Continuing my experiments and efforts with recording our Season 2 sessions, as we prepare to start Season 3. Specifically, I am trying out different camera angles and audio options, so that I can have a more dynamic game chronicle.
So far, I think I am satisfied with the camera options. They are not top of the line – this is all on a shoe-string budget – but they are workable. I have one camera focused on me as the GM, one on the figures/terrain of the board, a wide-angle GoPro for the group, and an OBS recording on my laptop for combat tracking, software etc. I do need to figure out perhaps a different angle for the GoPro – it is workable, but feels too low angled, and cuts out the two players closest to myself. Perhaps a tripod mount from behind me would work, though I am concerned about it capturing “gm secrets” as well.
For audio, that is a lot more challenging. I did managed to capture the lavalier mics this round, attached to our two extreme players (most loud, and most quiet). For their audio, it worked very well – both players are picked up clearly, and I can fine tune their level in software afterwords. Unfortunately, these mics are particularly cheap, and the group tends to be loud at times – as such there is a lot of additional voice recordings on both channels. More problematic, I don’t really have a decent “group” audio recording option yet. My initial plan was to put a lavalier on each player, and record all the tracks independently – which would work if there was not a lot of cross-recording. Now I am more inclined to mic myself alone, and use a couple decent area mics (thinking Yeti or similar) to capture the group. If I stick with lavaliers, then I may still need to understand the capture level settings a bit better – I may just not have things tuned correctly yet.
