[Kirk Lorange]

I posted this recently at the PlaneTalkers Forum, I thought some of you here may be interested in how I put the movie lessons together.

You may have wondered how I keep the neck so still in the lessons. It's a very low tech solution I came up with ... an inverted pottery candle stick thingamebob, which is just the right height I need, and a great big gob of that Plasiticiney stuff they call Blutack down here, stuff you use to stick posters on the wall. Here it is, duct-taped to a small shelf that slides out of my old oak desk:



So I shove the headstock of the guitar firmly into the gob. It's nice and solid, but not rigid, and it's just outside the camera frame.

Below, you can see the shelf and the pottery thing. I sit pretty much facing the corner of my office. The camera on the left captures my picking hand; the camera on the right captures the fretboard. You can also see the RODE mic which I wrapped in foam as a pop filter. I record the lessons using it, through Adobe Audition. I have flood lights, two of them, which are aimed at the ceiling. They come out to 750 watts. You can see the small 250 watt one on the floor just to the right of the bass.



Below are the blue backdrops you see in the lessons. One is tacked to the wall ... it's for the picking hand. The other is hanging off that light stand. I just swing it around, put it against the desk behind me, adjust it for height. It's for the fretboard view. They're made of a light foam with a matt colored surface.



Luckily, I have a wireless mouse, so I can set the recording software off easily. I have to set both cameras off too, turn on the flood lights, make sure I'm in tune, make sure I play the lesson cleanly ... I then bring both movies and the Audition recording into Adobe Premiere, where I sync the three audio tracks up, visually by lining up the sound wave images of all three ... that of course also syncs up the visuals ... mute the two camera sound tracks ... edit the inset into the main frame, make the chord name graphics, the blue border around the inset ... the logo at the beginning and end ... all those elements are visible in the time line as layers.

So there you go, a combination of hi and lo tech ... the end result is what matters though. This is also the set up I'm using for the slide DVD I'm (still) working on. It works well.

My avatar shows me at work ...

[bluesguy]

Very nice setup. I love the duct tape to keep the whole rig in place

[6string]

Does Clancy help with anything?

besides look pretty

[Kirk Lorange]

Originally Posted by 6string

Does Clancy help with anything?

besides look pretty

Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy beyond the call of duty, 6string, way beyond ...

... now you be good!

[Kirk Lorange]

Originally Posted by bluesguy

Very nice setup. I love the duct tape to keep the whole rig in place

I've always said: "With enough duct tape, you could fix the World"

[4guitars]

Quite ingenious indeed, who else would have thought of that? Great results.
Thanks for sharing your little secrets with us.

[Rojoyinc]

Kewl - I'm a photographer and teach at PortraNET.com I make videos too and after buying a lot of (junk for sale on the net) I found yours really nice. And loved how the head stock was locked in place. Honestly I just ordered your (whole "LOT") with confidence because of the quality of the 4 free lessons I was emailed.

I was MOST IMPRESSED with the fact that they weren't just flash online, but we could also DOWNLOAD the .wmv file! AND THE GUITAR PRO file! (except one - I think funk? doesn't have a link to download the video file) can you add that to the lesson thread?
If I download them, they are larger on my playback and I can view them without going to the site (And adding to your bandwidth).

Anyway - the lesson quality and the extra downloads with the lesson really impressed me - "I ordered the WHOLE LOT" after I downloaded the free lessons.

[hermanli_ibanezshredder]

I hope that wireless mouse don't run outta energizers. I hate wireless stuff for that perticular reason.

[TenThumbs]

Originally Posted by Kirk Lorange

I've always said: "With enough duct tape, you could fix the World"

Canada's Red Green would be impressed by that statement.

[Aunt Doty]

Interesting! You do an excellent job on the videos. Yep, I like the pottery-duct tape job too! Such ingenuity! You should refine it and patent it!!

[gordon rae]

hey kirk just joined from brissy also love the site and in responce to your lo tech stuff..as they say mate nessesity is the mother to all inventions