Open Sky Video

Sound Check

This week, I am thrilled to share the wisdom and expertise of Christy from http://onlinesoundadvice.com.  She truly cares about helping you get the best audio possible from the start, so the post production process goes smoother and quicker.  She was kind enough to answer questions via email.

Here she shares her indispensable advice, thoughts and ideas on affordable audio equipment, simple recording tips, and what to think about before doing your audio recording.

Is it really possible to get good audio if you’re not a ‘pro’ with a big budget? Absolutely! In fact, there are many “pros” with big budgets who produce rubbish quality on a daily basis! If you take care of the three core things that help (or hurt) your audio quality … your body, your space, your equipment (in that order!)…you’ll come out just fine.

If someone wants to record a podcast or create an audio class from home, where should they begin?  Can they record directly into their computer? That’s a really big question. I always say that you start with your content. Get your content worked out and polished. Recording by the seat of your pants is pretty much always inadvisable. Know your audience, your message, and get yourself organized.

Step two is to look at your recording space. Get your space set up to be suitable for recording. Avoid road noise, make sure your cat can be locked out, and either be far away from anyone who shares the house with you or else kick them out … er, I mean send them for ice cream while you’re recording.

Step three is getting your body in order. I suggest standing to record, which means being able to have your mic at the correct height for you standing. Be sure you’re hydrated (preferably with water, not soda or other chemical-laden drinks). Relax.

Finally, yes, you can record direct to the computer. Particularly if you’re creating audio or video for a product for your business. Later on, when you’re big and successful, you’ll want to consider upping your game, but for now using your computer will work perfectly.

What are your thoughts on Audio Acrobat, Garage Band and other recording and audio editing programs out there?  What do you recommend for someone starting out? For editing, I think you should use what you know. If you know Garage Band and it does the things you need it to do, then use that. There’s not need – particularly when you’re just getting going – to add learning an editing system to your plate if there’s something you know right now.

If, on the other hand, you don’t have any sort of editing program in your head, give Audacity a try. It’s Mac and Windows and it’s free. I find it to be really basic, and simple to learn for 95% of folks. And the other 5% just need a little coaching to get on board.

For capturing audio, I know that many people love Audio Acrobat. It seems to do a decent job. On the Mac, I’m a big fan of Audio Hijack Pro, because you can bring together multiple audio sources and capture any audio that you can run through your computer.

If anyone suggests to you that you “must” learn ProTools or even ProTools Lite in order to put out good audio, I’d encourage you to look for another opinion. Those are fantastic tools, but they’re expensive and difficult to learn. And, if you don’t use them regularly, you forget how they work. I know how to use them and think they’re fantastic, but I don’t think they’re appropriate for most people producing audio for their online content.

What is the best mic you’d recommed under 100 bucks?  Is that even realistic? Does it need to be XLR or is USB okay? Right now, there are no mics under 100 bucks I’d recommend. For USB mics the lowest priced mic I can suggest with any confidence is the Audio-Technica AT2020USB at $150 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT2020USB/. I’ve recommended the 2020 to a number of people, and they’ve been quite pleased. A really good step up from that mic, though still in the USB world is the Shure PG42USB. It’s $100 more than the 2020, but it gives you some really great features the 2020 lacks. Chief among them is a low-latency (delay) headphone jack on the mic.

As far as XLR versus USB … I will always prefer XLR mics, because the physical microphones themselves – of the ones I’d recommend – are higher quality from the get-go. For example, the XLR version of the AT2020 is a higher quality mic than the USB version. It captures sound a bit differently and it sounds better. The down side for some folks with the XLR mics is that you do have to translate the analog sound captured by the XLR mic and translate it to the bits and bytes your computer can understand. This requires and Analog-to-digital converter. These converters come in all shapes and sizes. Some just don’t want to bother with this. And that’s okay. But if you want the best possible sound, it’s worth the extra steps.

Is there advice you can share about how to speak, sit, what to do with your body that can help the sound be better? I believe it’s always better to stand to record than to sit. When you’re standing, you’re not unintentionally compressing your lungs and diaphragm in that sitting position. The folks who can often successfully sit to record are trained musicians – particularly those who play wind instruments. The trick is to remember that you need to sit as if you’re playing that instrument.

When you speak, it’s critical to use your whole body to do the speaking. When you just use your throat, the sound you get is much thinner and less pleasing than the sound you get by involving your entire body. If you meditate or do yoga or jog or do any sort of whole body exercise, you know that if your entire physical self isn’t in sync, you run the risk of hurting yourself, or at the very least, having a bad session. The same is true when you’re speaking for a recording. Your entire body is involved in getting the best sound out. Use the full instrument at your disposal.

Wow.  Awesome Linchpin advice!  Truly a gift.

If you’ve got a video or audio product in mind, or perhaps a few — but are too busy to get started or unsure what steps to take next, contact me for video or Christy for audio at http://onlinesoundadvice.com/ today.  We can discuss your vision, and come up with a workable plan and budget perfect for you.

