Studio Pics

There are three inputs (A, B and Aux - Aux is video only but otherwise the same as the other two) and two main outputs on the switcher (PGM1 and PGM2, I don't use the monitor out). The top VCR goes into input A, the CCD camera pointed at the Commodore monitor goes into input B, PGM 1 goes out to the second VCR and PGM 2 is fed straight back into aux.

For the first stage, I'll use that Avermedia AverKEy300 (cheap VGA to composite/S-VGA/RGB video converter, you can get them for like $10 on eBay and they're REALLY useful), passes through VCR 1 and goes into input 1 of the switcher.  Then I improvise, mostly with keying, color correction and a couple of the switcher's effects (strobe, blur and mosaic are really useful in this context, the rest aren't), blending feedback and raw signal, and record that into tape 1 on VCR 2.  Then I put the tape 1 into VCR 1 and repeat the process using the output from the first pass as the raw footage for the second pass, which gets recorded on tape 2 in VCR 2.  Repeat as many times as I feel like and have time for, then use an actual low end pro deck to dump the tapes to digital at the best quality I can manage and send the footage to the person I'm working with (Monday it was a spec job for an acquaintance in LA, today it was for a music video my downstairs neighbor and a friend in Maine are working on) an let them decide how to mix it back in with the original footage.  The raw results look like they belong in the most overblow early 90s EBM video you've ever seen, and after two or three passes most of it has turned completely abstract.  I'll post a couple stills after I finish dumping the second tape, I ended up with about 80 minutes of raw footage I need to digitize and convert to DV.

It's too bad this stuff is getting more expensive.  I put this rig together about 4 years ago and the total cost was right around $180 for everything in the photo plus a really well maintained JVC pro S-VHS VCR an a high end timebase corrector, including shipping.

I should get hold of one of these LED matrix panels, imagine how video feedback would look on one of them!

Te commodore monitor really is fantastic.  An old roommate found it and gave it to me around 2011 and a few years later a different roommate gave me an Amiga color monitor that is supposed to be even better but to be honest I'd take the 64 monitor over it any day.  The color is just fantastic.

I've got to recap both of them this summer just to be on the safe side.

EDIT: a few stills from  tonight. The colors are VERY vivid on a CRT, but obviously recording to VHS mutes them a lot and also digitizing always mutes them no matter what format, but that fits the look I was after in this case.  The only way to actually accurately capture this stuff is to film straight off the CRT in a dark room with an HD camera, preferrably one that has an HDR mode too.  But I like the muted VHS look a lot, sometimes the really vivid, sharp image that's on the screen when I'm making this stuff is actually hard to look at.

Damn this stuff looks really good...

yesss, beautiful. i do love me some unrestrainededly eye melting colours.. thanks for the writeup on your process etc Tubular, cool stuff!

This is the first time I'd worked with greenscreen footage (although we actually keyed out the greenscreen with black for the actual processing, but did it really quickly so there are a lot of halos around the actors, like in that first screenshot) and having an actor against a blank background is a whole different experience from working with found footage, mostly in a good way.

I'd have done more than two passes of processing if there was time and drive space, but we had 40minutes of raw footage, usually I work with maybe 5 minutes at a time and loop it three or four times on each pass, so I still end up with an hour or two of footage, but it will go through more generations of processing. The stuff I did Monday went through five generations but it's harder to post stills from because what's most interesting at that point is how you end up with these really complex, quasi-fractal evolving patterns, and seeing just one frame doesn't really get it across. The avatar I'm using right now was cropped out of a frame from Monday's footage but it took a while to find one that looked interesting on its own.

Also I learned today that this sort of thing works WAY better when an actor is in full corpse paint.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments!  I've  only really started to to this stuff seriously pretty recently, when I got the hardware my apartment was so small that I didn't get too deep in to it because it takes a fair amount of space to set the camera(s) and monitor(s) up and all that, and then since I moved into the current place about a year and a half ago I've had space but I've been really focused on music. It's great to get some feedback on it

  On 5/8/2019 at 10:58 PM, TubularCorporation said:

Video day.  Just waiting for the raw footage to arrive and the sun to set and then I'll fire everything up.

