A couple weeks ago I purchased a video recorder for the ridiculously low price of $29. The quality if OK for YouTube, the audio is marginal, but again, OK for YouTube. My primary purpose for purchasing the camera was to video some of my cruises down Chesapeake Bay and the east coast on my sailboat. My daughter talked me into using it to record some music jobs at various locations, which I recently did.

Unfortunately, I'm a true novice at working with these new, digital, video formats and when you're my age, the learning curve is like climbing Mount Everest. I finally figured out how to synchronize the audio with the video, and do some minor editing using Windows Live Video.

The best attributes of the camera is I can put it on a mic stand with the supplied adapter, press the start button, and record the entire performance. This provides me with the ability to peruse the performance, see exactly what I'm doing wrong, what I'm doing right, and make appropriate changes. I sincerely believe we are our own worst critic, which is a good thing. I also have my wife look at the videos, make suggestions, and yes, I value her criticism. (I don't tell her that enough, but I really do value her opinions.)

I place the video recorder about 6 feet from the keyboard, off to the side. It allows me to see the number of button pushes, etc... involved with each song, and the dead time between songs. I believe that anything more than a couple seconds seems like eternity to the audience. Consequently, toward the end of each song I find myself selecting the registration or MFD entry for the next song, which causes the loss of some eye contact with the audience. Despite the fact this is only for about 3 seconds, to me it's two seconds too long. I didn't realize this was happening until I perused the video.

Here's a cut from today's Father's Day performance, one that also tells me that I need to bring up the vocals a notch to achieve better balance. And yes, Tony, it's in sync and it's me using my right hand.



Cheers,

Gary