So I see a lot of really nice angle top-down videos of people playing the drum pad including in the course, any recommendations how to get these shots? I did see some overhead camera mounts on Amazon and such, just wondering if anyone has any specific recommendations? I would probably just record with my phone
A top down shot is easiest to make with a phone because of the light weight. The best thing to do is to mount the phone onto a separate stand, so not connect it to the desk of the pad controller. Reason for this is that hitting the pad controller will create a shake in the camera if it’s attached to the desk.
With bigger camera’s you will need a heavy duty weighted c-stand to be able to hover it above the desk. Not cheap, very heavy, lots of hassle. A phone is better. You will still need a stand but a crappy lightweight one will do. There are lots of smartphone clamps available.
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Thanks, as a follow up question, do you record/mix audio separately? I found when trying to record that the sound of my fingers hitting the pad is quite loud, however I noticed on most your videos you can’t even hear your fingers on the pad
Yeah correct. The drums are just midi (with an Addictive Drums plugin on there hat turns the midi notes into drum sounds) so most of the time the drums are just that, with no audio recorded.
I then export the performance and replace the audio in the the video.
If you wanna be lazy, I use my phone for video and an iRig mk1 into a 3.5mm to lightening adapter and record the audio on my phone too
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This is the setup I used for my last cover.
As Rob mentioned, vibrations will be noticeable if you attach a stand to a desk. I overcame this problem with soft material under tripod legs. Before that I had an overhanging selfie stick attached to a side shelf with a woodworking clamp.
My tripod allows to mount a camera in the middle.
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Haha, wow, this is another take on things! Shock absorbers… I didn’t think of that…
This video shows how a food photographer is doing it:
Or just a single strong C-stand:
Or build your own ceiling mount:
I am usually using a tripod with lateral arm to take overhead photos as I already have plenty of stands standing in my way (and therefore I like the idea of some kind of ceiling mount).
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