Best way to record video and audio of an entire party
The standard setup to record a dj set at least in my city is a gopro video camera and some kind of audio recorder such as the zoom h1/reloop tape/etc.
But the problem comes when you have to record a party because you are talking about at least of 6-7 hours of HD video and eventually you are going to run out of battery, space on the sd card or both (for the video, no problems with the audio). Of corse you can have an extra battery or SD card but every time you change one of those it’s a cut off on the video and if you are running 2 cameras (as I’m willing to) you end up with a video with at least 4 cut offs. You can solve those cut offs when editing the video or you can change batteries and SD cards when the DJs switch (because every set it’s going to end up as a different video) but i’m looking for a simpler way, something to forget about if needed during the party, no batteries and SD cardsin my mind at all.
So my idea is to use a set of the best available web cams (bus powered and no storage limit besides the computer hard drive) and a software receiving video from at least two sources and audio from the audio interface (or eventually I could record the audio with another software if needed). In the future it can be upgraded to a pair of DSLR or digital cameras with HDMI outputs and a capture card (such as the blackmagic intensity), but for the moment that’s out of my price range.
I was wondering if there is a better/simpler way and if you have any recomendations regarding the best software for this task, and of corse feel free to share any experiences at all. Thanks!
[QUOTE]update: gopros can record video while charging, case closed
[/QUOTE]
Power isn’t your only issue
@ 1080p 30, you can only record around 4 hours mins on an 64gb card before running out of space.
Some of the “offbrand” action cams give comparable image quality in low light as a Go Pro. I’m using an Eken W8, Cost me around $50 and does 1080p 30, has really good low light sensitivity, works as a webcam, works over Wifi, Has HDMI out and is Bus Powered (I use mine as a Dashcam as it doesn’t drop frames on the dark roads here and it has a 170º lens).
If I were in your shoes I’d grab two or three of them to cover more angles and a couple of HDMI DVR’s (x-box recorders!) so you can just leave them standalone for the night. And I’d you’d still have drinks money left out of the price of a single Hero4 + housing
Unless you already have a couple of GoPro’s at your disposal already and don’t mind the SD card changeovers thats the route I’d take.
last time we recorded a party, we used 3 go pros and a laptop recording sound from the record out on the mixer into audacity. we had one facing the crowd, one on the mixer and cdjs and one facing the booth. cant remember the exact details but we had some alarms set on a phone about 10mins 20mins before we predicted the space on the sd would run out. once the alarms went off the guy running the dmx lighting would change them over (the where all with in 2 meters of him).
are you set on using gopro’s? you can use one of these guys through amazon used or best buy open box for ~150 bucks. has better ISP (low light) and color tuning options.
Thanks, I’m going to check out the Eken! I said Gopro because it’s almost a standard for djs where i live, but i have no problem with other brands. About the recording time, I can only talk from what I read online, but in the Gopro website they say something about 4 hours with 32GB and a youtube video shows a remaining time of 6 hours with a SD of 64GB. Of corse if that’s correct, it’s still too tight so I’m willing to have an extra pair of SDs just in case, but anyhow, with the battery problem solved, one or two switching of SDs in the whole night it’s something I can deal with.
Regarding more cameras and an external recorder, sounds great but maybe for the future, in this instance I want to keep the recording setup as simple as possible. Thanks again!
That sounds great, very similar with what I had in mind, thanks man!
Im not “married” with gopro at all, actually the poor response in low light situations bothers me a lot, but for the moment it’s what I can get borrow, and now that Im not worried about the battery issue, looks like the simplest way for a first experience, but in the case of purchasing anything i’m going to have that one in mind, thanks!
Thanks man!! that looks great, it’s going to be very usefull in the future, thank you very much
