Help with camo amp and backing tracks

Gear & Tools Talk šŸ’» Hardware, Software & Recording
1

Hi all

For those who use camo, I have one thing that I donā€™t know how to achieveā€¦

Setup- boss katana 100 amp
MacBook Pro laptop
Camo recording software, using iPhone to stream camera for video
Steinberg 4ch input
Pro tools

I have not as yet recorded into pro tools at the same time camo is recording but Iā€™ll play with that, I have camo set to audio in for the steinberg, so it is getting my guitar from the amp which I have plugged into the back of the interfaceā€¦

What I donā€™t know how to do is to have a backing track Iā€™m using to also record. Because the track is only being played on my MacBook, there I no source for camo to pick it up.

The backing tracks are from Justin and are in mp3, so if I convert them back to wav and put on my looper to play through the amp, the quality is terribleā€¦

I thought I could send the signal of the audio from my laptop to the amp so that they all came through together, but I canā€™t see how to do thatā€¦

Anyone have any suggestions ?

2

I donā€™t know Camo. But, assuming itā€™s similar to other video recording apps:

You can treat audio and video as separate, parallel recordings and record the audio into the DAW and the video into Camo, then use a video editor to stitch them together. If you are on a Mac you can use iMovie for this.

Then you can load the backing track into the DAW, and it should play back via the Katana whilst you are recording.

One note on the Katana: this wonā€™t work via the Katana speaker, only via the headphones.

You have to set the monitoring output to the Katana audio device as well as the input.

Alternatively, you have the same setup, but pipe the audio from the DAW to Camo. To do this you will need a tool like Sound flower or Loopback which allows you to connect the output of the DAW to act as the audio input of Camo.

Personally, I would do them separately as this then gives you the ability to mix your performance with the backing track in the DAW before exporting the mix.

You can then load the mixed audio into iMovie to combine with the video. This will mean aligning the audio with the camera.

One approach to this is to hit the strings a few times at the start of the recording to give you a reference. You then cut this bit off the video after you have merged and aligned the audio.

By the way, Iā€™m curious: you are on a Mac. So why Pro Tools rather than Garageband?

Cheers,

Keith

3

Not familiar with a:
Help with camo amp and backing tracks
& not sure why what your amp looks like would make a differenceā€¦

Is your amp like this Marshall:
image
or
like this Laney:
image

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorryā€¦ just struck me as funny!!! :blush:
Till your title grabbed my attention, Iā€™d never even thought about a ā€˜Camoā€™ amp!!!
Might not stand out in the mix!!! More of a ā€˜Blend into the backgroundā€™ sound!!!

Tod

1 Like
4

@Majik
Answering your second question, Iā€™m doing a music production course and we use pro tools, I also have a full copy of Ableton.

As for the first part. I donā€™t want to stitch video and audio together, thatā€™s why Iā€™m using camo, you can source the input for your audio directly from you interface and the iPhone captures video, itā€™s already stitchedā€¦

Iā€™ll look at those other options you mentioned that could pipe the audio into the DAWā€¦

5

I use camo, but it sounds like differently than you. I use it to turn an old android phone into a video camera for my desktop. I send the video feed from Camo into OBS Studio. I have so far been using my Focusrite to send direct to OBS, but doing so mooshes the inputs together. on my next video I record, Iā€™m going to try sending audio into Reaper and then from there into OBS.

In OBS, I have tried using a backing track along with my guitar input, but I find it REALLY DIFFICULT to sync the backing track with the rest of the audio. Thereā€™s an offset between something played back on your computer and anything you send into it through your AI) and you can adjust it, but getting it right is VERY fiddly.

What Iā€™ve started doing instead is I will have OBS play (but not record) the backing track when I begin recording (which I control with an Airturn bluetooth pedal), and I have the backing track play into my monitor headphones (plugged into my Focusrite). When Iā€™m done recording, I open the resulting video file in a video editor (I have Magix Movie Studio) and then I match up the backing track there (itā€™s a much easier process).

Itā€™s a more fussy process than I like, but it gets kinda complicated that way. I could make the software side easier if I fed the backing track into my amp first and then had the guitar + backing track recorded either by a line-out or by putting a mic directly on the amp. but that makes the hardware side of it more complicated.

1 Like
6

I donā€™t think we use it that differently, I have OBS however I donā€™t use itā€¦ there is an option on camo to choose your video source which I choose my iPhone and it links up, then I choose my steinberg as my audio input, that way Iā€™m grabbing the raw audio from my amp, and they are exported when I record as an mp4( I think, but itā€™s a video with synched audio)

I think Iā€™m going to try and have pro tools open, play the backtrack in protools and hit record on camo and pro tools, see if that worls

7

Well, yes. The same is true of pretty much every video recording app, such as OBS.

