Seeker Wow, very nice indeed and very practical!
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Beach L168, Wish, baCh, WOW Petrof, Fake Steinway, VS
TIME
Seeker Wow, very nice indeed and very practical!
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Beach L168, Wish, baCh, WOW Petrof, Fake Steinway, VS
TIME
Seeker
I am no expert on all this, but I don't see why it should not work.
Seeker 1) the cameras are connected via USB to the computer running OBS
In theory, yes, but you will need to research how to do this with your specific cameras.
Seeker 2) the microphones are connected via XLR through the audio interface to the computer running OBS
Yes.
Seeker 3) I start/stop the cameras (not sure about the audio recording) using the keyboard and monitor for the computer running OBS
Yes, OBS will start/stop recording with one click, or designated hotkey.
I don't think that 8 feet is overly long. Just need USB cables to cover that length. I use a long USB cable to connect my overhead phone camera, with no problems, although I usually connect it wirelessly.
This all depends on whether you can indeed use your cameras as webcams. A little research will be needed.
If it does all work, you will have the added bonus of being able to use your phone as a extra camera (as I described earlier), if desired.
Seeker 1) the cameras are connected via USB to the computer running OBS
There are multiple ways to connect real cameras to the computer.
First is to go to manufacturer's website and see if they offer software/driver that allows using your camera as webcam. This method connect via just USB cable. Check to make sure your camera model is supported (some older models may not). I believe with this method, resolution is limited, because webcam don't need really high quality video, and also because limits in USB port speed.
The other method is to use a camera capture device. These devices comes either as a dongle, like the Elgato Camlink 4K, or a PCI-e card to be installed inside the computer. They connect to the camera's HDMI (or mini HDMI) port and capture the high-res video, then send it to the computer. You can definitely get 1080p high quality video this way. 4K is also possible but with some caveats, mainly heat management of your camera and whether that limits recording time.
Rob I also use OBS Studio. It is an incredibly versatile free software for music videos.
Another cool thing about OBS studio is it can record multiple audio streams to one or more audio tracks of the video.
I record my XLR mic input to audio track 1, and Pianoteq digital audio out to track 2, and webcam mic to track 3. Later during editing in Davinci Resolve, I can choose or even combine the audio tracks for the final render. In some setup, the latency between audio streams may not be the same or in sync. OBS even allows you to insert custom delay to make them match up (after some trial and error).
Interim progress report: I've got the Olympus working over USB as a webcam. It was interesting, because the distance from the keyboard area to my main machine is over 8', so... testing the camera with one 8' cable, no problem, it worked. Hooking two 8' cables together, it wouldn't work. So I bought a powered 30' cable, tried that without plugging it into the power supply, and... it worked! So, 30' over one cable works, but not possible to daisy chain two 8' cables. Odd.
I'm going to try today to put both cameras into my main machine as well as record something into OBS. Should be interesting.
OK - so here's where I am.
and here:
I've got both cameras working as webcams.
I'm able to use the input from my Audio Interface as microphone for the recording (Mic/Aux points to Channels 9 and 10 of the RME which take the input from my LDC dual diaphragm condenser mic.
So... OBS is doing the audio recording now, and I don't need to run Audition if I'm using OBS with my audio going into it as a source?
Is OBS doing any automatic gain setting? I couldn't find a place to change that in the settings, but... maybe.
Now comes something sticky. A full screen view native to my monitor for 1080p is 1920 x 1080.
Clearly I'm not getting that with the cameras at this point.
I Want to stack the view of the keyboard, that would be the Olympus underneath the side/traditional view from the Canon. You can see how that looks now at 14 seconds into the video.
I don't know how to make that work.
So, if it's possible, please LMK how.
Once I've got that, I'm ready to record, and I can do titling and what not in Premiere Pro (or maybe here in OBS for simple things).
I'll have to do some post-processing editing to trim heads and tails, because I've got to walk across the studio to start things at my desktop (which I can't move). This place is already crammed with too much stuff, and it's the only place that I can keep it.
Your help much appreciated. I am really excited to be able to make this all work together and not have to splice audio in post-processing. That will make things go much more simply so I can focus on making music and less on recording it.
Seeker So... OBS is doing the audio recording now, and I don't need to run Audition if I'm using OBS with my audio going into it as a source?
Correct. You don't need to run any other audio recording software if audio is fed directly to OBS as you are doing now.
Seeker Is OBS doing any automatic gain setting? I couldn't find a place to change that in the settings, but... maybe.
Under the Mic/Aux level meter in OBS, there is a volume slider. That's the only gain control in OBS. There is no ability to set gain automatically. To avoid clipping you need to a test recording that include the loudest sound you will ever play, and lower the gain somewhere along the audio signal chain to ensure no clipping. I'd keep the volume slide in OBS at max (right most), and lower the gain on your RME interface to achieve lowest noise floor.
