DESCRIPTION:
I already have this song uploaded, but this is me actually performing on video. For some reason, the audio is softer than the other four songs I recorded at this same session.

It's taken me a while to work out how to put this video together, so I thought I would share how I did it. It's just me singing into a Rode NT3 mic (out of sight above my head) and playing my Samick acoustic guitar (TMJ-5CE) into my Roland AC-33 acoustic guitar amp. I have used effects from the amp, putting some reverb on the vocals, and it has the 'wide' setting on the guitar. The vocal mic also picked up my acoustic guitar, which was quite bright. So I pushed up the bass a bit on the direct feed from the guitar to balance it out.

I ran the stereo line out from the amp via a Sescom attenuator lead (LN2MIC-50DB) into the stereo mic input of my Nikon P7100 still camera, which also has a video function. It was one of the few cameras with a stereo mic input. I used the attenuator lead after finding out on the Nikon Rumours forum that the line out is too 'hot' for a mic input and has to be attenuated to match the mic input to avoid damaging the camera. I have found it to work well, although the sound recorded by the camera on playback is nowhere near the fidelity of the sound I am monitoring directly from the amp via my in ear headphones. I guess I would need to use a Zoom Q3HD to get best audio quality from a line input, so I may look at that. (The newer Zoom Q2HD does not have a line input sadly).

A couple of other points about sound. My garage studio is near the road, and there is a lot of traffic noise going on. However for the most part, the mic is directed to the vocals, and doesn't pick up too much of it. The garage has quite a bit of natural echo, but similarly it is not overpowering with the mic directed at the vocals. Having the mic overhead, means that I don't have to use a pop filter, although it is marginally a bit further away (only inches) from my singing than if it was in front of me.

The video of the Nikon is limited to 720p and 24 fps. It's adequate, but I find the motion is not smooth as I would like, particularly with fast movement, such as my strumming hand. Also it seems like the sound is milliseconds behind the video, with a sort of slow motion vibe.

I recorded the song in my garage, against a home made black matte backdrop that I bought for $18 from Spotlight here in Australia. The lighting was a ceiling fluoro (2m away to my left) and a bedside lamp I had at head level, aimed at me from the right side about 3m away. This was to balance the shadow on the right side of my face..

Interestingly, I found that wearing different colour shirts affected the look of the video. For example, I found that if I used a white shirt, the video would not pick up the creases and detail of the black backdrop. But with a coloured shirt, you could see some of the backdrop, which did not look as good. Actually when I was not in shot, with the camera recording, the backdrop looked grey, and you could see all the creases and detail. But as soon as I walked into shot with my shirt, all that magically disappeared and it went dark and 'contrasty'.

My Nikon has MOV files, and I both trimmed the song file and put on titles in Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM takes MOV files without them needing to be first converted). I also put fade in and fade out effects for both audio and video in WLMM to make it look a bit professional. I selected 'black' as the colour of the titles so that the fade in and fade out would blend in. Once done, I saved the file to my computer and uploaded it to youtube, which took about 6 hours!).

I also recorded several other songs at the same session (only yesterday!), which I am also putting up on my youtube channel, although by the looks of it, they might take days to upload!. They are originals 'In the Pale Moonlight', 'The Other Side of Paradise' and 'I'm Going Fishing' and also a cover of 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. Please have a look.

I hope this might help others wanting to put together an acoustic performance video for youtube. I am certainly no expert, but the above is what has worked for me.

As ever, comments are invited.