Video production

[Ron Stanfield]

I've done some WAV editing for CDs and all. Once I get the minstrel stroke methods to a reasonable expertise I may want to consider uploading video clips to the Minstsrel Banjo site.
I not the most technically minded soul ( I can tune a banjo), but I could use some tips as to what cameras (I assume 8mm digital) are best to use, and YOU TUBE loading procedures, etc. I don't suppose Joel Sweeney had to worry too much about these these things. Thanks!

[Tim Twiss]

Ron, all I can add is my own experience. Get a camera with a hard drive. It is easier to load into the computer. You then need to do some minor edits to trim and add a title. This is done in Windows Movie Maker. There is also a need to convert the MPG format of your original file into a smaller Windows file. I use a simple converting program for that (Moavi). Loading to youtube is easy once your film is set.

[Ron Stanfield]

Thanks, Tim....

I really appreciate your help on this. Minstrel Banjo gatherings seem to be few and far inbetween. YOU TUBE and internet seems to fill the bill. I'm involved in a couple of coffee houses here in Frederick, but they come and go.

Tim Twiss said:

Ron, all I can add is my own experience. Get a camera with a hard drive. It is easier to load into the computer. You then need to do some minor edits to trim and add a title. This is done in Windows Movie Maker. There is also a need to convert the MPG format of your original file into a smaller Windows file. I use a simple converting program for that (Moavi). Loading to youtube is easy once your film is set.

[Rob MacKillop]

Ron,

I use Windows Movie Maker (WMM) as well. My camera is cheap and old, but OK. Best if you can get hold of an HD camera, which has a much higher quality, and now YouTube allows HD videos. You must upload your edited video to YouTube before linking to it here, otherwise the free storage we have with Ning will quickly fill up.

When recording videos, I simultaneously record to a Zoom H2 recorder (google it) which gives a much better sound quality. Once I've edited that (cut off the beginning and end, and reduced it to mp3 quality) I import it into WMM and mute the sound from the film. Then I have to align the sound file with my finger movements. This is much easier than you might imagine. It only takes a few seconds.