Also if you’ve been thinking of making multi-media products a part of your business in 2010 but are unsure where to begin, perhaps consider joining our upcoming teleseminar, Be A Producer! Together, Christy and I will be discussing all about planning and creating effective multi-media products, how they can expand your reach and grow your business, getting past those technical hurdles and fears, plus lots more.

We are very excited and hope you’ll join us.

More details to come very, very soon…

Enjoy and have a great week!

Editing like a Linchpin

Artists Ship.  That’s from Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin.  The chapter is called The Resistance. http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

By ship, he means deliver, publish, upload, finish.  He calls it a discipline and says its essential in the path to becoming indispensable, a Linchpin.  He uses the example of how Saturday Night Live goes on each week, ready or not.  He goes on to say “while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship.”

Making videos and especially editing can be the same way.  We can tinker and tweak forever, but at some point we just need to finish and deliver.  We need to ship.  This is fighting the resistance, not giving in to the fear that our thing isn’t perfect yet.  By doing it, we get better at it.

Editing is also fun and really creative.  In this post, I will cover the basics of the video editing process.

I truly hope this is helpful to you making your awesome videos!

1. Getting the footage into the computer:

If you’re using a Flip, iPhone 3G or other “tapeless” camcorder, you’ll plug a USB cable from the camcorder to the computer and copy over the digital video files to your desktop.  From here you can import the clips into your desired editing program.

With the iPhone 3G the clip will be imported as a Quicktime file (into iPhoto) when you sync your iPhone.  With the Flip it will be imported as an MPEG-4.  Both are good quality file formats for editing and eventual uploading to the web.

For Mac users, you can copy the Quicktime file from iPhoto to your desktop and then import the Quicktime into your editing program and begin editing.

Note: For Mac users, importing certain video formats other than Quicktimes may require downloading MPEG Stream software.  This software allows you to convert just about any digital file format to a compatible format for Mac-based editing.

If you are using a MiniDV camcorder, MiniDV tapes can be purchased for about $5. each.  The process of importing footage from MiniDV tape is almost the same as the “tapeless” format.  You will need to connect a firewire cable from your camcorder to the computer.

You’ll use your camcorder as a ‘deck’ to import the footage.  First, you’ll cue the MiniDV tape to the beginning of the clip you want to import.  Your camcorder should be set to PLAY/VCR mode, not camera mode.  You’ll hit PLAY on the camcorder and then ‘import’ or ‘capture’, depending on which editing software you’re using.  Once you’ve captured the desired clip you can hit stop on the camcorder and cue up to the next part on the tape you want to import.  If you’re using iMovie or Final Cut, you’ll open the editing program first, then import your clips directly into these programs.  Once the clips are captured,  you’ll name the clips.

Tip: When importing footage, try sticking with shorter 5-10 minute clips.  This makes it easier to scroll through when you’re screening and choosing your selects.

• Mac users: Macs are great for editing videos.  They come with free, easy to learn editing software, iMovie.  For more in-depth editing you can add Final Cut Express.

• PC users: Movie Maker is Window’s free video editing software, which comes installed on new PCs.

2. Logging and Editing the footage:

Once the footage is captured into your desired editing program and the clips are named you are ready to begin.

Most editing programs have a similar layout – there’s a timeline (usually at the bottom) that displays your edited sequence of clips.  There is also a clip viewer or clip window where your captured clips are located.  From here you choose a clip to edit, mark  an ‘in’ and ‘out’ point for the clip and then drop onto the timeline.

The first editing pass is called a ‘stringout’.  You are roughly putting clips in the timeline and seeing how it plays.  During this stage, you rearrange the clips, experiment with music, extend or shorten clips.  You are assembling the pieces until it feels right.

A few things to keep in mind: Is your story or message being communicated?  What do you want people to do after watching your video? Is that crystal clear?

Once you have the clips in the order you like best, you ‘cleanup’ the piece, removing ums, adding any visual effects, dissolves, titles, music, VO.

• Adding voiceover: In iMovie, there is a built-in mic.  Good idea to read your copy and time it out first.   
• Adding music: Make sure to use music that is not-copyrighted, cleared cuts only.  Some royalty free music houses with affordable songs are:
• www.audiojungle.net
  
• http://musicbakery.com/
  
• http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
  
• garageband has a selection of free music themes in all types of genres, and also the ability to create your own music.

3. Uploading your Video

When you have finished editing your video, you’ll export the video file to a self-contained file compatible with the video hosting site of your choice.    This is your movie.  Quicktimes are widely used for Mac users.  If you are editing and exporting from a PC, I recommend checking the specs from the video hosting site of your choice for the best file format to use.

Popular Video Hosting Sites:

http://blip.tv/

http://www.vimeo.com/

http://www.viddler.com/

http://www.youtube.com/

http://www.ustream.tv/

Please do let me know of any questions you have on making videos.   And anything more I can add on editing, definitely let me know.

I’d love to hear from you!

