Scott's new mancave

[ceecrb1]

Yeah with 3 point lighting, one key idea is to make sure that they key is brighter and a little harder than the fill.... so even just reducing the intencity of the fill might have the same effect.. ie key closer or fill farther away. or bounce the fill off a wall.

Yeah that behringer mic should do the trick! The hard part is always balancing getting the mic in the right place but having the shot aesthetically pleasing.. When playing with placement dont be shy to try it while listening to yourself "live" on some headphones then you can move it around and you'll get a feel for how much a small change in position can make to the sound captured by a microphone.
I use a wireless headphone system to do just this on stage with a band... I will just send a specific mic to my headphones and then start "focusing" the microphone while a musician plays.. slight changes can make a massive difference!

As I said.. any questions or advice etc just let me know.

At least for once I am returning advice to the forum rather than just reading and taking things from it!

Colin.

 

[JohnReid]

Your old man cave looks like my present one ! ;D

 

[Jurasikfrank]

Hey guys,
No worries Collin, I'm 100% with eveything you said (I've actually seen your video before, very interesting!).

Can't argue that, above everything the very most important thing is microphone placement. Can't argue either that distance is crutial or that a post syncro would be the way to go. Oh, btw Scott, I'm no fan of the Auralex, not because the product isn't good, it's just too expensive for what it brings to the table (my opinion).
I'm just trying to bring some cost effective ideas that would enhance the quality of the audio without having Scott setup for 15 minutes before recording, moving the Mic around everytime he changes his working position and/or having to work another 10-15 minutes or so to post sycronizing image to sound. What I want is LOTS OF VIDEOS ;D ;D I actually don't care if it sound distant and "bathroomish" I've worked too long with state of the art and awesome vintage technology and seen the product of my labor end up on a low quality mp3 to care LOL
VIDEOS MAN I WANT VIDEOS ;D

I suggested the Lav mic 'cause you can get some very cheap (or very expensive ) and they will definatly be an improvement just by reducing the distance like Collin was pointing out. Also, it would "follow you" around.
You said your camera as no Mic/In, does it have a line/In ? All you would need then would be to place your B2 on a shrt drum Mic stand, hook up your B2 mic to a cheapo preamp, point the mic to your head and hook up the line out of the preamp to your camera.
If you don't have a line/In then, post syncro seem like the best solution with the equipment you already have.

Cheers guys

 

[Junkie]

Yeah, no line in. Only AV out. I have the B2, and an ART phantom power thing. No real preamp (well I have a Mackie 1604, but don't really wanna get into that.)

Maybe a cheap lav directly into the computers sound card? That might werk.

 

[hooterville75]

Scott I have a Behringers like 6 Channel Mixer I never use anymore since I quit doing the Audio Broadcasts of wrestling matches I used to do. Ill be more then happy to give it to you if you can get great use out of it in your man cave doing anything you can do with it. Choice is up to you my friend. Id be glad to send it to ya or even trade you for a couple kits or something. It was $129 brand new two years ago. Let me know and Ill get it out to ya if you can utilize it.

 

[ceecrb1]

If you go direct to the computer... I´d really stick to a computer store bought microphone... I´ve always had weird results when I tried doing this.. never have in a profesional situation but I experimented with it at home and tbh never looked for a solution because I didnt need to... I THINK its really all about not using the mic boost feature... but the signal still ends up a little low.
IF this is the only option your willing to pay for, let me know and i'll go investigating it.

as for a "better" solution:

google a Audio Technica ATR 3350 in your area... they are cheap and acceptable.. have a small battery to power them and 6m of cable going to a mini jack that you can directly record in any mp3 recorder/dictaphone etc etc
http://www.amazon.ca/Technica-ATR-3350-Omnidirectional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B002HJ9PTO

Check out the "Alesis TwoTrack" also as a cheap external recorder which will accept that minijack input.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/822531-REG/Alesis_TWO_TRACK_TwoTrack_Stereo_Handheld_Audio.html

There are other recorders out there.. this is the cheapest I found with a VU meter and a jack input from a brand I would trust... As I said earlier I have the Zoom H1 which is a very little more expensive and its fine!

The next option is iphone adaptors:
This is a little more "complete"
http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-iXZ-Instrument-input-iPhone/dp/B005NZ05J8
While this is just a straight connector that could be used with the lavelier microphone I posted earlier:
http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/km-iphone-mic.htm


IF you can financially go for it.. I´d start off with a rode videomic or videomic pro... a minijack extension cable and an external recorder... all of this plus a boom microphone stand and use it as an overhead as I did in the video I posted earlier.. you can hear the results it gives and TBH for youtube videos where most people are watching on laptops or ipads etc etc its more than acceptable.. if this were HDtv i'd have a different opinion.
Heres a crappy iphone pic so you get the idea.

Hope this should be enough to at least give some ideas of what kind of options are available.
I DID have a rode video mic which was missing its shockmount.. I was going to modify it to accecpt a mic clip and post it to you.. but I think its been binned.
I DO have if you feel you can use it: a USB to XLR adapator that supplies phantom power to condenser microphones and then acts as a (driverless) sound card... IE its a direct mic in to a computer via usb for better quality recording.... I USED to use it for analysing sound systems on a pc spectrum analyser, but now I have a proper handheld unit I dont use this any more. With this you could connect the B2 direct to it and directly to the pc. (mxl mic mate)

[attachment deleted by admin]

 

[Junkie]

hooter...while I totally appreciate the offer man, totally, I'm gonna decline. Just want this rig to be as light weight as possible. But thank you.

