My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all.

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Cactus Music
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2018/12/17 04:57:25 (permalink)

My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all.

https://youtu.be/304oyNOcLvg
 
As I said in in my other post I will be attempting to make videos from now on. I have a lot of songs and ground to cover. Trouble with making videos out of songs is the zillion's of way's you could make them interesting so that people will be drawn in to watch and mostly- listen. 
 
I could sit down in a chair and record a video of me performing the song--boring- .. Then you can shoot your self at a live gig,, little more interesting but you need like 3 cameras and people to man them,,I'd love to be able to make animated cartoons,, but that seems like a lot of work.. then you can take the easy way out and just stick still pictures together and hope for something interesting to come about. . But Hey, how about mixing all of these ideas together.. So I will now take video recording stuff to gigs and find a way to shoot better quality footage of myself performing.
 
This is not by any means good quality video, but it was just a trail run to see if it was even feasible. 
 
Technical details. 
I always put this song out via Soundcloud every year at Christmas, that version was titled "Johnny got run over by a Mule Deer" to avoid copyright laws. 
I was asked to play this song years ago and found a free download midi file. I did my usual fixing up and added real Bass. 
So I already had a good bed track recorded to Sonar. I upgraded it with some better VST's and stuff and then I laid down a new vocal track using my live performance vocal set up. This includes my TC Voice live Acoustic. That's the out of tune harmonies you hear.. I though they fit the song nicely... 
The live recording was pretty bad so next time I will also use my Tascam DR 40 and capture the Vocals and guitars. 

Johnny V  
Cakelab  
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 http://www.cactusmusic.ca/
 
 
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    kloon
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 06:03:50 (permalink)
    Nice one Johnny. Merry Christmas! :)
    #2
    Larry Jones
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 06:11:38 (permalink)
    Hey Johnny - I'll listen to the song in a minute, but I just wanted to mention that cheap point-and-shoot still cameras in the hundred dollar range can shoot pretty decent HD video. Three of those in fixed positions around you at a gig can make videos of high enough definition that you can pan and zoom in editing to simulate cameras with human operators. I shot this one all by myself from one bar stool with one stationary camera in one take (Please note this was just a test of the camera. I had no setup time, no separate  audio and the band didn't even know I was there.). Three cams would have been a luxury.
    And you are absolutely right: In this day and age, people will not listen to a song if there's nothing for them to watch on the screen (present company excepted).

    EDITED TO ADD:
    Nice job on the playing, singing and all, but this is one of a very few Christmas songs banned in my house.
     
    SECOND EDIT:
    Of course you'll be a stickler for audio and that's fine, but in my neighborhood your video is already way better than it needs to be to get gigs. Recording to the DR-40 will make it better, but add another layer of post production for you and probably not be noticed by your prospective clients. (My opinion.)

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    #3
    thegaltieribrothers
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 13:18:20 (permalink)
    Hi Johnny,
     
    First time I've ever heard this fun Christmas song + nice video.
     
    Thanks for sharing.
     
    Good Job!
     
    paul
    #4
    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 17:28:58 (permalink)
    Thanks Larry- Yes the song has it's fan club and also may people are insulted by it. I guess Red Neck American humour takes a certain mindset. I was originally asked to learn it buy clients and I slowly learned to like it as it's fun to play and sing. My version has different lyrics where it's Johnny that gets killed and not some little old lady. And he Smoked his Medication...
     
    Anyhow thanks for the input on shooting video. I do have a few good cameras kicking around that see little use these day's due to Cell phoon cameras. 

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
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    #5
    Freddy J
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 18:02:51 (permalink)
    Nice one Johnny!  This is one of my favourite comedic Christmas songs.  It falls into that genre of great comedy or unusual country songs, such as "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line" (Buck Owens), "Dead Skunk" (Loudon Wainwright III), and "Phantom 309" (Red Sovine). 
     
    Well done and Merry Christmas!
    #6
    biodiode
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 21:25:40 (permalink)
    Never heard this one before. Well done for putting yourself on camera and uploading to YouTube. Only thing I would say about the video is to make it more landscape, as there's blank space to the right of the shot.

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    #7
    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/17 23:27:05 (permalink)
    biodiode
    Never heard this one before. Well done for putting yourself on camera and uploading to YouTube. Only thing I would say about the video is to make it more landscape, as there's blank space to the right of the shot.




     
    Well your right about that as I'm not only new to using Vegas but I'm still learning how to use the Screen capture software OBS as well as configure the cameras. 
    I have never in my life delved into video other than shooting a few family shorts on our camera or cell phones. 
    I used 2 laptops, the main shot is a newer Acer  and has a built in web cam. It is also my reduntant back up for my backing tracks. It was sitting on a tray at waist level  and I could monitor what was being recorded.  The other one was my old Sony laptop that I use for my lyrics using Power point and a footpedal. I hooked up this very old MS Life Cam and stuck it on top of one of the speakers. It moved after I had it set. I could not monitor that one as It was hidden behind the power point show. 
     
