Recording Yourself: What do you actually need?
We are back with a recording workshop! 
Today I want to at least try to give you a road map through the gazillion options you have of recording yourself! We want to enable you in different ways to record yourself, may it be for virtual masterclasses, for community challenges, to share with your friends and familie or - most importantly - as a reviewing tool for your very own practice! 
Who listens more carefully than yourself to your own recording, right?
I intend to spend a big portion of this livestream for questions, so let me know them in advance so I can prepare myself!
- What mics would I need?
- What mics in what price range are a good option?
- Can I record without a computer?
- What software options do I have for post production?
- What is an audio interface and why would I need one?
- What accessories are helpful or necessary for recording?
- Headphones or monitor speakers?
- AND YOUR QUESTIONS!
Join me going into full nerd-mode in this exciting livestream and let me know what YOU want to know! 
[Please note the time, as US changes timezones on March 13, it might be on 1h earlier in i.e. EU timezones]
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I created a ...small cheat sheet for you guys to help for the decision making process! I might add a thing or two, but attempt to go over all these points in the livestream!
https://whimsical.com/recording-livestream-4rEiXVfnvVcpaKiicDG3jN
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Martin
Could you please put that wonderful schematic in a pdf, image (jpg or similar) or something that can be saved? Thank you very much!
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Beatriz Voilá!
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Martin Thank you veeery much!!!!
You are fantastic!! -
Beatriz No, YOU are fantastic!
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you really are wonderful. You are always punctual, your broadcast is never cut off or heard badly, nor is it out of phase and you are very nice and kind. Really, thank you very much, not only for the pdf
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Beatriz Awww, thank you
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Martin my pleasure!
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And a little list FULL of Gear Recommendations!
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looking forward to it!
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Brooke It's going to be AWESOME! Super excited for these nerdy live streams!
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All serious musicians should really know how do this stuff at a fundamental level. Its essential these days.
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Brooke 100% agree! Not necessarily to create a professional product to publish, but as a reviewing tool!
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Great, Martin! I have a question:
What methods do we have to record and edit?
I don't know if I'm being having clear enough...
Let me see:
I can record 5 takes of a piece, from start to end, and choose the best one.
Or, I can record the same 5 takes (from start to end) but I decided to get some edits because there is a mistake in the best one.
Or, I can just play and if I have a mistake I went back in the piece (always recording) and with this source, I will make the edits.There is a better solution? Or is it just a personal choice? Thanks!
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Moyses Lopes All these different workflows are absolute valid approaches and depend on your personal style!
When I record myself, I usually record the whole piece (depending of the lenght) 3-5 times. If I have practiced it well enough, I usually can make an edit from these takes that I am satisfied with. If I don't need to edit anything, even better! It keeps the integrity of the musical flow at the maximum level!
When I record with other musicians, I put down 2-3 complete takes and then go into the passages that need more work in order to keep the concentration high. Playing through a whole piece can be quite exhausting!
But I also had musicians who preferred to simply play away and always stop when they weren't satisfied, go back a few bars and re-start (as the engineer, that's the more annoying approach, because you end up with a ton of material that you need to go through).
So there is no absolute right or wrong! As a starter, I would try to record a few whole takes and then do really deep-listening and see what you might wanna change!
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Martin Thank you! I'll see you in two minutes...
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Please discuss recording vs an interactive masterclass. Eg You showed us how to record video via (carefully placed 3-pt lighting / smartphone / Filmic pro) and simultaneously record audio via (carefully placed stereo microphones / interface / PC / Reaper) and later combine them with DaVinci Resolve. Given those tools what is the best strategy for an interactive zoom class?
Thx, Peter
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Peter Hi Peter! Awesome question, those two workflows are somewhat different and similar (very helpful, yes, haha).
For recording, you have all the freedom of post production and combining your files later. For interactive classes, you need to use devices that Zoom can actually handle. When it comes to audio, an audio interface that you'd use for recording is perfectly capable of that, but video usually involves a different kind of gear.
There are cameras that you can simply use as a webcam which you can select in Zoom. If not, then you'd need a dedicated video interface which connects to your camera (usually via HDMI). I am using the Atem Mini by Blackmagic for that.
If you want to use your smartphone as a webcam to your computer, that is possible, though a bit complicated (depending on the smartphone and the computer that you are using). If you want to participate in the Zoom Class from your smartphone, then you could use an external microphone for your device!
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question: best way to record w/ single mic into a DAW. L and R channel individual or single and copy, L to R channel, reverse phase? why?
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Martin Martin,
Hi Martin,This is slightly off-topic, but I'm deeply curious: what software do you use to do your Tonebase Livestream? In particular, I'm interested in how you do "split screen." Is that a proprietary Tonebase thing or is there an available software solution for regular folks like me? :)
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Stephen Darrell Oliver Hi Stephen! We are using OBS for that, it's an open source software for livestreaming and recording. You can add different sources that you can freely arrange, so for example your webcam, your audio, the Zoom Window of a guest and the audio from Zoom!
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Martin
Wow that sounds awesome! I'll check it out right away!
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