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Here is my use case: I want to record myself (sound and video) when I play the trumpet to a backtrack.

Now if I didn't want the video I would simply:

  • record the backtrack with a DAW
  • record myself in another track while the DAW plays the backtrack

But I don't know how to add the video.

My guess is that I need either:

  • a DAW that also can record video stream (I have only a web cam for that)
  • to record with a video stream recorder, but I'm not sure how to add, play back, and sync the backtrack.
  • to record audio in my DAW, video in another program (movie maker?), and then sync audio and video with some kind of clap.

I am certainly not the first wanting to do that, the question is how can I achieve this? Other ways than the two above? Software recommendations?

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This is really the same trick as what is needed for a music video. There are two options for it. If you want to record the actual performance, play the backtrack while recording the video and synchronize it after the fact. You can either directly mic the instrument and play the backtrack aloud or you can use headphones or in-ear monitors to play the backtrack and split off a feed to go in to the camera for purposes of synchronization.

Alternately, you can do your audio recording completely separate from the video. Record the audio in an ideal studio environment with clean trumpet while using headphones for the backtrack, produce the final audio and then playback the audio while recording the video. This is the option that is generally closer to what a music video does and is what I would personally recommend for best overall quality.

In either case, you take the video track and the audio track (or tracks) and line them up after the fact in a traditional video NLE (non-linear editor). You could accomplish it with something as basic as Windows Movie Maker, though personally, I'd use something like Adobe Premiere and maybe Audition for the audio (simply because Audition and Premiere integrate so nicely.)

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  • So syncing by hand with some kind of movie clap?
    – Gauthier
    Jun 13, 2014 at 5:51
  • Or a pulse put in to the audio being played back. If you add a metronome to the audio it is really easy to sync up.
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Jun 13, 2014 at 12:59
  • Sorry for being thick, do you mean to sync an audio pulse that is both in the mix from the DAW, and in the audio attached to the video (audio which will eventually be discarded)?
    – Gauthier
    Jun 13, 2014 at 14:43
  • Right, for recording the video, output from the DAW with a metronome attached. Then sync the video to the audio using the metronome and replace the audio with the non-metronome version after syncing.
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Jun 13, 2014 at 15:20
  • The thing is that audio and video need to be recorded at the same time.
    – Gauthier
    Jun 14, 2014 at 6:37

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