Seeking recording advice

[Naomi Leila]

Hi all, 
Just seeking some advice on starting to record piano youtube cover and original videos with my Yamaha p115 digital piano. Eventually I’d like to record singing and piano covers and originals. But for now I’d like to start just simply with the piano. I am not so good with technology however and am getting rather confused at what I need to purchase for this and how exactly I’d do it. I’d like to start small budget wise between £25-£200 - lower the better at the moment - I’d like to build it up slowly) If you have any advice on this, it would be really very much appreciated 

Xxx

🎹🎤

[GregB]

As you are "not so good with technology", my suggestion would be:

• buy a quality stereo 'field recorder' e.g. a Zoom H1 https://www.videoguys.com.au/Shop/p/24091/zoom-h1-audio-recorder-accessory-kit-bundle-fxr001p.html or similar (e.g. a Tascam).  Less than £100, and much less if secondhand.  You don't need the more complex models (H2-H5) ... all you want is good sound.
• mine runs on one AA battery for at least 10 hours and records at least 10 hours of top quality audio
• directly plug it into your camera (most DSLRs allow this, but you might have to get a gizmo for a mobile phone) so the camera records the external mic (camera mics are notoriously bad).  This means you won't need a computer to put the sound and video together.
• If you can't figure the above step, record the audio and video separately, but you'll need a computer to put them together.  A loud CLAP at the start forms a spike in both files making it easier to line them up.  You'll need help for this computer stuff, but lots of people can do it ... it's not rocket science.
• test the best place in the room to record sound (it might even be UNDER the piano!).  If a digital unit, move the piano around the house to find the best acoustics (as long as this doesn't make camera shots ugly).  If playing with 'reverb', the stereo mic will pick this up and give a nice wide sound to the video.
• test, test and test to get optimum sound and vision

While not a piano, here's the use of my own Zoom H1 to record two guitars and singing ... you can see it perched flat on the far corner of the table. It's sound replaced everything the cameras recorded.