 

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Who's the little guy stained or (burned?) into the wood panel, like a Garbage Pail Kid or something?

No idea, the drummer in my first band made that in a logdrum-making class when he was like 13 and his parents sent him to jazz camp.

Very nice!

I wish I got sent to jazz camp.

  On 5/10/2019 at 7:35 AM, thawkins said:

I wish I got sent to jazz camp.

One time at jazz camp i stuck a flute in my pussy.

  On 5/10/2019 at 7:44 AM, yekker said:

One time at jazz camp i stuck a flute in my pussy.

I think there are easier ways to achieve that warm low-fifi sound.

  On 5/8/2019 at 10:58 PM, TubularCorporation said:

Video day.  Just waiting for the raw footage to arrive and the sun to set and then I'll fire everything up.

 

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if you ever come to portland you have to stop by modular8.  there's so much random video stuff in there. there's a monthly meet up. the store owner has some nice custom glitched old video mixers and stuff. there's a guy in portland who does them.. big pauper. site link below.  some interesting things. we have video synths and various cameras for feedback in the store. it's not my wheelhouse but the guy who owns the store is into it.

https://glitchart.com

Nice, I was born not too far from Portland but I don't get out there too often, last time was 2013 and before that it was like 1997 or something.

Did some downsizing modularwise. after 4 years i actually feel like i finally understand what i want out of it. which is a bunch of new modules.

also got all my cables duct taped neatly at the back running through a patch cable. game changer for peace of mind. 

^good use of space. got any tunes up made with this?

https://discreteglasgow.bandcamp.com/

thats my bandcamp label. ive been making lots of sounds recently but no finished product. im waiting on a set of audeze lcd-x and a subpak. ive tried having studios and it just kills my creativity. my neighbours do not like bass. atall. so im moving to a compromise with headphones and a subpak. sorry about my weird grammar at the moment i do not have a comma button.  

Experizen was iirc. Need to check out the others here

  On 5/17/2019 at 8:10 PM, pcock said:

Did some downsizing modularwise. after 4 years i actually feel like i finally understand what i want out of it. which is a bunch of new modules.

also got all my cables duct taped neatly at the back running through a patch cable. game changer for peace of mind. 

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What is the knob box beneath your audio interface?

Also sorry to hear about neighbors/shitty walls. Recently I am mostly making music and mixing on headphones too as I don't get too much alone time at home and. Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro have real good bass response, would recommend.

Good stuff on your bancdamp too.

  On 5/17/2019 at 8:10 PM, pcock said:

after 4 years i actually feel like i finally understand what i want out of it. which is a bunch of new modules.

lol

  On 5/19/2019 at 4:40 AM, thawkins said:

What is the knob box beneath your audio interface?

Also sorry to hear about neighbors/shitty walls. Recently I am mostly making music and mixing on headphones too as I don't get too much alone time at home and. Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro have real good bass response, would recommend.

Good stuff on your bancdamp too.

that is a lindell audio 500 series that i swapped some modules for. 2 pulteq eqs and 4 117six compressors. although it sounds fantastic im really struggling get the stereo levels on it perfect for some reason though. 

  On 5/20/2019 at 3:30 PM, pcock said:

that is a lindell audio 500 series that i swapped some modules for. 2 pulteq eqs and 4 117six compressors. although it sounds fantastic im really struggling get the stereo levels on it perfect for some reason though. 

I figured it is some kind of analog mixer strip deal yeah. These always look so nice, but I am afraid that if I ever get to the stage of getting EQs and compressors like that, I end up even poorer than with eurorack...

Would be interesting to play around and see how it sounds though.

  On 6/4/2019 at 8:18 PM, xox said:

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Nice, I am using the same DAW software too!

  On 6/5/2019 at 7:36 AM, Stickfigger said:

What's going on in this pic with the octatrack? It looks as though it isn't receiving any audio into its inputs?

 that’s right! Atm im using them separately but I usually tend to connect both md and mnm to its inputs for extreme craziness