Coming soon, Christy from http://onlinesoundadvice.com/ answers audio questions for us.  She is awesome!

Lighting, Naturally

I feel very lucky and grateful to have gone to Seth Godin’s Linchpin talk last Friday in NYC.  He shared incredible ideas and was truly inspiring. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

In the spirit of generosity and abundance that he spoke so much about, I am excited to begin a series of posts covering questions people ask me the most about making videos.

This week I’ll share tips on basic lighting ideas, affordable solutions and techniques.

Most importantly, I hope you have fun making your remarkable videos!

Here are a few things to remember about lighting:

• The best lighting is natural, daytime lighting.  Hazy days are awesome.

• Shooting outdoors is best, if possible. Just notice where the sun or main light source is and setup with this light source BEHIND you and the camera.

• If you’re shooting indoors, daylight is also the best.  The sunlight coming in from the window should be BEHIND you and the camera.  It is your main source of light.

• Raise the blinds and open the shades to allow more light in.  You can also turn on household lamps to add light.

• If you’re doing an interview and your subject is sitting on a couch or chair against a wall, make sure there is some space between them and the wall.  Move the furniture slightly away from the wall to create some depth.

• Place a vase of colorful flowers on a table near your subject.  A household lamp can also be placed in the shot for added light.

Important Tip:  If you are taping yourself talking into the camera, position yourself so that the main light source is facing you and BEHIND the camera, not behind you.  If not, this will result in you being in silhouette.  If unsure, do a quick 5 second test to see how it looks.

Inexpensive lighting tip for under $10:  Go to your local hardware store or Home Depot and buy a metal worklight, sometimes called a cliplight.  This can be pointed up to the ceiling or wall to bounce light onto the subject.

I sincerely hope these lighting ideas help get you more comfortable and confident creating your future video productions.

As Seth Godin said last Friday, “Work That Matters Is Work That Makes a Difference.”

Let’s get to work.

Madonna and the Meditation Retreat

I just returned from a weeklong meditation retreat in upstate NY.

We had lots of snow, silence and stillness.

Interestingly, within this winter week of silence and stillness an incredible amount of warmth, community and togetherness was created.

When we were in silence, I first noticed I was listening closer to the outside world.  The sounds of lunch being prepared in the nearby kitchen, the participants quietly breathing in the meditation hall.  Once I settled down, I began to pay closer attention to what was happening inside.  I heard my own thoughts which are usually covered up by talking and activity.

After a few more days I noticed I was becoming more aware of everything around me.  Sights and sounds were enhanced, more alive.  And I was more curious about them.  Like having a new set of eyes and ears.

The end of the week was New Year’s Eve and we let loose with an impromptu dance party.  A Madonna song came on called Get Together from the Confessions album.  It’s not new, I’ve heard it many times before.

Madonna sings: I searched my whole life to find the secret and all I did was open up my eyes.

This time I heard it as if it was the first time.  It was fresh.  The line above so accurately describes my experience last week.

I found this can also enliven the creative process; generating ideas, making videos, helping clients through the thickness of technology.

In 2010, I hope you will find time to give yourself a break and just be as well.

Happy New Year!

Clear Skies (For Takeoff)

I promised myself that by the end of this year I would start something that I felt good about and had a passion and talent for.  I’ve been dilligently working this whole year to make my dream a reality.

For over a decade I’ve worked in the broadcast film and television industry as a Producer and Post-Production Supervisor.  I’ve worked on all kinds of projects; independent films, docs, talk shows, reality shows, webisodes.  I’ve received two Emmy Awards for my work and am now ready to take my skills and experience and share them in a new way.

I decided to follow my passion and launch Open Sky Video.

It’s a place for folks like you to get comfortable and confident creating awesome video projects.  Need to learn editing with iMovie or Final Cut?  Are you ever stumped at how to embed a You Tube video on your site?  Can’t figure out your new video camera settings?  I am thrilled to help out in any way I can and be a calming presence as you move through the production process and get up to speed with the technical side of things.

I study Buddhism and this helps guide me in my life and of course my work.  Meditation and yoga are a big part of my life.  Other passions are photography, movies, art, travel, nature, health and wellness.

My hope is to approach clients of all skill levels with a sense of openness and awareness.  Together we can create, aspire, and tap into our vast unlimited potential.  The open sky is within ourselves.  If we allow space and quiet, things do get clearer and all is possible.

If you are someone who wants to be inspired, get motivated and develop the expertise you need to create your own multi-media projects, I invite you to check in with my blog where I’ll be sharing video clips, photos, articles, creative ideas and tips.  I’m excited to be a vibrant resource for you.  Take a look at this amazingly powerful two-minute video.  Its called The Girl Effect.  It was produced by the Nike Foundation along with other leading humanitarian organizations.  It is truly inspiring.

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It’s one way of getting an important message out there just using words and music.  Video is a knockout way to tell a story.

Look forward to capturing, sharing, uploading and connecting with you.

To reaching skyward while still remaining grounded.

~ Karen