking forward though to having a look and listen when you get it all down.

So do update us on the link when you have time to get around to it.

Being so far away and never seeing you both in concert it will be a real treat for me to have a listen.

Good luck with it all, and may the gigging return for you soon.

Before you overcome yourself with multiple cameras and the miracle of digital time sync, be sure you are aware just how much power is in the modern editing program with respect to keyframes, pan, crop, and other features formerly considered high end and the territory of the film lab's optical printer. Keeping in mind the higher the original resolution, the better the result of any post crop or zoom. That includes color correction, which is huge in compositions. Adobe premiere or Sony are very good at all of this. Also, live and in studio are two different things. The higher end the camera, the better the onboard audio. If you can pick up a decent Sony or Canon pro-sumer camcorder cheap (under $1000 ?? New over $6k) on Ebay, I'd say go for it. But make the effort of go and see before you send money, with someone who knows the line. Better than take my advice, stop in your local TV station and ask the techs what they are using today.

Thank you all so much for your generous contributions.

There is a lot to digest here.

I don't want to deal with multiple cameras, and we plan to do these videos outdoors in our carport. Our house (cottage) is too small to get a good setup.

I just want to able to set the camera up, preferably on a tripod (I have SLR tripods) and go.

I also want an easy learning curve as I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

Also, the carport is white, so we're thinking about buying some easy to hang curtains behind us. I suspect white would make our faces too dark. What is a good color for the cameras to react to? Neutral gray? Beige? Pink?

Thanks again,
Bob

Darker colors will give you better contrast as long as you have adequate front lighting. We have used a deep blue quite successfully. Think about a curtain on a stage or television studio where the curtain sits behind the presenter. Usually they are made from a darker color material.

its worth noting, if you are using a tripod for the camera: most webcams have a 1/4" female thread that lets you mount them to a tripod.

For lighting I went to Home Depot and bought 2 aluminum "deep dish" painter's lights and put LED bulbs in them, with nothing more than pieces of paper for diffusers. They work just fine. Whatever light you use, I highly suggest LED rather than incandescent bulbs.

Thanks again to all.

More food for thought.

I might try without lights first. The carport faces west, so if done in the early afternoon, a lot of reflected but not direct light should come in.

If that doesn't work, I'll add lights.

I'm going to try to do this as inexpensively as I can and still get decent results.

We've been out of work since March, the governor is still not allowing live music, our winter tourist season which is usually booked solid by now is empty, and as long as COVID-19 rages, it looks like any work at all will be sparse.

We're not destitute but believe in times like this we should be frugal.

Notes

Another possible 'budget' idea for a back drop instead of curtains. Consider multiple overlapped drops of colored paper roll. Just use thumb tacks (or perhaps tape) to secure the top of each drop in place, tape together at the bottom.

Colored Kraft Paper Roll

36" wide x 200' rolls are available. Lots of colors. Definitely a cheap way to get an acceptable result.

Times like THIS? Frugal has been my life for 69+ years now! I keep shoes for 6-7 years!! I recently threw away a t-shift from when I went to the Fiesta Bowl. That was when Alex Smith played for Utah. His NFL career has pretty much come and gone. That game was in 2005!

My friend Melissa visited me from Oklahoma in 2010. She drinks coffee. I do not. I bought a small coffee pot for her visit and a can of Maxwell House coffee. That can of coffee is STILL in my freezer.

I keep things like broken shoelaces, because you never know when you need a short piece of string to tie something up.

You want frugal? I got frugal!

Time to stream with a tip jar, Notes. And maybe record a CD.

You should not need additional lighting if as stated you have good natural light, even for green screen. But if you are going to use green screen at night you will need additional lighting. I know you want to keep the price down but this is what I will be using for my green screen lighting for my night shows from now on.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015DYIQ94/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Along with a Home Depot light(as per Eddie's description) above for subject lighting.

Later,

I should also add that I diffuse those lights only because they are 2 feet from my face and they are too harsh without the diffusion. If you set them 6 feet away from you they will be fine. With your plan for time of day you may not need supplemental lighting. You may want to light your backdrop to eliminate shadows, but again, you won't know until you test if that natural light will cause enough shadows to worry about.

I have a Zoom Q8 and I think it's pretty special. Words as a webcam/compressor mics. Has 2 xlr inputs for 2 extra mics. 120 degree zoom. Horses for courses, but check out Zoom (https://zoomcorp.com/en/jp/) It's also an audio interface.

Thanks again y'all.

Eddie, I loved the frugal. We are normally thrifty, and lucky because we have always lived below our means. Our house and cars are paid in full, and we have zero debt and a savings account.

But since our last gig was March 17, and this year's tourist season which is usually booked solid by now is empty, we have go from thrifty to tightwads

But sooner or later, COVID will come under some kind of control, and we'll get back to being thrifty again.

I think we we set up in the early afternoon, we might not need any additional lighting. We'll try that and see. The house faces west.

We might try one in the morning first, it's much cooler then.

I have a lot to learn. But I like learning new things, but with all my other projects, I'm hoping the learning curve isn't too steep

Notes

I have some coffee here if you need it.....

Ha Ha, Notes, I'd pass on the coffee offer (YMMV )

I forgot to mention, I think, that the original purpose for which I bought the Zoom camera was as a webcam. I think every inexpensive webcam in North America was bought out in March by kids going to school virtually, and this is what I found to do the job. The fact it is an excellent video recorder was secondary at the time but is now coming in handy.

I picked up a Zoom Q4 on Craigslist for $75, it does everything I want it to do and is simple to operate.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Notes

I'm going to pull the trigger on the Zoom Q2n-4K, plus a 128G SD card and see what happens.

And the learning curve will begin

Thanks all for the help.

Notes