In my little home office/music room, I find it really hard to record video of myself using a proper mic without the mic blocking my face.
I don’t have a camera beyond my phone but I don’t think that’s the problem here.
I am talking single take, single camera so I really just want some ideas how to position things so you can see my face and guitar not obscured by the mic stand, not showing my PC monitor, just looking like you’re in a room watching me.
Any handy bits of kit to help here, that aren’t going to break the bank?
Sometimes I just recorded the whole thing using my webcam which is ok for acoustic guitar and looks nicer, but you lack any ability to tweak levels, panning, etc… for audio only I use a proper mic and digital interface for mic+guitar.
Thanks for any suggestions or showing me your own setup
John, it is a little awkward to achieve all one wants when setting up to record. I can share a couple of thoughts.
The first thing I do is to place the mic stand off to the side. Rather than trying to explain, you can see what I do in one of my videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuBajiIuX80
Then you could consider the camera position. You could position it a little off to one side. I don’t but I do stand back from the camera. So there is quite a lot of background rather than being cropped in close. That maybe makes the mic appear quite far from my face/mouth when in reality it is about 15-20cm.
I do use a dynamic vocal mic which is less obstructing than a large diaphragm condensor would be. I am also not ‘kissing’ the mic. As I said I am pulled back from the mic and I don’t sing directly into it, rather it is slightly angled from my mouth. I find this works well to get a more even volume as my head moves around plus reducing plossives and sybilants. Getting the level right is just about adjusting the gain on the interface.
I think that all also helps with avoiding too much obstruction. I think it is good enough for sharing my recordings with Community, friends, and family.
In addition to the mic position, what are you using to hold the camera, a tripod? You might want to consider a smartphone/tablet holder with a clamp to fix it onto the edge of a table or other piece of furniture. Some have a flexible gooseneck that you can rotate 360°, which is ideal to find a suitable camera position.
I was a bit concerned about the strength of the arm, but I bought one of those and their incredibly strong.
Hi John,
My 2 pennies / cents / eurocents etc… But first a question, what’s our camera? Is it a standalone webcam or integrated into your computer? If a standalone webcam is it threaded underneath that you can put it on a tripod or flexible mount like a Gorillapod? That’d be the first bit of playing around for me, try a side or 3/4 angle to see.
Personally I don’t have an issue seeing a mic in the shot or even with it partially blocking the lower half of my face, if anything it encourages a little movement whilst playing for when you’re not singing.
