One guy, one video, four part harmony?
January 27, 2012 8:26 AM Subscribe
I can sing, and I have a MacBook Pro. What's the easiest and/or cheapest way for me to make a video where I am singing all four parts of an a cappella song? Kind of like this (in terms of style, not content).
Best answer: It looks like you can do it with QuickTime Pro pretty easily. Here's a tutorial. You just divide up your screen with each movie having the same scaled-down size, but placed at different offsets.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:44 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:44 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Use a clapper - it'll make it much easier to sync separate video and audio tracks.
posted by hot soup at 8:51 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by hot soup at 8:51 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
I've done this before with Audacity (free) on a MBP. The internal mic is actually quite good, if you've got a reasonably quiet setting and you're not in need of an ultra-pro recording. I used the internal mic once when a friend was using a much more techy setup, and mine sounded way better.
You shouldn't need a clapper. I used any old noise (that I made myself -- tapped a pencil, said "buh," whatever) to line them up. You could also just count in rhythm: "one two three [silent] LA LA LA" and trim later.
1. Get a pair of headphones.
2. Open a new Track A and sing Part A into Track A.
3. Plug in the headphones so it's not loud enough to be picked up by the mic, then open another track and play Track A through the phones while recording Part B into Track B.
4. Mix them. (Call this Track X.)
5. Play Track X through the phones while you record Part C into Track C.
6. Mix into Track Y.
7. Play Track Y while recording Part D into Track D.
8. Mix into Track Z, more or less your final product. Tidy it up if necessary (removing the count, etc.).
Good luck!
Mix
posted by Madamina at 4:20 PM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
You shouldn't need a clapper. I used any old noise (that I made myself -- tapped a pencil, said "buh," whatever) to line them up. You could also just count in rhythm: "one two three [silent] LA LA LA" and trim later.
1. Get a pair of headphones.
2. Open a new Track A and sing Part A into Track A.
3. Plug in the headphones so it's not loud enough to be picked up by the mic, then open another track and play Track A through the phones while recording Part B into Track B.
4. Mix them. (Call this Track X.)
5. Play Track X through the phones while you record Part C into Track C.
6. Mix into Track Y.
7. Play Track Y while recording Part D into Track D.
8. Mix into Track Z, more or less your final product. Tidy it up if necessary (removing the count, etc.).
Good luck!
Mix
posted by Madamina at 4:20 PM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh, cripes -- you said video, too.
Well, um, there you go.
posted by Madamina at 4:21 PM on January 27, 2012
Well, um, there you go.
posted by Madamina at 4:21 PM on January 27, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
That's the easiest and cheapest. The next step would be a simple USB-enabled microphone. For about $100 you will increase your recording quality by quite a bit.
Past that, things get complicated quickly.
Past THAT, things get expensive quickly.
posted by Aquaman at 8:43 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]