Butā€¦

Iā€™ve had similar experiences and I found simply spending a few minutes stitching the audio and video together in a video editor was, as @Mustela says ā€œA much easier processā€ than messing around trying to connect up apps and dealing with sync issues, and getting recording levels right, etc. Which was why I suggested it.

But itā€™s finding the workflow that works for you.

Cheers,

Keith

1 Like
8

Fair enough.

Itā€™s slightly frustrating that these courses are still using Pro Tools, although the skills are largely transferable to other DAWs. They do it, partly, because itā€™s been labelled as ā€œthe industry standardā€, but it really hasnā€™t been that for at least 5 years and probably longer.

If there is an industry standard, these days itā€™s probably Logic Pro which, of course, Garageband is derived from. Or, possibly, Ableton Live.

But I guess they have to use something and Pro Tools is what they have developed the courses around historically.

So I understand sticking to Pro Tools for the course, at least until its finished.

Cheers,

Keith

9

the only thing I use camo to do is to get video from my phone into OBS. itā€™s just an intermediary. I donā€™t touch the audio settings on it at all.

10

I donā€™t believe thatā€™s true, where are you located?

The teachers in the course are still highly active members of the industry, and the studio I am at (The grove) uses pro tools, and the engineers, while they have been using Pro Tools for a while, all still have pro tools used in studios around Australia and around the world in the studios they work in.

but either way, Iā€™ll have to play with it and ableton I think to work something out.

11

In a world of global access to products why is that relative ?

1 Like
12

In the UK.

But thatā€™s not that relevant. I have friends in the music industry and I follow a lot of music production channels.

Iā€™m sure lot of people do still use Pro Tools, but that largely seems to be thatā€™s what they were taught and have invested in it as a platform because they were taught by people with vested interests that Pro Tools compatibility was important.

And a lot of music production courses are more about ā€œhow to use Pro Toolsā€ rather than actual music production.

Frankly, the need to be compatible with Pro Tools was always a myth, but it was also one of their main selling points. And as DAWs and recording technology have become more accessible, people have got wise to it, and direct compatibility is no longer much of a consideration.

Mixing engineers, for instance, are normally happy to accept stems and integrate them into their projects in whatever DAW they prefer, and a lot of them seem to have copies of multiple DAW apps so if someone sends them a project they can work directly in it.

Part of this is because the whole music creation process has changed and is no longer as subject to gatekeeping by studios and vendors like Avid, and a lot more heavily influenced by independent artists and smaller studios self-recording.

And these people donā€™t tend to use Pro Tools. Why would they when they can use Garageband, or Reaper, or Ableton (or Bitwig, or Traction, or Mixbus, or Cakewalk, or Ardour, or Luna, etc.) which are cheaper, more accessible, and often better than Pro Tools in many important ways.

When I see more established artists, producers, and engineers talk about music creation and production techniques in social media and in books, I hardly ever hear Pro Tools mentioned these days. Itā€™s all Ableton, Reaper, Logic Pro and newer stuff like Luna.

Cheers,

Keith

1 Like
13

Yeah those are super valid points, and you brought up something I was going to mention in that AVID has the tendancy to have once been standard for industry and their monicer has lingered too long, my other example was broadcast where they had the monopoly on software for live broadcast (tv) and had to use proprietary software and hardware, which has as you have said changed dramaticallyā€¦

I also agree that there are many other better softwares out there, like ableron, but yeah I guess for this part of the education it is pro tools basedā€¦

Interesting conversation, thanks :blush:

1 Like
14

Simply because studios in Los Angeles
May very well be pro tools based and UK studios might be something else base, as could be Australia or anywhere elseā€¦ knowing the location could provide insight to why pro tools was not industry standard in that locationā€¦

15

Tons of advice already, but hereā€™s how Iā€™m doing it ā€” with pretty much same setup as you: Katana > Interface > MacBook Pro ā€” Iā€™m using Rogue Amoebaā€™s (excellent) Loopback app to create a virtual device that takes input from the interface + whatever else you want, i.e., the app thatā€™s playing your backing track ā€” and then sends it out to channels 1 and 2 (L and R), then you can use that virtual device as the input to your recording app and youā€™re all set

1 Like
16

Also, just realised ā€” Camo (not Capo) ā€” you really donā€™t need Camo any more, use an iPhone in Continuity mode and capture the video direct into Quicktime (new movie recording). Set your mic to your Loopback virtual device and youā€™ll get video, backing track, and your playing in one recording

17

Luna looks cool, thanks for that tip

18

Following up from this, a video just dropped in my Youtube feed which was a survey done at NAMM. The whole video is kind of interesting and funny (as Benn Jordanā€™s videos often are), but it includes a DAW question at 10:07:

Bear in mind this is from NAMM, the primary music trade show in the US (and, arguably, in the world).

The answers may surprise you:

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image922Ɨ556 60.8 KB

Cheers,

Keith