What digital camcorders have you folks used to record your flute playing with? I'm not looking for anything elaborate, but it does have to record sound well. Would I do better with a separate mic? I would use it for youtube videos, recording performances, that sort of thing; maybe even to record practices to check overall body posture etc.
Good question! I would be curious as well. I have a camera with horrible sound on it so that is a huge reason why I refuse to put videos of myself playing flute up on youtube. I can't figure out all that stuff anyway.
I was checking out the flip video ultra... something designed specifically for youtube videos, uses mpeg4 compression... that sort of thing.. It seems great for sharing videos via the internet or just shooting video of the kids & pets goofing off. Or me playing flute lol. I'm just worried about the sound quality!!!!! However, I would think since it's "digital" it should be pretty good, right? Arrrggggg!!!!
On a side note,every semester I get a refund check of a couple hundred dollars for financial aid. I could pay bills with it, fix up stuff around the house, buy gifts for my family... No. I blow it on *something* flute-related....
At least I have my priorities straight, right? lol
I have an old 3in1 which does not have a great picture when it comes to web cam. but when I have it on "recording" mode its ok. but it needs a separate mic. for computer.
We just bought a RCA Small wonder.` A lot like a Flip video. It doesn't have very good musical recording quality. No better than a still digital with vid capability. It is fun for making YouTube-like vids though.
I think that if one were going to have better sound, either a dedicated, digital vid camera such as a Casio EX-V8 which is about $300.list $240 retail.
Or you simply add your prerecorded sound file to some vid. via some movie maker program.
My opinion is that the microphone is the most important link in the recording chain. An external, reasonably good mike should much improve the quality of the sound, if placed correctly.
There are lots of brands and models, among them my Yamaha YM70S dynamic microphone which is fairly cheap. (about 20 Eu).
You will also need a suitable support, high enough if you play standing and lower if you play seating. You could improvise one (short of buying one at music shops) with the lower part of a music stand and some minor modifications to keep the mike in place.
Some experimenting will be necessary concerning the best place for the microphone, so that it does not capture too many undesirable sounds as breathing and key noise.
The acoustics of the room (or hall...) is also very important; you must experiment because too much reverberation could be nice for our ears, but not too good for recording.
For the best sound possible you should make a separate sound recording of the playing, using either a good digital minidisk or fully solid state recorder or just a PC equipped with suitable recording software (I suggest Audacity, it's free and good).
Then it would be simple matter to make a video recording of your playing (without sound), while you listen to your own previous recording (similar to TV playbacks)for correct synchronization. Finally both parts are put together with movie maker or other video editing SW.
This method has the added advantage that you can make your video completely free from camera position concerns; if the person who operates the camera has some experience and creativity, you could end up with a beautiful and inspiring recording of your playing, with different views, close ups and so on.
This cannot be done if you use the built-in microphone of your camera as moving it around the player would cause sound changes that could impair the recording. Also consider that someone moving around you while you play could be quite distracting so you must concentrate and forget the camera.
<Added>
The quality of youtube videos is quite low so that you could use *any* camera for that. But sound can be very good, so my suggestions above do apply also for Youtube videos.
i actually use a canon powershot a550 camera which has video recording capabilitys, it has good quality sould (i will add a couple more vids to my profile and youtube so you can here) and 7.1 mega pixels with a fantastic lens, but any of the new A series(-50+) (the dash it the hundred series and that number just relats to the number of mega pixels ect. just make sure it has a 50+ and it is quarantied to be like mine) powershot cameras would be a bit like mine and have the same sound capablitys (just differant lenses as it is a camera first) or you can get canon camcorders which are meant to be good, but i have not used them.
my canon a550 cost my perants 130pounds in may last year so you are looking at probally 150 us dollars now (as canon have released other cameras i think)
I've found the Canon digital cameras have excellent built-in (in my opinion).
Last year I had a Casio Exilim EX-S600 and recorded a sound file of my friend playing his Haynes Schwelm flute (it was in his van so the sound isn't the greatest and atmosphere, etc.) but here's a link to listen to-- it's not that bad considering... http://youtube.com/watch?v=YAMVAhV_PYk
Here are two examples of videos I made using my aunt's Kodak (really cheap now) digital camera. The first one is an antique Rittershausen flute: http://youtube.com/watch?v=G-ap5nV-Spo
You can find a used Kodak Z700 (the model of camera used in the Rittershausen and bass flute videos) for around $140 new with a photo printer but I always told my aunt that the best thing about this model is the fact that the videos come out decent. The SD630 Canon digital camera (Haynes piccolo demo) sells for under $200 new on eBay but if you want to use the digital camera to also take pictures, I'd recommend upgrading from the SD630 to the SD750 (has 1mp more than the SD630) and they sell for about the same. The Casio Exilim EX-S600 (slideshow video) sells cheaper than both of the other models at about $130 new (and sometimes less if you search really meticulously!) but took so-so pictures but good overall. With my personal experience, I'd recommend the Canon SD630/SD750, then the Kodak Z700 (for videos ONLY as the photo quality wasn't any better than a Polaroid digital cam that came out in 1999/2000), and last but not least the Casio Exilim EX-S600. I'm sure there will be a little input from many more people in here soon so that's the end of my input-- FOR NOW! Mwahaha! =)
that actually doesn't sound too bad, some of these new video cams have decent mics. But, that said, to properly record any flute, I agree with Jose, it is all in the mic, I have been in the studio a lot lately, and the mics these studios have, good studios that is, are pretty awesome, you have to barely play and they just boom...
not to mention the fact that they bring out the full range of the flute...
Here are a recording I made today. I use an ADK 51 microphone (150$), an ART Tube MP Studio preamp (150$), Line6 UX2, Audio interface (250$). The reverb is an free impulse reverb called SIR. As for my playing I'm an 43 years old amateur, and I hope my playing dont spoil the listening :-) (You need good speakers or headphones to get the most out of it.)
I think it's fantastic what sound quality you can get now for relativly small money.
searching...
.JPG)
.JPG)
