QuickTime Recording

[nickle15]

I am trying to record a movie using Quicktime on my Mac mini. It's a brand new M1 machine if that matters.

I have a Logitech webcam for the video input and have no trouble recording that but the audio will not record. I have a Focusrite 18i8 interface and that comes up in the recording input options when I start a new recording in Quicktime. I've tried every experiment/configuration I could to no avail.

I would like to record a movie using the Focusrite to capture the audio (playing synth) and the Logitech capturing video. Is this possible? If so, any quick ideas on what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

[sonics]

I don't know QuickTime, but why not try something like OBS Studio. It's free, and will give you all the control you need.

[MOF]

Have you tried iMovie (it will allow you tidy up the video before export) and set the audio input to your audio interface in ‘settings’?

[Luke W]

OBS would be my suggestion for this sort of task as well.

The settings that appear in QuickTime certainly imply that it's possible to do exactly what you're trying to achieve. Does your interface work as expected in other software?

The benefit of using something like OBS though is that you'll have more comprehensive settings at your disposal, and some level meters that will assist in finding any faults if nothing else!

[nickle15]

I have iMovie but wasn't aware of any recording capabilities - I've just used it for editing. I'll check into it!

I'll also take a look at OBS. Happy to try any solution that gets me where I'm wanting to go. Thanks to both of you!

Thanks Luke - my interface works perfectly for audio recording in Pro Tools and Garageband, so no issues there. OBS sounds like a good place to look. Thank you!

[nickle15]

Well, I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. Not smart, mind you. But not a total idiot. That being said I just can't seem to accomplish my goal here. Right now if I want to make a movie I record video on my iPhone, and audio in my DAW. I then merge those two files in iMovie.

That process is fine except for the audio and video eventually fall out of sync, typically within two minutes. I've been down all the rabbit holes to ensure my settings in iMovie and on my iPhone are set correctly and they are. In my mind I keep thinking there must be a way to use my webcam and my Mac to make a movie file in one program. Thus my query here.

After the responses to this post I spent a few hours trying to use OBS, QuickTime, and iMovie but can never get audio into the recordings. I've been to Focusrite's site which gave me instructions on how to accomplish this. I used the instruction on the OBS site to set up the audio - all to no avail.

So can someone tell me (who actually does something similar), is what I'm trying to do even possible? Can I capture audio and video in one program or is merging two files together the best I can do?

I've been all over Google looking for answers so I'm not being lazy here - I'm just at the end of my rope. It might come down to me just not understanding some principle related to using an audio interface, though it's working for all my audio so I think I'm doing something right.

Thanks for any advice anyone might care to offer. And thanks for letting me vent.

[sonics]

OBS Studio is designed for capturing video and audio sources together.

Does the webcam show up in OBS?
Does the audio input show up in OBS?

If not, what have you tried to do to fix it?

[nickle15]

Hello! The webcam shows up, and be added, and I can see what will be recorded.

I'm not sure how to answer the other question. I understood from the OBS site, and the Focusrite site that a go between app would be needed to bring in audio from my interface to the OBS software. So I installed the BlackHole software recommended by OBS. I then followed the steps to get a new audio device set up. Once that was done it was able to be added in the OBS devices but still no audio. Interestingly the only audio that would be audible (and visible on the meter) is audio playing from my Mac, such as something on YouTube or the Music app. So that's where I'm at... Thanks for checking in!

[BJG145]

QuickTime...I hadn't realised that was still a thing. Guess it still is in Mac-world.

[sonics]

Did you follow the instructions provided by Focusrite HERE?

[nickle15]

Did you follow the instructions provided by Focusrite HERE?

I did. That was my next stop after the OBS instructions didn't pan out. I noticed that there is a step late in the process on the FR page that I can't follow because the option they tell me to select does not appear in my dropdown page. Grrrrr....

Thanks for trying. It's 12:52 in the afternoon here in cold Missouri, USA and I'm not moving until I get this to work! Or I have a stress induced heart attack - which might not be that far off!

[MOF]

That process is fine except for the audio and video eventually fall out of sync, typically within two minutes. I've been down all the rabbit holes to ensure my settings in iMovie and on my iPhone are set correctly and they are.

If there’s a notable loss of synch’ in two minutes then I think it’s a settings problem.
If you’re in the USA you have various camera settings at 30 fps and 29.97 drop frame and non drop frame.
In the UK a camcorder should be 25fps and audio at 48 khz, not the CD rate of 44.1khz, and a webcam might be set to a different rate.
Select your video file and click Apple+i to get its data settings and then set the audio rate to match.