Seeker A full screen view native to my monitor for 1080p is 1920 x 1080.
Clearly I'm not getting that with the cameras at this point.
I Want to stack the view of the keyboard, that would be the Olympus underneath the side/traditional view from the Canon. You can see how that looks now at 14 seconds into the video.
I don't know how to make that work.
If I understand you correctly, the problem is both of your video sources are 16:9 aspect ratio. Therefore, to make a composite of both not only make each view smaller, but all inevitably leave some black bars on each side. There are several ways to deal with this. None is perfect, though.
First is crop your video frames in a way that the two combined together fully (or almost fully) occupy the entire 1920x1080 frame. The keyboard shortcut to crop a shot in OBS Studio is to hold down the Alt key on Windows or Option key on a Mac, then click and drag one of the dots on the box. I like a top-down view on the keyboard, which makes a long and narrow strip that sits at the bottom of the frame. That leave a wide rectangle on the top - allowing me to show a 3/4 angle view without my face, just what I wanted. Alternatively, you can put a camera on one end of the keyboard making a vertical strip of the keys, and place that frame on one side, leaving the rest more like a 4:3 ratio area for your main shot. You can also do a picture-in-picture (inset). Look at what other people do on YouTube and get creative.
Second is to leave some of the black bars on left/right side, but place some kind of background image so that it does not look too bare. I've seen people make a severely blurred copy of the main video as background, too. But I don't know if that's easy to do in OBS natively. It's certainly doable in Adobe Premiere.
Third is to change the aspect ratio of your video from the standard 1920x1080 to some other custom ratio that fits the composite of you two video streams. I generally would avoid this unless the majority of your audience is expected to watch it on a certain screen type (e.g. on a phone held vertically).
Good Afternoon from Rockville, MD. Thanks to all who have helped me get started with OBS and using my cameras as webcams. Here is a link to my first OBS recording, "Engelstimme", one of Bergmuller's many studies and one which I assigned a student this week.
It took me way too long to get everything working the first time, but I'm sure that will become more routine. Setting the over the keys camera is probably the most time consuming, but I think I can that down to about 5 minutes if I keep the arm of the stand at the same distance and simply rotate it up to get it out of the way when I'm not using the equipment. Unspooling the cables doesn't take too long, nor putting them back under the computer.
I did all the recording in OBS, then I went to Premiere Pro to trim the video and title it, and I boosted the audio by about 3db. Other than that, the Endora microphone is remarkably low in self-noise, and I didn't bother with any noise reduction or further mastering for this recording. The microphone was sitting just over my head and slightly to my right as I faced the piano to play it.
Thanks again for your help.
Seeker Well done! And what a beautifully played piece!
Yes the top view camera is indeed the trickiest to place, especially with just one mic stand. The trick to get the view square (which you did really well) is to make sure the overhead camera is positioned exactly vertically centered on the middle of the keyboard, then only adjust the angle (but not the XY position) of the camera. Also helps if you frame the shot a little wider, then crop/reposition/rotate in OBS as final tune up of the frame.
Personally, I prefer my overhead camera mount to be permanent so that once it's properly positioned and configured, I don't have to touch it again. One other tip I read is instead of single mic stand, get a photography backdrop stand, which is basically two vertical stands with a horizontal pole connecting them. Mounting even a big camera on the horizontal pole is a lot sturdier.
Rob If you happen to use a wireless mouse, it is possible to assign a button. (eg centre button) to a hot-key combination in OBS to start/stop recording whilst sat at the piano.
Brilliant! I just placed an order for one. Thought I'd snag it @ Black Friday price before the 25% tariffs go into effect.
Seeker Brilliant! I just placed an order for one. Thought I'd snag it @ Black Friday price before the 25% tariffs go into effect.
To keep things simple, the same OBS hotkey can be used for both start, and stop, recording.
I just used the minus key on the numerical keypad, for both, as it is also quick and easy to find when using the keyboard.
All very cool @iternabe
Why do you record into microphones, though, as this is a digital piano?
(What microphones are they, by the way?)
Why not record into WAV via Pianoteq or similar?
alex-plays.org
Nice camera angle and glad that you like the Olympus.
(That's something that I need to fix... Currently recording video on a cell phone.)
How are you getting on with Vimeo and do you recommend it over YouTube?
alex-plays.org
alex-plays Why do you record into microphones, though, as this is a digital piano?
(What microphones are they, by the way?)
Why not record into WAV via Pianoteq or similar?
I do record digital audio directly out of Pianoteq. But I also need to record the sound via microphone for:
OBS Studio can record multiple audio tracks (up to 6) with the video. I record mic input to audio track 1, Pianoteq into track 2, and webcam mic to track 3. Quicktime by default only play back audio track 1. VLC and IINA player allow user switching to other audio tracks. Of course in video editors I can choose and mix however I want.
The microphone is a pair of Behringer C2.