Recording the video footage of your live sets

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Recording the video footage of your live sets

What’s up everyone. I’ve tried recording my sets a few different ways now, and I’m still not satisfied completely. The best solution so far was to use a second macbook for the video, but the quality was no where near high enough definition obviously, and as the built in isight has such a narrow field, you have to place the laptop stupidly far away…

I was wondering if anyone had experience with this, which cameras you would recommend etc. End result would hopefully be similar quality to boiler room/Pioneer DJ sounds show, with emphasis on wide angle!

:smiley:

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i think getdarker use gopros, no idea about boiler room/pdj

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get a dslr with a video if you have that kind of money.
get a handycam or compact cameras if you are on a budget.
get a gopro or other action cameras if you want a small lightweight mountable camera for different angles or overhead shots..

I saw one time that they are using a dslr on wide angle lens and mounted on the tripod infront of the table they are using.

gopro cameras are naturally wide angled, but the battery only lasts an hour while recording so you still have to hook it up if you want to keep recording past the 1 hour mark.

just record in hd or in the highest quality and edit.

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Go pro for the camera and route the output of the mix into a computer to live record the set and put them together.

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I’ve got a canon 7D, but the trouble is recording for that length of time without the camera over heating. I’ve also got the gopro hero 2, but I’m not sure how to plug it in to prevent the battery from draining while recording…

Another problem with the gopro is that you cannot make it the camera of choice if you’re trying to stream live, I believe that is something they corrected with the hero 3.

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i’d hire a camera from a pro camera hire place. Get good bang for your buck without wasting thousands on buying a camera that’s good enough.

These guys are in Birmingham and this looks pretty decent http://www.mediadoghire.com/canon_xa20_hire

This looks a bit more badman but maybe more complicated if you’re not that into cameras (just the prime lenses etc)

http://www.mediadoghire.com/sony_f3_camera_hire

But basically your vids will look the business and you only get a camera when you need it. Normally the hire companies have good reps that you can phone and talk through your requirement.

You’ll probs want a tripod to set up the camera too.

Also video needs light really so a lamp on your face/area you want filming goes a long way.

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GoPro GoPro GoPro. If out can afford a dslr, but more GoPros. Can’t speak more highly of them.

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Thanks for all the responses! As I’ve said, I have a gopro HD Hero 2, but I don’t know how to film with it while its plugged in so I don’t drain the battery? Syncing the audio and video won’t be a problem, just want to know how to keep it running for 2 hours without killing the battery.

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connect to a wall outlet charger and not the computer.

that’s it.

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That easy hey? Perfect, thanks again for all the responses! I’ll be putting some videos up soon :wink:

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If your video is to be longer than 10mins, then a DSLR is out.

Any decent HD camcorder should do the job, and I can vouch for GoPros too. They can be used to live streaming…if you have an external capture card like a Canopus ADVC-55 etc…

If you want mega production standards then you could hire a couple of broadcast cameras like a Panasonic HDX-900 (we have 12 of these in my work) which are really good, plus you can genlock them so the timecodes all line up, would make it easier to edit…

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GoPro has a fish eye lens by default. I guess you can alter that somewhat but I have a cheaper suggestion for you: Logitech C920. I have 5 of them and they work great in low lighting and support up to 1080P. And they are only about 85$.

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GoPros are the way forward mate:wink:. Or you could just get really famous and get someone like Be-at TV to just film it for you to be honest.

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GoPRO GOPRO GOPRO!!! They’re cheaper than a DSLR but have good quality, and you can spill a drink on it and knock it around because it’s meant for surfing and other such sports.

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That’s the plan :wink: hahaha

I think the route is gopros, might try to sell my HD2 and buy two HD3’s.

Long term goal is to do a monthly podcast for a page I’ve started with a few friends, if any one wants to get involved, contribute a mix etc just message me! :slight_smile:

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What is with all the GoPro suggestions?

Honestly I think they kinda suck for live streaming. I have a Hero 2, and I found it to be a bit of an awkward setup. Mounting, powering it, and dealing with an HDMI out, it’s very clumsy. The mounts aren’t really designed to be used with a bunch of cables coming out of the camera, so how do you mount it?

I even tried WiFi streaming. Very laggy and just awkward and kludgy to use.

And more importantly… it’s a fixed lens, and a fisheye lens at that. The fish eye look is cool, for a little while, but it would get old very quickly.

GoPro’s ARE cool if you want to run around a club and grab some quick footage. But not really for recording a whole set or streaming. The options for audio are pretty lame too.

A DSLR produces amazing video quality, but as stated before you can’t just set one up and leave it on live mode (the sensor will over heat), plus the time limits of using these prevent you from recording a whole set. Again, if you want to grab short footage from a club, a good DSLR will beat out a Go Pro anytime.

What I use is an actual HD video camera. I use a Canon HG10 (there is an HG20 now). These are about $1100, which isn’t cheap (though there are cheaper options), but you’ll get that crisp professional quality you were talking about. You’ll also get a sensor which can handle low-light (think night club) situations.

If you want to stream, I use a Black Magic Designs Intensity Extreme and connect that to the HDMI output of the Canon. The image quality is excellent. Just be aware that you will need a beefy machine to encode HD video.

I shot the video below using the Canon HG10 and a Canon 5D Mark III with a variety of lenses (ie, the fish-eye at the beginning).

Cheap? No. There are cheaper versions of these that produce video “similar”, but you have to realize those Pioneer/Boiler Room DJ sets are shot with pro gear:

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To you guy’s using GO Pros… how do you handle the low light situations?

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Hmmm more interesting points. Low light would be dealt with by controlling the aperture, but obviously there is no control over this when using the gopros.

In terms of mounting them with all the cables, I’d only be running one cable into each of them (for power). I don’t plan on streaming. I spend most of my time in South Africa and the bandwidth is a problem, so I will record, edit, and upload. Then if I feel like it I can just broadcast that.

I’d be interested in hearing about gopros in low light.

I know the gopro 3+ was released today, and the quality is supposed to be pretty impressive, so that is tempting, and it would be used a lot with my current gear, so I won’t feel too bad about paying for it :wink:

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Very nice video by the way! I’d love to live in a place like that…

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Lights. Lots and lots of Lights. Its designed for outdoor use and adventures in broad daylight! You can not control the aperture as it is fixed. a good light source is your only solution.

Its a cheap camera with lots of different mounts and its super light than the lightest DSLR. you could change the angle of view from fisheye to regular by adjusting the size of the image before shooting. I have been in many instances where the gopro are more useful than a DLSR. and I work in the wedding industry. the quality of the camera is adjustable and you could always edit in Video editing softwares. :+1:

the audio won’t be lame if you use an open case. its not that great, but its still usable.