Cee, thank you too. I will go with USB direct. Just less setup, gear.

And guys, thanks for the help. I shot a webcam overhead test tonight. I'll post for crit tomorrow. Not perfect, but the price is right.

 

[Junkie]

Here's a 13 second test of an older, non HD, Logitech webcam mounting above my bench. Lighting is same as earlier, just moved.

Midway I don't zoom, I move the white board towards the camera.

Prepare to be unamazed.

Test - Overhead with older Logitech Webcam.

 

[TBadger]

ITS UNMAZING! I HAVE BEEN UNMAZED! ;D

 

[TRM]

Sweet! ;D

 

[adampolo13]

That's anamazingly okay... :

 

[geegad]

totally

 

[Junkie]

OK, so seriously. What do you think? Not great right?

 

[adampolo13]

I actually think it works great!!! Love to see some vid's come out of there.

 

[The Nylon Gag]

Scott,
I'm so excited about the prospect of new Girvan-vision Videos, been jonesin for quite some time now.


Lovin the man cave thread ;D

Gag

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

OK, so seriously. What do you think? Not great right?

meh

your other camera rocks, this is just meh

 

[TBadger]

It's a bit choppy, but I think its because we're all spoiled with Full HD content everywhere. Functionally it works fine, but it's not the absolute finest quality.

That being said, I'm excited to see more build videos comin along

 

[Junkie]

Yeah it sucks.

Sitting here now, in cave, and just shot more tests. Comparing the P2V I just bought with my JVC, I'll have another quick video up in a couple of hours....or as soon as I get time to do it. JVC wins by a mile or seven.

DO. IT!

 

[adampolo13]

Yeah it sucks.

Sitting here now, in cave, and just shot more tests. Comparing the P2V I just bought with my JVC, I'll have another quick video up in a couple of hours....or as soon as I get time to do it. JVC wins by a mile or seven.

DO. IT!

Just my opinion here but you should do a test video in which you build that Hummel you got on the shelf.

 

[Junkie]

lol - it's day will come. Got some other stuff in the queue first though.

 

[Dusky]

I'm saving my Hummel for when you build yours. ;D

 

[adampolo13]

lol - it's day will come. Got some other stuff in the queue first though.

hahaha, okay. I'm just sayin it would make a great video.

I'm also looking forward to that Foose build!

 

[Junkie]

Closeup tests

 

[JohnSimmons]

NICE, that's the way to go. The detail on the seat and engine showed up great.

 

[Junkie]

Yeah, it's good. Could still use a bit more light...I find it a bit 'blue' in some parts. But it's good.

Gonna shoot a review tomorrow for HLJ. I'll mount the camera over the bench, see how it works out.

 

[Dusky]

Great quality!

 

[hooterville75]

Well Scott, I don't really have a preference as I'm appreciative of any video we get period. Any video is better then no video. Whatever is easiest for you and u have available. Id be happy to have any camera period ha ha. Na ok you got me actually I have a video camera just no balls to actually produce the video ha ha. Camera freight I guess. Then again I was camera shy on posting builds and got over that from the challenge of Adampolo ha ha. Again in the new year mate. But the vid you just posted was by far better then the still photos of the other camera.

 

[Junkie]

It's cool that you guys would like more videos. Thanks.

My goal in all this 'fussin' is simply to produce the best quality I can on my given budget of around $0.00 - If I want to add a second camera with really good quality it's gonna cost so I'll just stick to one, move it around and edit.

Honestly I enjoy the multimedia element as a hobby too. I do similar work for my living, no so much video - but I love it all and strive to do my best.

I picked up a 720p webcam for $20 at a local electronics store. It's decent, better than my old logitech and the P2V - but the JVC is still better so I'll stick to that.

 

[Jurasikfrank]

Hey Scott,
That last video is perfect; the image flows well and it picks up the details perfectly. Hey, this ain't national geographic it's SMA ;D
As for the audio, i'm assuming your just going through the camera's mic and you know what, it's just fine the way it is. Keep not over complicating things, is that even a sentence??
I can't speak for everyone but this show is not about how good you sound and look :-* , it's about a cool and funny guy sharing his modeling experience.
Long live SMA and your upcoming videos ;D

Cheers

 

[ceecrb1]

Yeah that last video is the way to go..
Especially as having the camera so close to you, in your hands, means that the microphone is also there with you!

For the other camera on the stand... Have you tried using the inbuilt video capture software in editing software to record? ie in sony vegas or adobe premier, the "old fashioned" way to copy dv tapes from tape to HDD.. Sometimes they see all the webam devices and so on.

I'm still hoping to make some headway with the usb-xlr device.. As I said, I unfortunately left my digital oscilioscope at work this weekend so not too much I can do.. Its gone all "hissy" which would to me imply that its as simple as a capacitor has gone bad and isnt filtering out noise properly.. If I get it going there will be package at your door!