How do you explain your moves?

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
I pay attention to what the community wants in a tutorial and the one thing that consistently comes up is vocal instruction. I couldn't agree more, I feel like you can pack infinitely more information into a video by speaking instead of typing it all out. However, I live with a family of 8 and in a very loud household. I don't know how or where I can record my explanations so that my audio isn't constantly interrupted by the ensuing chaos. Does anyone have a solution for this? I can get the video for my explanations, that's fine. The problem is with recording audio. How do you guys record your audio and how do you suggest I record mine?

Thanks in advance
-Patrick V
 
Mar 22, 2013
342
2
Munich / Germany
Try to find a nice place outside in a park outside and get a good microphone, so
that you don't record background sound - recording outside is really nice if you find the right place...

Hope that helps!

- Konrad
 
I get nervous when I start seeing things like "tutorial" posted about on magician forums. What kind of material are you teaching exactly? I hope you're not exposing magic on youtube under the pretense that it's an educational tutorial or something like that.

As for audio you can always invest in a microphone. Or dub in an audio track recorded in post.
 

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
I'm most likely going to end up dubbing the video, as that seems like the "cleanest" way of doing things. And no need to worry about the material I'm teaching, I've got no tricks to teach. I'm just a flourisher who wants to share some of his ideas. I've already put something on the Wire, my move Orbit.

But I wasn't entirely happy with the explanation portion of the video. I explained my move using text on the screen rather than actually speaking. I feel like a lot of information was lost in the process and that bothers me. So, I'm trying to find ways of producing my material a little more effectively.
 
May 18, 2008
807
0
I think text can be used very, very well for certain moves. In certain cases (especially with flourishes), I've found certain videos with no text or talking to be easy to learn from (such as Dan and Dave's 101 section on the Trilogy). On the other hand, talking can help out if it's used well and well rehearsed. I've seen several videos where the person is stuttering and confusing because they've not practiced teaching the move.

If you're wondering where to film, parking decks can often be very quiet, or you could of course use an external microphone. Dubbing can also work well, but can be tough to line up naturally just by watching a video. I've filmed with a cheaper camera and then used my phone to record my voice during the video, then just put them on top of each other before to avoid background noise.

But spend more time worrying about making the teaching clear; I can handle some background noise if it's well taught. :)

All the best,
-Chris
 
Aug 31, 2007
799
1
There are several fairly cheap lav mics online if you do your research - some that even plug right into your iPhone.

I personally always use the Zoom H4n for recording, but if that's out of your price range, your best bet would just be to scout out quiet locations, away from family or wind or other disturbances.

As far as text vs audible learning - I think it's a matter of preference. I know I can't learn well at all from text on screen for flourishing, as I'm constantly looking away from the screen down at my own hands to see if I'm doing the move correctly :p

Play around with it. The more you try stuff out, the sooner you'll find what works for you. Good luck!
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results