A while back, I made a tutorial on how to make bass covers for YouTube that basically required you to record your audio and video separately and then combine them in video editing software after the fact. In practice, this works, but it is a bit tedious. With OBS, you can actually record both audio and video at the same time into the same file. This means that you can record your cover and then upload that file directly to YouTube with no other editing required (though I have a trick here that will help you if you want to run it through a video editor anyway.)
What you'll need:
So to start setting up OBS, you'll create a new scene with sources for your camera, an audio output source for the track you're going to play to (you can play audio from anywhere such as a YouTube video, Spotify, or a local file), and an audio input source for your bass. It should look like this.
If you were to simply hit Start Recording at this point, you'll probably run into a couple of issues. You may not hear your bass while recording, and there's a good chance that the audio and video are out of sync. Let's solve the sync issue first. In the audio mixer panel, you can click the gear icon and go to Advanced Audio Properties. There, you'll have the option for Sync Offset, which basically sets a tiny delay on whatever track you apply it to. What I've found for my setup is that I had to delay my desktop audio 180ms to get it where it needed to be. Here's a video that explains a good way to figure out precisely how much delay to set. From my screenshot, you'll also notice that I checked a couple boxes on the far right to set up independent audio tracks for my music and bass. If you want to edit things later, that will be important, but if you're uploading directly to YouTube, don't worry about that.
Next, let's talk about monitoring. I personally don't monitor from OBS because there seems to be significant latency. Instead, I hear the track being played through my headphones via my audio interface, and I'm monitoring my bass using Amplitube. You can also monitor using the direct monitor option on your interface, but I don't like the sound of dry direct bass. I have a preset in Amplitube that I really like, so I want my bass to sound like that. If you have a preamp that you're feeding your audio interface, then the direct monitor option will probably work for you.
Having Amplitube open won't affect what OBS is recording though. What it records is just the direct signal from the interface. So what we'll need to do to apply a filter to your bass guitar source. You'll click the plus button in the bottom left, then select a VST 2.x Plug-in. From the drop down, you'll select Amplitube or whichever audio plugin you want to use. It should look like this. You can then open the the plug-in interface with the button just below the drop down and make adjustments to the plugin there, like selecting a preset.
Lastly, if you want to enable multi-track recording (if you want to keep your song and bass separate for later editing, for example) go to Settings>Output and change the Output Mode to Advanced, then go to the recording tab (choose a place to save your video here) and change the Recording Format to mp4, and check boxes 1 and 2 for Audio Track. This is what mine looks like. This way, if you need to adjust levels after the fact or whatever else, you'll have two audio tracks when you import the .mp4 into a video editor like Davinci Resolve. There is no real downside to doing this. If you want, you can just upload the .mp4 to YouTube and it will contain both audio tracks, or you can import this file into a video editor and adjust as needed.
At this point, you should be ready to record. Hit Start Recording and then start playback on your song. Once you're done, hit Stop Recording and a few seconds later, your file should show up wherever you designated it to save. If you're happy with your performance, you can upload this file to YouTube. Here's my first attempt with this method. I did a couple of small edits like color correction in Davinci Resolve, but this otherwise what OBS captured.
Please let me know if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them!
What you'll need:
- A computer
- OBS Studio (download it here)
- A USB audio interface (I'm using a Scarlett Solo)
- A webcam
- OPTIONAL: Amplitube (this is my preference, but OBS can use lots of different audio plugins)
So to start setting up OBS, you'll create a new scene with sources for your camera, an audio output source for the track you're going to play to (you can play audio from anywhere such as a YouTube video, Spotify, or a local file), and an audio input source for your bass. It should look like this.
If you were to simply hit Start Recording at this point, you'll probably run into a couple of issues. You may not hear your bass while recording, and there's a good chance that the audio and video are out of sync. Let's solve the sync issue first. In the audio mixer panel, you can click the gear icon and go to Advanced Audio Properties. There, you'll have the option for Sync Offset, which basically sets a tiny delay on whatever track you apply it to. What I've found for my setup is that I had to delay my desktop audio 180ms to get it where it needed to be. Here's a video that explains a good way to figure out precisely how much delay to set. From my screenshot, you'll also notice that I checked a couple boxes on the far right to set up independent audio tracks for my music and bass. If you want to edit things later, that will be important, but if you're uploading directly to YouTube, don't worry about that.
Next, let's talk about monitoring. I personally don't monitor from OBS because there seems to be significant latency. Instead, I hear the track being played through my headphones via my audio interface, and I'm monitoring my bass using Amplitube. You can also monitor using the direct monitor option on your interface, but I don't like the sound of dry direct bass. I have a preset in Amplitube that I really like, so I want my bass to sound like that. If you have a preamp that you're feeding your audio interface, then the direct monitor option will probably work for you.
Having Amplitube open won't affect what OBS is recording though. What it records is just the direct signal from the interface. So what we'll need to do to apply a filter to your bass guitar source. You'll click the plus button in the bottom left, then select a VST 2.x Plug-in. From the drop down, you'll select Amplitube or whichever audio plugin you want to use. It should look like this. You can then open the the plug-in interface with the button just below the drop down and make adjustments to the plugin there, like selecting a preset.
Lastly, if you want to enable multi-track recording (if you want to keep your song and bass separate for later editing, for example) go to Settings>Output and change the Output Mode to Advanced, then go to the recording tab (choose a place to save your video here) and change the Recording Format to mp4, and check boxes 1 and 2 for Audio Track. This is what mine looks like. This way, if you need to adjust levels after the fact or whatever else, you'll have two audio tracks when you import the .mp4 into a video editor like Davinci Resolve. There is no real downside to doing this. If you want, you can just upload the .mp4 to YouTube and it will contain both audio tracks, or you can import this file into a video editor and adjust as needed.
At this point, you should be ready to record. Hit Start Recording and then start playback on your song. Once you're done, hit Stop Recording and a few seconds later, your file should show up wherever you designated it to save. If you're happy with your performance, you can upload this file to YouTube. Here's my first attempt with this method. I did a couple of small edits like color correction in Davinci Resolve, but this otherwise what OBS captured.
Please let me know if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them!
