The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #153046   Message #3582023
Posted By: Will Fly
06-Dec-13 - 08:54 AM
Thread Name: polly vaughan dick miles
Subject: RE: polly vaughan dick miles
Dick, may I make a comment on your recording? and when I say "recording", I mean the actual technical recording - not the content.

You've presumably posted this video as a bit of shameless self-promo - nothing wrong with that, and many of us have done it from time to time. But, whenever I watch your stuff on YouTube - and I've sat and watched quite a few over the years - I always come to the same conclusion: the singing and playing is lovely, but the actual quality of the video leaves so much to be desired and - for me - detracts from the enjoyment. This video of "Polly Vaughan" is typical - brown, muddy, barely visible, off-centre, low volume...

So, you're not doing yourself any favours by the quality of your video. When I do a video (and I'm not making any claims for the quality of my content here, either - just the technicalities), I observe some basic rules which help at least to make it watchable:

1. I try and frame myself in front of the camera so that, if there are any people interested in what my fingers are doing on the guitar, they can at least see them.

2. I try and get some light on myself so that the picture is clear, even in light conditions which can vary from dull and gloomy to over-bright winter sunlight.

3. I try and make sure the sound quality is reasonable - not distorted and not too low.

I happen to use quite a nice HD video camera for the visuals, good sound equipment, and some moderately sophisticated movie software to make my stuff. I'm very aware that not everyone can afford such kit, and may not have the skills to operate the kit - so they may have to rely on the inbuilt camera and mic on their computer. That's actually perfectly acceptable if these basic rules are observed. As a quick experiment to illustrate my point, I've just done a quick recording using just my laptop which was perched on the arm of a chair in my lounge - just to illustrate some points.

quick'n dirty blues clip

I just balanced this on the arm of an archair - pointing towards the window, which is why it's all misty and lacking in contrast. But at least the picture is framed, and you can see what I'm doing. The sound's not brilliant either, but you can hear it.

So - my advice would be to beef up the technical side of your videos. And let me repeat: this is no criticism in any way of your musical skills - just frustration at not being able to see and hear you properly.