Synchronizing sound with camera

[rkstudio]

Hello,

I'm trying to figure out how to use my digital camera and a separate microphone, then synchronizing them in a video. I would just use the mic on the camera but the sound on it is terrible.
The advise I'm seeking is, should I try to record my voice on my computer (voice recorder) and shoot the video at the same time? Or should I just record what I'm doing then do a voice over.
I'm making drawing tutorials and I would like to draw and explain how at the same time.

Thanks,

Bob

[Ken Berry]

I never use the voiceover facility provided in VS. Instead, I write my script and make individual recordings of each step i.e. make a recording of Step 1, then another recording of Step 2 and so on. (Or for a travelogue, for instance, one recording for "First we did this", then another for "Then we did that".)

I use the freeware Audacity but any audio editor will suffice. Then it is very easy to simply place each of those audio recordings in one of the audio timelines under the part of the video to which it applies. You can of course then adjust the placement to make sure it is exactly right where you wanted it to be. And add any extra bits of voice where you might have forgotten them while doing a one-off voiceover.

The advantage of doing it this way is that you get a more 'professional' sounding audio track. You can apply any filter you want in the audio editing program. But you can also re-record any parts of the text where you might have made a mistake, read it badly, or just said "Umm" too many times!!

[rkstudio]

Thank you very much, Ken.

I've seen videos uploaded to youtube, etc. that seem to be seemless with the audio and video but I guess those are screencasts made with camtasia or something else, so I guess it's a different process altogether.
I suppose when you have to use two different devices, there has to be a way to "stitch" them together.

I'll try out Audacity.

But now that I think about it, I wonder how so many Youtubers sound like they have such a good microphone and it's perfectly syncronized. Unless they have a fantastic mic built into their cameras.

Thanks again for the information,

Bob

[pvreditor]

I use a few different audio techniques, including the method Ken describes above. For voice-overs such as Ken discusses, I usually use a small portable audio recorder -- in my case, I have a $100 Tascam DR-05. It's small and works really well. I can use the recorder's built-in mics, but generally plug in my Audio-Technica ATR6550 shotgun mic and use it for voice-over recording. The ATR6550 is an amazingly good shotgun mic that costs $56 on Amazon -- I highly recommend it. Since this is the same mic I use to record interview audio, this technique has the advantage of using the same mic with the same voice quality for both interviews and voice-overs. To get the ambiance to match video that I shot outdoors, I often record my voice-overs outdoors using the ATR6550 mic. Here's a video I shot where all the voice audio (including an interview) was made using the Audio-Technica ATR6550 mic: https://youtu.be/jG6jLHNf9is. For the stand-up intro at the beginning and for voice-over audio, I'm recording the ATR6550 on the Tascam DR-05, which I synced up in VideoStudio. The interview audio was done with me hand-holding the ATR6550 as it was plugged directly into the camera (a Panasonic Lumix GX8).

Sometimes I will use the camera mic to record a voice-over, especially if I incorporate camera mic audio into the video. Again, this is a case of using the same mic to get the same sound quality.

I recently got a "Y" cable that lets me plug the Audio-Technica shotgun into one jack and a $25 Audio-Technica lavaliere mic into the other jack. This works well when I interview someone, since my voice is not picked up well by the shotgun mic when I stand behind the camera. Using the "Y" cable, I get my questions in one channel and the answers in the other channel, which I combine in VideoStudio.

Finally, both Apple and Android cell phones have convenient audio recorders that make decent voice quality recordings. You can use it to record your voice when you are at a distance from the camera, then sync up the audio in VideoStudio. Here's a video I made to demonstrate the technique, and it also gives a comparison of using a camera mic vs. the $56 Audio-Technica shotgun: https://youtu.be/sI6eNo9Avpg

It is MUCH harder to get good audio than it is to get good video, so I'm always looking for ways to get great audio at low cost.

Bob

[panodirk]

Indeed a little Wav-recorder as the Tascom or Zoom are so versatile and with a so called "dead cat" you can even record in windy situations without plopping, BUT most important is when you use several independent devices all should have a mark that starts the beginning on the same time. In the old days they used a clapper board. The bang is for the mikes and the cameras see the two parts come together. Just clapping once with the hands in front of the cameras will do.

https://youtu.be/8QAXdRsV8LE

[Terfyn]

Aligning sound tracks with the video is fairly easy. Your camera has an audio track and you will have a decent audio track from a separate source. Split the camera audio to one audio track and put the good audio on a second track. Then just align the good audio with the camera audio using the waveforms and mute the camera audio.