Making a video of your music is a great idea! Uploading it to YouTube or Vimeo means instant worldwide visibility. This is where young people go to watch their music nowadays and you can’t afford to not be part of the crowd. There are people who can make videos for you and if you can afford it that is the best way to go forward. If you are just starting out and don’t have any cash you need to make one yourself.
So I’m often asked is it easy. Well to make a basic video it is especially if you are making a one camera video. Every computer has free video editing software nowadays – iMovie or Windows Movie Maker and there is a lot more than that.
All you have to do is to find a nice light space to record. Borrow a video camera or use your smartphone, record yourself / band (remember and play well!) and import the video on to your computer. Import it into your video editing programme, top and tail it with credits (your name, website, contact details), render it (usually exporting if from your software does this) and upload it to YouTube etc.
If you have more than one camera you might want to record a more complicated and original set up. That’s not difficult either. Just check the help files of your software and it will tell you what to do next!
Sometimes I will use audio software to ‘strip’ the audio of the video. I’ll then EQ it to make it sound nicer, compress it to make the same volume throughout, add reverb to make it sound bigger (depending on the room you have recorded in) and then normalise it to make it louder. I’ll then import this back into the video editing software and replace the audio already there with the new version.
Once your video is uploaded you can embed it into your website, put it on social media and let promotors see you performing. Brilliant! Instant promotion 🙂
Don’t wait for other to make a video before you and get the gigs – just go for it you won’t regret it.
A videographer who works for Hands Up for Trad is Martin Forry of http://soilsiuimages.com. Check him out he does a great job.
Also we work with Bees Nees Media who film the Scots Trad Music Awards for MG ALBA. They offer many services and do a brilliant job. http://www.beesnees.tv