    I'm going to try a dry run where I open 3 instances of OBS and hook up 2 remote web cams. I should be able to capter 3 cameras using the one laptop. Then I will try using at least one of my digital camera's on a tripod. As well I realized I can also probably record audio to the same Acer using my audio interface. It will be a matter of streaming good quailty audio to the screen capture software. If not I can always record to one of my Wave editors or even Cakewalk. 

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
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     http://www.cactusmusic.ca/
     
     
    #8
    emeraldsoul
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/18 02:27:20 (permalink)
    Right on, good job, a fine start, and you clearly aren't plagued with epilepsy or else your lighting might have triggered it.  I liked the "Grandma on the ground" sweater!
     
    You have made a novelty hit off of a novelty hit! That's tough to pull off! Merry Xmas!
     
    -Tom
     
     

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    Larry Jones
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/18 08:03:12 (permalink)
    Johnny - I've done several music videos in Vegas 12 using three cameras, flying in audio from a DR-40.  Multicam editing in Vegas is not well documented. Let me know if I can help.

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    #10
    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/18 17:22:00 (permalink)
    Thanks once again Larry.. Funny how we get the best help for all software right here on this forum. 
    After the post from Biodiode got me looking at that issue and I figured out how to zoom and crop last night. Like you say the documentation is sparse and the user forum also hard to search.
     
    My big question was to see if I was cross fading between the 2 cameras the right way. I was just using the envelopes and dragging them up and down. This seems like a hard way to do things.  But anyhow, there seems to be an easier way and it was not at all what I expected. 
    I stummbled on a Mode called "Multicamera" but nothing seemed to change and I guess I'll need to look that one up. 
    I learned about 6 new things last night that will improve my results and workflow. 
    I need to learn the shortcut keys I guess..
    Speaking of which, I ended up with cursor being an envelope tool and that's when I gave up for the night,,, must have toggled something. I hope it reverts when I resume tonight. 
    If not I'll be PM'ing you Larry ;) 
     

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
    Focusrite 6i61st - Tascam us1641. 
    3 Desktops and 3 Laptops W7 and W10
     http://www.cactusmusic.ca/
     
     
    #11
    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/18 17:25:42 (permalink)
    emeraldsoul
    Right on, good job, a fine start, and you clearly aren't plagued with epilepsy or else your lighting might have triggered it.  I liked the "Grandma on the ground" sweater!
     
    You have made a novelty hit off of a novelty hit! That's tough to pull off! Merry Xmas!
     
    -Tom
     
     




     
    I just bought those LED lights and it's yet another technical addition to my set up. I guess I need a proper DMX contoller as I hate the auto flashing thing too and have yet to figure out how to set the lights to just change slowly and/or stay on one colour. 

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
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    #12
    daryl1968
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/19 14:54:05 (permalink)
    good recording Johnny
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    Larry Jones
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/20 20:34:16 (permalink)
    Cactus Music
     
    My big question was to see if I was cross fading between the 2 cameras the right way. I was just using the envelopes and dragging them up and down. This seems like a hard way to do things.  



    I'm sure you've figured it out by now: Just overlap the ends (front and back) of the two clips and a dissolve will happen in the overlapping area. Or you can choose a type of crossfade from the FX bin (don't remember if that's what it's called) and drag and drop it into the overlap. If you plan to do crossfades make sure you give yourself an extra few seconds of footage on both ends of each clip. In fact, that's good shooting practice in general.
     
    Years ago I read a review of a very simple video editor in a PC magazine. The reviewer liked the software because it gave a simple-but-decent end product without too many headaches along the way. I have always remembered the way he put it" "Life is too short to edit video."
     
    Merry Christmas, and I'm looking forward to seeing more videos from you.
    post edited by Larry Jones - 2018/12/21 20:32:16

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    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/21 16:59:24 (permalink)
    Yes I did figure it out after trying to watch a few terrible videos that were posted.. Here's people posting how too videos that are so out of focus and they talk real fast and with some accent so you can't understand them.. But overall I got the jist of it. I posted a new video I made after learning to zoom and crop and using the split to clips trick. I definatly need better camera's. 
     
    https://youtu.be/YPrCFL0uZaM
     
     

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
    Focusrite 6i61st - Tascam us1641. 
    3 Desktops and 3 Laptops W7 and W10
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    #15
    Larry Jones
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/21 20:40:00 (permalink)
    New video is much better! Plus, you are the king of creating and working with recorded backing tracks. The only time I ever tried to do it, it was just to fatten up the sound of a four-piece band -- another electric guitar and big BG vox. The drummer couldn't stay with the track in rehearsal, so I abandoned the project.

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    jamesg1213
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/23 16:15:08 (permalink)
    Nice one Johnny. I'm also trying to provide a video with each new tune, even if it's just some public domain footage. 

     
    Jyemz
     
     
     



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    Mesh
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2018/12/24 14:27:20 (permalink)
    Nicely done Johnny!! There's just something about this song that's very catchy....all in good fun!!
     
    Merry Christmas!!

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    Cactus Music
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    Re: My "Merry Christmas" song for ya all. 2019/01/03 04:19:00 (permalink)
    Thanks everyone. I"m only posting to bump so when they pull the plug I'll be the one at the top  for all eternity  :) 

    Johnny V  
    Cakelab  
    Focusrite 6i61st - Tascam us1641. 
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